TUCSON, Arizona — Ashley Alvarez of Desert View High School has been named the winner of the 2022 Congressional Art Contest for Arizona’s 3rd District.

“This piece expertly portrays many shared experiences and emotions from past and present events,” Rep. Grijalva said. “It was difficult to choose from all of the diverse, creative and thoughtful submissions, and I’m proud to congratulate Ashley and thank her for sharing this powerful reflection of her loss and our world.”

Representative Raul Grijalva announced the completion of the second on Friday.

In addition to winning the competition, Rep. Grijalva’s announcement explained that Alvarez also won a free trip to Washington DC to see his artwork displayed in the United States Capitol building. This is where his piece entitled “Follow the Golden Flame” will hang for a year. Alvarez is also eligible for a $3,000 per year scholarship to Savannah College of Art and Design.

“Everyone has the ‘golden light’ that they follow in their life, their motivation to keep going,” Ashley Alvarez said. “Over the past two years, we all in this world have gone through a lot of changes… From personal experience, I lost my brother last year in June. Everything I thought I knew about the world changed perspective positively and negatively….My family during this time was my guide or in this case my ‘light’. I was forced to experience the most significant events of my life with them and we all got to see a side of each other that we had never seen before. In this piece, I wanted to capture the essence of all those emotions while knowing that we have the support we need around us. Everyone has been through some kind of distress and chaos that has caused emotional damage in one way or another, but, personally, I believe we all need to step back and look at the positive in our lives and know that there is still hope and that there are still people who care. In a sense, we all have a personal guardian angel watching over us, be it our family, our friends, or even society, collectively. There is still a light in the darkness. No matter how bad it may seem, someone will be there for us.”

All finalists and artwork submissions will be exhibited at two local art galleries as well as the Patagonia Fall Festival later this year.

Rep Grijalva said, “I would also like to thank all the artists who submitted their work and encourage them to pursue their passions and hope they try again next year.”
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