Source: Our Valley

She’s been invited to Carnegie Hall in New York, her work may be exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC this summer, and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2007 has recognized her art portfolio with a Silver Award. Not bad for Irena Stanisic, just graduated from Cave Spring High School and headed this fall to the University of Richmond to study art and journalism on a full ride scholarship. She was picked from a group of 50 applicants as the Roth-Weinstein Scholar – where hobbies, personality and academics all count. “I was surprised that I got in [for consideration].”

International studies will be another focus. “I’m hoping to loop it all together and present information visually and through journalism,” said the raven-haired senior shortly before she left Cave Spring. Stanisic’s silver award came after more than 1400 art, writing and photography portfolios were submitted nationally for consideration. She was one of 143 selected for a Scholastic Portfolio Award. That earned her the trip to Carnegie Hall.

Stanisic speaks fluent Macedonian and is a first generation American in a family where her father is Bosnian and her mother is from Macedonia, which is near Greece. She was actually born in South Africa and her dad likes to joke that she is “African American.” She also spent time in Mexico, Macedonia and Turkey while growing up. Her mother is a former doctor while her father is an engineer. She has a younger brother at Penn Forest; the family speaks a number of languages at home. “Some times they get mixed up,” she notes with a smile.

Stanisic is the first artist in her family - “I don’t know where that came from,” she chuckles - and becoming a college art professor down the road is a goal. Along the way she’s picked up on the cultures, shapes and colors of other lands, incorporating it into her art. Sketching is her media of choice – with lots of color. One drawing called “melting pot” features a variety of people with Stanisic in the middle. In the picture her name is written on an arm in the Cyrillic alphabet, which she understands.

“It suddenly bloomed for me,” notes one of Cave Spring’s recent valedictorians of her flair for art. Coming up with new techniques is a passion. “Its cool to see other kids in the class trying them out,” added Irena Stanisic - who may be blazing more artistic paths in the future.

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