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By Paul Garber | Winston-Salem Journal

June 19, 2008

Emily Raines wasn't thinking that the apples and pots tossed onto a table in art class would someday lead to a trip to the nation's capitol.

Raines, a rising junior at Forsyth Country Day School, is the 5th District winner of the U.S. Congressional Art Show. Her painting will hang on the wall of the U.S. Capitol for a year, along with works by other winning artists from across the country.

Raines, who lives in Clemmons, will make the trip to Washington on Wednesday with her mother, Lisa, and art teacher Rebecca Stone-Danahy. It's her first trip to Washington.

"I'm so excited," Raines said. "Think of how many people will see it every day walking through the Capitol."

Raines said that the assignment began when objects were piled on a table during a first-semester class and the students were told to pick a perspective and draw a still life focusing on extreme whites and extreme darks.

For her, it was a chance to develop her style, she said. She drew her picture in black-and-white acrylic. "I don't blend the colors, so it's really smooth," she said.

She said she entered the Congressional Art Show almost on a whim.

"I really wasn't expecting to win," she said.

She credits Stone-Danahy with pushing her and her fellow students to do their best.

"People get so aggravated with her," Raines said. "She always pushes people to the max."

Foxx has been in Washington since 2005, but this is the first time she has taken part in the contest. "It's an annual program, this is the first year we got on board," said Aaron Groen, Foxx's press secretary.

The staff of Foxx's Clemmons office judged the entries. Groen said that Foxx hopes to assemble a committee of local artists to help judge future contests.

Raines said she loves art, but plans to focus her academic energies on her other favorite subject — math — with an eye toward becoming a math teacher.

She said she hopes to continue to develop her art skills in her free time.