'Together We Heal'

By MATTHEW GWIN

Staff Writer

A Coeur d’Alene High School sophomore’s artwork will represent Idaho at the VFW Auxiliary National Convention in Kansas City, Mo., this July.

Emily Romanowski’s 18- by 24-inch colored pencil and ink illustration called “Together We Heal” already nabbed first place honors in the state competition.

Surprisingly, Romanowski said she just began entering her work into competitions this year and wasn’t expecting much recognition.

“I wasn’t really striving to win,” Romanowski said. “Being in competitive drama here [at CHS] definitely helped give me a mindset of how to approach competitions. It was more just to have fun.”

The piece — which Romanowski said she worked on for a month, staying up until 1 a.m. each night — depicts a cancer patient and a Muslim woman facing one another with tears running down their faces.

The background shows an American flag and a “Pan-Arab” flag, using the traditional Islamic crescent and star symbol and the color green.

Romanowski has shown talent in visual and performing arts, despite being a relative novice to both.

In fact, she said she first enrolled in art classes at CHS as a freshman simply because she needed to fill in a hole in her schedule.

“I always enjoyed drawing when I was little,” Romanowski said. “I never pursued it in school up until last year because I was trying to change my schedule and it was one of the open classes. I decided to switch into art, and I ended up being really good at it.”

Terri Leonard, Romanowski’s art teacher at CHS, said the young artist understands concepts quickly and works diligently.

“Emily has spent a professional amount of time to get this artwork done at a very high level,” Leonard said. “Usually, I only see this level of work from seniors.”

Although she said she prefers working with paint or markers, Romanowski would like to pursue various media of art going forward.

She has already begun doing so: she painted part of the set for the recent CHS theatrical production of “The Little Mermaid.”

“I’m really trying to expand into a lot of media because I want to be a graphic or commercial artist,” she said, “and a really big requirement is being able to do a lot of media and meet the customers’ needs.”

As for the piece itself, Romanowski said she hopes people are inspired to be resilient and compassionate in the wake of great pain.

“There is so much pain and metaphorical disease in the world right now,” she said. “After every hardship that our country or other countries have faced, there is always that wave of people afterwards who brings everyone together.”

If “Together We Heal” beats out its competition from high school students in 49 other states, Romanowski will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship.

For the moment, though, she said she’s just focused on promoting a positive, unifying message.

“We have a saying: ‘Give good to the world and you’ll receive good back,’” Romanowski said. “That was my goal, to put a good message out there.”