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Artwork a winner for B’wood freshman
Published November 28, 2009
CLUTE — For Rhiannon Monroe, a self proclaimed shy girl who prefers to be quiet, a picture truly is worth a thousand of her words.
Monroe has struggled with epilepsy for most of her life. Hoping others could gain courage from her artwork, Monroe submitted a drawing to “Expressions of Courage: Art by People with Epilepsy,” and won.
The 14-year-old Brazoswood High School freshman loves to draw and couldn’t think of a better way to express courage than a picture of a red and orange dragon, she said. She was one of 12 winners to be featured on the group’s calendar.
“It’s pretty cool,” Monroe said.
Though Monroe was slow to talk about her art or her struggle with epilepsy, her painting of a fierce dragon says a lot.
When Monroe was only 10 months old, her parents noticed her first seizure. A hard eight years followed, culminating in Monroe having several seizures each day, said Christy Monroe, Rhiannon Monroe’s mother.
All of her school breaks were spent in hospitals, Christy Monroe said.
“Her life seemed to be hospitals and doctors and poking and prodding,” she said.
Though she was nervous, Christy Monroe finally consented to brain surgery that has resulted in her daughter only having about one seizure each week, she said. As a result she can not play sports or do any activities that could injure her head.
When Rhiannon Monroe has a seizure, she looks like she is staring and her body is strained, Christy Monroe said. The process is exhausting for her, though it usually lasts only a couple of minutes, she said.
Because Rhiannon Monroe’s seizures do not usually include the body shaking people associate with seizures, many people don’t know she has epilepsy and think she is simply not paying attention, she said.
When she blanks out during a seizure, she comes out a little disoriented, Christy Monroe said. Her art is one of the few things where a little disorientation doesn’t hurt anything, she said.
Rhiannon Monroe definitely finds comfort in her art, she said.
Watching her daughter deal with seizures was scary, Christy Monroe said.
“It was slowly but surely taking her away from her life,” she said.
Though Rhiannon says she has almost always been shy, she also has worked to help others with epilepsy. When she was 9, she appeared before Congress to raise awareness, and when she was 12, she organized a walk fundraiser for people with epilepsy, Christy Monroe said.
However, Rhiannon Monroe was quick to point out she didn’t have to talk much for either event.
“She’s your definite introvert artist person,” her mother said.
Monroe wasn’t surprised that her daughter won, she said. She has known how talented she was for a long time.
“It comes with great ease,” she said.
Rhiannon already has advanced past the beginning art class she is in and would enjoy harder coursework, said Leslie Roznovsky, her art teacher. She often challenges herself during basic assignments, she said.
“She’s really quiet,” Roznovsky said. “She’s very creative.”
Christy Monroe jokes with her daughter that she became more creative after her brain surgery, and that the doctor put in a more artistic gene.
Whatever the reason for Rhiannon’s artistic abilities, they are gaining
her some attention she isn’t entirely comfortable with.
She will be interviewed on Radio Disney Dec. 10, and she’s not sure how that will go.
“I’m nervous,” she said. “I like to be quiet.”
In addition, her artwork will be displayed at doctors’ offices, to give courage to others, Christy Monroe said.
Katlynn Lanham is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0150.
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