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Photo courtesy of the Griffin family

Eric Griffin's "Geared Up" guitar sculpture was featured in Carnegie Hall in New York.

Ever since Eric Griffin was 9 years old, he has had a passion for art.

Griffin believes that his interest came naturally and credits his parents for encouraging him to pursue his art.

"My main passion for art began when I was real young. I used to draw my favorite cartoon characters and action figures," he said. "I was always drawing all over things with my crayons and markers. It is really interesting to me how all colors come together to create a piece of art."

Since then, the William Byrd High School sophomore has had his artwork recognized in local exhibits and will soon visit New York City because of his work.

Griffin, who is interested in a variety of media, entered his work into the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program in January in Pulaski. He was one of 22 Gold Key award winners.

In the program, young artists and writers across the country submit more than 100,000 creative works of art and writing to a network of regional affiliates that present the awards, according to information about the program at www.artandwriting.org.

The most outstanding works from the regions are forwarded to New York to be reviewed on a national level. Professional jurors review the work to select 1,200 national award recipients.

Now, Griffin will represent Southwest Virginia in New York in June as part of the program. He will also receive an American Vision Award.

The Vision and Gold Key awards recognize the works of accomplished young artists and writers.

While in New York, he will also get to take part in a ceremony on June 4 where award winners and teachers will be recognized at Carnegie Hall.

Also, there will be workshops where professionals will share their experiences and knowledge.

Griffin only recently decided to enter art competitions.

"The reason I started entering contests was because it was required by my art teachers as part of the curriculum at Burton Center for Arts and Technology," he said.

"I never entered a serious art show or competition until last year when I entered the Hollins University art show. Then, soon after that, I got accepted in the high school art show at Center in the Square," he said.

Griffin has taken on a variety of media, including 2-D art, graphite, watercolors, pastels, clay, pen and ink and acrylic.

"Another exciting opportunity for me was when my guitar sculpture titled 'Geared Up' was featured in Carnegie Hall as part of a national exhibit. That particular piece was inspired by recyclables and technology," Griffin said.

"This was really exciting for me. Plus, I was shocked as well because I always thought that 3-D was my weakest medium," he said.

Also, he has a pastel art piece that will be on display at the Hollins University art show until the end of May.

Griffin said part of the fun with art is what he learns in the process.

"Art is fun for me because I love to work with all the different mediums and learning how to use them. I also enjoy discovering what mediums I didn't know I was good at and watching my work progress," he said.