Jeremy Mangan, Kentwood High
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Whenever someone has needed an illustration drawn at Kentwood High School the past few years, they knew who to turn to: Jeremy Mangan.
Mangan's drawings have graced T-shirts for various clubs. He has painted sets for school plays. His political cartoons and his comic strip, "Insect Head," have been staples of the student newspaper. He has had a one-man art show in the auditorium.
Half a century from now, members of the class of '94 will remember him when they pick up their senior yearbook and see his cover illustration.
He's no reclusive, stay-at-home artist type. He's personable and popular. And if he weren't so busy with art projects and studies, he would have spent more time this year snowboarding, hiking and playing pickup basketball.
But Mangan, who hopes to build a career as an artist, takes his studies seriously. He has maintained a straight-A average, even while taking college-credit, advanced-placement classes in art, history, literature and calculus.
All that while working part time in a pet store and taking the bus to Seattle once a week with a friend for a life-drawing class.
"He's probably the most well-rounded, talented kid I've seen in my teaching career," said art teacher Rob Shadle.
Mangan calls Michelangelo his hero. Administrators were impressed during a competition for a school award when he said Aristotle is the person he would most like to have dinner with.
As for all those hard-core academic courses, Mangan said they bear a relation to his art that may not be immediately apparent. "Taking calculus and taking literature and physics — it's not just about those subjects. It's about the process of thinking. I notice myself applying that to my art in how I conceptualize, think about things, and get ideas."
He will attend Pacific Lutheran University.
— Keith Ervin
2004 update: Fulbright fellow pursuing his art in the Big Apple
A decade ago, Jeremy Mangan dreamed of becoming an artist. So far, it's looking good.
"I'm sitting in my studio right now, painting," he said from Manhattan.
Mangan earned undergraduate degrees in fine arts and German from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Afterward, he won a Fulbright fellowship to study painting at the Munich Art Academy in Germany.
A U.S. Department of Education fellowship followed, which he used to attend graduate school at Central Washington University. Now he's using it to complete a master's in fine art from Hunter College, part of The City University of New York.
To earn a living he works as an ice sculptor.
Mangan, 28, is a member of a Presbyterian church in New York and tries to combine his art with his faith. Recently, he and other artists created and exhibited paintings portraying certain tenets of Christianity.
Someday he hopes to exhibit at a major gallery in New York and possibly teach at a university.
His biggest hardship has been leaving his family, friends and the Northwest.
But he's found a way to bring the Northwest to Manhattan.
Mangan's current painting is based on photos of himself fly-fishing for trout in Washington.
— Marsha King