Littleton – Clinton Cortez traces his thick fingers over the lines of his self-portrait. Its colors are vibrant, the lines bold and the image playful. A dancing row of curlicues makes up the 12-year-old’s hair in the painting. His eyes are large, black lopsided circles, and his mouth is a bright-orange bar with vertical lines for teeth.
The Peiffer Elementary School sixth-grader gives one-word answers and smiles bashfully when asked to explain its meaning.
But he knows there’s something special about this particular work. After all, his school has held a pep rally recognizing his artwork.
The original went on display this week at Union Station in Washington, D.C., and will be up through June 26.
And Clinton, who has Down syndrome, has been invited – along with nine other finalists in the nationwide VSA arts “Discover What Art Is” competition – to a congressional reception Thursday. The organization, formerly Very Special Arts, emphasizes making arts accessible to all students, particularly the disabled.
Clinton’s drawing “captured the essence of the national call for art,” said Damon McLeese, executive director of VSA arts of Colorado.
McLeese was responsible for selecting which of nearly 40 Colorado pieces would compete nationally.
“He’s just really prolific,” McLeese said of Clinton. “There’s obviously something turning inside.”
Clinton has six other paintings on file at Access Gallery in Littleton, which McLeese operates.
Clinton’s paintings are similar to those of local artist Carlos Michael Finn, whose work is playful and has a “childlike quality,” McLeese said.
Laura Musgrove, a paraprofessional who has been working with Clinton for four years at Peiffer, said talents of the disabled are often overlooked.
“There’s nothing those kids can’t try to do,” she said.
Family and teachers say Clinton’s art gives them insight into his world. Sometimes he draws faces with tears or flowers.
He recently drew a person within a person and said it was his teacher’s pregnant wife, Musgrove said.
Drawing is “how he (Clinton) likes to express himself,” said Danny Pruzinsky, Clinton’s teacher at Peiffer, where Clinton spends part of his day in a traditional sixth-grade classroom and part in the Challenge program, which serves students with impairments.
At home, Clinton doodles while his younger brother does homework, said Santiago Cortez, Clinton’s father.
“His drawings tell me a lot about him,” said Cortez, a single dad. “The shapes, the moods. I can almost tell how he’s doing, how he’s feeling. After he’s finished drawing, I look at his stuff and I can tell what kind of day he had.”
Clinton is excited about traveling to Washington with his father, and the family is hoping to raise money so his brother can go.
Clinton is enjoying the attention, but he knows there is life beyond pastel, chalk and paint. He likes basketball, skiing and, he says bashfully, “girls.”
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
