Ani Yarber can be her own worst critic, but she doesn’t let that stop her.

On a whim, the senior at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island recently entered the Congressional Art Competition.

As it turned out, her self-portrait, titled “In My Head,” was judged a winner.

“I didn’t expect it because I’m a self-critic,” Yarber said. “I was really humble going into this competition — it was just for the fun of it.”

Sponsored by the Congressional Institute, the nationwide high school visual art competition has been offered since 1982, drawing over 650,000 entrants over the years. As one of this year’s winners, Yarber’s art will appear in the U.S. Capitol for the next 11 months. She and her art teacher, Leo DeLaRosa, also received plane tickets to visit Washington and attend the Congressional Art Competition reception.

Calling painting “one of my very big hobbies,” Yarber said persistence has helped her improve at her work in oil and acrylics.

Her hobby also gives her a mental boost.

“It’s a stress reliever,” Yarber said. “I just feel like sometimes I love to be by myself and listen to music and this is a great way for me to get my peace and calmness.”

DeLaRosa, her honors art teacher in Blue Island, said students used photoshopped pictures of themselves to help with the assignment. It was a way “to kind of break down that wall they might have in regards to stressing over having to recreate every skin color,” DeLaRosa said.

Yarber’s self-portrait almost didn’t happen, though, because of her self-doubts.

“I think my favorite part about the portrait is that I saw her from the beginning and she was initially very hesitant to even do it and didn’t want to complete it,” DeLaRosa said. “I kind of had to continuously push her and get her to try to be ok with things not being perfect.

“She approaches her work with a very meticulous eye, sometimes that’s like her biggest enemy because she over-analyzes things and wants them to be too perfect.”

Still, the credit is all hers, he said, noting Yarber also researched ways to improve her work outside of class.

“She got the hang of it herself,” DeLaRosa said, adding the success was a reminder of “how much you can improve through trial and error and continuous practice.”

That effort paid off for her, and for her entire school as Yarber and her mother Newshawn Moore traveled to Washington to view her art hanging in the halls of Congress.

“I just think that the whole idea of the competition where the kids get to go to Washington and get their work displayed in the Capitol building for a year is just great,” said DeLaRosa. “It just kind of shows the value art has and can have in people’s lives.”

Yarbor and her mother toured the Capitol Building and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture — outings organized by Rep. Jonathan Jackson’s assistant, Kennedy Shelton.

The trip also factored into Yarber’s future career interests. She plans to attend college next year and major in political science, possibly with a minor in art, and then attend law school.

“It was a once in a lifetime experience,” she said.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.