The photograph is only the beginning of the story for island artist Juliana Berry.

Juliana Berry knows a good story when she sees one.

That’s because Berry is something of a visual storyteller herself.

The Bainbridge High School senior’s photographs, layered with text and autobiographical detail, took honors in the 2005 Washington State High School Photography Competition and at the BHS annual student art show, and earned the young artist a $1,000 scholarship from Bainbridge Arts and Crafts.

Berry’s photographs and prize-winning art from other Bainbridge High School students are on display at the Gallery at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts through May 31.

“It’s great,” Berry said. “It’s really encouraging to be acknowledged.”

By her own admission now “addicted” to photo imaging software, Berry manipulates her painterly digital images by computer.

The finished pieces have as many as 15 layers of images, text and doodle-like drawings that suggest a story line.

One such work, “Getting My Blood Drawn” earned Berry a fifth place in the statewide photography competition.

“I just used the mouse (to draw,)” she said. “I’m kind of uncomfortable with the whole digital thing, so a lot of my work reflects that.

“I used to be like the people who didn’t really consider it art, and then got really into it because I realized I can do all the serial stuff that I want to do.”

Another work, “Speech-deprived,” resembles a journal entry – a page in which notes, photographs and drawing become a personal and expressive language for a young artist who says that talking isn’t always her most effective means of communication.

“It’s a lot about how I wish I could use my words better,” she said.

Another evocative picture, snapped in a Los Angeles hallway, has the seeds of a story about to unfold.

A bicyclist emerging from the recesses of a dark hallway pedals toward the photographer – and, in fact, ran Berry down just after she snapped the shutter.

The title, “I Didn’t Know Then,” makes the viewer aware of the retrospective nature of Berry’s analysis of events, pointing the viewer to an understanding of a photograph as a slice of time.

“I feel like my stuff has so much story that sometimes it’s hard to get it by just looking at it,” she said. “I want to stand by my pieces all the time and tell the story.”

Berry, who grew up on Bainbridge Island, says she always felt her art was supported by her parents.

“I started off doing the little children’s doodles, but my family was so encouraging,” she said. “They never made me feel that anything was bad but I was always praised for it.”

Beginning in sixth grade, Berry took lessons from Claudia McKinstry at the Bainbridge painter’s north-end studio.

Those lessons helped Berry develop her talent, she says, because McKinstry offered a smorgasbord of materials while keeping negative criticism out of the picture.

‘You’d learn the different kinds of drawing and then you’d move to painting, but after that you could do what you wanted,” Berry said. “She never judged what you did.”

Berry will continue to study art next year at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts, but is already venturing to the Seattle side as artistic director for the June 2 production at Moore Theater of “That Was Then…This Is Now,” an original show by Bainbridge Island teens that debuted at the Playhouse earlier this year.

“This is a time when I’m (moving) more out into the world,” Berry said. “I’m moving to Seattle. I’m going to study graphic design at Cornish.

“It’s exhilarating.”

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Young visions

Bainbridge Arts and Crafts features an exhibit of prize-winning art by island high school students May 23-31.

Works exhibited are distinguished by honors that include ribbons awarded at the BHS Arts Festival earlier this month; prizes from the 2005 Washington State High School Photography Competition held May 14 in Seattle; and scholarships from island arts organizations.

BHS senior Brittni Green, who plans to study interior design at Savannah College of Art and Design was awarded BAC’s $2,000 Kay Yockey Scholarship; BAC’s $1,000 Roslyn Gale Powell scholarship went to Juliana Berry.

BHS senior Kathryn Bachen, who will study photography at University of Oregon, won the Bainbridge Music and Art $500 Senior Scholarship.

BHS senior Valerie McKinnon took Color Division top honors statewide, and classmate Carolyn Copstead won first prize statewide for her hand-tinted images.

Their winning artworks will be honored in a June 2 ceremony at Seattle Art Museum and be on exhibit there through the month.

BAC hosts a reception at the gallery 2-4 p.m. May 29. The event is free and open to the public. Call 842-3132 for more information.