TALENT FOR ALL TO SEE; NATIONAL PUBLICATION PICKS ART BY STUDENT.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

The work of an Agoura Hills artist has been featured on a national art magazine - and the artist is only 15 years old.

``Artist's Bouquet,'' a colored-pencil drawing by Agoura High School sophomore Kris Trujillo, was selected from hundreds of entries to be featured on the back-to-school issue of Arts & Activities magazine.

``When Kris' came in, his work was so outstanding you knew he was going to be a Young Artist,'' said Maryellen Bridge, the magazine's editor-in-chief. ``His work was just so exceptional. I think this kid's going to go places.''

Kris' essay that accompanied his work also impressed the magazine's editors, she said.

``What he had to say was a lot more intelligent than the usual stuff we get,'' Bridge said.

Despite all the praise for his work, Kris said, ``I really don't think I want to go into art.''

He wants to continue art as a hobby but thinks he might pursue a career in medicine or chemistry.

The 66-year-old San Diego-based magazine has a nationwide circulation of 20,000 and is published September through June for art instructors.

The magazine receives about 200 entries annually for its ``Young Artist'' feature page but can select only 10, Bridge said.

Nancy Rizzardi, chairwoman of the art department at Agoura High, knew Kris was talented when she had him in an introductory art class last year.

``He had a wonderful ability to draw everything he saw with great accuracy,'' Rizzardi said. ``Then it was a matter of, What could I offer him that he doesn't already do?''

At the beginning of the 1997-98 school year, Kris found himself drawing simple representational works. By the end of the year, after experimenting and challenging himself, ``I was more free to do whatever I chose to do,'' he said.

Kris took his basic art assignments and incorporated light, perspective and texture.

``I tried to do something that was a little bit harder,'' he said.

Although Kris likes to draw fantasy images from his own imagination, he prefers to draw something he can see.

``I find it easier to draw from life,'' he said. ``I like to draw things from different perspectives.''

In his cover-winning design, he positioned a jar of colored pencils near a lamp to get the shade and lighting right, then later drew the image as though the jar had been sitting next to a window. Rizzardi sent that drawing and five others to the magazine in June and learned during the summer that the work would be featured inside and on the cover.

``I was pretty excited about that,'' she said.

On Tuesday night, Kris and his work will be honored at the meeting of the Las Virgenes school board.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Kris Trujillo, a sophomore at Agoura High School, is pleased to have his art featured on a national publication.

(2) Kris Trujillo's colored-pencil drawing adorns the magazine cover.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Special to the Daily News