FIRST PLACE WINNER
“Música”
Francesca Postigo
Santa Catalina School • Claire Lerner (instructor)
Acrylic on Canvas

“The pose of this piece was selected to reveal the comforting side that listening to music is able to give me. It reminds me of how music is able to bring me comfort through the lyrics and beats of the music. The background of my painting is of my dorm room at school where I currently live as a boarding student at Santa Catalina. I chose this dorm room as the location of my painting instead of my room at home because I spend the most time in my dorm. I expressed the current state of my relationship with music through this painting by focusing on the emotions that I have been most constant these past few years.

With this painting, I captured the feeling I get from listening to music. Since I was a kid, music was always there, whether my mom was playing it in the background or just listening to music by myself. It brings me a variety of emotions but with this piece, specifically, I chose to focus on the feeling of sadness. Especially now, since so much has happened over the past couple of years sadness or the feeling of numbness has been a constant emotion that music can help express these emotions. It can be an anchor that I am able to lean on whenever I’m struggling. When I listen to a particular song I can sometimes remember memories of my childhood that I tend to forget. When I do remember, it’s usually by listening to songs my parents would play for my sister and I. Because of my culture, I have always had a huge relationship with music. This relationship with music has been nurtured throughout my childhood. My love for music stemmed from learning to dance Folklorico for many years growing up. It felt so fulfilling to share with others in my community my love of music through dance. Now, I constantly listen to music to continue embracing this part of my identity.”  Francesca Postigo

SECOND PLACE WINNER
“Morning Light”
Hannah Xu
York School • Gerard Martin (instructor)
Acrylic on Canvas

“The Sixth Dalai Kurayang Gyatso, the great poet of Tibet, with Buddha on his left hand and love on his right hand, has touched many people who admire his great talent and infatuation in his life. Kurayang Gyatso made Tibet romantic and mysterious. It is said that the Sixth Dalai Lama Kurayang Gyatso was deeply in love with a girl named Makye Ami. But because of the restrictions of identity, he as a monk, someone who should have cut off his desires, had to secretly meet with Makye Ami. The small earthy yellow building in my painting is a small tavern, which is the legendary place where Kurayang Gyatso and Maji Ami secretly met at night. I went to this tavern when I was little, and this plain yellow building left a heavy imprint on my heart. For me, this tavern represents the bondage and freedom in life, which contains love, identity, responsibility, and desire. At night in the Makye Ami tavern, a pair of lovers escaped from the world to enjoy a moment of warmth, while in the daytime, they had to become the closest strangers, and Tibet became my unattainable dream. The painting takes its name from this. On a most ordinary morning, with the arrival of that ray of morning light, another beautiful dream slowly disappears.”  Hannah Xu

THIRD PLACE WINNER
“Express Train”
Melina Mendoza
Monterey High School • Martha Tonkin (instructor)
Digital Illustration

I got my inspiration for this artwork after reading a short story written by a classmate. The story was about a girl’s daily commute on a train. I’ve always liked the concept of shadows and color in one piece, which is how I chose this style. This piece is meant to be created in a way where the viewer could  interpret different emotions through the color choices. While working on this piece I was filled with such determination and inspiration that I pulled an all-nighter and worked on it for almost 24 hours. Creating this artwork was a very fulfilling process and like nothing I’ve ever done before.  Melina Mendoza ⠠⠍⠑⠇⠔⠁⠀⠠⠍⠢⠙⠕⠵⠁

HONORABLE MENTION
“Lull and Lust”
Daija Engen
Carmel High School •  Steven Russell (instructor)
Watercolor

The top piece shows a person being poisoned by a large jellyfish. My goal here was to depict a curious and innocent seeming person as their mental integrity is tainted and corroded by the alluring jellyfish. Below, I painted a figure being consumed by the inside of a clam. I wanted to visually depict the feeling of overwhelming intensity from “love bombing”.

What inspired this piece is mainly my own experiences. I chose to execute it in the way I did because I wanted them to look like illustrations to a story. If you look at them sequentially, it shows the figure falling for a trap and then getting eaten by the clam.  Daija Engen

HONORABLE MENTION
“Lucid”
Lucia Rodger
Youth Arts Collective
Marcia Perry/Meg Biddle (instructors)
Oil

This painting was inspired by my friend Kendall. The dark background represents the deep emotions she keeps hidden because she is a very selfless person and cares deeply about others. The pink shades represent her loving personality and the warmth she gives off to others. Her face is quiet and innocent, she only gives out positive words to people. I wanted to honor this.  Lucia Rodger

HONORABLE MENTION
“Yellowstone”
Cash Eden
Monterey High School • Martha Tonkin (instructor)
Digital Photography

“In my art I like to capture the majesty of natural landscapes. I take inspiration from the Hudson River Schools romanticized paintings. In this piece I loved the location however it seemed very mundane. I used Photoshop to cool the colors and improve the sky, giving more draw to the piece as a whole.” Cash Eden MHS ’22

HONORABLE MENTION
“Shark City”
Louisa Shen
Santa Catalina School • Jaime Ball (instructor)
Digital Collage

Shark City is a digital collage I created to show my imagination of what a dystopian city looks like. I tried to create diverse imagery with a mixture of different formations of blue. The element of sharks and spirits contained the mysterious fear for humans. Overall, I created this project with creativity and imagination.  Louisa Shen