Nearly 300 people attended the Artists’ Awards Reception for RISING STARS, which drew student artists, their parents, grandparents, friends and teachers who braved the rain to see Marin County’s top high school art work on display.
The 28th annual high school exhibition at the YIA Gallery, on view through March 29, features nearly 150 paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures and mixed media works. 16 public, private and alternative high schools are included in the show.
San Rafael High School student Amelie Benicio, 16, won the Best of Show prize. Benicio and Redwood High School student Nick Cook, who won the top prize in the mixed media division, were featured this week in a Marin IJ article.
Benicio, a student of teacher Annie Yi, said her charcoal and newsprint mixed media portrait depicts the “quirky yet fearful personality” of a character called “Crazy Eyes” from a popular television show. “I thought it showed a lot of emotion,” Benicio said, after learning she’d won. “I like the eyes and the shading because it came out a lot better than I expected.”
The exhibit was blindy judged by a panel that included artists Lynn Sondag, Kay Carlson, Jason Dunn and Jay Daniel, owner of Black Cat Studio.
Nick Cook, 18, won for a mixed media piece called “Human Circus.” Art materials he used included markers, stickers and paint pens. Cook is one of five artists who won San Francisco Beautiful’s 2019 Muni art contest. His art is now featured on several Muni buses. Speaking about his piece in RISING STARS, Cook said the work deals with the issue of identity and how people choose to reveal their personalities. “People just aren’ that comfortable expressing themselves,” he said. Cook studies AP Art at Redwood High School with teacher Lauren Bartone and hopes to attend Parsons School of Design.
Please join us for the public opening reception: Friday, February 8, 5 pm–8pm