By Joseph L. Campos Jr.
The Buena Park Cultural And Fine Arts Commission is hosting its “16th Annual High School Art Show,” this month, and is geared to display the very best of Orange County Youth’s artistic prowess as teen’s from all around gather to showcase their remarkable skills within Buena Park City Hall.
By Joseph L. Campos Jr.
The Buena Park Cultural And Fine Arts Commission is hosting its “16th Annual High School Art Show,” this month, and is geared to display the very best of Orange County Youth’s artistic prowess as teen’s from all around gather to showcase their remarkable skills within Buena Park City Hall.
The youngsters will be striving to win various awards. The first place prize will be $75, the second place prize, $50, and the third place prize, $25. “All of this was started in the year of 2002 by our Cultural and Fine Arts Commission,” says Maya Mackrandilal, who is the Buena Park City Hall’s Fine Arts Coordinator. “One of our former commissioners, Marge Rollins, was a member of a citizen organization called the, ‘Buena Park Art Guild.’ When this organization folded, they had some money left over, which they decided to use to fund cash awards for the, ‘High School Art Show.’ Those original funds have been used up and now, the Fine Arts Division funds the awards.”
The event is open for any children within Orange County’s public school system to participate. This year, the Buena Park High School Coyotes will be going head to head with students from the Sunny Hills High School Lancers. “We let participants sign up so we can fill up all of the wall space,” explains Mackrandilal. “This year, we have a grand total of 83 artistic pieces overall to hang up in our gallery. There is no limit to how many young artists we admit, and each artist is allowed to submit at least three art pieces to triple their chances of winning a prize. The artists are allowed to cross between various art categories as well.”
The art categories for this year’s contest are photography, charcoal, graphite, colored pencil, pastel, and prisma color. “All styles of art are invited though: from digital media categories, to pencil art, to oil paintings, to mixed media, to water colors, to photographs, to whatever you have to offer to the eyes of your community, just feel free to submit.” Despite the fact that the work does not have to follow a specific theme, high school students must submit items that are appropriate. Mackrandilal says, “Only Elementary School participants have a set theme for their specific contest, and for all age categories, only one artist can win for one specific category. They can’t overlap. They are allowed to change their style up to strategize their way to win, but for their three pieces that they submit, they can only win for one of them.”
When asked about which artists or particular pieces most stood out to her, Mackrandilal complimented the poise of Lilian Nique. “Lilian Nique is a very talented artist, but I want all of Orange County to come down to support these children. These artists are exceptional young people, they have the courage to reach out to all of us by displaying their lives through their artistic talent, they are pulling us into their experiences, their communities, and all of this is very special and takes an extreme amount of hard work. We admire, and acknowledge this kind of cultural work because that is what it is. It is Orange County’s spirit and culture and it takes a lot of work to truly capture it so thoroughly.”
The Buena Park Cultural And Fine Arts Commission invites all Orange County citizens to come out to the The High School Art Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 3rdat 6pm to support SoCal’s top prospects as they shape our county’s artistic horizon.
