CNUSD Students Featured in Fine Arts Spectacular Virtual Exhibition

CNUSD Students Featured in Fine Arts Spectacular Virtual Exhibition
Posted on 06/01/2021
CNUSD Students Featured in Fine Arts Spectacular Virtual Exhibition

CNUSD students were recognized in the Fine Arts Spectacular Virtual Exhibition organized by the Riverside County Office of Education during the month of May.

A total of twenty Riverside County students received awards as part of the inaugural Fine Arts Spectacular, a virtual exhibition featuring original creative works of visual art in response to the theme, “Embrace the Chaos.” The Fine Arts Spectacular online exhibition gallery features 36 middle school entries and 38 high school entries.

“After an unprecedented year of change and uncertainty, this contest invited students to celebrate their creativity, resilience, and ability to engage with the unknown,” said Louisa Higgins, Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Administrator at the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE).

Students’ two- and three-dimensional works were awarded in each age division (6-8 and 9-12) in the following categories:

  • Meaningful Use of Materials
  • Mastery of Medium
  • Innovative Interpretation of the Theme
  • Best Use of Color / Black and White
  • Originality
  • Judge's Favorite 

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION HONOREES

Best Use of Color
Sophie Quezada – Letha Raney Intermediate School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Mastery of Medium
Emily Shin – Corona Fundamental Intermediate School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Meaningful Use of Materials
Shreya Jain – Corona Fundamental Intermediate School, Corona-Norco Unified School District           

Judge’s Favorites
Gabriel Badillo – Letha Raney Intermediate School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Makayla Kasper – Home Gardens Academy, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Finalist
Shravya Reddivari - Corona Fundamental Intermediate School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION HONOREES

Mastery of Medium
Jasmine Martinez – Santiago High School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Finalist
Chaotic Skeleton
Taylor Bell - Norco High School, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Meet Sophie Quezada – “Best Use of Color” – Middle School Division

Seventh-grade student, Sophie Quezada’s mixed media entry took between 10 and 15 hours of focused work using ballpoint pens, gel pens, and her first efforts with watercolors. The “canvas” for the Raney Intermediate School International Baccalaureate student consisted of eight sheets of 8 ½ x 11-sized paper taped together.

“I had never really done art before this year, but my teacher, Ms. Lockard, introduced me to it,” Sophie said. “This is the first time my art will be shown in public, but I’m looking forward to taking art again next year and practicing this summer to make things on my own.”

The Fine Arts Spectacular judges honored her work, “Spring Begins Anew”, with an award for “Best Use of Color” in the middle school division. She noted that the flowers, mountains, trees, and rivers were inspired by the works of her favorite artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. And, that the “red and orange-ish” colors of the flowers led to complementary colors inclusion of green and blue throughout the piece.

“The title represents the part of the COVID-19 pandemic that we are in as everything is getting started back up again, just like how spring represents renewal and rebirth in nature,” Sophie said. “I had a vision of how I wanted it to look when it was finished. So, after I finished shading and brought the colors into the correct hue, I was able to look at it as a whole and it met my vision and I knew it was finished.”