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On May 2, the community gathered at Jodi House Gallery to honor inspiring young artists at a reception and awards ceremony hosted by local environmental nonprofit, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
For twenty-one years, Channelkeeper’s Student Art Show has celebrated the connection between young people and the ocean. Every spring, high school students from Carpinteria to Goleta are invited to create and submit their interpretations of what the Santa Barbara Channel means to them. With its colorful array of shapes, textures, and patterns, the artwork produced by these young artists celebrates the remarkable beauty and biodiversity of the Santa Barbara Channel, and it also inspires our community to protect it.
This year, sixty-two works of art were selected to be in the show from approximately 250 pieces that were submitted by students from four Santa Barbara County schools: Bishop Garcia Diego High School, Dos Pueblos High School, San Marcos High School, and Santa Barbara High School.
Local artist Kelly Clause, who participated in the Student Art Show as a high school student in 2005, juried the show and selected pieces based on creativity, technical skill, sense of style, and interpretation of the theme, for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Honorable Mention, and Juror’s Choice awards. She also selected the recipient of the newly retitled Chris Potter Environmental Ethics award, named after a dearly loved friend of Channelkeeper, esteemed artist, and generous community supporter who passed away earlier this year.
Clause was amazed by the caliber of the artwork and noted the prevalence of three-dimensional art submitted this year.
Awards were presented in person by Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps, who noted that art helps us pause to appreciate the natural world around us and the places we hold close to our hearts. Channelkeeper’s Student Art Show, she explained, provides a meaningful intersection of art, environment, and community.
First place was awarded to Maddie Medina for her exquisite scratchboard piece titled, Soaring First Steps. Second place went to Yaira Zavala for Recycle, a painting of a crab with a discarded water bottle. Gianna Mills’ kaleidoscopic octopus piece, Otherworldly, earned third place, while the Chris Potter Environmental Ethic Award went to Dazli Rosario Guiterrez for Captured, a mixed-media painting of a hammerhead shark caught as bycatch in a net. The Juror’s Choice Award went to Jaden Licha for his scratchboard piece, Channel Fox. Honorable mention awards were given to Dazzy Bohonko, Elina Lopez Garcia, Jennifer Herrera, and Victoria Martinez.
“The Student Art Show is a celebration of creativity, community, and conservation,” said Channelkeeper executive director Ted Morton during his opening comments. “The artwork is beautiful and insightful. I am impressed with how well they expressed their personal connection to Santa Barbara Channel.”
Many of the art submissions were accompanied by a powerful statement explaining the artist’s personal connection to the Santa Barbara Channel and the environment.
In her artists’ statement, first-place winner Maddie Medina wrote: “In the 6th grade I was walking on the beach with my family, and I noticed these birds, sandpipers, going to the water and collecting food from the sand as the waves retreated. Out of the corner of my eye was a small little sandpiper just watching, learning. It was intriguing to see this baby sandpiper really try its best to get a small bit of food from under the sand, and in the end succeeding. This little creature inspired me to show its beauty and intelligence in this piece, using a scratch board, showing a baby sandpiper stretching out its wings. I hope that this reminds people to keep our beaches clean, to let these birds prosper in clean non-trash filled environments.”
Together, these creative works of art and meaningful statements convey a message of hope.
“Every year we are amazed by the caliber of the student artwork, and we are inspired by the personal stories behind each piece,” says Education and Outreach Director Penny Owens. “Channelkeeper is dedicated to protecting our local waterways and fostering environmental awareness and stewardship in today’s youth. Seeing the artwork celebrating the natural beauty of the Santa Barbara Channel and the messages and artist statements by the students gives us hope that our future is in good hands.”
Over the past two decades, more than 4,200 students have submitted art to Channelkeeper’s Student Art Show.
The show is sponsored by Trillium Enterprise, Inc. and the City of Goleta Grants Program with in-kind support from The Frame-Up. With their generous support, it is Channelkeeper’s aim to both reward and enable these young artists to develop their talents and continue to inspire others to care for the marine environment through their art.
