Artwork from 208 middle and high school art students featured the theme, “Embrace The Chaos”

RIVERSIDE – Vivid colors, striking black and white illustrations, abstract self-portraits, and digital and 3-D compositions demonstrated the creative variety of student submissions in the Fine Arts Spectacular Virtual Exhibition organized by the Riverside County Office of Education during the month of May.

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

Along with the RCOE VAPA team, the exhibition was coordinated by Emily Culhan, Arts Now Project Lead, Palm Springs Unified School District, and Irene Rodriguez, Executive Director, Cabot’s Pueblo Museum.

Works were judged by a diverse panel of practicing artists and educators including Ryan Campbell, Sofia Enriquez, Tysen Knight, and Deborah Schwartz Glickman.

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION HONOREES

Best Use of Color or Black and White
Caleb Rice – Ethan A. Chase Middle School, Romoland School District           

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

Innovative Interpretation of the Theme
Arlyne Aguayo – Vista Heights Middle School, Moreno Valley 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  

Originality
Malachi Elam – Vista Heights Middle School, Moreno Valley 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
• Parmveer Singh – Vista Heights Middle School, Moreno Valley Unified School District
• Lucy Viera – Julia Lee Performing Arts Academy, Charter School

HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION HONOREES

Best Use of Color or Black and White
Sophaktra Ly – Beaumont High School, Beaumont Unified School District            

Best Use of Color
Pamela Sutherland – Cathedral City High School, Palm Springs Unified School District

Innovative Interpretation of the Theme
Isabella Feliz – Palm Springs High School, Palm Springs Unified School District

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

Meaningful Use of Materials
Madison Sloan – Temecula Valley High School, Temecula Valley Unified School District            

Originality
Paige Corrow – Martin Luther King Jr. High School, Riverside Unified School District

Judge's Favorites

• Katie Bailon – Cathedral City High School, Palm Springs Unified School District       
• Annabelle Jin – Hillcrest High School, Alvord Unified School District   
• Alia Niazi – Temecula Valley High School, Temecula Valley Unified School District (interview below)
• Stefan Renteria – Cathedral City High School, Palm Springs 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.”

Meet Alia Niazi – “Judge's Favorite” – High School Division

For Temecula Valley High School senior, Alia Niazi, the contest doubled as an assignment in her Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art class. Alia’s 18” x 24” mixed medium piece entitled, “Embrace the Chaos”, was named a “Judges’ Favorite” in the high school division.

She described her acrylic paint and colored pencil on canvas submission as “something that looks like a flame, but is really a burst of color—of something special.”

Since she was a young child, Alia has always been creating—from sketching and making greeting cards to digital drawings and acrylic painting.

“Art is a good way to express creativity—to put an image in your mind on to paper or canvas,” Alia said. “To experience and look at an image, and then make it, can give it a whole meaning to yourself and others.”