Santa Barbara Channelkeeper celebrates 20th Annual Student Art Show
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – Local environmental non-profit, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, hosted its 20th Annual Student Art Show on May 4 at Jodi House Gallery.
Every Spring for the past twenty years, Channelkeeper's Student Art Show has asked local students from Carpinteria to Goleta to create and submit their interpretations of what the Santa Barbara Channel means to them.
Over 4,000 students have participated in the Art Show over the past two decades.
“The students’ artwork was creative and insightful,” said Channelkeeper’s Executive Director Ted
Morton. “I really enjoyed learning about the motivation behind the students’ pieces and I was
impressed with how well they expressed their personal connection to Santa Barbara Channel.”
A selection of some of the winners are featured below.
First Place was awarded to Lucy London for her watercolor painting The Diversity of Fishes.
Accompanying their art submissions, students were also asked to pen a statement about their personal connection with the Santa Barbara Channel.
London wrote of her submission:
“…it’s come to my attention that even incredibility biodiverse marine regions (like the Santa Barbara Channel) are under threat from human impacts. This piece is inspired by a statistic that I heard, which said that 'by 2025 there will be 1 ton of trash in the ocean for every 1 ton of fish.' In order to communicate this fact to people, and hopefully inspire them to change, I made a piece styled after old encyclopedia pages, but had about half of the 'fish' pictured actually be trash. Our oceans, though vast, are struggling, but it’s not too late to save them.”
Second Place was awarded to Alexis Botella for her scratchboard triptych entitled What Lurks at the Bottom. Third Place was awarded to Elina Lopez Garza's Hidden in the Fronds, a ceramic vessel featuring leopard sharks.
Julia Medina's Under the Collage was awarded the Environmental Ethic Award.
“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.”
