Community Art Showcase Rewards School Art Programs, Artists

swept the grand prize of $2,500 dollars at the Blue Coat Art Showcase, an annual competition for 23 Santa Clara County schools that rewards both the school and the artist.

In painting, Maddie Taussig from placed second and Aimee Sun from placed third. 

Twenty-three schools, both private and public, submitted work from painting to sculpture to photography. A panel of four judges were critiqued on technique, originality, and presentation. Prizes up to $2,500 dollars were awarded to schools, and up to $1,000 to students.

For the past five years, Blue Coat has sponsored an annual showcase and grant program that recognizes and rewards Bay Area students, teachers and their high schools.

The panel of judges included Campbell artist , Paul Schick, Ken Schwab, and Virginia Belsheim of Blue Coat.

In the overall category, was awarded first place. , , and tied for third.

In the past, Palo Alto High School has used prize money to fund their student-run magazine, [proof].  The magazine has been awarded the CSP Crown Award from Columbia University. Blue Coat takes money from its budget yearly to pay for the event and give money to schools and students.  

"The company wants to support art and schools," says Virginia Belsheim, the Senior Facilities Manager of Blue Coat and a judge in the contest.  Robert Kusters, the host of the showcase, stressed the importance of harnessing creativity in overcoming obstacles, rather than relying on formulas.

Cupertino High School students, Naree Kae placed second and Vanessa Chung and Josh Perez placed third in sculpting. 

In drawing, Julia Wang from Monta Vista placed first, while Joseph Forde and Amanda Yam, from Westmont and Homestead, respectively, placed second.  Bethany Longoria and Chantel Ricks from Westmont both placed third.  Yukura Tanemura from Homestead and Susan Gao from Los Altos won third.

In photography, Karim Guzman from Palo Alto High placed third and Viki Diaz from Los Altos placed second.  In third place was Chris Berger from Monta Vista, Claire Mahney from Gunn, Sarah Berry from Palo Alto High, and Stephen canale from Monta Vista.

Brian Chow, the art department chair of Monta Vista, says the school is still spending the money they won last year.  Most of the money goes towards art supplies and frames for photographs.

Julia Wang of Monta Vista said she plans to save her first prize money.  This was her first year competing in the showcase.

Honorable Mentions were given to Patricia Zhang of Cupertino High, Brian Zhu of  Gunn, Crystal Lee of Homestead, Ellie foy of Los Gatos, Alisha Deshmukh of Monta Vista, Ashley Hartwell of Palo Alto, and Georgina Silva of Westmont High.

A full list of winners is on the pdf above.