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When the 3rd Annual Santa Fe Regional Exhibition for High School and Middle School Arts opened last week, youthful self-expression was on display in red, white, and black drizzles, a papier mâché rap star, and a two-piece crocheted prom dress.
Audrey Valencia was among the local parents who gathered at Santa Fe Community College’s Visual Arts Gallery Thursday evening to get a unique view into her son’s burgeoning talent. She says since her son, Auben, was old enough to write, he’s been drawn to art and knowing his art will be on display at the community college’s gallery through Dec. 5 is cause for celebration.
“It’s great to have a 12-year-old be able to do this and have the opportunity for something like that,” Valencia says. “He's always been very creative, and it's nice for him to find a pathway in a certain type of art that he really enjoys.”
Auben’s painting came from work done in his art class at Monte del Sol Charter School. He said his entangled black, white and red paint drizzles are a result of his interest in abstract art.
“I just decided to get a bunch of colors that matched,” the seventh-grade student tells SFR. “I just really like all those colors together.”
Auben’s colorful abstract web is among more than 100 pieces currently on display through early December. Students from Milagro Middle School, Santa Fe and Capital high schools, New Mexico School for the Arts and Monte de Sol contributed work for the juried exhibition. Mediums include graphite, acrylic and oil paintings, photography and sculptures.
When the exhibition opened on Oct. 24, SFCC’s Jim Wysong, dean of the schools of liberal arts and art & design, announced whose work took home awards.
“Keep thinking, keep creating, keep inventing—keep convention out,” Wysong told the students. “As long as you can hang on to your youthful vision—and if you're not a senior—I'll expect to see you back next year.”
The Best in Show prize, a $500 gift certificate, went to Santa Fe High senior Rune Shultz, who presented a crocheted prom dress.
Shultz tells SFR she was initially introduced to crocheting by her grandmother when she was six years old, but it took a while for her to begin learning the craft. She first began teaching herself to crochet during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had to have spent more than 100 hours just crocheting. It's been a really big part of what I've done since COVID, and it helped me through a lot of mental health issues,” Shultz says.
Shultz crocheted a bowl of vegetables for her art class at Santa Fe High, which is on display alongside the dress at the gallery. The red-striped dress, however, was a personal project she submitted.
“I had a vision in mind at the time. My hair was red, so I needed a dress to match,” she says. “I knew I was very comfortable making the top part of it. I've made lots of parts like it, but I've never made a full outfit and dress. … I really didn't expect anything from it.”
Shultz plans to continue making crochet works as a hobby, but says she is unsure if she wants to make a career out of it. For now, she just wants to see where it takes her while she examines her interests in other areas like interdisciplinary music studies, composition, film, theater, marine biology and environmental science.
After applauding students for their work at the art gallery’s reception, Wysong said he wanted to preserve the creativity of Santa Fe’s youth.
“There's some incredible stuff here, and I'm really, really excited about recognizing both the work and artists,” Wysong told attendees. “I am so sick of this crappy, phony, populist crap about, ‘If it's not all about getting a job and it's monetized, it isn't worth having in our schools.’ Our art programs are incredibly important…they keep our students grounded. When people are having tough times, through creativity, we find our way forward.”
Wysong’s own experience as a student put him in a position where he had to choose between science and art as his calling. He initially chose science, teaching geology, meteorology and astronomy for 25 years before finally becoming the dean of SFCC’s arts programs.
“The roads come back in life,” Wysong said. “All the things you learn have value…and your art is important. Your creativity is important.”
Schultz won the grand prize, but other students took home prizes, too. Leiliani Arroyo’s papier mâché sculpture of rapper 50 Cent earned the Milagro student a $100 gift certificate for Best Concept. Five $50 gift certificates were handed out for Honorable Mention pieces. Seventh-grader Malcolm Campbell of Monte del Sol won one for his sculpture made of sticks and stones he’d collected while hiking around Santa Fe with his father.
Capital High junior Angelica Vasquez was on hand to show her watercolor painting depicting a scene from her favorite book, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
Vasquez says she chose to “put a spin” on the point of view of a scene of a car in the desert.
“It's supposed to be how Dante sees it because he's an artist. I imagined it very bright because he imagines very brightly,” Vasquez says, adding that she’s “really happy” to see her art on display. “I never thought … that it would be something that happened to me.”
The exhibition continues through Dec. 5; the gallery is open from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
