Valley students show an eye for art

It started off as a self-sculpture, but then it turned into something else.

Maribel Castillanos sketched herself several times last fall before casting the rounded green head out of clay. Her face stares skyward, and pink blossoms surround the shoulders.

"I was trying to embody the concept of envy," the Toppenish High School senior said. "It leads people astray. It makes you blind."

Her piece, appropriately titled "Envy is Blind," was named the ESD 105 Board of Directors' Choice on Sunday at the opening ceremony for a regional high school art show.

And after the show at Allied Arts Peggy Lewis Gallery ends on Feb. 21, "Envy" will move to a permanent spot at Education Service District 105 in Yakima.

More than a hundred people -- students from throughout Central Washington, their relatives, friends and art teachers -- attended Sunday's show to admire the 124 pieces by students from 17 high schools on display.

They were ceramics, acrylics, photographs, pencil drawings, jewelry pieces and even a lamp shaped like a hand.

Six of the pieces -- including two from Castillanos' classmates -- will be entered into a state competition through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia.

One was an ink drawing of a little girl named Jayleen. Instead of lines, the artist used words that reminded him of his niece -- cute, happy, baby, small -- to shade and add texture to her face.

"If it seemed like it needed more value, I kept adding letters," said Jonathan Abraca, a sophomore at Wahluke High School in Mattawa.

Toward the end of Sunday's ceremony, the arts program supervisor for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction thanked the students for explaining what went through their minds when they created their pieces.

"Thank you for showing your genius to all of us," said Annrené Joseph. "This is just the beginning. Please don't stop ... Art is a way of knowing, and you have captured it."

Other pieces that did not win drew considerable attention.

One was a large, black-and-white photograph of a wide-eyed girl in the shadows, half her face blocked by a masquerade mask.

"I was watching the 'Phantom of the Opera'," explained Marlee Andrews, a senior at Grandview High School. "And I was struck by his talent and voice."

The phantom was beautiful as long as he was masked, she went on. But when the mask came off, everyone was disgusted, she said.

She took self-portrait in her bedroom to answer the question: "What would happen if that mask was removed?"

Student artists made it a point to thank their teachers.

"She pushed me," said Yoni Rodriguez of Toppenish art teacher Laura Wise. "Every time I thought I was done, she'd say, 'It needs more. It needs more.'"

Wise must be doing something right. Rodriguez was one of her two students this year whose work moves onto the state competition. And last year, her student Oscar Ramirez's colorful oil painting "A Subtle Reverie" won the state's Superintendent's Choice award.

"I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how they can be the most successful with their strengths and talents," said Wise, who has taught in Toppenish for 11 years. "And I show them lots of art from the Internet and offer constructive criticism."

* Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 509-577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.

n See it for yourself

* What: The Regional High School Art show, sponsored by Educational Service District 105, highlights the best young artists in area high schools

* What's on display: 124 pieces of art by students from 17 schools in Central Washington

* Where: Peggy Lewis Gallery at Allied Arts, 5000 W. Lincoln Ave. in Yakima

* When: Show runs through Feb. 21