By Kayla Samimi
Staff Writer
Pencil to paper, brush to paper and pen to paper. As a result of their love for drawing, Costa seniors Carson Hart, Kohei New, Nate Schickler and Amy Shan decided to create a gallery of their best artworks to display for the school.
After talking to the Advanced Placement Studio Arts teacher Katherine Martin, the students received permission to hold an art show during lunch in room 60 from March 3 to 6. Each of them organized a portfolio of about 10 works of art that they had created from elementary school to senior year.
“The art shows are an opportunity for students to share their artwork with the school and the community,” Martin said. “Being comfortable with showing your work is an important part of being an artist and having a gallery on campus is a chance for students to experience being in an art exhibit.”
At the show, Hart included his art made with watercolors, ink, colored pencils, markers and collages for display. He also enjoys photography and has placed both first and second in the Neptunian Woman’s Art Contest.
“I am really proud of my most recent wave drawing along with the piece with a girl drawing by the water,” Hart said. “I really love art and I am so happy that I got a chance to show others what I am capable of.”
Schickler specializes in a technique called matte painting in which a digital photo is merged with a similarly hand painted scene using photoshop. For the show, he submitted several matte paintings, portrait studies and landscapes. Last year, he won the gold and silver key award for the Scholastic National Art and Writing Award.
“By holding the show in the gallery, we wanted to show the best art that Mira Costa can offer,” Schickler said. “I hope we inspired underclassmen by allowing them to go and see what they are capable of accomplishing.”
For the past two years, New he has been taking art classes at Otis College where he has developed a love for art. At the show, he chose to display mostly colored pencil drawings and acrylic paintings.
“Every piece at the gallery showed great technical skills along with stylization and personality,” New said. “Each and every one of us has been drawing for a very long time and the show was a good way to showcase all of the artwork we have done since we are now seniors and will soon be leaving.”
Shan’s pieces at the show included oil painting, watercolor and graphite sketches, her personal favorite. In October, she placed second in the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair Amateur Art Show.
“I love having art as a part of my life since it helps me to clear my thoughts, Shan said. “The show was a way for all of us to see how much we’ve accomplished in the past few years and then be able to share those pieces with others.”
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