The Lamorinda Arts Council has sponsored its 15th Visual Arts Competition for High school students.
Denise Nomura is the chair and she does a wonderful job of organizing and displaying the 250+ original pieces.
I spent a cold and rainy day with her, and the other volunteers this week hanging the art in the Orinda Library Gallery. I organized the paintings and drawings by color. Grouping the work into warm and cool colors and helped to place them in such a way that complimented the beauty of each.
What an amazing array of talent we have in our young people. I couldn’t help thinking what they might do in the future. I hope they all continue to create and not lose their love and interest in art.
Of course, my own daughter entered an oil painting. She recently decided to replace soccer with art, the other passion of her early childhood.
When I asked what she planned on painting I was surprised to learn it would be inspired by the song, California by Joni Mitchell. The lyrics are about sitting in a park in Paris, France, giving peace a chance, and pretty people reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue. The chorus is about coming home to California.
She listened to the song over and over while painting. Her painting is nothing like anything I might paint. Although, she painted over a canvas of mine, and used my brushes what she created was uniquely her own.
And, in the words of Joni Mitchell, wouldn’t it be nice if we could finally give peace a chance? Maybe, this next generation will.
The winners for the contest will be announced on Wednesday, at the 7 p.m. reception. How the Council will select a winner, I’ve no idea. For me, the art is impossible to compare or categorize as it is all astonishingly individual.
I recommend stopping by The Orinda Library Gallery to see it for yourself. The exhibition runs through March 26th.
Love and blessings.
Sydney 