Teen art show returns to La Sierra University’s Brandstater Gallery

An opening reception for the Fourth Annual Academy & High School Exhibit will be held at the gallery on Saturday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. An awards presentation will be held at 8:15 p.m. The exhibit will run May 13 -- May 17. The show is organized by La Sierra’s Art+Design department.  

The gallery will showcase more than 100 works of art created by students from Riverside’s Notre Dame High School and Encore High School for the Arts along with Seventh-day Adventist schools Loma Linda Academy, La Sierra Academy in Riverside, Orangewood Academy in Garden Grove, Glendale Adventist Academy, San Gabriel Academy and Newbury Park Adventist Academy.  

Art teachers from the respective schools are curating the selection of work for the art show, bringing approximately 20 pieces from each school to install at Brandstater Gallery. Students are limited to two-dimensional pieces, but are otherwise free to explore their artistic creativity.  

Yessenia Barron, art teacher at Notre Dame High School and a 2017 alum of La Sierra’s art program expects that at least 10 of her 54 art students will participate in the exhibit. Students at Notre Dame have participated in the Brandstater Gallery show the past three years under the direction of former art teacher, Lauren Prado, also a La Sierra art alum.

“I find it very important for high school students to exhibit their work in a gallery show as it will inspire them to continue making art while at the same time motivating them to improve their skills and ideas,” said Barron. “The anticipated impact on teen artists of having their work displayed for the public is that they may gain more confidence to share their work and ideas with the public, which will be able to help them learn more about themselves and about their art.”

One of Barron’s students, senior Ana Kreimeyer, is already finding additional motivation.

“This will be my first time to exhibit my artwork at a gallery show,” said Kreimeyer. “I now feel the drive to create more art and improve my skills as an artist. I enjoy learning different types of art along with the techniques that are involved in making a piece of work.” 

Kreimeyer plans to exhibit three or four original pieces, primarily 9-by-12 inches in size, which she created using graphite pencil, gouache, and pen and ink. She derives her inspiration mainly from music and movies, she said.

An 18-year-old resident of Jurupa Valley, Kreimeyer plans to major in nursing at California State University, San Bernardino. In addition to creating visual art works, in her spare time she pursues a musical avocation as the lead singer and guitarist for her band, The Flying Cruisers which plays classic rock and original music. Kreimeyer plans to use her artistic talent designing album art work, logos and promotional items for her band, she said. 

This will be the third year that students from Orangewood Academy participate in the high school exhibit, an event that Zaidy Olivarria, art teacher at Orangewood Academy, calls “one of the highlights of the year for the art department.”

“In my classes, I emphasize the fact that art is an opportunity to share emotions, passion, experiences, belief with others,” said Olivarria who is teaching about 30 students this year. She teaches a variety of media including graphite, charcoal, pen, design, color theory, acrylic, watercolor and mixed media.

“I encourage them to use their personal story as inspiration for their art," she said."At the same time, we learn to appreciate what others are saying through their art. We may not understand it all, but it exposes us to a different point of view that we come to respect and learn to appreciate. Because of this, an event like the art show is crucial not only for the development of an artist, but also for the growth of a high school student.”

Clare Britton, a 16-year-old student at Orangewood Academy and Huntington Beach resident will display several pieces ranging in size and media. She specializes in digital artwork using Procreate and also works in traditional media such as pencil, pen and gouache. She derives inspiration from “family, friends, strangers and my environment,” she said. “I’m also very inspired by animated films and the work that goes into making them.” She aims for a career in animation.

The Brandstater show will be the second time she has publicly exhibited her artwork. She previously participated in the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Orange County Mock Trial where she competed as a courtroom sketch artist. Her piece won first place.

“This was a very beneficial learning experience for me and I was impacted as an artist because I had the opportunity to share my art with a larger community than I normally would,” said Britton.

Encore High School is participating in the art show for the first time this year. Brandstater Gallery Director Tim Musso met Megan James, an art teacher at Encore through Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein, retired chair of the Art+Design department at La Sierra. Both James and Mejia-Krumbein had their artwork featured in a group exhibition titled “Moving Matters” at the University of California, Riverside. As a result of Musso’s meeting with James, students from Encore High School will have the opportunity to see their work featured in Brandstater Gallery.

The exhibition will be judged by two senior Art­+Design majors from La Sierra University who will award eight prizes to students with exceptional works. Prizes will include art supply bundles for award winners as well as scholarships for participating students who enroll at La Sierra University as art majors in the future.

“The idea behind hosting an art exhibit for academy and high school students at the Brandstater Gallery was to provide students with an opportunity to publicly exhibit their work,” said Musso who is also an assistant art professor at La Sierra. “As artists we dedicate our lives to making visual works of art, so it is important to share our creations with the world. Awarding prizes further validates the importance of the arts and gives recognition to those students who are exceptional.”

Brandstater Gallery is located in the Visual Arts Center on Middle Campus Drive. Admission to the gallery and reception is free. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, May 14 through Thursday, May 17, with additional hours on Sunday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside. For further information, call 951-785-2170. A campus map is available at lasierra.edu/campus-map/.