Student's Artwork to Be Displayed on Airport Tower

senior Christina Padilla knew what she wanted.

She entered the Bob Hope Airport Tower Banner Art Contest last year and won second place for the Glendale School District. Even though it was an honor, it wasn’t enough to get her original artwork displayed on the airport tower.

So, Padilla tried again this year.

“I really wanted to go all out, since I’m here for my last year [of school],” said Padilla. Her hard work paid off.

This year, Padilla won first place in the Glendale School District for her mixed-media piece. Her artwork will be enlarged to a whopping 16 feet by 26 feet and displayed on the Bob Hope Airport Tower, where it will be seen by thousands of travelers daily who are coming and going from Burbank.

Padilla describes her piece as “horses pulling an airplane, making it look like it’s pulling it even further from Earth into a place that no one knows.” It is based on the contest theme “Up and Away.”

The piece will be displayed on the airport tower for three months beginning in January 2012.

Padilla’s interest in art started at home.

“Both my mother and father are also artists, and from the moment I realized what was around me, I just picked up whatever they gave me and I just started playing with it,” she said.

“I didn’t start taking it seriously until my junior year when I saw that there were a bunch of amazing artists in AP and Crescenta Valley High School, and that’s when I really wanted to start pursuing art as a life career.”

Padilla will be attending Glendale Community College in the fall, where she will experiment with different art courses. She intends to apply to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena after she has determined what she would like to major in.

Padilla credits her success to her teacher and peers. “I want to thank my art teacher and my art friends, they really helped push me to do the best that I can,” she said. Sarah Wiggins is Padilla's art teacher at CVHS.

The Bob Hope Airport Tower Banner Art Contest is in its fourth year. The competition accepts entries from students in grades 9 through 12 in the Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena school districts. Each district selects the top three entries, and then the Arts and Culture Commission from each city determines which entries receive first, second and third place. The artwork of the first place winner from each school district will be displayed on the airport tower for about three months.

In addition, the Airport Authority awarded each school district $3,000 for the study of the arts--$500 more than last year.

So, will Padilla be traveling out of Burbank when she has to take a flight next year?

“Oh, yeah,” she said.

CVHS senior Nicholle Kwon won second place in the Glendale District, and CVHS freshman Xin Yi Ye won third place.

See all of the artwork from the Bob Hope Airport Tower Banner Art Contest winners.