Arts & Entertainment
Community Art Showcase Rewards School Art Programs, Artists
Art students from Gunn and Paly were among the winners at the Blue Coat Annual Art Showcase Friday. More than $18,000 was awarded to 23 participating schools.
Twenty-three schools participated in the annual Blue Coat Art Showcase on Friday, awarding thousands of dollars to local art students and their respective schools.
Among the winners was Aimee Sun of , who won third-place honors in painting. Other winners included second-place winner Maddie Taussig from Los Alto High School, and Monta Vista High, which was crowned the overall grand prize winner, with a $2,500 prize.
The Blue Coat Art Showcase is an annual competition for 23 Santa Clara County schools that rewards both the schools and the artists. Both private and public schools submit work to a panel of four judges and are critiqued on technique, originality and presentation. The panel of judges for this year's showcase included Sonya Paz, Paul Schick, Ken Schwab and Virginia Belsheim.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In the six years that Blue Coat Systems, a technology company based in Sunnyvale, has hosted the competition, Monta Vista has won the top honors every year. Brian Chow, art department chairman at Monta Vista, said the school is still spending the money won last year. Most of it goes toward art supplies and frames for photographs.
Julia Wang of Monta Vista said she plans to save her prize money. This is her first year competing in the showcase.
Find out what's happening in Palo Altofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In the past, has used prize money to fund its student-run magazine, which has been awarded the CSP Crown Award from Columbia University. Blue Coat takes money from its annual budget to fund the event and give money away to schools and students.
"The company wants to support art and schools," says Virginia Belsheim, senior facilities manager and a judge in the contest.
After grand-prize winner Monta Vista, Westmont High School was awarded first place in the overall competition, and Cupertino High, Homestead High and placed third.
In photography, Karim Guzman from Palo Alto High placed third and Viki Diaz from Los Altos placed second. In third place was Chris Berger from Monta Vista, Claire Mahney from Gunn, Sarah Berry from Palo Alto High and Stephen Canale from Monta Vista.
Honorable Mentions were given to Patricia Zhang of Cupertino High, Brian Zhu of Gunn, Crystal Lee of Homestead, Ellie Foy of Los Gatos High, Alisha Deshmukh of Monta Vista, Ashley Hartwell of Palo Alto High and Georgina Silva of Westmont High.
