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Touting thousands of student artwork pieces, the San Benito County Office of Education held its fourth annual Art Showcase at the Veterans Memorial Building on April 9.
Partners included the San Benito County Arts Council, San Benito County Superior Court and the Hollister Women’s Club, which also assisted in mounting the show.
“We have the San Benito County Arts Council bringing the artists,” SBCOE Director Maria Leon said, “helping acquire the pieces and also helping us display them.”
The exhibition contained more than 4,000 student art works from every school in San Benito County. Leon said it included many different kinds of works, including sculpture, papier-mâché and collaborative collages that classes had built together.
Hollister student Malayna Lopez said that school counselor Cyrena Salinas asked her to participate because it allowed her to show how she expresses herself through art by practicing.
Lopez’s drawing was of a friend named Joel doing his homework at night and listening to music. It took her a long time to cut things out, paint, and draw, she said, adding that her drawing took an hour to complete and that she also painted for an hour.
She said her subject is drawn in black and white to express that he’s going through some difficulties, and he is seeing things in black and white now because he is depressed.
“His way of getting away from all this depression is listening to music,” she said, “and that’s why the background is rainbow because it shows how he can see color.”
Rancho Santana School art teacher Stephanie Skow said the entire school was involved, from TK through eighth grade.
“I teach 26 classes a week and do the entire school,” Skow said. “We spent several weeks making it look really nice for the art show, and the San Benito County Arts Council has been doing it for seven years now.”
Superior Court of San Benito County Resource Analyst Jessica Guzman said court staff usually hold their exhibition at the courthouse each year, but they wanted to expand their involvement in the student art show.
“We partnered up with the Office of Education,” Guzman said. “And then we presented the Court Choice Award, where we honored art that stood out a little but more than others.”
She said those art pieces will be featured in a digital art display at the court.
“We have a Court Choice ribbon,” she said. “And we also leave a letter to the students letting them know they’ve been selected for exceptional talent and that we would want to feature them at the court. It was about 50 or 60 awards total, and it was hard to choose.”
Makai Jones looks at his drawing at the Art Showcase. Photo by Adam Bell. 
Drawings on display Photo by Adam Bell. 
Sculptures on display. Photo by Adam Bell. 
Stephanie Lurios congratulattes Autumn Murillo for her raffle prize. Photo by Adam Bell. 
A Collaborative Diorama created by the R.O. Hardin Kkndergarten class. Photo by Adam Bell. 
San Benito Dance Connection performs. Photo by Adam Bell. 
Some of the thousands of beautiful artwork pieces. Photo by Adam Bell. 
Attendees enjoy the artwork. Photo by Adan Bell. 
The Rancho Maze Band performs. Photo by Adam Bell.
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