Westlake Art Guild showcases student artwork

Every year Oak Park art students enter the Westlake Village Art Guild competition, a collaboration between the Agoura Hills Cultural Arts Council and the Westlake Art Guild, which is open to high schools in Conejo Valley. These juniors and seniors are drawn from art teacher Anna Lovejoy’s Advanced Drawing and Painting and AP 2-D Art classes and can submit up to two of their pieces. To make it into the art show, these pieces are scored independently by three judges and receive a collective score. This year only the pieces in the top 20 percent of scores were accepted into the art show.

“We have less this year only because the Westlake Art Guild told me that they have narrowed it down considerably… [For] the kids that have been chosen, it’s a huge, huge honor because it’s Conejo-wide; it’s all the high schools,” Lovejoy said.

She originally brought awareness of the Westlake Art Guild to the high school. “The Westlake Art Guild sends us publications and newsletters about the student art show… Little by little we’ve had more kids enter,” Lovejoy said. “The Westlake Art Guild…[recognizes] the high quality and the caliber of the students and the artwork.”

The show has three categories: 2-D Art, Digital Photography and 3-D Art. Students must frame their works, if accepted, and these pieces are shown at Agoura Hills’ Historic Reyes Adobe. Students who have at least one accepted entry are eligible to place first, second, third or receive an honorable mention, with corresponding cash prizes of $100, $75, $50 or $25 respectively. There is also one $250 Best-in0Show prize awarded and various other scholarships from independent sponsors and families.

However, beyond the prizes, there is even greater significance to being accepted into the show. Historically, multiple famous figures had their work placed in the Reyes Adobe gallery, including Jane Seymour, Butch Hartman and Wes Van Dyke.

Competition is fierce but Oak Park has a strong record of students who have had entries accepted.

This year’s reception and awards ceremony was held April 24. Not only did the reception include food, music and an opportunity for attendees to view the displayed pieces in the gallery, but there are also a guest invited to give speeches. The main guest for this annual event was Butch Hartman, who is the mind behind the childhood favorite television shows “Fairly Odd Parents” and “Danny Phantom.”

What was especially memorable about the ceremony this year was the amount of attendees. During the award ceremony there was standing room only, despite the increased selectivity on the part of the Westlake Art Guild. Family, friends and some community members came to see the displayed talent gathered within walls of the Historic Reyes Adobe site.

The 2015 accepted applicants from Oak Park High School were Hannah Rose Balke, Juliana Furgala, Caitlin Takeda, Laura Woo and Lauryn Wood, all either current or former AP art students whose works were entered in the 2-D Art category.

The artworks of the accepted applicants are remarkably sophisticated, and many are the products of long histories of artistic talent.

“I have been drawing my entire life. In fifth grade I got my first book of horses. Since then, I’ve been drawing horses,” Wood said.

One of her art showpieces is a pointillism piece based upon a real horse named Dallas that she recently lost. It took Wood approximately three and a half months to complete the piece.

“It’s made up of, oh, probably thousands of dots…I’ve done so much plain drawing so I decided to do stippling. Dallas is the one that I lost, so that picture means so much to me. I didn’t just take a random horse and draw it. I took a picture of a horse from my heart and put him into my art,” Wood said.

The effort and the heart showed as Lauryn Wood walked away with the Best in Show ribbon and $250 dollars for her piece “I Dream of Dallas.” Wood said, “I didn’t expect it at all. Everyone else’s was so beautiful and I loved walking around to look at everything. I actually went back three times over the weekend to stare at everyone’s pictures. And then after [seeing them], I won? I couldn’t believe [it]!” The recognition is a positive sign to Wood, who dreams of going into the arts in the future. “I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything but art,” said Wood.

Balke expressed similar feelings about art. She received two awards: Honorable Mention for her piece “Self Portrait” and Excellence in the Arts for her “Reflections.” Butch Hartman presented the certificate for the latter award, which also came with a $250 art scholarship.

She commented on her piece: “I like the composition, the way she’s turning away makes her look very mysterious, which was why I really wanted to paint it,” Balke said.

That feeling is a key part in what led Hartman to choose Balke to receive the award.

Woo was the third recipient from Oak Park. She won first place in the 2-D Art category for her piece “Self Portrait.” She said that she likes to draw herself for her pieces.

“I know myself better and so I can make it more realistic,” Woo said.

Lovejoy was excited for the success of her students and showed a positive outlook for years to come. “Oak Park High School has developed a name for ourselves with the art department. A woman in the arts program at Oaks Christian came up to me and [told me] they’ve been following the work of the students in our art department for years. It’s great to see the students’ work recognized.”

The art teachers involved were also honored, declared to be the “most important people in the room” for fostering creativity and participation in the arts.

In the end, despite the many awards presented that night, the art always comes back to the heart.

“My horse is still winning me ribbons,” Wood said. “To know that he’s still with me, that he’s still helping me, that he’s still doing things for me is amazing.”