Student artists from Oak Park High School submitted one piece of their artwork to the 2021 Student Juried Art Show Awards sponsored by the Westlake Village Art Show of Conejo Valley in March. Out of approximately 145 juniors and seniors from all Conejo Valley high schools who submitted, four OPHS students placed in the 2-D Fine Art category: junior Neha Jag in first place, senior Ruby Ikeler in second place, junior Kimia Nuban in third place and senior Ally Adamski for honorable mention.

According to drawing and painting teacher Anna Mendez, students could submit any piece of work in the categories of 2-D Fine Art, Sculpture and Photography. Judging was “blind,” meaning judges were not provided names of students, nor what school they attended, when receiving students’ work.

Nuban, who is currently taking the AP 2-D Studio Art course, submitted her piece “In the Moonlight.” The piece was greatly inspired by the film “Moonlight” and the song “White Ferrari” by Frank Ocean.

“In Moonlight, there is a scene where [a] line that is said is, ‘In the moonlight, black boys turn blue,’” Nuban wrote to the Talon. “I think a lot of the time people fear the dark because of the unknown rather than to rely on the known. The moon is always there to guide us in the dark; it’s like a lantern in that way.”

Drawing upon the themes presented in Moonlight, as well as the idea of being lost presented in “White Ferrari,” Nuban stated she wanted to draw a child looking up at the audience as if it were the moon, “the only thing that can guide the child out of this isolated forest.” By doing so, the presumably lost child would be found by the viewer.

“Lost, isolated and not ready to accept the fact that he is not meant to be with his lover, Frank [Ocean] sings of another world where problems don’t exist,” Nuban wrote. “What Frank is singing for is what I wanted the child to have found. A sense of comfort in the unknown.”

Mendez also mentioned that OPHS student artists won big at the “Hang with the Best” art competition sponsored by the Arts Council of Conejo Valley, earlier in March.

The result of the art show, as well as the overall effort of OPHS student artists, reflects upon the passion within these pieces of work, according to Mendez.

“I’m so proud of my students,” Mendez wrote to the Talon. “They’ve worked so consistently and put so much innovation and experimentation into their pieces. I see heart and soul and pure passion in their art.”