Three winners at the Juried Student Art Exhibit split $2,000

LBCC’s Juried Student Art Exhibition concluded on March 26 with an award ceremony announcing $2,000 in prizes for the winning participants. 

The first-place prize of $1,000 was awarded to Mary Warner for her “At a Loss” piece, which combined a cast of a lower leg with a projected video onto it. 

“The video is a bunch of islands in the middle of the ocean, and then a wave comes,” Warner said.

Warner’s piece was created as her final project in LBCC’s experimental photography class and was inspired by personal losses that left her feeling helpless. 

Warned mentioned that she hopes the piece can lay the groundwork for a path toward recovery.

Second place, which included a $600 prize, was awarded to Matt Mageno, a transgender artist, for a self-portrait series called “Dare You to See” representing his personal transition journey.

The final cash prize of $400 was awarded to Jenna Le for a ceramic piece called “A Sky for a Child” which used clay and glaze of various patterns and textures to tell a story about future generations navigating the wreckage of late-stage capitalism. 

^{Ceramic piece, “A Sky for a Child” by Jenna Le, won third place at the award ceremony for the Juried Student Art Exhibition on March 26. (Ryan Guerrero)}

The ceremony was hosted by LBCC’s art gallery and exhibitions manager, Karla Aguiniga.

“I feel like it got good traction. The student art shows (are) always a very popular exhibition,” Aguiniga said.

Aguiniga went on to reveal that the exhibition was originally meant to happen later this spring, but was rescheduled to avoid conflict with artist Maria Maea’s exhibition, which will be on display in the gallery starting May 19. 

Maea is a Samoan-Mexican American artist who uses art to reflect on her upbringing in Southern California.

“I think it’s gotten some good attention, but changing the dates probably affected it a little bit. We have gotten pretty good numbers, but I would say maybe a little bit lower than normal, but it’s only because the dates were changed,” Aguiniga said.

During the month-long exhibition, another artist, Roland Brooks, had his piece take up most of the space on the back wall, which is an immediately visible backdrop when walking through the main door of the gallery.

The piece, called “Portals,” is a spray-painted canvas painting replicating a reversed out picture of Brooks’ grandfather riding a horse. 

According to Brooks, LBCC’s art department encouraged him to “throw it in” the exhibition. 

“I took the fine art photography class, which was new to me, and I learned a lot about traditional photography. Then they said to throw it in here (into the exhibition). I’m very appreciative that they made an exception to my work,” Brooks said.