Honoring creativity at Wasco Woman's Club Fine Arts Awards

The Wasco Woman's Club held its 2024 Wasco High School Fine Arts Awards recently, giving Wasco High School young talent a platform to shine and exhibit their exemplary artistic skills. Under the guidance of art teacher Julie Pineo, eight students received accolades for their one-of-a-kind art pieces created in various mediums.

Mahalia Bradshaw won the Graduating Senior Art Award for her torn-paper mosaic, "Thoughts."

"With my self-portrait piece, I wanted it to really be a resemblance of me with things that I love and what I love about myself, for example, my natural hair and lashes that I incorporated and the character "Hello Kitty," which has been an artifact that I've enjoyed since childhood."

"What inspired me was the fact that I daydream a lot when I have nothing else to think about. I come out and let my mind think what it wants to think, and it's always happy thoughts."

With the recognition of her artwork, she said, "It would not have gotten the recognition it did without my art teacher, Mrs. Pineo, asking if it could go into the competition, which I'm glad that she did because now my art piece took 1st place, and it gets to be shared in the paper for Wasco and hopefully inspire other artists to put themselves out there even with a bit of doubt."

Betsaida Corona received the Special Art Award for her piece, "Giraffe," which was created in colored pencil.

"I wanted to draw a giraffe for my sister because that is her favorite animal. She is having a baby, and I wanted a picture of a giraffe for her to hang in the baby's nursery."

She said about the process of creating the artwork, "I drew the background in all black, then added the details in color, and worked from the picture I picked out."

The message she was trying to convey with her piece was that sometimes it's okay to be alone.

As a freshman, she feels she's on the right path to becoming an accomplished artist. "If I continue to study art, I can excel."

The Grades 9-12 First Place Winner went to sophomore Amy Fernandez for her work, "LU," a portrait of her family dog created in oil pastels and watercolors.

"I painted LU because I've had him since I was little; he really means a lot to me. Recently, he had got in an accident, and we got scared, and painting him was a way to make something special about him."

"I liked the way it came out. He looks great, and my mom likes it too."

Of the techniques that she employed, she said, "I used different textures and shadowing to make it look as realistic as possible." She said the message she wanted to get across with the painting of her subject was that she wanted to demonstrate that he was really joyful. "I want to show in the picture that he was super happy."

She said it been great working with Pineo. "She really has good advice for her students. It's been a good experience with her."

"She taught me how to bring out the shadows, how some colors will make some other colors stand out, and how to bring out the whites to make them more white to give it more of a warm or cool tone. She's helped take my art skills to another level."

She said she didn't expect to win but was hoping she would place. "I was really happy about it, a little shocked and very excited when I found out."

Other awards were presented, including grades 9-12 second place winner Raylene Hernandez, grades 9-12 third place winner Nevaeh Sanchez, honorable mention Alanie De La Torre, honorable mention Sky Zendejas and honorable mention Bryan Carranza.

WHS art teacher and Department Chair for Fine Arts Julie Pineo said it was wonderful that the Woman's Club gives this opportunity every year. "It's nice the students can put this on their resumes."

Diane Waterhouse, a member and past president of the Woman's Club, said, "She is an incredible art teacher. Working with her is a pleasure; what she teaches them to do is absolutely surprising. It's amazing. You just have to look at the details and recognize what fantastic things she's teaching them."