Petaluma Arts Center’s Youth Art Exhibit goes virtual

Titled ‘Shelter at Home,’ Petaluma’s annual showcase of young artists continues in 2020, without frames, walls or an actual gallery.|

SEE FOR YOURSELF

SEE FOR YOURSELF

What: The Petaluma Arts Center 2020 Youth Arts Exhibit

Where: PetalumaArtsCenter.org

When: The show will be running virtually though June 15, 2020.

“Every child is an artist.”

This celebrated quote by Pablo Picasso stands as a kind of philosophical subtitle to the current Petaluma Arts Center Youth Art Exhibition, “Shelter in Place.” The exhibit is now viewable as a streaming slideshow on the website of the downtown gallery where, under normal circumstances, the artists’ work would be displayed on the center’s walls. That being impossible, curator Kate Blakeslee has instead found a way to offer the community a glimpse at these youthful creators’ works, while they (and we) stay safely at a distance.

Evolving the annual exhibit to an online format has certainly not been without challenges, including the simple obstacle of reaching area students without the usual means of art class calls for submissions and other tools. Even under such difficult conditions, the arts center received an impressive number of submissions from Petaluma artists 18 and under.

“We are thrilled,” reports Blakeslee, “to have received over 70 entries. We are very happy to be honoring and supporting Petaluma’s young artists, especially during these extraordinary times.”

The submissions represent work the students have been doing while sheltering at home, as well as some pieces they created in class before the schools of California were closed. Artists were allowed to submit more than one piece.

Of the 70-something art works received, eight were selected as Best in Show, and receive the honor of a special gallery on the Arts Center’s website. Those artists are Sam Hiserote, 17, with the pencil drawing “Blink?” Willoughby Bouverat, 11, with the watercolor “Sticky Toes,” Mae McCarthy, 14, with the acrylic painting “Dream State, and Eva Beatty, 13, whose “Dreaming Of” is an acrylic on canvas.

Other best in Show artists are Maia Washburn, 16 (“Silent City,” acrylic), Dazey Miller, 9 (“The Sunset,” acrylic and ink), River Sunshine, 7 (“River’s Lion,” pencil and crayon) and Grace Hiserote, 14 (“Living Color,” oil on canvas).

The entire collection of selected pieces is running through the middle of June.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

SEE FOR YOURSELF

What: The Petaluma Arts Center 2020 Youth Arts Exhibit

Where: PetalumaArtsCenter.org

When: The show will be running virtually though June 15, 2020.

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