2015 Grandparent Portrait Show Winners

Artist Bio: Hunter Scott-Bartz says that he has been carrying around hunks of clay in his pocket since he was five years old.  He loves to make things out of modeling clay.  “It doesn’t harden and can be continually worked.”  Hunter comes from a family of artists.  Both of his grandmothers were artists, one of them a sculptor, and both of his brothers are artists – one prefers sculpture and one drawing.  Hunter has a large collection of his sculptures – small warriors, animals, even busts of famous people.  He has frequently given his teachers small busts he creates in their likenesses.

Hunter decided to honor his Grandpa for his portrait.  Albert, “a quiet, kind, stoic man,” lives in Palos Verdes with his Grandmother Mima.  A retired engineer who built satellites, Albert now raises dogs and cockatiels in his retirement.  Hunter used an old photo of his grandfather sitting on a rocking chair to work from.  His talent shows in his ability to turn a two dimensional photo into a three dimensional form with so many details in a small area.  He added a second dog and a book to his design. Look closely and you can see many details in Hunter’s small statue of “Albert: Kind, Gentle Spirit.”

Currently Hunter is taking three art classes as a Senior at the Visual Academy of Design and Art (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School.  Next year he plans to have a traveling “gap year”,  He is considering travelling in Italy and England and even is thinking of Japan. After his gap year, Hunter plans to attend Santa Barbara Community College before attending an art college.  In addition to Art he also plans to major in Business.

Artist Bio: Chloe’s grandmother, Kathleen Berry, passed away two months before Chloe was born in Cottage Hospital.  She was from Liverpool, England, moved to the United States with her husband, and lived in the Bay area.  Chloe’s middle name is Kathleen, after her grandmother.  Her grandfather now lives nearby in Santa Barbara and visits Chloe and her family every day.

This drawing is based on a photograph of Kathleen Berry that Chloe’s mother found in a box at home.  A sophomore at San Marcos High School, Chloe made it in Ms. Alexander’s class–her first art class, ever.  She enjoyed the class so much that she plans on taking Painting next year and Advanced Painting her senior year.  She loves the block scheduling system at San Marcos because her classes last for 90 minutes instead of 45 minutes, which makes working on assignments like this much easier.

Chloe would like to take an Art class at Santa Barbara City College during the summer if this does not conflict with her family’s travel plans.

Artist Bio: This portrait of Susanna’s Swedish grandfather, Per Axel Lofvander, shows him lifting a glass of cognac, his favorite drink. Mr. Lofvander, at 87, is a retired dentist who loves to travel and owns a collection of cognac glasses.  Susanna and her family visit him and her many cousins in Sweden where he lives on an island in the Baltic Sea.  She loves spending time there every summer when it is sunny and the days are very long because it is located so far north.

Susanna used black and white charcoal on gray paper to make her drawing after observing her teacher, Ms. Alexander, demonstrate various techniques such as shading and highlights using a document camera.  The entire class was able to watch their teacher on a large Apple TV screen as she drew and explained the process, step-by-step.

An eighth grader now, Susanna says that she has been drawing “forever” and is serious about continuing her studies in Art, hopefully at the Visual Art and Design Academy (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School next year.

Artist Bio: This portrait depicts Roman and Martina Hurtado, the great grandparents of Ernesto Hurtado, a senior at Dos Pueblos High School.  Roman passed away two years before Ernesto was born.  Called “Papaman” by his family, Roman painted decorative borders in churches in Mexico.  Martina was a housewife, known as “Nina.” When Ernesto was two years old, he traveled to León in Guanajuato, Mexico and met his great grandmother.  He returned in 2012 and enjoyed seeing his grandmother and other family members there.  He hopes to go again this year.

Ernesto’s drawing of his father’s mother holding him when he was an infant was chosen for The Grandparents Portrait Show in 2013.  This year, he made a drawing of his mother’s grandparents with the goal of demonstrating improvement—and, he has succeeded!  Using a #2 pencil, he drew at home in his own quiet space, starting at the top of the paper and working down.  He did not use a grid, but focused on the shapes instead.  He spent around six weeks completing the drawing.

Ernesto hopes to attend Santa Barbara City College next year.  Inspired by the realistic special effects dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, he would like to work in film production.

Artist Bio: This pencil drawing is based on a photograph of Johanna’s sister, mother and great grandfather, Merrill Lincoln Adams, who was a mercury miner near Lake Tahoe. Johanna remembers her great grandfather vividly from family trips to that region when she was very young. As a younger man, Mr. Adams suffered from mercury poisoning in the mines and went to the hospital where he met his wife, who was a nurse there.

Johanna used a mechanical pencil to create her drawing—the same pencil she uses for schoolwork everyday! She chose to work on the drawing at home because she was focused on other projects in her school art classes.  Johanna loves art and has always been involved with art, perhaps because her mother is an Art Teacher at El Camino Elementary School in Goleta.

Now in her junior year, Johanna is exploring several small, liberal arts colleges to attend, possibly in Oregon. She is seriously interested in Environmental Studies, but she vows to continue doing art “to keep myself sane!”

Artist Bio: Manon’s oil painting on canvas paper is of her grandfather who lives in Santa Barbara.  She chose this photo of him playing croquet partly because he recently has undergone knee surgery and this will remind him of earlier days. Her grandfather was in the Navy when he met her grandmother at age 18.  They married and had four children and he became a technical writer. He was always a family man, says Manon. “He was home with the family every night.”

Manon chose to use oil for this piece because oils enabled her to paint in detail. She usually works in charcoal and draws larger shapes with a more graphic look.

Now in her senior year, Manon will soon decide on the college she wants to attend. She is considering a college in Montreal and one in California.  She plans to go into Marketing Management and knows that her graphic and Photoshopping skills learned at The Visual Arts and Design Academy at Santa Barbara High School will be useful.

Artist Bio: Aleeza took this photo of her grandmother whom she calls “Ami Ji” while she was reading a story from her Pakistani culture to her grandchildren. She was wearing a traditional dress because the family was celebrating. Ami Ji has lived in Santa Barbara with Aleeza’s family for twenty years.

Aleeza chose to focus on Ami Ji’s hands because she loves the warmth and comfort she receives from her. Aleeza is in two art classes at Dos Pueblos.  This entry is from her photography class. She says that art is an important part of her life, and she is especially attracted to architecture which she wants to combine with her interest in Engineering.

Aleeza is a Senior and plans to begin her college experience at Santa Barbara Community College. Then she will decide where to go to pursue her combination of interests.

Artist Bio: This portrait depicts “Lolly”—who is 92 years old and lives in San Diego. Her real name is Lorraine and she is the great grandmother of Daisy O’Mahoney. Daisy’s best childhood memories are of taking the train to visit her!  Lolly is super positive and nice, takes good care of herself, and calls to check in with Daisy often. She makes colorful landscape paintings and gorgeous fashion sketches of women in the 1940s using Crayola markers.  Daisy says that her great grandmother’s artwork inspires her own art making.

Although Daisy knew about past Grandparents Portrait Shows, she didn’t participate until this year. Now she is a senior and she realized that this was her last chance. First, she made a light pencil sketch, next she added black lines using pen and ink, and then she completed the portrait by adding a bright yellow background.

Artist Bio: Alisson painted this bright oil painting of her grandfather who lives on Rancho San Luis Patricio in central Mexico. The photo she used as a source was taken on a day while he was building a home for her grandmother. Her grandfather was a construction worker in addition to raising animals and farming on the ranch. Alisson has seen her grandfather only a few times, but her grandmother visits regularly.

Alisson chose to attend the Visual Arts and Design Academy at Santa Barbara High School because art is such a pleasure for her. She enjoys using a high color palette and working in oils.

Next year Alisson will attend Santa Barbara Community College and may major in psychology.  She is interested in law enforcement. She says art will always be part of her life. It is her escape. “It is just me.”

Artist Bio: This mixed media portrait is of Everet, Katherine’s only surviving great grandparent, holding Katherine when she was a baby. Her “Papa” Everet lives in Los Angeles and she loves seeing him each year during the winter holidays. Everet was a policeman in Huntington Beach and now he’s healthy in his nineties.

Katherine combined fulfilling a mixed media assignment with her desire to enter the Grandparent Portrait Show. She photocopied the photograph of her grandfather and painted over it.  She found images that reminded her of all of her grandparents to form the collage background.

A junior, Katherine is in her second  year in the Visual Design and Art Academy (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School, and art is her pleasure. She is equally interested in Math and Science. She currently has no college plans, but plans to keep art work as part of her life.

Artist Bio: Andrew Castleberg, Giulia’s great grandfather, was a farmer in Wisconsin. On a cold snowy New Year’s day in the early 40’s he was listening to the Rose Bowl game radio broadcast from sunny Pasadena – 71 degrees! Not long after, he drove his family of eleven to California in their big De Soto to start a new life. Within several years they moved to Santa Barbara from LA and Andrew Castleberg and his brother opened the Western Auto store on State Street where Paseo Nuevo now stands. The large family has lived here ever since and Giulia is a third generation Santa Barbaran.

The photo Giulia used for this portrait was taken by her aunt when Andrew was in his 80’s and still a vibrant, stylish man. She painted it on masonite with acrylics, a media she enjoys. Giulia began her interest in art in John Houchin’s art class at Santa Barbara Junior High. When she decided to attend the Engineering Academy at Dos Pueblos High School she enjoyed the assignments that combined engineering with art. She asked DP Art Teacher Diana Hemsley if she could be an independent art student and often creates or adapts art assignments to fit her interests.

Giulia is a Senior and next year she will attend Harvey Mudd College in Clairmont. She chose this college because it is strong in Science and Engineering but also emphasizes Humanities. She plans to continue finding ways to combine her aesthetics and engineering interests, perhaps in Industrial Design.