The Betteravia Gallery North and South—located at the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Government Administration Building—buzzed with the excited chatter of teenagers and adults during the early evening of May 18. It was the opening reception for the Spring 2016 Santa Barbara County Teen Arts Mentorship Group Exhibition, and the teens that participated in the program were proudly sharing and discussing their work with parents, friends, and their teachers.
The exhibit is the result of a mentoring program made possible through The Arts Fund, a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit that has spearheaded arts programs in the county since 1983. The Teen Arts Mentorship program connected local high school students with professional artists and art teachers at no cost to the teens. Through collaboration with Santa Maria City Recreation and Parks—which provided a home for the classes at the Abel Maldonado Youth Center—and the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, which partnered with The Arts Fund, the exhibit is able to show the output of the program.
Ernest Righetti High School senior Dominique Padoy stood next to the piece she selected for the show, a semi-realistic painting of a woman’s face with abstract overtones. She told the Sun that she had never attempted any abstract work or studied it until her involvement with the mentorship program.
“I was used to realism, like, creating images of people,” Padoy said. “This was really fun to explore and learn different techniques of abstract painting, as well as trying to make it look abstract and real at the same time.”
Padoy’s mother, Patricia Hernandez, was with her too, and said that her daughter initially began her artistic education on her own with YouTube videos. She said she was thankful that a mentorship program was available for her daughter.
“She’s evolved into this little artist,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s so important for young kids to have this available to them because it allows them to grow into the artist they already are. My daughter said she learned techniques she never even imagined exploring, and this has allowed her to open up her creativity.”
Just a few paintings away stood Pioneer Valley High School sophomore Vanessa Osaldu with her work, a mixed-media piece that relied heavily on painting. With muted hues and simple shadowing, it revealed a lone, gray burro standing next to a table.
In true still-life fashion, a bowl sits on the table in the painting, but the bowl isn’t filled with fruit. Making up the brightest colors in the painting, the bowl contains only a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Osaldu said that a big inspiration in her creative process is irony, though the piece she chose for the exhibit couldn’t be considered indicative of her overall style.
“I don’t think I’ve got my style down,” she said. “I don’t think I have enough experience to say that yet.”
Two free educational workshops include abstract painting with Craig Trapp on June 11, and printmaking with Angelina LaPointe on July 23, both from 10 a.m. to noon at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center, 600 S. McClelland St., Santa Maria.
More is available at [email protected] or 568-3994.
Both Padoy and Osaldu worked with local artist Craig Trapp, who was asked by representatives of The Arts Fund to teach and mentor for the program. Trapp is an abstract artist who brought his own work to the class and even created with the kids.
“I don’t know any people older than me that are artists,” Osaldu said. “So I think this is a good experience because I get to see their point of view on lots of things.”
Trapp shared a variety of his work with the students, he told the Sun, and talked with them about their own work. He also introduced them to the work of famous abstract artists and the different schools of abstract expressionism in art.
“I was just trying to get them to see a style that might be similar to something they might want to do, to inspire them to try something like that,” Trapp said. “But first of all, I gave them the freedom and the license to make mistakes. Because if you’re not making mistakes you’re not taking risks, and that’s what you’ve got to do in creativity.”
The Arts Fund has collaborated with local agencies and artists over the past few years in an effort to push its reach more into Northern Santa Barbara County. The Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum got a new mural thanks to The Arts Fund’s collaboration with John Hood and Santa Maria Recreation and Parks.
Two founding board members of The Arts Fund were at the reception too, Shirley Dettmann and Joanne Holderman, who were excited to see the results of the program.
“The Betteravia center used to be a very simple little place, and now it’s just fabulous!” Dettman said.
The Teen Arts Mentorship program has expanded quite a bit since it began 20 years ago, they explained. What was once a drawing program available only in South County is now reaching students from schools throughout North and South Santa Barbara County.
They said the program helps young artists hone their craft, while at the same time illustrating to the students that a career in the arts is possible. The Arts Fund was able to achieve the program after being approached by the James Irvine Foundation, which gave the fund a substantial grant in 1994, explained Holderman.
“Nobody knew what the word mentorship was all about—the one-on-one for a student with a teacher—they don’t get that even in the art classes in the general schools,” Holderman said. “They get to experience an artist in their own home base, and then they get to develop a portfolio.”
Bringing the students’ portfolios out to show is an important part of the process as well, one that the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission was ready to help with, explained the commission’s chief curator, Maiza Hixson.
The Arts Commission is used to working with The Arts Fund and its Teen Mentorship Program at venues like the Channing Peake Gallery in Santa Barbara, Hixson said. The Betteravia Gallery is the perfect place to showcase the program’s output as well, she said, because it’s available to so many in the North County.
“If we at the Arts Commission can encourage young artists, that’s something we definitely want to do,” she said. “And the Betteravia Gallery serves all the people of North County, it’s a public space, and it’s free. It’s open during regular business hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and everybody is welcome.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne always feels welcome wherever there is art. Contact him at [email protected].
