See the winners in dance, theater, film/animation, instrumental music, vocal music, 2D visual arts and 3D visual arts.
After months of whittling down a list of more than 500 nominees, the Orange County Register is proud to announce this year’s Artists of the Year.
They are: Irene Kim, dance; Caitlyn Phu, film/animation; Eilyssa Maclean, vocal music; Dianne Seo, instrumental music; Hannah Hart Franklin, theater; Z. Perkins, 2D visual arts; and Josh Henslick, 3D visual arts.
They are the next-generation’s Meryl Streep, a non-binary game artist, a flutist with unusual deftness and a potter who inscribes his faith into every piece he throws. There is a filmmaker exploring cultural identity through her movies, a dancer for whom movement is her way forward through life and a singer who conjures her late father’s love in every sad note.
The Register, in partnership with the Orange County Department of Education, has sought out and recognized talented arts students from around the county for the past six years.
To find the top students, artists and teachers are asked to look without and within to consider their work and how it represents their inner artist. Invariably it takes the students and often judges and teachers to remarkable places and deep explorations on self and society.
A girl examines her eating disorder and what comes out are compelling pieces of art. Another looks into the faces of homeless people and creates gripping images.
