See the 127 Orange County high school students nominated in the specialties of ceramics, drawing, mixed media, painting, and sculpture and other 3D.
The following 127 students have been nominated for the 2023 Artist of the Year in fine arts by teachers and private instructors at Orange County high schools and arts organizations.
This arts discipline has been divided into five specialties: ceramics, drawing, mixed media, painting, and sculpture and other 3D. Semifinalists in each specialty will be chosen by a panel of visual arts teachers and announced on April 23 at ocregister.com.
The nominees are listed with an endorsement from their nominating teacher and a link to the student’s work.
Dane Michael Abbott
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“He is really thoughtful with his approach to working with clay. His interest with hand building is figurative sculpture, leaning towards abstraction. There is a lot of emotion visible in his sculptures. His greatest strength is throwing on the potter’s wheel. This year he has begun to work larger, making sectional forms. His thrown forms are vessel oriented, specifically vase forms.” — Jeffrey Picou, El Dorado High School
Loryn Baum
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“As a freshman, Loryn’s intense concentration helped her learn all the basic ceramics skills needed to start making work of her own. She would finish much earlier than other students, which gave her the time to learn additional skills including wheel throwing. During the pandemic, she was able to develop her skills further by working on and teaching ceramics at a local private ceramics studio. As a junior, I was astonished at how far her skills and passion had grown. She is advanced in her wheel-throwing skills and all of the skills needed for hand-building and glazing.” — Ysabel Gray, Tustin High School
Aiden Brunelle
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“Aiden is extremely talented in terms of his artistic abilities. He has been enrolled in ceramics all four years of his high school experience. In my AP 3D studio art class this year he is doing an excellent job, earning the one of the highest grades in that class. He has thus far exhibited creativity and a mastery of the materials on every assignment given to him.” — Jeffrey Picou, El Dorado High School
Emely Jasmin Ceballos
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“Emely is an art student who has a wonderful way of telling her story through her artwork. She is a ceramics student that is decided to draw stories from her heritage in her own way. The verbal stories that were past to her are artistically translated into images on pottery. The result is something authentic, self-reflective, and uniquely Emely Ceballos. She is the type of student that you learn from and grow from as a result of being their teacher.” – Jesse Standlea, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
Grace Dickinson
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“Grace is a true craftsman in the art of ceramics. She has grown her ability over the years. In her high school classes, Grace grew the skills of hand building along with wheel throwing. She has continued to research, practice and refine her work with an excitement that inspires her peers. Grace knows what it takes to create the type of art that starts out merely as a pencil drawing in her sketchbook. She spends time researching online and in books about possibilities. Then she brings those into conversations in the studio to further the art process to discussion with myself and fellow artists.” –— Jackie Ames, Costa Mesa High School
Sami Gaites
“Sami has a natural hand in clay. She comes to the studio with ideas that spill from her sketchbook, onto the clay and becomes a work of art for others to enjoy. Her focus often is on the fundamental basics that we all cherish. From our favorite vase we can put flowers in that makes us smile, to the bowl that we chose because it makes the comfort food we are eating taste so much better.” — Jackie Ames, Costa Mesa High School
Alexandra Hernandez
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“Alexandra’s work demonstrates her strong commitment to developing advanced ceramics skills in wheel throwing, glazing and fabrication as she takes her work beyond functional and decorative realms and into full fledged sculpture. Her unique assemblage of wheel thrown forms creates interplay of positive and negative spatial components. Alexandra seeks to explore the traditions of old world ceramic vessels and glazes while blending and melding her contemporary inspirations. Her work has an individualistic style and identity that can be seen as it breaks from the norm in the deconstruction and rebuilding process.” — Jackie Ames, Costa Mesa High School
Kason Huynh
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“What impresses me the most about this young woman is her initiative and personality. She is constantly inventing a direction to push her work. She has shown dedication and commitment to excellence, and maturity way beyond her years. Her efforts in class have also afforded her the opportunities to aid me in demonstrations but work one on one with beginning students.” — Brian Schultz, Capistrano Valley High School
Saki Johnson
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“She is poised to begin a career in Illustration and I cannot wait to see where she goes with her talent. In addition to her fantastic illustration skills, she is an amazing creative problem solver and critical thinker. Saki has completed one semester of ceramics and two semesters of orchestra, two semesters of drawing and painting, and several courses of theater, where she has not only received excellent grades but has had her work put on school wide display as well as earning several summer arts scholarships.” — Brian Schultz, Capistrano Valley High School
Breezy Kash
“Breezy Kash has a dedication to her artwork that professional artists strive to achieve. She spends countless hours researching and experimenting with new ideas and techniques. Breezy is not afraid to take risks with the creative process that she puts her work through. She has grown her skills both in handbuilding and wheel throwing and often combining the two within one piece. Breezy is a role model for others in the studio as she leads the way in a vast understanding of all the many options that our studio has.” — Jackie Ames, Costa Mesa High School
Allison Grace Marie Lindenmeyer
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“Allison Lindenmeyer is passionate about clay. She is always at work, fussing and smoothing her latest form until the natural lines and flow begin to happen and guide her through her ceramic pieces. She enjoys the feel of abstraction and thrill of creation without well defined ideas or plans. She lets the clay take her where it wants to go and it always a great delight to see the final piece.” — Jane Klammer, Orange Lutheran High School
Mia Josephine Linville
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“Mia has set out to develop a body of work which delves into the ever-important issue of mental health. This topic of study is incredibly worthwhile, and has come very easily to Mia. However, what has impressed me most, is Mia’s determination to revise and refine her process. I’ve witnessed them fail, calmly re-analyze the situation, and return to work multiple times. In each instance, Mia finds a way to improve upon the previous endeavor to produce a striking result. Mia’s concepts are bold and honest without feeling contrived; a viewer would have little trouble ascertaining the mood of their art pieces.” — Donovan Miller, Portola High School
Rosalynn Ethany Madriaga
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“Our favorite part about Rosey and her artwork is the size that she takes on. She has challenged herself to continue to increase the weight and size of the clay that she centers on the potter’s wheel. Coming in a petite size herself does not deter her, but instead, motivates her to take on that challenge. Rosey’s dedication and commitment to the work she does in her artwork and to her other core academic classes make her a role model for her fellow peers. She is always willing to volunteer and understands the importance of what it means to be part of a team.” — Kirby Piazza, Costa Mesa High School
Bethany Miyamoto
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“Bethany is an exemplary example of an artist. Bethany is the student who when given an assignment and a list of expectations consistently blows it out of the water, making things bigger and better than could be expected. Her ideas and artistic practice are something to be admired, but her humbleness to her craft is equally if not more impressive.” — Alexandra Kyte, Orange Lutheran High School
Jaiden Smith
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“Jaiden is one of the most talented beginning students I’ve encountered in nearly 20 years of teaching ceramics. She has gone above and beyond with every assignment given her this year in my class. Her designs are refreshingly unique and her execution is nearly flawless. Her mask and slab box projects really stand out in my mind. The element that she excels with is texture.” — Jeffrey Picou, El Dorado High School
Sabrina J. Stieler
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“Sabrina is a thinker and a learner. She has always exceeded in learning and questioning from a wide range of subjects, this has impacted both her world view and creativity. As a freshman she learned the basic skills and now as a senior she is combining her life experiences and her learning into her AP3D portfolio. When brainstorming her sustained investigation and inquiry question, I was impressed with her depth. Her inquiry questions are, ‘How can art make us feel for or relate to something chewed, be it by animals, humans, plants, time or the world?’” — Ysabel Gray, Tustin High School
Mariam Sultani
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“Mariam has consistently demonstrated a high level of skill, creativity, and ability to communicate artistic voice in all of her work so far this year. She constantly pushes her limits and has demonstrated artistic growth. She has a tremendous skill at developing fine surface decoration and nature motifs through carving clay and sculptural design. She created a beautifully detailed calavera pinch pot this year and finished it with an equally beautiful glaze.” — Nicholas Stecher, Anaheim High School
Garrett Teng
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“Garrett is a student who found a home in art, even though he wasn’t looking for one. Over the four years that I had the pleasure of being Garrett’s teacher, he has continually shown growth and improvement in his artistic practice, his process, and his ideas. … His work is exquisite in that he can construct objects in such a manner that technically should not be possible but continues to work and execute his ideas.” — Alexandra Kyte, Orange Lutheran High School
Trey Alejandro Wallace
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“I have had the pleasure of being Trey’s ceramics teacher for the past two years. He has shown such amazing detail and artistic ability in his sculpture work with clay. The time that Trey spends on his ceramic work has been long and attentive hours and his pieces exhibit incredible textures and surfaces. He is always finding new ways to use tools to hand-build his creations and his personality really comes through his work.” — Michelle Dziadkowicz, Marina High School
Nina Alvarez
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“Nina Alvarez is a very skilled artist in so many different media, but I would have to say her drawings stand out the most. She is captivated by drawing, painting, and working with clay. But her drawings resonate as some of her strongest works because of her careful sensitive studies and such great skill. Nina is an extremely hard-working student, and has been working very hard in fine arts for the past six years, both on campus and in private studios.” — Paige Oden, Orange County School of the Arts
Tara Bamdad
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“There is more to becoming an artist than technical skills and concepts. Tara’s character shines in class through her integrity, professionalism, accountability, and respect when providing true and constructive feedback to her peers. Tara has a unique perspective in her artwork. She is not hesitant to explore new materials and concepts.” – Samantha Squieri, Beckman High School
Aliyah Alexa Cisneros
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“Aliyah is a strong art student, has a vision for her work and a high understanding of how to utilize and execute her artistic plans. I think this will help grow her skillset and she is currently in the process of making three consecutive works that have an overall theme. She has a strong artistic skill set and this nomination will help push her toward that finish line. I have never worked with such a dedicated student, she is extremely eager to learn processes and materials and once she has the understanding she always puts her unique perspective directly into each work.” — Stacy Luskin, Westminster High School
Kate D’Amaro
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“Kate has a knack for noticing everyday objects and events, capturing the spirit of the moment, and then adding her unique touch. Last year her portfolio centered on how food brings people together, but she spent a lot of time rendering details of lunches on a table, noticing the tiny minutia of how the light reflects of crumpled juice containers and opened tin foil. There is the presence of people —hands, arms, shoes glimpsed under the table — but she withholds the portrait, really drawing the viewer in to the moment as Kate sees it. This year, she is taking her exceptional skill and mixing realistic rendering with pattern, rhythm, and repetition.” — Phillip Griswold, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
Dean Fujimoto
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“His creativity and desire to drive himself is inspirational to say the least. Each of his pieces is approached with the utmost of creativity and curiosity. He lends a twist to each and every assignment. He approaches and continues to push himself with different mediums and techniques. His curiosity is his most prized attribute and will take him far and away with his art. He takes everything in and wants to explore every possible aspect of creating.” — Pamela Toomey, Santa Margarita Catholic High School
Jessica Hernandez
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“Her talent and attention to detail is amazing. Like a true artist, she recognizes and draws things that others might overlook. For example, her current AP portfolio is about birds, especially those birds that are becoming extinct. Jessica does extensive research to help her drawing look realistic.” — Judith Westing, Santa Ana High School
Samantha Hernandez
“She has the courage to attempt different styles of approaches discovering new layers of her own style. She is not afraid to try new medium, and she will keep at an art piece with the focus and determination that it takes to go beyond passion, and strive for her personal best. Samantha quietly works away, and never stops drawing.” — Keli Marchbank, Costa Mesa High School
Samantha Hae-Min Kim
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“Samantha Kim has strong technical skills, which one perceives immediately. But even stronger are her “problem-solving” skills — her creative outlook. Samantha has a unique and powerful voice in class and out of class. One can only envision the places Samantha can go with her artistry as she further develops her voice that is both whimsical and idealistic, yet also always seeks equity and justice.” — Jeannie Mooney, Orange Lutheran High School
Chelsea Lee
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“Chelsea Lee is a skilled and dynamic artist, especially in the area of Drawing. Her graphite or charcoal drawings are always compelling and powerful with a wide range of detailed patterning, interesting compositions and painstaking attention to detail. Her drawings always stand out among any exhibit because of that attention to detail and her hard work and her examination of patterns and gradated value.” — Paige Oden, Orange County School of the Arts
Megan Lemery
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“She has a tremendous art ability and the drive and imagination to create thoughtful and evocative work. During her AP studio art course last year she focused on perceptions of childhood throughout drawing, painting and mixed media. Her images address the inner emotions of what It feels like to be a child. She is continuing this vision in the deeply detailed work she is doing this year. She is focusing on images of family and travel experiences as they tie the generations together.” – Melinda Cohea, Capistrano Valley Christian School
Shengyi Li
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“Teams of wild horses could not stop Shengyi from drawing. Ever since I met him as a freshman, he is in my classroom as much a possible, drawing through break, lunch, any free time he has. His work has a consistency of story building: each composition invites you into a new world of his imagination. This world comes together through his innate understanding of color, composition, and contrast.” — Kearci Moir Thompson, Portola High School
Amelia Lin
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“Amelia Lin’s growth as an artist is evident in the work she is producing this year. I have had the privilege to have Amelia as an art student for a few years and I am excited to share her work with Orange County. Amelia is able to take her concepts and create original work that demonstrate superior technique and dynamic compositions. Her self-expression via art making opens a dialogue with her viewers about the challenges of growing up. Cultural issues are explored and bring awareness that is both personal and universal. I’ve witnessed dynamic conversations about these issues with Amelia and her classmates that otherwise may have not occurred. Amelia’s art is a powerful communication tool.” — Jenny Ricks, Corona del Mar High School
Fiona Liu
“What I have always admired about Fengyuan’s work is her consistent ability to enchant the viewer with a singular mix of discipline and imagination. The rigor in her process is undeniable, and her pieces always feel fresh, not labored. Last summer, Fengyuan challenged herself by designing and executing stained glass windows for a chapel in our sisters’ convent. She had never worked with stained glass before but managed to create stunning images of saints that illicit delight and wonderment in everyone who sees them.” — Monica McQueen, JSerra Catholic High School
Grecia Martinez-Rosiles
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“Grecia is one of the most hardworking and independent young artists that I have had the pleasure of teaching. She completes works quickly and perfectly, striving to make each work better than the one before it. She works and re-works a piece until it looks exactly as she planned, working through each challenge with a new medium as she goes.” — Stacy Luskin, Westminster High School
Charlotte McAllister
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“Charlotte has a variety of talents as an artist. When working realistically, she patiently and carefully observes her subject, to capture subtleties of value and color. She is also skilled at fine, painstaking details that take hours to achieve. When creating an original composition, she has a great eye for arranging the elements of her composition in a way that is visually interesting and dramatic.” — Anna Sanders, La Habra High School
Edgar Nava Roman
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“Edgar is a strong artist, as he displays a high level of attention to detail and has a unique perspective that he brings into all of his pieces. No matter the prompt, Edgar always has a vision and executes his work to the best of his ability. I believe his work shows a strong understanding of subject matter and utilizing materials and this will motivate him to continue working on his artistic skills.” — Stacy Luskin, Westminster High School
Jasmine Nguyen
“Jasmine has a distinct artistic voice and a vision for her work that is entirely her own. She consistently outperforms the parameters for each artistic work assigned to her because she has a natural talent for experimenting with ideas and new approaches. When we were talking about her portfolio recently, she shared a semester-long project that was a tender and deep story about a ‘spirit’ who returned to console her family in a time of great need.” — Karen Carrie, Fairmont Preparatory Academy
Aiden Park
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“Aidan has excelled artistically within our program, as one of the most determined artists I’ve had the honor to teach. His focus is unparalleled, he will continue to chip away at a piece until it’s near perfect photo-realistic quality, a skill he’s had ever since I met him as a freshman. His 50-hour piece, a year-long assignment in our Advanced class, is exemplary — a self-portrait of himself sinking deep to the bottom of a pool, each layer refining and uncovering new things about the image.” — Kearci Moir Thompson, Portola High School
Nicole Pineda
“Her sustained investigation explores the pain of a broken heart and how the pain comes from a place of great beauty. I believe this topic is inspired by her personal loss of a loved one. Her drawings incorporate anatomical renderings of the human skeleton and heart but resist trite imagery. They have a visceral quality and are rendered with beautiful mark-making.” — Jill Christensen, Rosary Academy
XinYue Qiu
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“She is constantly taking supplies home, trying new mediums, watching video, doing studies, testing out techniques, etc. April is very talented, but what I admire most about her is her desire to learn and grow. April has grown tremendously especially over the past year because she pushes herself to go outside of her comfort zone.” — Zaidy Olivarria, Orangewood Academy
Valentino Quinteros
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“This is the first year I worked with Val, yet he is already beginning the development of his voice. Each day his concepts shine through and his passion shapes his artistic response. Currently, his Argentinian heritage is the focus of his vision. The more he creates depictions from his culture, the more his technique is developing and making a stronger presence. His talent ranges from photo realism to a more stylized version with hard edges and line work.” — Samantha Squieri, Beckman High School
Camila Ramos
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“Camilla’s enthusiasm artistic abilities come naturally to her as she plans each new piece of artwork meticulously in her sketchbook. She rises to every creative challenge and delivers an extraordinary, flawless, and beautiful response. Camilla’s work reflects her inquisitive and creative spirit, as well as her ability to regulate art aspects and concepts. She enjoys working with personal subjects, such as capturing a playful moment with friends or a sweet self-portrait with her mother in great detail.” — Karen Carrie, Fairmont Preparatory Academy
Anthony Romero
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“When I first had Anthony as a student in Beginning art, I would walk past his work and then stop with awe, excitement and praise! Anthony has amazing details and depth in his work.
