PAL's Pals Student Art Competition Announces Winners

PAL's Pals 2021, the very first online art show and competition for Middle and High School students initiated by the Pleasanton Art League (PAL), is currently live and hosted on PAL's website until May 31.

All the pieces of artwork across all media were judged by local artists. A total of 52 entries were received (25 Middle School + 27 High School students) from 26 schools (13 Middle + 13 High Schools) in a variety of media including acrylic, oil, watercolor, alcoholic markers, colored pencils, mixed media, pencil drawing, charcoal, gouache and digital art.

The cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon, Danville, Fremont, Union City, and San Jose were all represented in the submissions in addition to two out of State entries that both received merit awards.

PAL members George Garbarino and Tina Chan judged the high school entries and awarded Best in Show, five Merit Awards and five Honorable Mentions.

Best in Show: Larissa Hom for “Cadence”
Merit Awards: Risa Mohapatra for “Blossom Acrylic”, Cindy Zhou for “My Way”, Helen Wang for “Chasing Dreams”, Siddhi Shinde for “Boycott”, Neha Narayanam for “Hopeful”.
Honorable Mentions: Shreya Elena Patro for “The Twin Fish”, Maha Parsons for “Cottage in the Woods”, Subrahmanian Hari for “One Inch from Disaster”, Catie Xun for “Morph”, Kaitlin Miller for “Elnia+Mucca”

PAL members Natalia Gavrilova and Chandana Srinath judged the middle school entries and awarded Best in Show, five Merit Awards and five Honorable Mentions.

Best in Show: Jihoo (Catherine) Kim for “Limited Colors”
Merit Awards: James Zhang for “My 2020”, Harini Penumuchu for “Good Boy, Tokyo!”, Nishka Iyer for “Avocado”, Samiksha Gudipati for “Guiding Light”, Sneha Chidambaram for “Splash of Colors”
Honorable Mentions: Angela Qian for “Serene Lake”, Niharendu Pal for “Snowy Barn”, Lauren Tran for “Cherry Blossom Moonlight”, Sydney Yang for “Orange Raincoat”, Beverley Lam for “Goddess of Hope”.

It took a dedicated team of volunteers to allow this show to come to fruition. The first-time event had a first-time Show Chair, Jennifer Huber, an artist well known for her engaging and informative art classes. Jennifer is passionate about art history and has a wealth of information to share with her students who take her classes at the Bothwell Art Center in Livermore.

When asked about her impression of the show Jennifer remarked “What amazing artists are growing up in the area! The sophistication and originality of the pieces really astounded me. I think the best thing we did, putting on this show, was to ask the students to tell us about their work. Many times, their comment is as important as the image, itself. I also want to say, I am heartened by all the entries. It is hard for a new artist to put their work out for a competition: very personal. I hope all the artists who entered this year will continue to create art on their own.”

Assisting the Show Chair was Meghana Mitragotri, the Scholarship Chair for the Pleasanton Art League, who has been instrumental in getting several art events up and running during the pandemic including the highly successful New Dawn art show for the Livermore Art Association.

“As an organization, we felt that it was important to set a platform to showcase and recognize the talent of young artists in our communities," said Meghana "the quality of art in this show is mind-blowing and the descriptions truly inspiring. The wealth of knowledge that these students possess about art and the precision of techniques demonstrated in a wide range of 2D media is a treat for the eyes, mind, and soul! I am so thankful to all the students for participating in our first, and to the parents for their love, encouragement, and support. We intend to award every student with a certificate of participation along with a letter that includes the Judges’ comments. It was a joy being a part of the PAL’s Pals Team!”

Marion Huff, PAL webmaster, handled the technical aspects of the online show making it simple for students to enter the show and making the online display easy to navigate. PAL Publicity Manager Lorraine Wells introduced the name PAL's Pals and designed the signature logo, postcards, and certificates (for all students).

The PAL’s Pals show was designed in a way that that helps students learn and gain the experience of entering a real professional art show – from preparing the most ideal format of artwork images for submission, to teaching them the importance of giving credit when using another work for inspiration, to gathering expert comments from the judges as part of art education.

Beth Okurowski, President of the Pleasanton Art League commented "I am impressed and heartened by the hard work and passion that this team has put into this show for students. PAL’s Pals supports our belief that the arts are an essential element of a rich and vibrant community, and that they are fundamental for developing individual potential. The Pleasanton Art League is dedicated to making the visual arts an integral part of the fabric of life in the Tri-Valley Area, and encourages an environment that embraces creativity and its expression.

The online show was timed to coincide with Arts, Culture and Creativity Month in Alameda County to use the opportunity to give young creative talent an opportunity to shine and to introduce them to the juried art process.

Click here to view the Online PAL's Pals Show.

The next competitive event for local youth will be the Alameda County Fair Fine Art Competition which has the deadline of Tuesday, June 1st.