Boys & Girls Club Photo Winners On Display at Laguna Art Museum

Submitted by the Laguna Art Museum:

Laguna Art Museum and the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach have teamed up to present ImageMakers National Photography Contest: Pacific Regional Winners, on display in the museum's Young Artists Society Gallery through May 19.

The ImageMakers contest is organized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, sponsored by Sony Electronics, with winners advancing through local and regional contests before eventually competing in a field of 4,000 entries at the National Headquarters. This year the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach facilitated the Pacific Regional Contest, which draws from seven western states.

For this year’s local competition, over 120 Boys & Girls Club members, ages 6 to 18, presented 800 photos in a wall-to-wall exhibition in the 6th Annual National ImageMakers Photography Exhibit. The exhibition was on display at the main branch of the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach through April 6. The photographs were judged by local photographers Tom Lamb and Mary Church, along with Mike Kahn, the director of Sony Alpha Camera Systems and president of Photoimaging Manufactureres and Distributors.

The Pacific Regional Winners, whose work will be on display at Laguna Art Museum and who will advance to the national contest, are:

Samantha Cheng, age 13 (California)
Edwards Air Force Base Youth Programs

Lily Corder, age 12 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach

(Lily's photo - titled "Me" (2013) -  is featured here with this story. She is the only Laguna Beach participant to make it on to the regional round.)

Javier Cortes, age 17 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Pueblo del Sol, Los Angeles

Amira Donnelly, age 16 (California)
Variety Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles

Sarah Ecker, age 8 (California)
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, Tenderloin Clubhouse

Rachael Graupner, age 6 (Arizona)
Fort Hauchuca School-Age Center Fort Hauchuca

Joey Hageudorn, age 14 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Pueblo del Sol, Los Angeles

Aaron Henriquez, age 13 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Pueblo del Sol, Los Angeles

Kenera Howard, age 7 (California)
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, Willie Mays Club House

Melissa Li, age 17 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, Tenderloin Clubhouse

Trinity Mikhail, age 7 (California)
MCAS Miramar Youth & Teen Center San Diego

Michelle Nish, age 16 (Washington)
Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound, Lakewood Club Site Tacoma

Ayana Norwood, age 13 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco, Willie Mays Club House

Johny Ortiz, age 12 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Malibu

Geogia Pori, age 10 (California)
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, Columbia Park Clubhouse

Maya Ramos, age 10 (California)
Boys & Girls Club of Pueblo del Sol, Los Angeles

“By introducing members to photography and digital arts, we are giving them the tools and opportunity to explore ways to express who they are creatively and to think outside of the box, starting at a young age,”  said Laguna Beach Club Art Director Emily Murray.

This is the third time that Laguna Art Museum and the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach have collaborated on an exhibition. The first one was to exhibit the Pacific Regional Fine Arts winning works in 2007, and the second was In Our Imagination, which featured paintings by members ages 5 to 12 inspired by artist Allison Schulnik. The exhibition was on display in the museum's Young Artists Society Gallery February 24 through April 14, 2013.

“We are delighted to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach once again, and to expose the excellent work of these young artists to a wider audience,” said Laguna Art Museum Curator of Education Marinta Skupin.

The Young Artists Society Gallery is located on the lower level of the museum’s gallery space and features artwork by K-12 students from Orange County schools and non-profit groups throughout the year. The rotation of shows coincides with the museum’s exhibition schedule, and student work is displayed in the same professional manner as art in the rest of the galleries. Laguna Art Museum’s Education Department collaborates closely with teachers to prepare for an exhibition, with student work based on--and inspired by--one of the other exhibitions on display at the museum at the same time. Students also receive a special behind-the-scenes tour of the museum in the weeks before their exhibition. A special Young Artists Society Gallery opening reception takes place at the museum on the Sunday afternoon following regular night-time members’ openings of new exhibitions.