Miniature art galleries. An animated astronaut. A collection of whimsical ceramic sea creatures.
Hundreds of Cabrillo High School students will participate in the school’s second annual Night of the Arts on Thursday, and these are some of their creations. Student work will be displayed during a gallery walk, and some items — from prints to crocheted plushies — will be available for purchase as part of a student-run maker’s market. Attendees will also be able to buy grilled cheese and Filipino baked goods from local vendors while watching student musical performances and a live podcast.
The event is the brainchild of the Cabrillo arts department, which hosted the inaugural event last year after germinating the idea at a conference for arts educators. The event was a huge success, attracting hundreds of guests, said ceramics teacher Shaina Turian. Now, she’s hoping to build on that momentum by getting every Cabrillo student enrolled in an art class to show their work on Thursday.
“Historically, the west side has been kind of left out when it comes to looking at how well schools are doing athletically, academically,” she said, adding, “We just wanted to give our kids a chance to be showcased and celebrated.”
The week before the event, students across Cabrillo’s art classes, from ceramics to painting to animation, finalized their projects.
Freshman Matthew McNece finished his curated diorama of art on the theme of trauma. He’d recreated miniature versions of other artists’ work, including a haunting 1999 painting by Yuko Tatsushima titled “I can’t be a bride anymore.”
Sophomore Marina Olivas made a poster for last year’s event, and this year she has leaned into physical media, displaying a small gallery that explores movement, as well as a vibrant abstract painting. “I would really like it if somebody took an interest in my art,” she said, adding that she’ll be standing nearby to answer questions.
In the ceramics studio, sophomore Evy Mensah pulled out a box of finished vases and bowls that she plans to sell, as well as a few cupcake-shaped boxes still to be glazed and fired. “She’s been teaching herself all year how to throw on the wheel,” Turian said of Mensah’s quick progress as a ceramicist.
Turian has been intentional about engaging with art students across the city. This year, she worked with classes at Bixby Elementary and John Muir Academy on a collaborative project: The younger students made drawings of monsters — toothy, horned, one-eyed and winged — and the Cabrillo students brought them to life, molding the creatures out of clay.
The arts staff — Turian, art foundations teacher Emily Yarborough, digital art teacher Tim Delacy and art coach Chloe Ricks — are now in the final dash to Thursday. They’re mapping out the space, mounting and labeling student work, decorating the school and even holding impromptu band practice (they’ll be performing covers as a band of teachers).
It represents an enormous amount of work, but the Cabrillo arts staff has proven they’ll go the extra mile for their students. Turian started teaching ceramics at Cabrillo during the pandemic. How? “Creatively,” she said. She and her colleagues drove around Long Beach and hand-delivered clay and art supplies to students’ homes.
Since then, Turian and her colleagues have attempted to grow the arts department while navigating staff cuts. It’s been a tricky endeavor, Turian said, yet they remain committed to strengthening the arts at Cabrillo, given the interest and talent of their students.
“We really love our students and our community here,” she said. “We’re just trying to find as many ways to celebrate that and bring people over.”
Members of the public are invited to Night of the Arts at Cabrillo High School (2001 Santa Fe Ave.) on Thursday, May 28, from 5 to 7 p.m.