OXNARD : Student Turns Pain Into Winning Art

Noah Gunnell had personal problems and was feeling hurt inside.

Kneading stoneware clay in his art class at Channel Islands High School gave him satisfaction. His assignment was to choose an emotion and craft a sculpture in its name.

Following the lines of his face in the mirror, he guided his hands in shaping that emotion--pain.

He worked on the head, with its eyes squeezed tight and nose exaggerated, for 60 hours over a six-week period.

His efforts earned him an honorable mention in the Oxnard Union High School District’s annual art contest that will be on display today through May 11 at the Ventura County Maritime Museum.

“It was a way to vent my feelings in what I thought was an appropriate way,” said Noah, 17, a junior who moved to Oxnard from London six months ago. “I didn’t want to shout at anybody, ‘Leave me alone, I’m in a bad mood!’ ”

The contest judges, all art department chairmen from the district’s six high schools, chose three winners and nine honorable mentions. They rated each one of 58 artworks on a scale of 1 to 10. The winners were those whose pieces earned the most points. This year, judges said, picking a winner was difficult because for the first time there were no specific categories such as photography, sculpture or drawing.

“You’re dealing with apples, oranges, grapefruits and lemons,” said Michael Harris, the art department chairman at Camarillo High School. Some of the best works did not even receive honorable mentions, he said.

District administrators wanted clear first-place, second-place and third-place winners this year, a decision that drew dissent from the judges, according to two who asked to remain anonymous.

Camarillo students took first and third place and earned three honorable mentions, more awards than any other school in the district.

Rynette Hubbard of Camarillo won first place with a realistic drawing of a truck, one in a series of car illustrations in her portfolio for submission to the National Educational Testing Service’s advanced placement art program, Harris said.

“It caught the eye of the judges because it’s well-crafted, well-drawn,” Harris said of the winning entry.