Menifee Kids Art Camp

The second annual Santa Rosa Academy “Visual Arts Exhibit” was held April 7 through April 21 as the Menifee charter school showcased artwork from over 300 elementary and high school students.

The artistic mediums included crochet and sewing, graphic design, photography and traditional painting; they were displayed in a professional-like setting. High school students had the opportunity for their submissions to be judged, and awards and ribbons were presented.

This ambitious exhibit was made possible with the cooperative effort of the Santa Rosa Booster Club, which made a generous art display donation, and art advocate Ines Miller, who volunteers as the art instructor for the Santa Rosa Academy’s elementary levels. Miller is a professional artist and board member of both the Temecula Valley Art League and Canyon Lake Art Association. She believes that art education is a “crucial component of a thriving and productive society” and that the arts “strengthen problem-solving and critical thinking” skills. Miller has found the Santa Rosa Academy to be fertile ground for sharing her vision, and this year’s student art show reinforced this view.

In the graphic design section of the exhibit, faux magazine covers appeared seemingly worthy of submission consideration to prominent periodicals, such as ninth-grader Anjelique Negrete’s wannabe billboard magazine cover, “Shawn Mendes.” Another ninth-grader, Jaelyn Park, conceived an active motion blur piece entitled “The Force is Strong” that was well-received and took the blue ribbon in the photography category. Overseeing these first-year arts and technology department students is Jonathan Sandoval. Sandoval, a personable instructor, provides interested Santa Rosa Academy art students the benefit of his seven years of teaching experience in graphic design and photography.

Another Santa Rosa Academy instructor, Tracie Fearing, emerged from the milestone shadows of noted modern artist and professor, Wayne Thiebaud, and has become an art teacher in her own right. Paying homage to Fearing’s former professor, she presented the challenge to her high school-level students of attempting the “pop” master, and the result was a selection of Thiebaudian “desserts,” including senior Alyssa Gonzales’ “Gumball,” a pastel piece that resembles a color study for Wayne Thiebaud’s noted 1963 work, “Three Machines.”

Returning to Jaelyn Park’s “The Force is Strong,” the arts are strong at the Santa Rosa Academy.

For more information about the art programs available at the Santa Rosa Academy, visit the Santa Rosa Academy’s website www.sra.mn or contact Ines Miller at info@menifeekidsartcamp.com, Jonathan Sandoval at jsandoval@sra.mn or Tracie Fearing at tfearing@sra.mn.