Twelve SBISD high school students will be honored on Thursday, Jan. 31, with awards and possible cash prizes ranging up to $5,000 during the 8th annual Culture Shapers Visual Arts Awards Ceremony. This year's fine arts celebration will be held beginning at 7 p.m. in Westfield High School’s Performing Arts Center.
The Spring Branch award winners include film, photography, drawing and painting students. Their teachers are Patty Nilsson and Michael Radler of The Guthrie Center in film and photography, and art teachers Cathleen May of Memorial and Jana Stiffel of Stratford high schools.
Placing in the Top 10 as film finalists are The Guthrie Center students Cristian Alvarez, a junior who attends Westchester Academy for International Studies, for the film Off Line; seniors Sean Giroir and Chris Leyendecker, both of Memorial High, for Simon Says; Kate Phillips, a Memorial High senior, for The Catalyst; and senior Hannah Smith, also of Memorial High, for Dreams in a Box.
Honorable Mentions were awarded to three other students enrolled at The Guthrie Center, all of whom attend Memorial High. They are senior Hunter Coleman for his film, Dental Anesthesiology; junior Gianna Cox for Jello Elvis Tutu, and senior Jacquelynn Hartsoe for The Midnight Movie.
In painting, Memorial High junior Donna Lim was named a finalist for her work, titled Ego Ideal.
Three students were awarded Honorable Mention for drawing. They are Stratford High senior Jessica Dikdan and junior Felipe Santos for, respectively, works titled Cantankerous and It’s on the Wall. Linh Tran Do, a Memorial High senior, was awarded an Honorable Mention, too, for her exacting and colorful work, The Red Teakettle.
In photography, two students won Honorable Mentions. They are seniors Caroline Giese from The Guthrie Center for The Tide and Christine Smith of Memorial High for her work, Gravity.
Since its founding, the Culture Shapers Visual Arts Awards has distributed almost $700,000 to Houston-area students. The organization encourages teenagers to use their creative talents to affect the future in a positive way and to become “culture shapers.” The group believes that the fine arts and creative pursuits support regional economic development and a higher quality of life.