A Juried Youth Art Show
ABOUT
In Frame is a show for Mariposa County’s rising generation of artists and creatives.
In Frame Youth Art Show is designed to empower young voices while infusing the community with inspired, authentic art straight from the heart of this County’s people. It’s an opportunity for young artists to grow their skills and portfolios, and be recognized and celebrated through a professional showcase.
We have 46 talented artists, ages 11 to 18 in this 2025 Spring Youth Art Show. Their pieces are showcased in four gallery locations from now through May 11th:
- Mariposa Arts Council office (5009 Highway 140, Mariposa)
- Mariposa Library (4978 10th St, Mariposa)
- Red Cloud Library (10332 Fiske Rd, Coulterville)
- El Portal Library (9670 Rancheria Flat Road, El Portal)
Visit all four Gallery locations, now through May 11th!
Gallery Guide + Artist Statements
Mariposa Arts Council Gallery
Name: Gray Rule
Title: Watching
Medium: acrylic paint + ballpoint pen
Age: 17
Statement: Immortality is a tough subject to capture in a single piece, but stories can be told by using my character’s appearance. My character Gorris, depicted using acrylic paint and a ballpoint pen, has rippling scars across his face, tangled hair, and a longing gaze which portrays the despair he feels living for so long in a world he cannot change. Immortality is a curse that Gorris must overcome, before the infection touches everything he once loved. How much longer can he live in solitude before his curse takes a toll on the world he stays in? calm and safe
Name: Rylee Paige
Title:
Medium: Graphite + Colored Pencil
Age: 17
Statement: I was never really interested in drawing. I’ve always colored but once I joined art I got more interested in drawing. I started with inspo from the internet and made it my own but I draw what I like to look at. This drawing was inspired From Me growing up in the mountains and always chasing the sunsets. sunsets remind me of everyone I’ve lost in my life, and now they will always be here even if I can’t see them. I’ve always put them in my drawings. I love to make them unique. This Sunset is showing how bright it is. this piece means a lot to me because yes there are mountains but I kept them black and white to show the people how special the sunset is.
Name: Astrid Ardell
Title: Peaceful Autumn River
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 12
Statement: Hello, my name is Astrid Ardell. The art piece I am submitting to this contest is a nature painting that takes place in autumn. I have always loved to capture Nature’s Beauty and art, even since I was young. I get inspired by realism art, which I want to get better at one day. Another way I’ve been inspired to create art is my mom, for example! Growing up, I loved watching my mom paint and craft, especially nature. it fired my fuel to create art of my own! The art I get inspired by is realism and human anatomy. It is something I want to get better at one day, especially shading and dynamics. Art is something I am very fond of, and doing it brings me peace and joy. Art is a way to boost my mood and let my creativity grow, and it is simply something to do when you are bored. So in conclusion, I hope you enjoy my art piece! thank you!
Name: Noah Wiley
Title: Crimson Bloom
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 16
Statement: this piece of art is reflected my passion for my passion for travel and when you are only about 45 minutes away from home it can feel like you are in a whole new world but when you see the black and white it show how you could feel isolated inside county lines and it shows my longing for freedom
Name: Lorynn Visscher
Title: Spring Pink
Medium:
Age: 13
Statement: I really like doing art and I’ve been doing it since I was 9. I do art everyday and it makes me happy. Mediums I like to use are alcohol markers, prisma colored pencils, and paint pens. Flowers are a sign of pure happiness. They remind me of love and the warmth of spring. Pink is my favorite color because it’s vibrant and happy. Doing art brings me entertainment and a smile!
Name: Allie Sanders
Title:
Medium: Mixed Media
Age: 14
Statement: I was inspired by some charcoal drawings I saw on pinterest with the faces scribbled out to show sadness or depression. This charcoal drawing is covered by a colorful piece of paper with societal standards written all over it. But poking through the center, there is a charcoal drawing of a face (teenager) with intrusive thoughts surrounding it. This sketch has a deep meaning. It means that even though some people look all happy and their lives look perfect doesn’t mean they actually are perfect on the inside. Once you really see inside the person, you can see all their flaws and insecurities. I used charcoal for the bottom layer and face. Then I used markers and tore through it for the colorful layer.
Name: Weslyn Traeger
Title: Into the Unknown
Medium: Graphite + Marker
Age: 16
Statement: My name is Weslyn I am a 16 year old girl who enjoys the country, horses, and art. I used to think people who liked art were weird, but come to find out I myself had a really big interest in art. The time I’ve spent in my art class this year and at home I’ve become more interested in art and have gotten more creative. I like to draw on my free time, it seems to be something I can do without really trying and comes easy to me. The piece that’s displayed today of mine was based off of my interest in space and one of my favorite movies guardians of the galaxy because the movie takes place in space.
Title: Half Hazard
Medium: Mixed Media
Age: 17
Statement: This piece is about the idea of personal growth and rising above a bad environment. I like the aesthetic of wastelands and toxicity. I originally was going to paint it entirely, but I realized other materials would suit it better. Some pieces were meticulously cut and attached to the page. I used blends of paint, chalk marker, fine-tip permanent markers, sharpies, crayons, pens, and colored pencils. It takes place in front of Half Dome. It was created based on a Google slide collage I made.
Name: Emmet Malirch
Title: The Spiderman
Medium: Graphite + Colored Pencil
Age: 17
Statement: I decided to draw miles morales for this art contest simply because I like superhero’s. I went for a freehand side profile and also included colored pencils. I don’t have any particular goals for this piece. I would just like it to hopefully turn some heads a little bit and have some people appreciate it.
Name: Valentin Trujillo
Title:
Medium: Ink
Age: 12
Statement: My art is of mountains and clouds. my inspiration for this art was an image of mountains that I have come across in the past that was mesmerizing, but also pointillism when we were in art class one afternoon we had to draw a black and white landscaped. what I love and admire about art is that you have so much creative freedom to express yourself. there are many topics that I would like to focus on and explore, but perfecting Landscapes is my top one because they come and show many different forms. Landscapes are intriguing with the variety they have to offer.
Title:
Medium: Graphite + Ink
Age: 16
Statement: My work was inspired by a biblically accurate angel. I chose to draw a version of a seraphim because I have always thought that they were interesting. I also plan to get a tattoo of a seraphim one day and I hope to have a design that I created myself. My art style and preferred medium usually consists of fine pen lines and shading done with graphite. My style has a similar feel to tattoo cybersigilism. In conclusion, my goal for this art piece was to create something that will have personal meaning and consists of my own personal style.
Name: Alice Weaver
Title: She Was a Fairy
Medium: Graphic Design
Age: 11
Statement: I’ve loved art since I was a kid. I used to scribble in notebooks and I remember drawing a mess of colors on Minnie Mouse in a coloring book. I used to draw things like dogs, cats, shapes, and stick figures all over my kindergarten work. I made this art to say that nobody should judge anybody’s art. Some people judge others even when they try their best, so I made this to encourage people not to judge. So don’t be afraid to show people your art, no matter what others think.
Name: Zachariah Clark
Title:
Medium: Digital
Age: 14
Statement:I was inspired by the abstract Art and the simple art style of a game called Pikmin. My theme for work is what I call simplistic randomness. I like to use simpler mediums to sort of amplify the randomness, I like to just dump things out from my head and use some ideas to make my art. I made this to show how all people can have ideas that vary within each person. My goal for my art is to show that everyone can have their own original idea, even if it looks out of place.
Title: More Jax
Medium: Mixed Media- Collage & Alcohol Markers
Age: 12
Statement: When I was little, I never really had a passion for anything… I was never recognized for anything at my school. Until my grandma flipped to a blank page and handed me a pencil, I never really knew what a drawing was. Once I started, I could not stop, my hand flowing through the paper, every mistake was an opportunity to improve. Mistakes turn into masterpieces. Mistakes would make people quit, but they make me better. I found this show called the Amazing Digital Circus. I really liked this character called Jax, so I tried to be more like him. I finally found myself.
Name: Jaxson King
Title: Traffic Game
Medium:
Age: 14
Statement: I like using art to show characters and their emotions. I feel happy when I draw. I can use colors to let people see emotions: purple, blue, orange, and red. My favorite art is the traffic colors. I like them so much, because I did a traffic game with Ms.Walker.
Name: Alison Wolf
Title:
Medium: Watercolor
Age: 15
Statement: This artwork is inspired by an assemblage sculpture called The Rule Of Two Walls by Julia Zakharova. It was created by first sketching and then painting, utilizing techniques such as layering, drips, and splatter. The shards of glass impaling through the bed, trapping the woman, symbolize isolation, helplessness, and pain. The message I want viewers to take away is that while we often find comfort in the bed, it is also the place where we experience some of our most painful moments. As children, we jump on it with joy, and as adults, we cry on it. It is a space for love, but also a refuge when we need distance. Through this piece, I aim to evoke a profound emotional connection, encouraging viewers to reflect on the duality of the human experience–the intertwining of comfort and pain, joy and sorrow–and how these moments shape our most intimate spaces. This work aligns with my broader aspiration to create art that confronts vulnerability and invites introspection, leaving a lasting impact on how we perceive the spaces we inhabit and the emotions they hold.
Mariposa Library Gallery
Name: Areya Custer
Title: 47 Metres Up
Medium: Alcohol Ink Markers
Age: 12
Statement: My masterpiece is unique and cool. To me, art is an escape from reality so I like to make it funky. My art piece is literally sharks in space, and obviously sharks don’t belong in space. That is why I love art so much because it doesn’t have to be serious, it can be silly and fun. I love all kinds of mediums from pencil art all the way to digital. I especially like creating art with meaning and emotion.
Title: Ocean Ecosystem
Medium: Graphite
Age: 11
Statement: I have always loved the ocean. The ocean has always inspired me, all of the different shades have always moved me, its vastness and beautifully complex and cooperative ecosystem are perfect. The manner in which all the animals coexist is beautiful. From the smallest krill to the biggest whale. I decided to do this piece because of how gentle a whale shark can be even though it is humongous. Art inspires me to be myself, I love to draw more cute things than realistic things than realistic pieces. When I draw I feel connected to my essence, I connect with my essence when I draw as much I connect to the ocean.
Artist: Liv Engstrom
Title: Still Life, Blueberries
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 13
Statement: When I make art I feel very pleasant about myself. I think that art is a great tool to let us express ourselves and inspire the world around you. Art is amazing, there is no doubt about that, but what do I think about art? I think that it has made society. From cave walls to computers. If I were to pursue art for the long run I think I want to try and perfect hyperrealism, because it is astonishing and very sophisticated.
Title: Ocean Creatures
Medium: Graphite
Age: 11
Statement: The biggest thing that inspires me to do art is the outdoors I have been in many tough situations outside, it reminds me that I can do hard things if I really try. My art is sometimes almost the opposite of nature but that is what directed me down the path of art. I do most of my art with my family or looking out my bedroom window, at my det with a warm blanket, listening to my favorite music. I normally do art with blue when I am feeling a strong overwhelming emotion. Art is one of the most relaxing things for me to do.
With art I can really show my true self with no judgement. Art is one of the best things because mistakes are ok, you can use so many colors and mediums, and you can draw anything in the whole world of imagination. One of my favorite sayings is “practice makes perfect.” You may start horribly, but even with a day’s practice, you will have improved. Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, definitely did not start with such beautiful art, they worked harder and harder each day so that they would improve. You also don’t have to be a world wide known artist to display your art in museums, Penny Otwell is a local artist with beautiful Paintings. There is no excuse to stop art.
Name: Eska Lipsey
Title: Espresso
Medium: Graphite
Age: 12
Statement: Hello this is Eska Lipsey and I chose this art project to give you! I chose it because I think it’s one of my most recent and favorite art pieces that I’ve done in class. I made it because we had to choose a person to draw so I picked Sabrina Carpenter for my drawing!! I love art because I got inspired by my father and his artwork. The art forms that inspire me is colored pencil and Lead pencil. when I create art I feel calm and safe
Name: Anyira Biro
Title: Music is a part of us
Medium: Graphite
Age: 15
Statement: This art piece was made to represent the love for music and how it becomes a part of you. Nothing about the placement of the musical instruments is supposed to have a deeper meaning but just to make a statement that music is part of you, straight down to the bone. The rhythm, the instruments, the player, all of it, you can feel the beat while tapping your feet and nodding your head to your head to your favorite song. It’s almost like you can feel the music. As the sound waves from your headphones travel in and out of your ears. That is what is represented in the art piece and how much music becomes part of your daily life.
Title: Billie Eilish
Medium: Graphite
Age: 13
Statement: My art is the music artist, Billie Eilish, and it is a pencil drawing. art is a thing I like most and it is my hobby. I sketch and doodle on almost every piece of paper I am given. I have loved doing art ever since I can remember. I wish to get better on shadowing and realism. I also want to learn how to draw better anatomy. I create most of my art on my bedroom floor or at school. I create better on my floor though for some reason. The art form that inspired me the most is cartoon and anime. I really like both and want to draw more like that hopefully in the near future.
Name: Chloe Sheets
Title: Piper
Medium: Graphite + Water Color
Age: 11
Statement: Hello my name is Chloe Jeannette Sheets and I’m 13 years old. I drew a picture of a character from my favorite book series Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus. The character’s name is Piper McLean and she is the daughter of Aphrodite. She’s strong, determined, caring, and confident and I hope you can sense that when you look at my piece. I like to create my art when I have something to express and I like to put my feelings into my art. I feel very calm and in my own world when I create art, like I’m out of my own body. I create art usually on my bedroom floor with music or an audiobook playing in my headphones. I typically like to paint more than draw but I do enjoy drawing people and exploring with watercolor.
Name: Sabrina Maccarone
Title: Life Timer
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 15
Statement: This piece, which was inspired by the passage of space and time, depicts our planet, Earth, as a giant clock with the hour hand pointing to four, and the minute hand pointing to six, making the time 4:06, or 4.6. The estimated age of Earth. This depiction of our planet’s age put on a clock is supposed to represent how we, and everything in existence, only have so much time in our lifespan and you cannot simply press pause on life. Whether we want to or not, life goes on, time keeps passing and it won’t wait for us to use this time to our advantage. After all, have you ever been able to pause a clock? You can hit the snooze button on your alarm clock as many times as you want but that will not change the fact that despite giving yourself more time to rest, you still have a limited amount of time to exist in this space and that time gets shorter and shorter by the second. We know that our days are numbered, but what we don’t know is exactly what that number is. As far as we know, the end could come at any minute. It could be today, tomorrow, next week, 30 years from now or even 100, although the chances of it being today are very slim, but never 0. So it would be wise to use this time to the best of our ability, to make the best possible life for ourselves, so we can live and die with memories, and not fantasies that could have been reality but never became one. I feel that it is important to remember that, especially in the modern world. With all this constant entertainment, the very world at our fingertips in the form of screens, it gives us an artificial life. If not used with caution, it can trap us in this cycle of wanting to do or experience something but never being able to because we were too busy mindlessly scrolling, watching, but barely listening. Wasting our time, rotting our brains and transforming us into mindless husks of the people we could have become and the memories we could have made.
Name: Gloria Sharrar
Title: Drowning
Medium: Ink + Watercolor
Age: 15
Statement: My art was inspired by the way people feel when they have depression. When you have depression you feel as if you are drowning. I used sharpie , water color and led pencils. I also tried to use a weird core type or style including pictures that are disturbing and strange.
Title: Earth from the Outside
Medium: marker
Age: 11
Statement: I drew this because I think geography is really interesting. I really was going for an earth, and I’m pretty sure that it looks good. As I heard what we were doing with the art, I went straight to thinking about geography. I was told to draw something I love and that is at my top.
Name: Karessa Ruaisab Smith
Title: Lost in the Open Sea
Medium: Graphite + Markers
Age: 13
Statement: Making this art piece I used POSCA markers and regular pencils. I had never used POSCA markers before so this was a whole new experience for me. I was inspired by the idea of escaping reality so everything in this piece isn’t what you would expect. The shark and the colorful shapes around it are the main part of this art work while the buildings in the back contrasting to the colors.The buildings are symbolizing the real world how dark and plain it can beat times. I’ve always liked sharks so that’s why I decided to make it the main point of this piece.
Title: Virginia Beach
Medium: Pencil drawing
Age: 12
Statement: When I was little, I lived near the beach in Virginia and my mom suggested that we take an art class, which I resisted because even though I loved art, I wasn’t the best, but she insisted. My nostrils filled with the smell of paint and eyes caught sight of people painting and drawing. I expressed my love of the sea through a pencil and paper because it’s too cold for the beach. I wish to be a marine biologist so this helped express my dream. Alas, I decided to draw turtles because their majestic nature and beauty inspires me.
Name: Harmony Buckner
Title: Dying Stars
Medium: Graphite + Watercolor
Age: 15
Statement: The art i’ve created is disturbing while having a deep meaning for life situations, the human mind, and views that people have. I’ve created this art piece with watercolor,acrylic paint, sketch pencils, and colored pencils. The art piece i’ve brought for you today is an expression of what it’s like trying to manage in school, and having to handle your home life at the same time.The sun represents having to have a bright attitude and trying to be positive while all the minks(the little blue things)cause chaos and cause the stars, the things the sun are trying to keep bright and maintained, to wear out. It shows how stressful it is to manage and keep these things under control before it becomes so much you just give up trying until all the light is gone.
Name: Annabelle Mecchi
Title: Cottage Flowers
Medium: graphite on mixed media paper
Age: 13
Statement: I was inspired by one of my favorite modern artists, Amy brown. to make a fantasy-like drawing of my own. just more human looking. the drawing I made is a cottage core human girl wearing a handmade corset over a long tattered piece of muslin as a dress. I made her using graphite pencils on a mixed media paper. art is my favorite hobby and I spend most of my free time drawing, painting, and writing poetry. I’ve always had a passion for art and I plan on getting a career in art and design.
Title:
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 18
Statement: When I was 9 I learned about mycelium and its connection to the trees. I learned that the whole Forest was communicating through it. The entire system works together in an almost magical way. I find it incredibly inspiring and beautiful and I wanted to be able to express that connection with this painting. we’ve all seen so much destruction in the past year with natural disasters, war, and genocide. The toilets taking on all our souls and our land has made it impossible for me to feel like we’re not all connected; Just like a forest. I made all the trees lean in the same direction to show that we’re all collectively affected by our environment. I intertwined the roots to show the support we give each other. I then added eyes in the trunks of the oldest trees to represent the wisdom of those who have seen the most and mushrooms to show that wisdom being shared to those of us with less experience. I wanted to show the strength of community during hard times and remind myself that none of us stand alone through our pain.
Name: Taylor Clark
Title: Peek-A-Bob in Beetlejuice
Medium: Graphite
Age: 11
Statement: Hi, my name is Taylor Clark, and I am 11 years old and have always been very interested in all types of art. One type of art I am mostly interested in right now is drawing. Lately I have been practicing drawing people, cartoon characters, and animals. I have been working on my skills and improving drawing eyes. To accomplish this, I chose a design to use for the style of eyes and repeat the process. The drawing I have prepared for you is an optical illusion based on the movie Beetlejuice. Oh no, I shouldn’t say it two more times! I Learned the baes for my drawing from my wonderful teacher, Dana Edrozo. When I do art, I feel calm, and 1 can let my mind wander. Being an artist, I was excited when we were informed of this competition. Thank you for taking the time to read my artist statement, and I hope you love the art I’ve prepared. THANK YOU!
Name: Clementine DiMorente
Title: The Reflector
Medium: Acrylic
Age: 17
Statement: Through my work I try to highlight the playfulness of childhood and the importance of never taking it for granted. I used acrylics and various brushes to paint a scene from my favorite childhood book And movie, Howl’s Moving castle. within this landscape, I tried to convey a dream-like place and with it, a self-portrait of little me. I hope this serves as a window with the imaginative style of a child’s mind that one should always carry, even throughout maturity. There’s wisdom in growing old but also wisdom in childhood. At one point, we all expressed ourselves in a carefree and radiant way, rarely judging others for doing the same. this, I believe, was wise may this be a message, to let that wisdom carry on within us , let that childish run free, and never forget that authenticity that came with being a kid.
Name: Savanna Green
Title:
Medium: Graphite + Watercolor
Age: 15
Statement: I was inspired to create this piece by contrast art. I chose to use watercolor for my piece, because it helped me create the effects I wanted. With the watercolor, I was able to show the brightness inside the fence, and the dark and dirtiness outside of it. I would like viewers to notice all the differences between the mansion and the area right next to it. The mansion is clean with a well kept garden, while outside the fence is a disaster. This is meant to symbolize that the rich and powerful live at peace, even when the rest of the world is suffering.
Name: Gianna Hall
Title: Unexpected Friendship
Medium: Digital
Age: 14
Statement: Unexpected friendships is what inspired me to create this piece of artwork. You don’t usually expect a cat and a hamster to be friends. Well just like this artwork there’s many friendships that people think would never happen; sometimes those are the best friendships. This ties in with my theme which is friendship, in my opinion one of the most important things in life. Much like my theme my techniques were quite flowy, going with the flow and creating what came to mind. My creative process was lightly planning on what I was going to create and envisioning it by creating a mood board. I made this art piece digitally as it’s one of my favorite ways to create art, and it’s something I want to do as my career in the future. This art piece has some personal value to me as well. I have a few friends here people might not expect us to be friends but those are some of my favorite friendships. A goal I have is too create art without thinking about what other people will think of it. This contest has helped me not worry about what other people think and just focus on what I enjoy to create.
Name: Kade Videgain
Title: Donnie Takes to the Streets
Medium: Drawing, colored pencil and marker
Age: 12
Statement: My name is Kade Videgain, I am 12 years old and I got to Sierra Foothill Charter School. One of my favorite things to do is draw. I like to draw superheroes, video game and comic book characters. Someday I want to be a cartoonist. I love art and I draw almost everyday at school and at home. Drawing makes me feel happy and I love to be creative. I am in 6th grade and my teacher Ms. Endrozo lets me teach my own art lesson to the other kids in my class. I get to draw on the white board and we vote on what to draw.
My drawing is of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Donatello. He is the brains and tech guy on the Ninja Turtle team. I drew this watching an art video on YouTube, that is one of my favorite ways to draw. I used colored pencils and markers to make it. I tried to make it colorful and comic book style. Sometimes I draw watching art videos and other times I draw from my imagination. I also draw on my computer and make animations. I also like to sculpt with clay and use my clay oven to bake it.
Red Cloud Library Gallery
Artist: Astro Bautista
Title: Abandoned Child
Medium: Watercolor, Sharpie, Acrylic Pens
Age: 18
Statement:
She is an abandoned fairy lost in the night. She likes to wait on her stand in the Whimsical Forest at night. She wears her bunny hat to protect her from her nightmares.
Astro Bautista is an 18 year old autistic young lady who dreams to become a tattoo artist someday. Her art represents her mind and wonders of how she sees the world. She began drawing at 9 months of age when her mother discovered her drawing circles on her Father’s homework. Being nonverbal until she was 4½ years old. her mom taught her how to use art as a form of communication to express her emotions. From that moment on, she has taken art to levels beyond her whimsical dreams. She has won publishing awards since 4th grade including an exhibit at the Mariposa Art Council in 2024. She and her family are excited to share her art with the world.
Name: Gonzalo Solorzano Mendoza
Title: Rise to the Goals
Medium: Colored Pencil + Ink
Age: 17
Statement: My name is Gonzalo Solorzano Mendoza, in my picture a man is playing soccer on a green bumpy hill. As the sun rises he prepares to make a goal. I choose to draw a soccer player because I love playing soccer with my older brother. I enjoy being part of a team and making new friends. My favorite thing about art is being creative and watching as an image is created. As I create my art I’m filled with excitement and joy.
Name: Melina Montesinos
Title: Companionship
Medium: Acrylic + Gold Leaf
Age: 15
Statement: Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always found myself fascinated by animals, specifically dogs. To me these creatures aren’t like any other, I think each dog deserves a purpose for us they serve guidance, love, emotion, and support. It’s said that they will love you more than they love themselves, they will always find their way towards you and to protect you. My art pieces are dedicated to my love for these beautiful animals. Everyone deserves to feel love and appreciation no matter the circumstance. I hope and believe every dog is treated with the kindness and unconditional wellness they deserve. And that there is a stop towards any neglect or abuse to any and every animal.
Name: Scarlett Milani
Title: A dance of unforgiving grace
Medium: Graphite, Ink, Colored Pencil
Age: 15
Statement: The reason I chose this theme for my drawing was because, I love swans and I used to do ballet. The background for this is based off of The Swan Lake. The black swan and the white, evil and good. I felt like it was good to show how half her dress is almost like slowly turning black as if the evil swan is trying to take over. The mimicry of the two swans in the card just felt like a really nice touch and for using it as a joker card, a playing card. Overall I feel greatly that is shows how evil and good mimic each other, and how they both have a role they want to play.
Name: Kloe Warren
Title: Behind the Curtain
Medium: Graphite + Ink
Age: 15
Statement: This artwork delves into the complex theme of identity and the various masks we wear throughout our lives. The hand holding the mask symbolizes the delicate balance between our true selves and the personas we present to the world. The mask represents the facades we adopt in different social contexts, hiding our true emotions and vulnerabilities. This piece I aimed to provide the audience with thought about the nature of the courage it takes to reveal our genuine selves. The light and shadows in the drawing emphasizes what is seen and what is hidden. I made this piece to try to get the viewers to reflect on their own experiences with identity and self-expression.
El Portal Library Gallery
Name: Evelyn Carter
Title: Sunrise Lake
Medium: Watercolor
Age: 13
Statement: My name is Evelyn Carter and I am 13 years old. I love all forms of art; drawing and painting but poetry and writing as well. I am inspired by sunsets but even more so by sunrises and I wanted to try to recreate that in my art. My artistic inspiration is most influenced by nature and the wild things in the world around me.
Name: Keira Eich
Title: A Bunch of Awesome Stuff Crammed on an 8.5 x 11 inch Paper
Medium: Posca paint markers, prismacolor colored pencils, watercolor brush markers, a singular jellycat sticker
Age: 13
Statement: “A Bunch of Awesome Stuff Crammed on an 8.5 x 11 Inch Paper” is exactly what it promises—an explosion of color, energy, and unfiltered creativity packed into a single page. Created by 13-year-old artist Keira “Kierii” Eich, this piece is a vibrant testament to self-expression. Using Posca paint markers, Prismacolor pencils, and a handful of mystery brush markers from the depths of their art stash, the artist crafted a dynamic composition that celebrates the joy of creating freely. The piece embraces spontaneity, reminding us that art is about expression, exploration, and making something uniquely yours.
Name: Emma Esquivel
Title: Starry Night on Half Dome
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Age: 12
Statement: I was inspired by climbing Half Dome last summer with friends and Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Finally seeing Yosemite from the top of Half Dome was breathtaking, living here my whole life and never seeing Yosemite from that point of view was unforgettable. I love to make art because the end product is really satisfying. Right now I like working with acrylic paints and digital drawing, these art forms are easy and can just be created freely and truly. Art is a beautiful medium to see the world through.
IMPORTANT DATES
January 13: Submissions open
February 6: Submission Deadline extended to Feb 6th!
February 17: Artists notified of Jury’s decision (new date Feb. 17 to reflect deadline extension!)
March 14: Art Show Opening Reception
May 11: Last day of Art Show
May 19 – June 6: Artwork pickup at Arts Council Office
FAQs for participants
How do I write an artist statement?
Here is a worksheet to help explain the purpose of an artist statement, and some suggestions for how to write your own.
What if I can’t take a high quality image of my artwork?
Please follow suggestions which can be found in our Submission Guidelines or seek support from a teacher or adult in your life. If you still are unable to capture an image, contact Andra at kovacs@mariposaartscouncil.org for alternative ways to submit.
How will students know if their art has been selected?
Participating youth or their adult representative will be notified by email whether or not their students’ works of art have been selected for exhibition in In Frame 2025. Notification emails will be sent on or before February 14, 2025.
Will the students get their artwork back?
Yes! Work can be picked up May 19 – June 6th at the Arts Council Office. Any artwork not picked up by June 6th will become property of the Mariposa Arts Council.
How are the artworks submitted?
Via email, follow the directions in the Submission Guidelines. If this poses a barrier to submitting, please contact Andra at kovacs@mariposaartscouncil.org
How will the artwork be selected?
A jury of artists and community members will select the works of art to be exhibited in In Frame. These works of art will be selected on the basis of visual elements, originality, age appropriateness, and craftsmanship.
What are the guidelines for submission?
All Mariposa County youth ages 11-18 (from K–12 public, private, charter or home schools) are invited to submit works for consideration. Works submitted may be executed in two-dimensional media and must meet the Guidelines for Submission to be considered. A broad variety of media is encouraged including youth painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital media, mixed media, collage, 2D fiber arts, etc. The pieces must be 2-Dimensional and one-sided.
How are exhibiting students recognized?
All selected artists will have their piece on display at one of our gallery locations for 8 weeks from March 13- May 11. Their name, artwork title, and a portion of their artist statement will be on display with their piece. There will be an opening reception for all In Frame participants on March 13th, as a part of Mariposa Arts Council’s Art Week.
Contact Andra at kovacs@mariposaartscouncil.org with any questions.
“The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively— because, without this humble appliance, you can’t know where The Art stops and The Real World begins.“
Frank Zappa
