Out of 77 nominees, the following 16 students have been selected as semifinalists for the 2023 Artist of the Year in media arts. The students were chosen by a panel of teachers based on written statements and art portfolios.
Included are links to their work, the specialty in which they were nominated, and quotes about how they relate to their craft.
Media artists have been nominated in the specialties of digital illustration, game art, graphic design, motion graphics and animation and photography.
During the final round of adjudication, students are interviewed by a panel of distinguished artistic professionals and faculty members from Southern California universities. Interviews include a live presentation by the students followed by a question-and answer-session.
One finalist in each specialty will be named as well as an overall Artist of the Year in each of the seven disciplines — theater, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, film and TV, media arts and fine arts.
The finalists and Artists of the Year will be announced next Sunday, April 30.
On Wednesday, May 10, an awards ceremony will be held at Memorial Hall on the campus of Chapman University which is free and open to the public. This event will include performances and presentations by the top students.
This program is generously sponsored by the Chapman University College of Performing Arts. Additional support is provided by the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
If you would like to become a sponsor for the Artist of the Year program, contact Heide Janssen at [email protected].
Nathalia Ibeth Aguilar, junior, Valencia High School
Specialty: Photography
“I have always had an interest in all arts. They have all seemed to be very inspiring and I love the beauty of it all. When I first began photography though I really just wanted to capture images that seemed pretty to me. It was over time when I really realized that I loved to capture the feelings and the depth within my photographs. I really wanted it to remember what it is that was going on in that moment. Discovering this made me find more of my love for it. It really helped to inspire the ideas that I had in mind and to really develop my work.”
Becca Bledstein, senior, Beckman High School
Specialty: Graphic design
“I didn’t consider myself an artist until I began to deeply involve myself in my work and truly enjoy the process. I have always doodled and drawn, but it would be a few years until I realized that there were artforms that I could enjoy far deeper. Having always been more logically minded, the fine arts were always fun but never provoking for me. I couldn’t imagine pursuing anything in the field, let alone call myself an artist. However, after my first few months in a graphic design class, I quickly learned that the art realm had a space for me after all. Design is the perfect mix of creativity and logic — mathematics and psychology. It felt like the one art form that was created for minds like my own.”
Kevin Chou, senior, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
Specialty: Photography
“During the pandemic, photography freed me from the mundane repetition of everyday life and it allowed me to enjoy the world as it was. At home, it was always the same routine. It was weeks of seeing the same few things over and over again, but photography took me to different places: the beach, the city, the forest. It was a creative outlet that let me feel like I was exploring life once again. Photography made me feel alive. There were often times that photography took me off the beaten path. I have gotten lost on hikes, waded through flooded caves by the beach and looked absolutely ridiculous lying on the ground, all to just get that perfect shot.”
Zachary Cramer, senior, Fountain Valley High School
Specialty: Photography
“Besides digital photography, I also shoot black and white film and develop my own film. Through shooting and developing my own film I’ve formed a deeper and closer relationship with photography and the process of making a photo rather than taking one. This is because with film you are forced to slow down to a crawl in your photo-taking prosses and you’re limited to such a small amount of frames per roll. Often due to the limited amount of frames, it forces me to slow down and carefully compose one image of the scene focus as sharply as I can.”
Ava Diaz, junior, Orange County School of the Arts
Specialty: Digital illustration
“I wish to share my stories and my experiences in the hopes that they may change hearts, inspire hope, and create change. I create art because it is all that I am. It is my passion and my first love. It fills me just as the air fills my lungs and I hope to share this love with the world that has forgotten how to. Additionally, I hold within my heart countless experiences that despite their pain, I know can be used to help others. The grief around my mother’s cancer, the struggles of being a mixed individual, and even the panic attacks are all of things that I can express through my art to not only help myself heal but to help others as well.”
Jeslyn Do, senior, Irvine High School
Specialty: Graphic design
“I believe that media arts play a tremendous role in how we interpret the world in front of us, and thus how we share such findings with others. Ultimately, arts go beyond the simple things you see in front of you, as they connect emotions, ideas, and memories all together. Personally, I have found that media arts can have positive impacts on my relationships with other people. Not only do I gain satisfaction with sharing my work, but the viewer expresses similar appreciation. Specifically within my family, I think art plays a role in bringing us together.”
David Du, junior, Orange County School of the Arts
Specialty: Motion graphics and animation
“Writing, drawing, and creating animations is my way of sharing thoughts and feelings with others. Whenever I start a project, there’s always a story that erupts and I must tell. So naturally, I gravitate towards filmmaking, an art form to depict my storytelling visually. … My passion for storytelling through animation and filmmaking is rooted in the freedom to craft the stories and visual imagery I want to depict in the most effective and visually stunning way. Animation allows me to create fantastical worlds, while filmmaking allows me to capture the subtitles and complexities of life that audiences relate to. By understanding both mediums, nothing limits me from telling the story the way I want to tell it.”
Rae Fisher, senior, Fountain Valley High School
Specialty: Digital illustration
“My work has always been inspired by the books I’ve read. While not exactly obvious references, I like to include aspects from those stories into my artwork to better amplify what I’m trying to say in them. I believed that a mix of taking inspiration from stories around me and my own experiences reflect who I am as an artist. A storyteller, I feel like it’s an incredible thing to be able to show others how I view the world with just a piece of work. Showing the experiences I’ve had, the people I love, and how I feel is such a wonderful thing to me.”
Drake Hammond, senior, Yorba Linda High School
Specialty: Motion graphics and animation
“In the future I hope to get much better at animation. Specifically I want to animate my characters in a way to give them more personality through their movements and facial expressions. I also hope that I can innovate the ways in which I create my characters and sets so that the process of making the animations will be much more efficient and smoother. I want my audiences who watch my videos to be inspired by the stories that I tell in them. A lot of the stories that I like to tell in my videos are simple things that I think everyone can relate to in some way or another so I hope that the stories I tell in my future videos will inspire people in some way.”
Ashley Kikuta, junior, Beckman High School
Specialty: Photography
“I’m a fourth generation Japanese-American, causing me to be unfamiliar with lots of Japanese traditions. Being so Americanized wasn’t a huge problem for me until 2020 when I discovered K-pop, or Korean-Pop music. For the first time, I saw multiple successful Asians in the media. They were praised for their looks and talents and weren’t just judged by stereotypical assumptions. Introducing myself to an industry in which all the people were Asian made me realize the importance of representation and has motivated me to change the American industry. Through photography and art, I want to help recognize powerful Asians in Western media. The popularity of groups like BTS and movies like ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ have been large steps towards changing the industry, and I want to be a part of that.”
Ethan Situ Leung, senior, Orange County School of the Arts
Specialty: Game art
“Few places I know of radiate the same nostalgic and fascinating atmosphere as my late grandpa’s house. Memories of my childhood with him permeate its rough plaster walls and shiny dark wood floors. The house is a chronology of his life as a professional photographer and art lover. Walls in the sunroom are lined with simple wooden shelves that housed a plethora of books covering various topics related to one art form to another. My artistic journey began here during many quiet afternoons in the sunroom, drawing monsters or flipping through the artbooks with Grandpa. Exploring his books was like opening a time capsule to discover art and culture from eras before my own. I learned to appreciate Ansel Adams’s balance of darks and whites; and how the stark contrast between values collided across one another.”
Fatima Mai, junior, Orange County School of the Arts
Specialty: Digital illustration
“I have come to realize that the true definition of art knows no boundaries. Yet at the same time, I’ve found that art is encapsulated by an empowering phenomenon; carried out none other than the creator and the eye witnessed. I believe that to be an artist, is to unravel yourself amidst that process. To be an artist is to create a voice for yourself, whether it be an idea, narrative, or emotion. To be an artist is to deliver that impact, no matter the media and no matter the audience.”
Vicky H. Nguyen, senior, Orange County School of the Arts
Specialty: Game art
“In my early youth, I found myself immersed in the world of digital art and its features in comparison to traditional art. I eventually got my first tablet, and, consequently, I became obsessed with the potential the art form had. Endlessly day after day, I’d look through my Pokemon cards and favorite cartoon shows for inspiration and references, and looking back, the process was so simple, yet effective and nostalgic as it represented childish innocence and awe. It was evidence that art did not have to be complex to be satisfactory or bring the utmost amount of joy — that every new art piece I made did not have to be my magnum opus. I enjoyed it simply because it was a way for me to create and express myself.”
Gram T. Nylén, senior, University High School
Specialty: Photography
“Throughout my travels across the world that I have been very fortunate to be able to embark on I have become infatuated with documenting the people that work in the unseen facets of life and live on the unheard-of patches of this Earth. As I move forward in my photographic career I would love to pursue my lifelong dream of working in the Arctic. Specifically, I fantasize about making a zine or body of work for the largest towns, research stations, and military installations in the Arctic on large format slide film. Given the current trends in global weather, the ability to document these unique environments may not be something that lasts forever.”
Kevin A. Richey, senior, Valencia High School
Specialty: Photography
“My work in media arts has developed me to be a more confident and mentally healthier being. I no longer feel alone in my journey through life no matter how tough it may seem sometimes. Due to a rough upbringing, I practiced impatience and often an unhealthy solitary lifestyle. But my endeavors in photography have taught me patience and have motivated me to always look forward to the next opportunity. Just like taking photos out in the field, I wait for opportunities to come my way, and when I see something potentially beautiful I ready myself and I take my chance to better the world with my art.”
Meena Senapathi, senior, Beckman High School
Specialty: Photography
“There are many things I hope to achieve as an artist. I want to be a museum curator, a photojournalist, and an advocate for photography. Most of all, I want to teach. I want to guide aspiring artists in their art journey while showing them how photography has the ability to bring people together through shared emotions and experiences.”
