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On May 1st, the community gathered at Jodi House Gallery to honor inspiring young artists at a reception and awards ceremony hosted by local environmental non-profit, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
For twenty-two years, Channelkeeper’s Student Art Show has celebrated the connection between young people and the ocean. Every spring, high school students from Carpinteria to Goleta are invited to create and submit their interpretations of what the Santa Barbara Channel means to them. With its colorful array of shapes, textures, and patterns, the artwork produced by these young artists celebrates the remarkable beauty and biodiversity of the Santa Barbara Channel, and it also inspires our community to protect it.
Local artist Solange Aguilar juried the show and selected the award-winning pieces. They were amazed by the caliber of the artwork and touched by the students’ meaningful artist statements. Of 110 pieces submitted, fifty-five were selected for the show.
“The students’ artwork was creative and insightful,” said Channelkeeper’s executive director, Ted Morton. “I really enjoyed learning about the motivation behind the students’ pieces, and I was impressed with how well they expressed their personal connection to the Santa Barbara Channel.”
First place was awarded to Amber Ross for her stunning ceramic sculpture titled The Ocean’s Jellyfish. Second place went to Victoria Martinez for Where the Waves Live, a study of the texture and light of the ocean’s surface. April Harper’s colorful Egrets on the Lakeside earned third place, while the Environmental Ethic Award went to Naomi Pearl for The Broken Octopus, a beautiful mosaic with a brilliant backstory. Two Juror’s Choice Award recipients were selected: Camila Lucero Godory’s Whispers of the Island Fox and Kalea Ellinwood The Spiny Lobster. Honorable mentions were given to Kassia Shive-Hamilton and Miriam Volgenau.
Each art submission was accompanied by a powerful statement explaining the artist’s personal connection to the Santa Barbara Channel and the environment.
In her artist’s statement, first-place winner Amber Ross wrote, “I’ve always been drawn to the beauty of jellyfish—their delicate but deadly form, their fluid movement, and their quiet mystery as they drift through the sea. I’ve tried to capture the paradox of their existence: the beauty and the tragedy. My jellyfish is polluted with microplastics and oil, a silent victim of our urbanized world, which shows both elegance and helplessness in the face of environmental crisis.”
“We often overlook the beauty in simplicity,” wrote second-place winner Victoria Martinez in her artist statement. “In Santa Barbara, that beauty lives in the never-ending rhythm of its waves — constantly crashing, inviting you to explore the incredible world beneath them. Our ocean is home to the unique species of the Santa Barbara Channel, which inspired me to represent it through an oil painting of waves in motion. I chose a large canvas to reflect the powerful feeling I get walking along our beaches.”
Together, these creative works of art and meaningful statements convey a message of hope.
“Every year we are amazed by the caliber of the student artwork, and we are inspired by the personal stories behind each piece,” says Education and Outreach Director Penny Owens. “Channelkeeper is dedicated to protecting our local waterways and fostering environmental awareness and stewardship in today’s youth. Seeing the artwork celebrating the natural beauty of the Santa Barbara Channel and the artist statements by the students gives us hope that our future is in good hands.”
Over the past two decades, more than 4,000 students have submitted art to Channelkeeper’s Student Art Show.
The show is sponsored by Trillium Enterprise, Inc. and the Goleta City Grant Program.
