International art winners right at home in Hollister
Josh Vega has never been close to the snowy north where polar
bears inhabit the wild. But that didn’t keep him from choosing the
bears as the subject for an art project in advanced placement
studio art at San Benito High School.
International art winners right at home in Hollister
Josh Vega has never been close to the snowy north where polar bears inhabit the wild. But that didn’t keep him from choosing the bears as the subject for an art project in advanced placement studio art at San Benito High School.
His piece depicts two polar bears against a dark blue background. The bears themselves are colored with careful detail with shades of white, blue and black that make the fur seem to move on the paper.
When he finished his piece, his teacher John Robrock told him he should rework it to fit the dimensions and requirements of the International River of Words Youth Environmental Poetry and Art Contest. The international contest was founded in 1995 by the Library of Congress Center for the Book as a way to promote literacy and environmental stewardship. Students in grades K-12 from around the world are eligible to participate.
Vega had no idea the prestige of the contest.
“At the time I didn’t really grasp how big it was,” he said. “Not until after I won.”
When he got the word he was a finalist, he started looking online for information about the contest and realized he won top accolades from as many as 20,000 submissions.
Robrock has always encouraged his art students to enter contests and he counts among his former students three past grand prizes winners for the environmentally focused contest.
He can add one more.
Vega won the U.S. grand prize for art entries for 10-12 graders. He and Robrock attended a California award ceremony in San Francisco April 20 and will fly to Washington, D.C., for the national celebration May 12.
“I wouldn’t have entered it on my own,” he said. “It wasn’t something I thought about.”
Robrock stresses fundamentals in his first-year art course, but allows his AP students to choose their own projects.
“We have a lot of freedom. It’s not so much structured,” he said. “I can just draw the pictures I want to. If I had not moved here, I wouldn’t be anywhere as good as I am.”
Vega moved to Hollister after his freshman year. He had taken art classes at his old high school.
Robrock was not surprised when Vega’s piece made it to the state finalist list. Polar bears have been one of the icons of the global warming issue.
“I said this will be a state finalist or a grand prize winner,” Robrock said.
It is his eye and encouragement of his students that led to his nomination for the Teacher of the Year award from River of Words.
Robrock grew up in Cheyenne, Wyo., and spent summers in Iowa with family.
“I grew up in Wyoming with a love of nature,” Robrock said. “Kids here get to express it. We do intimate scenes of nature – it’s about the beauty of nature.”
Robrock is the first to admit he wasn’t nearly as good as his students when he was in high school art classes. But he majored in studio art at the University of Wyoming, and learned to draw. He completed a master’s of fine arts in life drawing and painting from the University of Wyoming and moved to Los Angeles in 1989.
There he started teaching at Hawthorne High School, encouraging his students to enter contests and to get out to local museums. There were many more opportunities in Los Angeles for scholarships, to enter contests and to see the works of others.
“It’s good to have a competitive edge,” Robrock said. “It’s getting out there to see how they do.”
After teaching in Los Angeles, he took a few years off to follow his wife as she worked overseas as a cultural affairs officer. They returned in 2001 and settled in San Benito. His first student to win a grand prize in ROW was Lindsay Walatka for a pastel drawing entitled “Where the Young Mind Grows” in 2004.
Other winners include Jennifer Yoldi in 2005 and John Dixon in 2006.
“People saw my students,” he said. “It validates everything I believe – that teaching art is about getting fundamentals.”
By the end of the semester, Vega will have 24 slides of his artwork for his portfolio, including his award to add to his resume. He still has one more year of high school, but now he is considering art school down the road.
“Doing the contest is a big confidence booster,” Vega said. “It inspires us to move on.”
