Garden Grove Unified School District Hosts 39th Annual Art Show

• Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) hosted its 39th annual First Impressions Art Show to celebrate the creative talent of hundreds of students from all grade levels from preschool to high school.  Awards were presented in front of a packed room of parents, staff, and community members at the Garden Grove Community Center on Saturday, March 11, 2017.

Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones presented Marvin Nguyen, a fourth grader from Post Elementary School, with the Mayor’s Award for his watercolor piece called “Guardian Eagle,” which incorporated a nice balance of watercolor wash with tangled patterns and pen design elements.

GGUSD Board of Education President Lan Nguyen presented La Quinta High School freshman Nhan Quach with the President of the School Board Award for his piece titled “Carnival.”  Quach used inspiration from a photograph that he shot last year at Strawberry Festival and gave it a double exposure overlay with a photograph of flowers.  

Dr. Gabriela Mafi presented Cynthia Ramirez, an eighth grader from Irvine Intermediate School with the Superintendents’ Award for her piece “Butterflies and Roses,” which used a pointillism technique that highlights the understanding of color theory. 

Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Sara Wescott presented the award for PK-6 Best in Show to Minh Tran, a sixth grader at Cook Elementary School for her piece “Hidden Beauty,” a photograph that incorporates a worm’s-eye point of view with depth of field and lighting effects. 

Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Kelly McAmis presented the award for 7-8 Best in Show to McGarvin Intermediate School eighth grader Chloe Nguyen for her piece “Blackout Poetry Dragon.” Nguyen created a poem with a page from a discarded book and used graphite and pen to design a beautiful and delicate dragonfly around her literary creation. 

McAmis awarded the 9-12 Best in Show award to Tuyet Nhi Tran, a 10th grader at La Quinta High School, for her piece called “Beauty,” which used black and white charcoal to capture still life.

Garden Grove High School senior Kassidy Flores’ piece titled “Floating Fun” was chosen for the program cover, and was designed using inspiration from art by Josiah Fuentes, a kindergarten student from Post Elementary School. 

 The event was held at the Garden Grove Community Center with the artwork on display in a gallery hosted at The Courtyard Center. GGUSD Coordinator of Visual and Performing Arts Stacy Harris and Teacher on Special Assignment Matt Franklin organized the district art show.

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