Photograph by George Sakkestad
Douglas Downey admires a photograph by Jeril Soriano of Overfelt High School, a part of the exhibit featuring the Olympiad of the Arts.
Olympiad of the Arts comes to Montalvo
Student photography now on exhibit
By Shari Kaplan
Forgoing the usual installations from professional artists, the Gallery at Villa Montalvo is showcasing winners of the photographic portion of the Olympiad of the Arts, an annual competition open to students in all Santa Clara County high schools and colleges.
The competition was begun in 1928 by U.S. Sen. James Phelan--who built Montalvo--and Dr. Henry Meade Bland, an English professor at then-San Jose State College. The two hoped to encourage arts and humanities among students by holding a quadrennial contest. Originally, the Olympiad involved only poetry. Following a hiatus during the Great Depression and World War II, benefactor Gwendolen Brooks Penniman revived the Olympiad in 1956, in collaboration with the Edwin Markham Poetry Society of San Jose.
Over the years, the contest came to include literature, short stories, poetry, drama, musical composition, vocal music, sculpture, choreography, photography and the visual arts. Since 1984, the Olympiad has been an annual event.
This year, as in the past, the show encompasses a wide range of styles and topics. Some, such as "Reflexions" by Dana T. Tran, "Grandpa's Warm Embrace" by Rochelle Dunlap, "Dream" by Maribel Rodriguez and "Megan" by Hemke Maeter are intimate portraits of real people with real emotions.
Others depict more natural subjects. In an untitled print, Jordy Mont-Reynaud zooms in on water droplets sitting like gems atop an ivy leaf. In "Up Close and Slobbered On," Natalie Bardsley captures the mirthful face of a golden retriever who came this close to kissing the camera! Bardsley also shows a most unusual oak tree in "Grown Within"--the craggy giant has a hole in its trunk large enough to hide a person.
Some photographs aren't easily defined but are definitely engaging, among them Kylee Sargenti's "The Sky is Falling"; an untitled, colorful image collage by Christine McCarthy; "Malvolio the Lunatic" by Melanie Veloria; and an untitled color close-up by Ron Paul.
Winners from De Anza College are Martin Chia, Irina Hentea, Kurt Jacobs, Antony Joo, Melanie Linnenluecke, Marcy Saude and J. Allen Sheeder; from Del Mar High School: Jonathan Katz-Moses; from Gunderson High School: Sarah Hanes, Leticia Gonzales, Tynis Mosqueda and Celeste Olivas; from Gunn High School: Caity Brady, Zachary Fisher, Diana Lo, Jordy Mont-Reynaud, Tina Ting and Shannon Wu; from Leigh High School: Natalie Bardsley, Steven Cuevas, Ron Paul and Ryan Schlicht; from Mountain View High School: Gregg Boggs and Rosanne Sollecito; from Notre Dame High School: Linnea Alba, Elizabeth Callens, Charlene Cayabyab, Andrea Chew, Lara Dills, Josephine Lai, Leslie Lawrence, Christine Leman, Jenifer R. Luth, Meghan Melissa Monroe, Melissa Nighswonger, Li Patron, Amanda Sanchez, Kylee Sargenti, Naomi Sugie, Melanie Veloria and Desiree Yang; from Overfelt High School: Rochelle Dunlap, Brenda Jimenez, Diana Leon, Martha Lopez, Van-Loan T. Nguyen, Maribel Rodriguez, Jeril Soriano, Dana T. Tran, Lorena Villalobos and Lucia Villalobos; from Prospect High School: Heidi Rhodes; from West Valley College: Christine McCarthy and Dean Sakima; from Willow Glen High School: Hemke Maeter.
Olympiad of the Arts runs through May 2. The Gallery, at 15400 Montalvo Road, is open Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. For information, call 961-5813.
Saratoga, California Since 1975
