Annual Art Magazine Calling all Artists, Writers, and Poets
T. Saran
Sophmore Zoe Larkin and Junior C.J. Cabungal, shown here at a writers’ club meeting, are two of the students behind the Las Lomas arts journal.
The Las Lomas art magazine, called [art.], was created last year by a group of students who wanted to give students the opportunity to display their artwork in a place other than the art classrooms.
The group believes that the talent of these artists should be recognized.
“All of us have played for a LL sports team and understand the camaraderie and publicity of being involved in athletics,” said senior Britey Budiman. “Because of this, we understand the degree to which artists lack community and support. By creating the art magazine, we hope to reiterate the idea that everyone deserves a place.”
English teacher Ami Zensius is the group’s faculty adviser.
“A lot of schools have a tradition of making a literary magazine, and Las Lomas hasn’t had one for about 20 years,” she said. “So, last year a group of students came to me with the idea of starting one, and expanding it to include digital art, photography, 2D art, things like that, to be a sort of artistic expression to show what students here are producing.”
Last year, Penelope Watson and Cassidy Skillman, AP Art students who graduated in 2016, helped junior CJ Cabungal and Budiman with the publication of this magazine. This year, Zoe Larkin and Sammy Carlota joined the team. The group will continue to add one or two members a year to keep the magazine going.
“It’s not really an opportunity that comes up a lot for artists, so we made one. We also wanted people to feel proud of their art and have something physical to show for it. I think it’s pretty cool to have your art put into a magazine,” said Cabungal.
“It’s important to the committee that the magazine be free and available to everyone,” said Zensius.
The students raised enough money so that the magazine could be distributed for free, and they also received donations from the PTSA and from principal Matt Campbell.
The magazine will feature all different types of art, such as paintings, digital art, drawings, photography, poems, and short stories. With each piece there will be an artist statement attached.
“An artist statement is basically what an artist has to say about their piece or their art style. It can be humorous or genuinely explain their art,” said Cabungal.
Any student can submit a piece of their art. The committee gets together to look at submissions and talks about which pieces speak to them, and decide which ones get published.
“In order to recognize the artists who most deserve to have their work displayed, we choose pieces that demonstrate a combination of skill and effort,” said Budiman.
The magazine will continue to be published this year, and distributed in the rally court sometime in February or March.
