Top Shelf's Owly @ Art Is Our Passion Art Show

Hello and welcome to the art show.
Oops sorry. Couldn't help but have some fun with that fish eye lens. The photos by Art is Our Passion owner Tom Violand. Anyway the weekend before last we had our biannual art show at Art Is Our Passion, in Agoura Hills, CA where I teach. We've got a lot of very talented students. I'm so proud of all of them, and there endeavors, so this was a great way to show off what they can do. It was also a chance to raise awareness to another art form which is near and dear to my heart... comic books. I would like to send out a very heart felt thanks to Chris Staros of Top Shelf Comics, for sending us 150 free comic book day additions of Owly, for us to put into our gift bags, for the students.
I feel that a lot of these kids art going to be tomorrow's art stars, in not only fine arts, but comic books, and animation.
Owly is a great example for them to see just how a story (with a beginning, middle, and end) can be told visually, and in a format that is safe for the whole family to enjoy.

I'm not sure what the final turnout was for the show, but I'm happy to report that we had 300 people vote for there favorite pieces of art, in 26 categories. Could this be the Sparta of student art shows?
"Who was there?" you ask. Well in this picture (above) we see in the top left, waring a purple shirt, we have (as one of our art teachers) the acclaimed artist and designer David Durand. In the grey shirt, and blue jeans, just a little lower and a little to the right, is Keva. He'll be a big name some day in either art or sports. Only time will tell which. And in the bottom right hand corner is our surprise celebrity appearance, tween star Emma Roberts. Yes, she's Julia Roberts niece.
...and here is only a small sample of the work that was on display. Note the Alex Ross, Superman, charcoal drawing. You'll be hearing more from that kid in the near future, I'm sure.
Above is the best in show winner, in the adult category. It's by 16 year old Meghan Toomayan; a student who is so good that we hired her as a teacher.

...and here is best in show winner for the kids category, Sonia. Sonia is also one of our lead artist in our upcoming Star Wars fan cartoon, which my animation class is working on as we speak.
There's more to come from Art Is Our Passion. Next up will be our movie night, showing the David Mack documentary The Alchemy of Art. Oh, and if you'd like to know more about Free Comic Book Day, play the You Tube video below.