From portraits, painting, photography, to drawing, Ojai Valley School achieves art in all forms, mediums, sizes, and styles. From world famous artists to endeavoring and talented fledglings, OVS is a place where art enthusiasts learn, teach, discover, and grow.
One of those learning opportunities came in October when skilled artist Juan Bastos led an art demonstration for some of the many art devotees at Ojai Valley School.
Mr. Bastos is a world-renowned, successful artist. He has executed portraits throughout North America, South America, and Europe.
Last year, an exhibition of 35 pieces of art by Mr. Bastos titled “Juan Bastos: California Portraits” was featured in the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA-Latin American and Latino Art in LA” installation. It was a collection of California celebrities drawn in pastels and pencils or painted in oil. Although he mainly paints portraits, he does not identify solely as a portrait painter.
“If you see the work of artists who are just portrait painters, it’s all a little bit the same. There’s no range. [When] you see my work, you’ll see a little bit of everything,” Mr. Bastos said.
Harvard University, University of Southern California, George Washington University, Good Samaritan Hospital, and many other institutions have commissioned him to paint portraits.
In 1999, Mr. Bastos was featured in New York Times Magazine. He was on the front page story “Arts and Culture” about the “reemergence of traditional portraiture.”
Juan Bastos has given art demonstrations at the Getty Museum, MICA, Montgomery College, The Greenwich Academy, Pasadena Society of Artists, and, on October 16th, he added Ojai Valley School to the list.
OVS students Avery Colborn, Denva Clyburn, Lilli Trompke, Nina Blankenburg, Charlie Han, Kyla Pinchassi, Angela Qu, Mulan Ma, Susan Zhai, and Eva Gueguen were able to spend an hour and a half with this amazing artist.
Mr. Bastos demonstrated how to start and structure paintings, paint efficiently, and create colors. He gave many useful tips, such as using a mirror to be able to notice small mistakes and taking photos of the paining to study it. He demonstrated all of this while composing a portrait of junior Avery Colborn.
Mr.Bastos explained how working with young people is a great experience and how the talent, potential, and confidence found in today’s youth is promising and refreshing.
“I think that young people right now are very visual and they are more comfortable getting their portraits taken,” Mr. Bastos said.
Those who attended the Mr. Bastos’ seminar are few of the many aspiring artists at the school. Some other talented artist include juniors Corbin Muller and Thomas Christopher.
Corbin is a talented, passionate photographer. He began camping with his family at a young age, where the early exposure to the outdoors sparked his love for nature and the beauty of the wild. His appreciation of the unaltered world inspired him to capture it on camera.
He describes the outdoors as a getaway from the constantly-moving society we live in.
“The wonders the world has to offer makes you feel so small and insignificant,” Corbin said. “It’s something almost spiritual.”
As he grew older, he acquired a deeper understanding of how the environment is rapidly being changed and destroyed by human impact. As an environmentalist, photographing and sharing the beauty of nature is one of the many ways he helps advocate for the earth.
Corbin is a part of is part of National Geographic’s “Your Shot” community and his photos have been featured by Nalgene, in various newsletters, and in Ojai Valley School magazines. His passion and talent is visible to everyone around him, including one of his close friends Kalani Hildebrand.
“He has an eye that not many people have,” Kalani said.
Corbin plans on going to art school and, someday, would like to travel the world taking photography, just like his idol Chris Burkhardt.
Another talented artist at the Ojai Valley School is Thomas Christopher. Three of Christopher’s drawings were featured by the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation from October 6 to 28. The Carolyn Glasoe Daily Foundation, named after art dealer Carolyn Glasoe Bailey, is a non-profit organization based in Ojai.
Every year, the organization holds an art show featuring student artwork; this year’s exhibition was titled “Put A Flag Out” and three of Thomas’s pieces were featured:“Hiking One,”“Hiking Two,”and “Flying.”
Thomas has been creating art from an early age, always possessing a drive to draw the things around him or the things in his head.
“I’ve been drawing pretty much as long as I have been able to pick up a pen,” Thomas said.
Nowadays, he mainly draws historical people and events, science-fiction sketches, and aspects of cultures that he finds interesting, especially Japanese and Russian culture. He traditionally uses ink, pen, or marker, but has recently been experimenting with digital art.
In Thomas’ art, each and every piece has a special meaning and significance, which is one of the aspects which compels his love for art.
“What I love most about creating art is telling stories,” Thomas said. “I know that nobody’s ever actually going to know each and every story behind every drawing I create, but I still like to imagine that someone will eventually. I like a whole lot of things about art, but the storytelling aspect is what keeps me coming back to art, despite all of my other hobbies and interests.”
Thomas is currently in the AP Art class and plans to pursue art as his profession. He would like to design characters, make comics, draw landscapes, and create world designs for movies and video games.
On top of his skill in drawing, Thomas is also a gifted piano player. He started playing seven years ago and started performing piano a year after he began. To Thomas, playing piano is not just a hobby, but an outlet.
“I love playing piano because it serves both as an escape for me and as a way to express my emotions,” Thomas said. “I’m not great at perfectly expressing my feelings in words, so piano is an alternative of sorts for me.”
Not only can he read sheet music and memorize complicated piano segments, Thomas is an avid composer. He has written over thirty pieces and performed them at various showcases, like last year’s Festival of Talent.
A few works he’s composed are “Springtime for Stalin,” “The Main Theme,” “Trenches,” and, most recently, “Exclusion Zone.” Former Ojai Valley Student and close friend of Thomas, Miles Gould, speaks on the huge impact Thomas has made on him as a person, musician, and friend.
“At least once a week I listen to ‘Spring Time for Stalin,’ one of his pieces, that I recorded on my last day at OVS,” Miles said.
From photographers, to pianists, to painters, Ojai Valley School is a haven for all artists with a community of talented students that has no stop in sight.