On April 2, the Chiquita Canyon landfill and the CalArts School of Art celebrated the fourth annual Found Art Scholarship Program with a gallery reception and awards ceremony in CalArts’ Main Gallery. More than 20 CalArts undergraduate and graduate students created new works with recycled landfill refuge to compete for three scholarship prizes totaling more than $8,000.
This year’s winners are: First Place ($4,000), Anaeis Ohanian (BFA 15); Second Place ($2,500), Miguel Ayala (BFA 17); Third Place ($1,500), Juhee Han (MFA 16); and Fourth Place ($500), Rachel Yezbick (MFA 16). The works were judged by a panel of representatives from CalArts and the local arts community. Yezbick’s prize was presented personally by CalArts Trustee and alumnus Dave Bossert (Film/Video BFA 83) and his wife Nancy Levey-Bossert, who funded the scholarship themselves.
The art partnership was developed to showcase the artistic creativity of students’ use of found objects, with a requirement that each new piece be composed of at least 80 percent of materials collected from the landfill.
In addition to the aforementioned students, other participants included: Carmen Amengual (MFA 16), Ryan Archambault (BFA 18), Carlos Brache (MFA 16), Allen Brewer (MFA 16), Samantha Casino (BFA 18), Oscar Corona (BFA 17), Audrey Davies (BFA 17), Kayla Ephros (BFA 17), Scott Lee (BFA 17), Zhifang Li (MFA 16), William May (BFA 15), Melis Okay (MFA 16), Julio Orta (MFA 16), Erica Palmiter (MFA 16), Roksana Pirouzmand (BFA 17), Sierra Pollock (BFA 18), Ezennwa Ukwuoma (MFA 16) and Elena Zinovieff (BFA 16).
View the slideshow posted above for photos from the exhibit.