The fourth annual Black History Month Art Show by students from the William S. Hart Union High School District brought out various artists and a crowd of people on Tuesday at the Hart District Administrative Center.
According to Debbie Dunn, communications coordinator for the district, over 20 students submitted artwork, some showing more than one piece. One student read a poem, another showed an animated short, and a Golden Valley High School graduate made a film, and the district showed a TV interview the filmmaker did about her film.
“Every year, this show continues to grow,” said Cherise Moore, Hart district school board president. “The students who submit, your art continues to be more and more amazing. For me, the way in which we can tell stories and can continue to ensure that history remains something that is passed on generation to generation is through art.”
Moore added that art has a way of expressing itself through visual means, spoken word, film, dance and so many other forms in a way in which everyone can understand, and often in different ways. Students expressed themselves in a variety of ways on Tuesday.
Saugus High School junior Bolaji Raji’s painting, “Written in Power,” depicts an African American boy with his fist raised in the air, offering a quote on the back of his shirt that read, “Past is written in pain, future is written in power.” The work includes a collage of clippings from civil rights-era newspapers. Raji said she spent about three weeks creating “Written in Power,” though she spent about a month looking for the newspaper clippings.
“I used my little brother as a reference,” she said of the boy in the piece. Regarding the words on the boy’s shirt: “I just had this quote in my head for a while. So, I was just like, ‘Let me slap it on there.’”
Valencia High School senior John Onuoha created an animated short called “Birthday” about a young boy’s special day. The filmmaker’s goal with the work was to express contentment and joy for the little things in life.
The short, which is about a minute long, took Onuoha a few days to complete. It received a round of applause during Tuesday’s event.
“It’s about appreciating what people go out and do for you,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people take that for granted.”
During the event, the district showed a TV interview with 2024 Golden Valley High School graduate Kalia Love Jones about her documentary short, “Silent Killer,” about the shortage of mental health resources for Black men. The film was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
Rancho Pico Junior High School student Logynne Cochran created a drawing called “Creole Woman” that, she said, represents her heritage, a mixture of African Americans, French and Native Americans who came together to create a culture in Louisiana. Cochran modeled her drawing on a picture of a Creole woman from the 1800s but added a piece of herself in the work with some of her favorite colors.
“I just really wanted to show where I was from,” she said, “and that Black people have a really rich culture in America.”
Other artists with work at the show included Sarai Archer, Jasmine Baker, Isabella Bove, Devin Breland, Kei’Asha Brignac, Ari Johnson, Isabelle Just, Chase Lasley, Kareem Megid, Evangelina Moyle, Babine Ogbobine, Emily Ortiz-Lares, Malin Raine Rodriguez, Morayo Raji, Jazmin Robinson, Savanna Sedak, Aniya Tipado and Piper Varner.
After the event, each piece of art was to be sent to the office of Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth. The work is scheduled to be presented again as part of the city of Santa Clarita’s Youth Art Showcase on March 15 for Youth Art Month at the Newhall Community Center on Market Street.
