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l Artists put the finishing touches on their displays in room D301, Graphic Arts End of Year Show during the institute-wide annual CalArts EXPO 2024 held at California Instutue of the Arts in Santa Clarita on Thursday, 050224. Dan Watson/The Signal

CalArts hosts expo

California Institute of the Arts recently hosted the annual CalArts Expo, an institute-wide event featuring interdisciplinary creative work from the CalArts community, ranging from current students to internationally renowned faculty

Members of the Hart High School Jazz Band performed in West Ranch's theater under the direction of Anthony Bailey during Super Jazz at the Ranch on Saturday, May 18. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal

Photos: Super Jazz at the Ranch

High schools throughout Santa Clarita and Southern California performed in West Ranch’s theater, library and jazz room during Super Jazz at the Ranch on Saturday. The musicians were advised by

Press release

Local resident releases vegetarian cookbook 

News release  Local cookbook author Yecenia Currie has released a new book aimed at creating recipes that are filled with nutrition while simultaneously exploding with flavor.   Currie’s goal in

Toddler bookworm triumph  

Luca McFarlin completed a huge milestone for a 2-year-old toddler. With the help of his family, McFarlin read 1,000 books and became the sixth child to accomplish the 1,000 Books

Avid bike riders dash through the Bridgeport bike trail during the Community Bike Ride activity on Saturday. 051824 Katherine Quezada/The Signal

Photos: Hit the Trail community bike ride

The city of Santa Clarita held it “Hit the Trail” community bike ride on Saturday morning. The self guided free bicycle riding event encouraged families and individuals to bike ride

Senses: ‘Alice in Wonderland’

Residents gathered for a hypnotic time at Senses Block Party: “Alice in Wonderland,” where attendees could take photos with The Cheshire Cat, throw plates and dance the night away on

Hiza Yoo Korean drummers perform during the Celebrate:South Korea event held at the Canyon Country Commmunity Center in Canyon Country on Friday, 051024. Dan Watson/The Signal

Celebrate Series: South Korea  

K-pop, rhythmic drum sounds and colorful Hanboks were among the many things people could see at the Canyon Country Community Center last week for the second installment of the city

Bowman celebrates poets and artists By Habeba Mostafa Signal Staff Writer One by one, students mustered the courage and came up to the podium at Bowman High School to read aloud a poem from “The Redemption of You” — a collection of their own poems. Marking Bowman High School’s 31st annual Day of the Artist and Poet festival on Wednesday, the front lawn welcomed attendees with not only live musical performances and poetry recitation, but also art projects created throughout the year by the school’s creative writing, art and music students. The anthology is composed of creative writing pieces, compiled by teacher Michael Mansfield. “Every story of redemption is a story of hope and struggle. Through our hardest times, we discover things about ourselves that we never knew …. Any student at Bowman High School can tell you they know all too well about redemption and second chances,” Mansfield wrote in the book’s introduction. Over 180 pages, this year’s anthology saw the most poetry submissions in the high school’s history. “This is actually a landmark year for us. This is the largest volume of poetry ever produced, it’s 182 pages of poems by leaps and bounds,” Mansfield said to the crowd. “It’s a record breaker, and it’s been a record-breaking year for us as well in the poetry program. It’s really impressive the talent that’s coming up here and we’re really happy to share it.” For first-year Bowman 11th and 12th grade art teacher Olivia Hondrogiannis, who was experiencing the festival for the first time, impressed is an understatement. “The art here today is a selection of things we did throughout the year. We did paper mache. Students designed an animal that they chose parts from other animals. We did Sacred Hearts, that was a painting with a combination of the clay heart — and was inspired by either a passion or a quote or something they’re devoted to,” Hondrogiannis said. Hondrogiannis takes pride in knowing that the students are taking the initiative to not only express themselves creatively, but with others, as well. “As far as the creative writing class goes, that’s all Mike Mansfield. I don’t know how he gets his kids to come up and read their poems. He’s a great motivator for these kids,” Hondrogiannis said. “It’s really exciting to see all the kids’ work and to let them have their parents and friends come see it.” Senior Kevin Matias, 18, reflected on his art throughout the year, and how Hondrogiannis inspired him and his peers to create. “I describe myself as an artist. I like creating stuff. I like putting what’s in my head onto paper. I like that our teacher’s very helpful and passionate about her job,” Matias said. “Everybody likes to communicate with each other, and when it's time to get work done, we get work done.” Matias’ favorite thing to create was a scratch board, using photos of a classic car and a rapper as reference photos. While the academic year, and overall high school experience, is concluding, Matias can envision a future in art. “I see myself doing art in the future, where it be designing a logo, or doing something to help advertise,” Matias said. “It’s amazing having my work presented today. I feel special because I get to show what I did in class and what I liked doing. Bowman is great.”

Bowman celebrates poets and artists  

One by one, students mustered the courage and came up to the podium at Bowman High School to read aloud a poem from “The Redemption of You” — a collection of