Erin Brothers (left) of Lahaina Arts Association and Lisa Agdeppa (right) of the Outlets of Maui congratulate Best In Show scholarship winner Alyssa Ordono.

LAHAINA – Lahaina Arts Association’s vision is to provide artistic opportunities to support Maui’s young artists. The Annual High School Senior Art Scholarship, Competition and Exhibition is one of its most rewarding programs.

This year, in honor of the program’s 40th year, LAA’s donors, volunteers and sponsors donated over $7,000 in scholarship awards and prizes to Maui County youth who want to pursue an art-related post-secondary education.

The 2018 exhibition included 24 entries from 14 high school seniors from Baldwin and Lahainaluna High School.

Artwork was on display from April 2 until the closing reception and awards ceremony on April 18.

LAA thanked the Outlets of Maui and Lisa Agdeppa for sponsoring this program and hosting the exhibition and reception.

The exhibit was open to the public and viewed by locals, visitors to Hawaii, and students and their family members. The collection garnered a positive response from visitors from all over the world.

LAA reported that the submissions were impressive, and the collection included an array of mediums and themes all created during the participants’ senior year of high school.

The art competition was judged by the well-respected owner of Village Galleries in Lahaina, Lynn Shue.

The closing reception and awards ceremony was attended by the student artists, their teachers, family, friends, the LAA Board of Directors and donors, as well as local gallery owners and art consultants from Maui.

The Best of Show winner was Alyssa Angeline Ordono from Baldwin High School. Alyssa is currently enlisted in the U.S. Navy and will be going into active duty this fall. The winning piece, “Connections,” a mixed media sculpture, was singled out for her uniquely creative use of materials and the expert execution of a hand and foot in clay.

Alyssa said, “The textures and attachments on this piece were influenced by connecting a memory that I had with my peers of a slug on a person’s hand. While making this piece, I was drawn to the technique of sawdust firing which brought out the depth and details of the subtractive areas and brought a variation of values which fit with the story behind my piece, giving the look of the faint but still memorable thought.”

Additional 2018 art scholarship winners include:

The Grace McDonnell First Place Award in Painting to Jade Peters for “Pickled Starfruit,” and Honorable Mention in Painting to Tiara Kobayashi-Bautista for “A Blooming;”

Lahaina Arts Association First Place Award in Drawing to Jade Peters for “Golden Times,” and Honorable Mention in Drawing to Chloe Ugalino for “Antipathy;”

Andrew Shoemaker Photography First Place Award in Photography to Katherine Swor for “Finding the Light,” and Honorable Mention in Photography to Andrew Vince Ordono for “Years of Growth;”

First Place Award in Mixed Media, sponsored in memory of Haruto “Harry” Furuta and by Andrew Shoemaker, to Mikayla Kalehuawehe for “Mau Loa” and Honorable Mentions to Jade Peters for “Ribbons” and Jalyssa Angeline Ordono for “Limitations;”

Lahaina Arts Society First Place Award in Three-Dimension to Nikki Zamani for “Volcanic Sea,” and Honorable Mention, Three-Dimensions, to Sabrina Nassar for “Under Pressure;”

First Place Award in Digital Art, sponsored by Earl Thompson, to Roxan Alforque for “Ghost in her reflection.”

The students will be attending colleges all over the country and studying graphic design, illustration, architecture and more.

All of the scholarship awards are sponsored by individual donors. LAA hopes to continue to grow this program to include larger scholarship awards, more prizes and more opportunities for local youth.