Credit:<\/span> Contributed photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cThe students\u2019 artwork was creative and insightful,\u201d said Channelkeeper Executive Director Ted Morton. \u201cI really enjoyed learning about the motivation behind the students\u2019 pieces, and I was impressed with how well they expressed their personal connection to Santa Barbara Channel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
First place was awarded to Aricin Marshall for his stunning ceramic sculpture titled Tide Bound \u2013 Hollister Ranch. <\/em>Second place went to Josefa Olivio for Channel Islands Fox<\/em>, a beautiful scratchboard. Jocabed Carranza\u2019s After the Tide<\/em> painting of a lone mussel earned third place, while the Environmental Ethic Award went to Maria Rojo for Insufferable Freedom, <\/em>a ceramic turtle caught in plastic. The Juror\u2019s Choice Award was given to Madeline Adler for her hermit crab sculptures depicting Sea Life vs. Pollution: The Ongoing Battle. <\/em>Honorable mentions were given to Sophia Lam for her print Garibaldi Fish<\/em>, Alejandro Miranda for his piece For Cod\u2019s Sake,<\/em> and Camila Sandoval for Mugshots<\/em>.<\/p>\nMany of the art submissions were accompanied by powerful statements explaining the artists\u2019 personal connection to the Santa Barbara Channel and the environment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his artist\u2019s statement, first-place winner Aricin Marshall wrote, \u201cAs someone who has grown up here for most of my life, I take pride in the community and culture around me. That includes the entire coastline and the opportunities it provides\u2026 . My piece shows large water columns engulfed in kelp, coral, anemones, and all kinds of sea life, all mounted upon a rock\u2014a rock that is trapped. Trapped by the ropes of lost fishing nets, likely dragged off a commercial fishing vessel trolling the channel. I think that, like this rock, sometimes we can become trapped and tied down by something in our own lives, forcing us into the same rhythm over and over. I hope my piece can remind us of the beauty so close to our homes, yet so often forgotten in our day-to-day lives, actually getting us to take action and enjoy the beauty we have before it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jade Escoto wrote: \u201cInspired by the Santa Barbara coastline, this ceramic piece becomes a small, living reef where starfish stretch across soft blue currents, anemones bloom, and jellyfish drift. Every texture is meant to reflect the intricate beauty of tidepools, places that feel calm and balanced, yet are incredibly fragile. The colors, soft blues, seafoam greens, and touches of vibrant life show how these environments are meant to look, full of movement, color, and diversity\u2026 . Like looking into the reef, Quiet Reef invites you to slow down, look closer, and care a little more before these ecosystems and their colors exist only as a memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, these creative works of art and meaningful statements convey a message of hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year we are amazed by the caliber of the student artwork, and we are inspired by the personal stories behind each piece,\u201d said Education and Outreach Director Penny Owens. \u201cChannelkeeper is dedicated to protecting our local waterways and fostering environmental awareness and stewardship in today\u2019s youth. Seeing the artwork celebrating the natural beauty of the Santa Barbara Channel and the artist statements by the students gives us hope that our future is in good hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past two decades, more than 4,120 students have submitted art to Channelkeeper\u2019s Student Art Show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The show is sponsored by Trillium Enterprise, Inc. and the Goleta City Grant Program and received in-kind support from Frame Up.<\/p>\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\tA collage of art from the 2026 Channelkeeper Student Art Show. Credit:<\/span> Contributed photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.noozhawk.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 7, the community gathered at Jodi House Gallery to honor inspiring young artists at a reception and awards ceremony hosted by local environmental nonprofit Santa Barbara Channelkeeper. For 23 years, Channelkeeper\u2019s Student Art Show has celebrated the connection between young people and the ocean. Every spring, high school students from Carpinteria to Goleta […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2416827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22442],"class_list":["post-2416826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-arts-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Art-Show-Celebrates-Students-Connection-to-Santa-Barbara-Channel.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2416826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2416826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2416826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416828,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2416826\/revisions\/2416828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2416827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2416826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2416826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2416826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}