The Corner Gallery is excited to announce that a pair of Ukiahi Sophomores will share the limelight on the Young Artist wall for the months of April and May. Fifteen-year-olds Lucca Hudson and Santiago Noriega are Ukiah natives and lifelong friends who have already shown their art at the ‘Under 18’ exhibit at MEDIUM Gallery three years in a row. They share a passion for doing art, but took different paths to end up invited into Rose Easterbrook’s Advanced Art class at the high school.

 

The boys have been in school together since kindergarten at Grace Hudson Elementary School. Santiago was initially inspired by some of his friends to put serious energy into doing art in the 6th grade, when he took his first art class with them… also taught by Ms Easterbrook. He is also inspired by work that he sees online. Lucca got started on the art path as a result of playing and tracing images on a light board that his grandmother gave him when he was really little. That led to an artistic work colleague of his father’s encouraging him to stretch his skills by coloring in some of his tracings and trying some shading. Lucca’s motivation to draw comes almost entirely from within.

 

“Drawing came slowly and naturally to me,” says Santiago. “Now I do it for fun and I want to pursue it as I get older because I enjoy it.” Lucca chimes in, “I love doing art as a hobby, but I’m not so sure about doing it as a profession because that might take all the fun out of it. You’d be forced to put out stuff even if you’re not feeling like it.” Santiago agrees, “Yeah… you’d have to emphasize quantity over quality.”

 

Santiago says he loves both art and history in school. When pressed to divulge something unique about himself, he says, “I’ve got the 16th best GPA in my Sophomore class. I like being a student, though it’s not fun staying up late at night to study.” The aspect of history that he loves the most is the art from the Renaissance, especially the images that he has seen from the Sistine ceiling by Michelangelo. “The ‘Creation of Man” is perfect,” Santiago says with a tangible sense of awe. “Everything about it is masterful… even the outline of the image of God is the same shape as the human brain.”

 

Lucca loves to build on the magic of his own creativity. When I’m bored,” he says with a wry grin, “I think of really creative things, and that’s where my ‘masterpieces’ come from. I actually got a ‘Wildcat Recognition’ award from my English teacher, who recognized me for being really creative in the class.” Lucca continues, “I also have learned to sew and have been altering my pants to suit my own style.” Lucca is proudly in his 11th year of learning Spanish and is on track for the seal of bi-literacy upon high school graduation.

 

Santiago says his preferred medium used to be graphite, but now it’s acrylic paint, which he finds to be more of a challenge. His favorite piece in the Young Artist show is a portrait that he made of his mother. “I love how it looks like her,” Santiago says, “but I think it also gives off a Renaissance feel. It might be because it’s a painting of my mom, or that it’s my first acrylic portrait, but I really feel like I have a special bond with it.”

 

Lucca’s favorite piece is entitled ‘Sketchy Guy.’ “I love the weirdness of him,” Lucca says. “and in my opinion it’s one of the best artworks I’ve done. It’s pen and alcohol marker. I’ve really gotten into cross hatching with the pen and not having to worry about erasing as much… I can just go with the flow. And I’ve figured out on my own how to do the shading with the markers.”