About the Exhibition
Undoubtedly, COVID-19 has changed our lives and how we view the world. We all faced the challenges of stay-at-home mandates to keep our community safe and the day-to-day challenges of living in a world confined by a pandemic.
Since 1997, the University of Guam Isla Center for the Arts has sponsored the annual Isla Art -a-thon fundraising campaign. This program encourages our K-12 students to create works of art and to raise funds in support of art programs in schools as well as Isla Center operations. The culmination is an exhibition of selected works where student artists and their families gathered at the Isla Center for an opening ceremony to recognize the student artists and to view their beautiful works of art.
In 2020, we knew that we needed to shift and adapt in order to fulfill our mission of exhibiting art for the community. However, through the challenges, we found opportunities - to provide an outlet for our young artists to share how they have been coping and also to potentially share their expressions of art with a global audience in a virtual environment.
This year, we eliminated the fundraising aspect of the project due to the impact of COVID-19 on our local economy. Instead, we focused on the art and asked students to create a work of art that depicts what has helped them through this difficult time – to depict their light during COVID.
A total of 91 students from nine schools participated in this project. These schools include Agana Heights Elementary, Daniel L. Perez Elementary, J.Q. San Miguel Elementary, Luis P. Untalan Middle, Marcial Sablan Elementary, Maria A. Ulloa Elementary, M.U. Lujan Elementary, Simon Sanchez High, and Talofofo Elementary. Please be sure to click on the Gallery tab to view the top three and honorable mentions in the elementary, middle and high school categories.
On the technical side, I must recognize my AR323: Gallery Management and Exhibition Design class for all of their hard work on this project. They spent many hours uploading and formatting as well as creating the art tutorials featured on this website.
Please enjoy this virtual exhibition of enchanting works of art. The student artists remind us that sources of light and encouragement are all around us.
Velma Yamashita, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Isla Center for the Arts
Associate Professor of Art
University of Guam