{"id":334106,"date":"2026-05-27T07:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/334106\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:03:11","slug":"westside-students-dont-get-the-spotlight-enough-teachers-say-a-new-art-night-is-starting-to-change-that-long-beach-post-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/334106\/","title":{"rendered":"Westside students don\u2019t get the spotlight enough, teachers say. A new art night is starting to change that. \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miniature art galleries. An animated astronaut. A collection of whimsical ceramic sea creatures.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Cabrillo High School students will participate in the school\u2019s second annual Night of the Arts on Thursday, and these are some of their creations. Student work will be displayed during a gallery walk, and some items \u2014 from prints to crocheted plushies \u2014 will be available for purchase as part of a student-run maker\u2019s market. Attendees will also be able to buy grilled cheese and Filipino baked goods from local vendors while watching student musical performances and a live podcast.<\/p>\n

The event is the brainchild of the Cabrillo arts department, which hosted the inaugural event last year after germinating the idea at a conference for arts educators. The event was a huge success, attracting hundreds of guests, said ceramics teacher Shaina Turian. Now, she\u2019s hoping to build on that momentum by getting every Cabrillo student enrolled in an art class to show their work on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, the westside has been kind of left out when it comes to looking at how well schools are doing athletically, academically,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cWe just wanted to give our kids a chance to be showcased and celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The week before the event, students across Cabrillo\u2019s art classes, from ceramics to painting to animation, finalized their projects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Marina Olivas works on an art piece during class at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Students are finishing their projects for an upcoming show. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Freshman Matthew McNece finished his curated diorama of art on the theme of trauma. He\u2019d recreated miniature versions of other artists\u2019 work, including a haunting 1999 painting by Yuko Tatsushima titled \u201cI can\u2019t be a bride anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Marina Olivas made a poster for last year\u2019s event, and this year she has leaned into physical media, displaying a small gallery that explores movement, as well as a vibrant abstract painting. \u201cI would really like it if somebody took an interest in my art,\u201d she said, adding that she\u2019ll be standing nearby to answer questions.<\/p>\n

In the ceramics studio, sophomore Evy Mensah pulled out a box of finished vases and bowls that she plans to sell, as well as a few cupcake-shaped boxes still to be glazed and fired. \u201cShe\u2019s been teaching herself all year how to throw on the wheel,\u201d Turian said of Mensah\u2019s quick progress as a ceramicist.<\/p>\n

Turian has been intentional about engaging with art students across the city. This year, she worked with classes at Bixby Elementary and John Muir Academy on a collaborative project: The younger students made drawings of monsters \u2014 toothy, horned, one-eyed and winged \u2014 and the Cabrillo students brought them to life, molding the creatures out of clay.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jonathan Cerritos gets ready to put away the monster he made out of clay during class at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

The arts staff \u2014 Turian, art foundations teacher Emily Yarborough, digital art teacher Tim Delacy and art coach Chloe Ricks \u2014 are now in the final dash to Thursday. They\u2019re mapping out the space, mounting and labeling student work, decorating the school and even holding impromptu band practice (they\u2019ll be performing covers as a band of teachers).<\/p>\n

It represents an enormous amount of work, but the Cabrillo arts staff has proven they\u2019ll go the extra mile for their students. Turian started teaching ceramics at Cabrillo during the pandemic. How? \u201cCreatively,\u201d she said. She and her colleagues drove around Long Beach and hand-delivered clay and art supplies to students\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Karen Hernandez creates a small version of John Constable\u2019s 1815 painting, Golding Constable\u2019s Flower Garden, during art class at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Since then, Turian and her colleagues have attempted to grow the arts department while navigating staff cuts. It\u2019s been a tricky endeavor, Turian said, yet they remain committed to strengthening the arts at Cabrillo, given the interest and talent of their students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really love our students and our community here,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to find as many ways to celebrate that and bring people over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the public are invited to Night of the Arts at Cabrillo High School (2001 Santa Fe Ave.) on Thursday, May 28, from 5 to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miniature art galleries. An animated astronaut. A collection of whimsical ceramic sea creatures. Hundreds of Cabrillo High School…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-334106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}