VOCS Art Haven Celebrates Emerging Artists, Expanding CTE Pathways

Young artists specializing in a variety of different mediums showcased their talents Thursday night at the Valley Oaks Charter School (VOCS) annual Art Haven fall exhibition. The Art Haven is a VOCS pop-up art gallery that promotes art culture and celebrates student artists. The art show featured a range of media and artistic themes crafted by select elementary, junior high, and high school students. 

“For the staff, it is all wonderful,” said Sarah Samms, VOCS’s Career Technical Education (CTE) Arts Media and Entertainment Teacher. “This annual exhibition has become a culminating highlight of the fall semester. To watch them shine in front of their peers, friends, and families is deeply satisfying for Valley Oaks Staff.” 

This year also marked the debut of pottery at VOCS. For the first time, the CTE department is offering a ceramics pathway for its high school students and a pottery enrichment class for junior high students, giving young artists a chance to experiment with clay sculpting and wheel throwing.

“As a kid, I liked playing with Play-Doh,” said Senior Mikaela Jimenez. “I’ve used different mediums: painting, sketching, pastels, but I really liked clay when I entered this class. When I touched this, I knew this was going to be my source medium for everything that I do.”

Jimenez crafted a ceramic autumn cake complete with piped clay frosting. After forming the base of the cake on the pottery wheel, she experimented with clay consistencies to mimic the texture of icing.

“I put a lot of water in it, and I let that soak for a while, then I used an immersion blender to get that consistency, and I piped it out,” Jimenez said. “It’s a fall theme, so there are little pumpkins on it and leaves. If it were real, it would be a mixture of a pumpkin and chocolate cake.”

Jimenez plans to enter the culinary arts someday and hopes to display this piece proudly in her bakery as a reminder to never give up. 

“It’s going to be a bakery shop and art studio, which is going to consist of ceramic pieces that I make myself,” she said. “This piece is a bit of inspiration for me in the future to keep me going.”

Also new at the school this semester is a chance for kids to explore multiple paths and find out which aspect of art they like most. Freshmen and sophomore students in this exploratory class begin in one CTE studio and transition through each of them:  Drafting, Metal, Wood, Art, and Ceramics. This course is taught collaboratively by Samms, Drafting and Woodworking Teacher Todd Warren, and Metal Shop Teacher Darren Bernal, each of whom brings their own expertise and knowledge to the curriculum. Their fall project consisted of a sheet metal box with custom wood and ceramic elements. The students spend time with each teacher learning how to design and craft their box from start to finish. 

“They spend five weeks with me learning computer-aided design, and they draw their plans for their metal box. When they’re done with me, they go to Mr. Bernal for sheet metal and weld it up,” Warren explained. “They get ceramics, metalworking, woodworking, and drafting training.”

The exploratory class gives students time to build confidence before selecting a CTE pathway as juniors and seniors.

“We found that freshmen and sophomores aren’t ready to make up their minds,” Warren said. “Now they can take these classes and experience wood shop, ceramics, and metal shop.”

Senior Roxy Enriquez drew inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers painting for her first-ever acrylic-on-canvas piece. She personalized the painting by replacing the sunflowers with hydrangeas — her favorite flower — while maintaining Van Gogh’s signature style.

“I wanted to make it a spin of my own,” Enriquez said. “I switched the flowers out, switched a lot of the colors out, but stayed with that same vibe and texture.”

Despite some nerves surrounding the fall showcase, Samms says the overall feel from the students is enthusiasm, both for creating and sharing their passion projects. The older students who have participated in the showcase before used their experience to curate and organize the exhibition. 

“I have personally seen some glimmers of sheer excitement in students new to this experience — which is thrilling,” Samms noted.  

A key part of Samms’s role is coaching students to turn their nervous energy into confidence and encouraging them to present their artwork with professionalism and pride. 

“We know that on the other side of the evening, they will be walking away with a deeper sense of their progress, the value of work ethic, and that professionalism matters,” Samms added. “Our focus then turns to helping them translate that self-awareness into confidence for their spring semester.”

Preparing students for future careers is a major focus of the CTE program.

“Our whole thing for our CTE department here at Valley Oaks is to give students a competitive edge,” Warren said. “We really want them, when they leave high school, to have that competitive edge against other students that are doing the same thing.”

Siena Martinez poses with her mixed-media art piece inspired by Winnie the Pooh. She used paper mache to form the background and cut baseboards to form the frame.

Enriquez says her teachers, especially Ms. Samms, instilled in her a strong work ethic and time management skills, enabling her to complete her projects within a tight deadline. 

“She’s strict,” Enriquez admitted. “She told us: If you’re going to do something, you have to do it right. I like that, because I always have anxiety about finishing on time.”

Jimenez agreed, saying early in the semester she wanted to smash her ceramics piece and quit, but Samms wouldn’t let her. 

“Every time I get really scared about my art pieces, and I say I’m going to scrap it, she says: Nope, you’re going to continue it,” Jimenez said. “I love Ms. Samms so much. She’s been a really big mentor and like a family member to me.” 

Samms says the success of the Art Haven pop-up exhibit is largely due to the support from her fellow VOCS teachers and admin, as well as the families who come to see their students’ work.  

“Thinking back to the first year, I really am grateful for how it’s grown,” Samms said. “It’s catching on this year, more teachers are getting involved, more students are involved, and it’s just awesome.”

As VOCS finishes out the semester and students get ready to head into spring, Enriquez offered advice to the next generation of creators.

“Never let the fear of failing overtake what can be,” she said. “Always lean toward the positive, and if it doesn’t work out, you can always change the concept.”