Hollywood Burbank Airport announces winners of annual art contest
Hollywood Burbank Airport recently adopted a new color scheme to fit in with its new logo and name, so it’s only fitting that the art banners it displays on its terminal tower are compatible.
On Monday, the winners of the airport’s 11th annual Tower Banner Student Art Contest were announced during a meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, and they all fit the new look.
This year’s theme for the contest was “Takeoff to a New Beginning,” in which high school students from the three cities represented on the Authority were asked to interpret what a new beginning means for them, said Lucy Burghdorf, a spokeswoman for the airport and organizer of the annual event.
The 235 students who entered the contest were limited to using the colors blue, yellow, red and teal, in keeping with the airport’s new color scheme.
Burbank High School senior Ernest Avedian used Photoshop to create his artwork, which depicts an airplane flying over the Verdugo Hills, the downtown Los Angeles skyline and palm trees.
Taking inspiration from the video “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” Avedian used muted neon colors throughout his illustration, saying he wanted his piece to look futuristic, but still classic.
“I wanted to put in things that remind you of L.A.,” Avedian said.
His art piece is scheduled to be displayed next January.
Crescenta Valley High School junior Alice Baek drew inspiration for her artwork from her own new beginning as a Korean immigrant.
Baek said she and her family moved to the United States when she was younger and that she remembers being excited about moving to a new country.
Her painting, which was done with acrylics, portrays a little girl looking out the window of a plane and seeing the sun peeking out from underneath the clouds.
“I was trying to portray the new beginning that I was looking forward to,” she said.
Baek’s painting is scheduled to be put on display in April 2019.
Pasadena High School senior Suhey Elias kept her art piece simple, illustrating a girl playing with a paper airplane as passenger aircraft flies overhead. The girl featured in the artwork is wearing a T-shirt with the graphic of a plane on it.
She explained that the plane motif carried throughout the work symbolizes an opportunity for a new beginning because it allows people to travel to new places and start anew.
“It’s about starting over and having a fresh start and going places with that new start,” Elias said. “Hopefully that new start is better.”
Her artwork is scheduled to be showcased on the tower this June.
Spokeswoman Burghdorf said the airport donates money to the Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena Unified school districts to support their art programs and that each district received $3,000 from the airport this year.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
