Contest winners look forward to a banner year at Hollywood Burbank Airport
Hollywood Burbank Airport officials looked to the airfield’s past during last year’s Tower Banner Student Art Contest. This year, however, they decided to look to airport’s future with its new branding name designed to attract more passengers from east of the Colorado Rockies with the allure of Tinseltown.
The legal name of the airfield remains Bob Hope Airport, as it has been since 2003, but it was changed to Hollywood Burbank Airport for marketing purposes last May.
Officials honored the nine winners of the 10th annual banner contest — which had the theme “Aviation Goes to Hollywood” — during a meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday.
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There were three sets of first-, second- and third-place high school winners, one set from each school district in Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena. The first-place winner from each district will have their artwork enlarged onto a 16-foot-by-26-foot banner that will be displayed on the terminal tower for about three months.
All of the winning student artwork will be put on display in Terminal B starting in June.
“For myself, this is the best group I’ve ever seen,” Burbank Commissioner Don Brown said. “That artwork is outstanding. That could be hung anywhere. I can’t thank you enough, and encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing. This is outstanding work.”
Airport spokeswoman Lucy Burghdorf said there were 183 entries from the school districts this year.
Along with showcasing the students’ artwork, the airport authority will donate $3,000 to each of the school districts to help promote art programs. Hollywood Burbank has donated $28,500 to each school district since the contest started in 2007, Burghdorf said.
Anthony Sutanto, a senior from Burbank High School, will be representing the Media City when his banner is hung starting in April 2018.
Sutanto spent a great deal of time on Photoshop to create his first-place piece, which consists of an airplane flying over the Hollywood Hills, Hollywood sign and Hollywood Bowl.
“I actually took a photo of a plane flying here and used it,” he said.
Sutanto said that he is happy that his artwork will be blown up and displayed on the tower and said he appreciated the support he received from his art teacher, James Bentley, on his project.
Jennifer Bae, a junior from Crescenta Valley High School in Glendale, will be the first to have her artwork displayed on the tower starting in June.
Opting to use a brush and paint, Bae’s piece depicts a woman whose gown flows down to make a red carpet for an airplane nearby.
“I really wanted to incorporate a red carpet, but also incorporate an airplane as well,” she said. “So I thought about turning the red carpet into a dress with the help from my teacher.”
Bae, 16, said it was her first time winning any competition and was not accustomed to people taking photos of her and the other winners.
She said she feels shy whenever she thinks about her artwork being seen by thousands of passengers.
“But it’s really exciting and very nice,” Bae said.
Ixchél Cueto-González, a junior from Pasadena High School, will have her artwork, which radiates a Great Gatsby-like 1920s vibe, put on display starting in January 2018.
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
