FRESNO – Student photographers from in and out of Fresno County have captured their moment to shine through a new exhibition in Fresno.
Student photographers from around Fresno County are having their time in the limelight with the 2026 HeARTbeat Student Art Exhibition, organized by the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools in collaboration with One Putt Broadcasting. For the next few months, art and photography enthusiasts can check out the mind-bending works of local students at the K-Jewel Art Gallery at 1415 Fulton St. in Fresno.
The theme for this year’s photo exhibition was “Mind’s Eye: Where Illusion Meets Emotion,” and challenged students to use the medium of photography to craft illusions layered with narrative.
“The whole idea was … to use the camera or photography as a means to bring the viewer into the story, shift their perspective on something, or try to create a fun or moving image,” said Aaron Bryan, director of arts education for FCSS.
Students, families and educators gathered at the gallery on March 20 for an awards night, and Bryan reported a packed room of around 200 attendees. With each photo scored on a rubric by a panel of art educators and professionals, the results reflected the rich creativity of some of the Valley’s young visionaries.
Sanger Unified School District
Two submissions from Sanger High School received a “Superior” rating, with senior Ian Frausto’s “Stripes” winning Best of Division for the high school level. The black-and-white photo is immediately captivating when looking along the display wall, with sprawling stripes across a closeup of someone’s eyes creating an eerie, yet fascinating visual.
“I was trying to capture the emotions of shock and realization in my model’s face, and tried to make it seem like each eye is giving off a different emotion,” Frausto wrote in an artist statement.
Evan Her’s “Perditus In Infinitum” makes use of a mirror to create a mysterious and playful image, simultaneously showing multiple angles of the subject under minimal lighting to create an interesting mix of darkness and highlights.
Fowler Unified School District
Students represented Fowler in spades with six “Superior” ratings and seven “Excellent” ratings, with submissions from both Fowler High School and John Sutter Middle School.
“Superior” submissions included: Noah Carillo’s “A Pinch of Light,” Ajanie Waller’s “With Time,” Emily Vasquez’s “Where the Sunset Meets Itself,” Kayla Kandarian’s “Scale of Attention,” Chloe Monis’ “Holding Myself Together,” and Connor Hammond’s “The Big Stepper.”
The “Excellent” nominations were made up of: Leah Chavez’s “Fight Spanning Scales,” Paige Peters’ “Jumping Into Her Headspace,” Paola Gonzalez’s “Echo of a Place,” Paxton Vaughn’s “Off the Beaten Scale,” Angelina Gutierrez’s “Jurassic Panic,” Jordan Moreno and Maximus Vasquez’s “Two People, One Big Camera,” and Isaiah Garcia, Luke Bustinza and Aurelia Alatorre’s “The Falling.”
Waller’s submission “With Time” was a particularly creative entry, lining up an older subject with the reflection of a younger subject to convey themes of holding onto one’s inner child. The photo makes intentional use of warm tones to create a soft and cheerful mood.
“I wanted to create a feeling of nostalgia in the audience and have them feel some sort of comfort,” Waller wrote in an artist statement.
Selma Unified School District
Selma High School students also showed a great deal of promise, achieving four “Superior” ratings and four “Excellent” ratings.
“Superior” submissions included: Maritza Valadez’s “A Ride for Joy,” David Valenzuela’s “The Big Dream,” Buddy Causer’s “Hold On. Even When It Feels Impossible,” and Evonie Perez’s “Illusion of Impact.”
The “Excellent” submissions included: Anayeli Villasenor’s “Reflections of Becoming,” Jose Vasquez’s “Jurassic On My Block,” Edward Garcia’s “The Last Hold,” and Kacie Lara’s “Cliffhanger.”
Villasenor’s “Reflections of Becoming,” takes a particularly unique approach, capturing a fuzzy reflection made of shades of brown and black. In the piece’s accompanying statement, Villasenor wrote that the photo is meant to capture feelings of introspection, calm strength and quiet resilience.
Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District
Joining in from Tulare County, this was Orosi High School’s first year participating in the HeARTbeat Student Art Exhibition. Students got off to a strong start with one “Superior” rating and three “Excellent” ratings.
Aiyana Martinez’s “Paint the Sky” received the “Superior” ranking, and the three “Excellent” rankings were awarded to Miguel Gonzalez’s “Cubicle Misery,” Michelle Ramirez’s “Captured in a Raindrop,” and Christian Cazares’ “Betrayal Steps.”
Martinez’s submission “Paint the Sky” portrays the subject hanging onto a paintbrush in the sky, using a minimal composition that allows for a nice contrast between the blue of the sky and the red of the paintbrush.
In the photo’s accompanying statement, Martinez wrote that the illusion was achieved by combining two separate photos; one of the subject jumping and the other of the landscape, with the paintbrush being held close to the camera to create some perspective.
Creating a space for young creatives
Bryan told the Mid Valley Times that FCSS has been holding the HeARTbeat Student Art Exhibition for more than a decade, but the photo competition aspect of it began sometime around 2021. The exhibition presents a new prompt each year, but past year’s prompts have been a bit more straightforward, focusing on specific forms of photography such as portraiture.
With “Mind’s Eye: Where Illusion Meets Emotion,” the goal was to push students to not just get a technically sound photo, but to also create something visually unique that goes beyond just snapping the shutter at a subject. Though Bryan thinks the more challenging prompt may have slightly reduced the number of submissions this year, with just under 100, he feels that the final outcome made for a noteworthy exhibition.
“This was definitely one of our best shows. They’ve all been good, but this one took the cake in terms of student creativity because of what they were required to do for this prompt,” Bryan said.
Aside from testing students’ skills and allowing them to explore various forms of photography, the exhibition also creates an opportunity for them to feel proud about their work and share it with others.
Kyle Mack, promotions director at One Putt Broadcasting, helps coordinate the awards night and sets up the gallery each year. Seeing the turnout and atmosphere of the awards nights each year has affirmed to him the significance of an opportunity like this.
“It’s not every day where you can do something and then have it be displayed in an actual art gallery, or someplace where you could show it off to family and friends,” said Mack.
“I think being able to have something like this is important,” he added.
