By Robbie Evans
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Senior Sharon Sakuma showcased her art skills in this year’s Duke Kahanamoku Coloring Contest, receiving the first place grand prize for her piece on Aug. 31. As a prize, Sakuma was given a $50 Quicksilver giftcard and a Duke dinner coupon for her artwork, which illustrated her brilliant talent.
“I was so stoked. I felt pretty good inside. Like a big high five to the soul. I felt good,” said Sakuma.
Sakuma’s inspiration for the project stemmed from the Duke’s Ocean Fest, an annual event that features a variety of ocean sports. The piece itself helped to portray the spirit of the fest in all of it’s splendor. “I wanted to make it with bright colors and just happy all around,” stated Sakuma. “I wanted to use multiple shades of color. For instance, skin tone isn’t fresh out of the crayon box brown, but it has reds and yellows and blues. So instead of doing blocks of monochrome, I added pinks to the sky and greens to the ocean. My intent was to input as much color to show a happy scene.”
It has been said that one of the main purposes of art is to capture the feelings of the artist. Sakuma, quoting Aristotle, said, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance, but their inward significance.”
Art has been such a tremendous influence on her ever since she was young, so Sakuma barely remembers a time when art wasn’t in her life. “Art is important to me because my head isn’t big enough to hold my crazy ideas, so they spill out on paper, or canvas or through manipulating metals,” said Sakuma.
After years of experimenting with her art, Sakuma has developed a unique style. “Sharon’s (Sakuma’s) work is always so-striking. Her art always has this dynamic, like you look at it, and it hits you. It’s like her art is literally hitting me in the face,” said Sakuma’s friend and fellow artist, Senior Joy Sanchez. “A lot of people say they suck at art, but I see it more as- they haven’t quite gotten the hang of translating what’s in their head onto paper let alone an actual art form and I think Sharon (Sakuma) has that rare quality.”
Sukuma’s Art teacher, Ruth Ravina-Koethe continued to show further appreciation of Sakuma’s devotedness. “There’s a lot of skills that can be taught, but if you have the heart, you have the devotion, that’s really key and that’s what Sharon has,” said Koethe. Sanchez added, “The way she is, she’s not afraid of just going out and doing things. She’s what the word-independent and she’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind and I admire that.”
Koethe entered all of her students’ work into the contest as an assignment for her classes. “I think I entered 130 pieces. Out of the 130 pieces, there were only about 25 extremely outstanding pieces and hers (Sakuma’s) was one of those,” said Koethe.
In retrospect of her past accomplishments and her continued developing skills, Sakuma’s talent is still developing under the guidance of many teachers, friends and family. In the future, she plans on continuing her exploration of the art world and cultivating her skills so they mature into something even more outstanding.
