Paul Revere Artist to Compete in National PTA Reflections Art Contest

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor 

Palisadian Jake Gallagher was recently awarded the Award of Excellence for his participation in the 2022-23 California PTA Reflections Art Contest, allowing him to move forward and represent the state at the national level.

Every year, students across the state are invited to participate in the program and submit original artwork in one of six areas: dance choreography, literature, photography, film production, music composition and visual arts.

The submissions are first presented to school-level PTAs, where they are judged by five grade-level divisions. School PTAs then choose a number of entries to move on to be judged by local PTA units, who send the entries to councils and districts for further consideration.

“The final artworks submitted to California State PTA by districts are then considered for Outstanding Interpretation, Awards of Excellence or Awards of Merit,” according to the California State PTA website. “Outstanding Interpretation and Award of Excellence entries then go on to represent California in the final National PTA judging round.”

The theme of this year’s competition was “Show Your Voice,” encouraging students to “unleash creative talents, express themselves … [and] experience the fun and joy of making art.”

Gallagher, an eighth-grade student at Paul Revere Charter Middle School, submitted an original art piece, “Heroes of Change,” to compete in the Visual Arts category. His artwork highlights nine individuals he considers heroic, including Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Goodall, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon—and one blank figure with a question mark.

“My art piece depicts nine people in history … who have spoken out and used their voice to change the world,” the Marquez Knolls resident explained to the Palisadian-Post. “And all of these people are important parts of history … I put a blank space, almost like an empty person, to show that anyone viewing the piece of art could use [their] voice to change the world and be just like one of them.”

Gallagher said, visually, he took inspiration from superhero movie posters like Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” He explained that he used colored pencils to illustrate the individuals, and the piece took him approximately 20 hours to complete.

With art being his “main hobby,” Gallagher said he has competed in art competitions in the past, but learning that he would be moving on to the national level competition in the Reflections Art Program was “surreal.”

“It felt super exciting,” he said of the recognition. “I was pretty confident that I had a chance at state but it never occurred to me that this would be like, actually happening, so it was really exciting. I’m actually pretty nervous for nationals because that’s just huge, and I’ve never been in a competition this big.”

He said it may be about three months until the results of the competition are revealed.