Transcending Culture

Transcending

Culture THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

Amber Seat literally stumbled upon her love of photography in the most romantic city in the world. When she was in second grade, her father took the family on a business trip to Paris.

“None of us spoke French at all, and on one of the days that we got lost in the city, we stumbled upon a fashion photo shoot in one of the squares,” she recalled. “I fell in love with the idea of creating scenes like those made in the ancient square. There were big lights, props, a full crew of photographers, assistants, make-up artists, and models. Many young girls may have been intrigued with the models in a situation like this, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the cameras.”

Fifteen years later, at 23, she returned to Paris on her own, this time with her very first manual camera, ready to capture the distinct visuals of Paris to create her original photographic art. Fast forward a few more years, and Seat still has her eyes and hands on the camera.

As the middle school yearbook and photography teacher, she helps budding photographers learn the ins and outs of apertures, shutter speeds and composition. When not in the classroom, she continues to develop her own style. Her work has appeared in galleries in San Francisco and New York.

This past year she was lauded for two significant achievements. This fall, her work will be featured at the 17th Annual Pollux Awards in Barcelona, Spain. Sponsored by the Foto Nostrum Photo Magazine and the Mediterranean House of Photography, the exhibit will debut in October 2022 in Foto Nostrum’s gallery.

Seat took a series of photographs in the fall semester titled “The Wasteland” taken at the Lake Delores abandoned water park in Barstow, CA. She submitted three from the series and was awarded honorable mention in the Street Photography Category.

“Several photographers that I admire and that inspire me will also be displaying their work at the same gallery in October, when these will be displayed. I’m excited to go to Barcelona this fall to see my work hanging on the walls of a gallery and to meet and work with some of the biggest names in contemporary photography,” she said.

In the spring she was awarded the 18th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Professional Section: Children. The competition was centered around women photographers internationally, and the jurors of the competition selected four winners.

Her pieces came out of her series she created for her Master of Fine Arts Project, “We’re Unable to Answer the Door.”

It starts with the first time a parent leaves a child home alone with admonishments such as: Do not cook in case you burn down the house; Do not wear socks on the stairs, you will slip; Do not run with scissors; and whatever you do, DON’T ANSWER THE DOOR!

Drawing from personal experiences and observations, “We’re Unable to Answer the Door” explores children’s resilience and a parent’s protective balance with giving them responsibility.

“My sisters and I recount childhood stories and often ask ourselves, ‘Where were our parents while we were doing this?’ I found life a thrilling adventure—too young to really understand what was going on around us—and too naive to know that maybe a five-year-old shouldn’t be cooking unsupervised. We focused on the good and escaped mostly unharmed,” she said.

This series chronicles the lives of children who are given the responsibility to run their own world. A world where there is the potential for disaster yet a praiseworthy sense of accomplishment. Through the playful, lighthearted surface, a deeper question remains: How much responsibility is too much?

Winning competitions and garnering honors mean more than accolades to Seat. She gains deep satisfaction that through art she can reach people and connect globally.

“I am so honored that the message transcends language and culture,” she shared.

Visual Arts Sweeps the Board

High school visual arts students had a big year! Drawing and photography students swept the board at the “Hang with the Best” Student Art Competition sponsored by the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley.

They also had a great showing at the Westlake Village Artist Guild High School Competition for juniors and seniors. It is a juried show, so the guild chose 75 pieces of art to be in the show out of hundreds of entries from local high schools. From those 75, they selected the winners!

David Hessemer’s photography students and Anna Wadman’s 2D art students submitted entries for first, second, third place wins and honorable mentions. This was OCS best overall showing for photography in this competition.

We’re And... Live! Left: High school spring play Cyrano de Bergerac Above: High school dance production Below: High school musical Seussical After nearly a two-year hiatus, live performances returned to the OCS campus on Nov. 18 when the curtain rose on opening night for the muchanticipated high school production of Seussical. The whimsical, off-beat musical was the perfect production to kick-off the 2021-22 theatre season, and also to welcome back live shows after COVID-19 curtailed many inperson shows.

Director and Producer Bradley Gosnell believes Seussical was a microcosm of how COVID forced many to slow down and notice the smaller things in life for the first time:

“Seussical begins with Horton the elephant hearing a small call for help from a passing speck of dust. These last two years have brought some big challenges and changes to almost every aspect of life,” Gosnell said. “These changes forced many of us to listen to the small things in life. Like Horton, I think it is important to see the seemingly mundane with compassion, as something worth protecting.”

“That and it’s a blast and a half. Seussical is a show driven by its joy and personality and that’s exactly what students brought to this production,” he said.

After Seussical, other shows that also returned with live performances included: the high school winter dance showcase; the high school and middle school Christmas concerts; the middle school fall play Surviving Middle School: A Night of One Acts; the high school spring play Cyrano de Bergerac; the middle school dance production Where Dreams Come True; the middle school spring musical Madagascar; the high school spring dance production A Night at the Movies; and, the beloved Spring Spectacular City to State show.

Top: Middle school fall play Surviving Middle School Above: High school Christmas concert

Top: Middle school Band Bonanza Above: High school musical Seussical

Top: Middle school musical Madagascar Middle: Spring Spectacular Above: Middle school dance production