The famous and unusual oil painting of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II illustrates the emperor using vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
The participating students were Savannah Robinette, Ashley White, Roman Allen, Haliyah Gomez, Caidence Reising, and Valeria Montano Pelayo, students in Liberty art teacher Sarah Galicia’s intermediate, advanced, and Advanced Placement Studio Art classes.
The LHS students and hundreds of other artists used asphalt as a canvas. Spectators watched as the artists created a temporary art gallery in the shopping center parking lot.
According to Mrs. Galicia, the students suggested various paintings by famous masters and voted to reproduce Arcimboldo’s striking portrait in a 7-by-7-foot square on pavement at the shopping center using soft chalk pastels. The work started at 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and was finished at 4:30 p.m. Students were only allowed to use chalk on the squares and Mrs. Galicia was not allowed to help them, aside from offering verbal advice.
“I am incredibly proud and encouraged at the eagerness of my students,” Mrs. Galicia said. “It is not ideal to spend a Saturday losing precious sleep to be out on the concrete all day drawing, but these students have a passion for creating that surpasses any discomfort they felt. They exceeded my expectations because they decided on a very detailed and difficult painting to recreate.”
A total of 22 high schools participated in the annual festival. The event is hosted by the Bakersfield Museum of Art and the artwork was on display through last Sunday.