Untitled (chalk pastel)

Untitled (chalk pastel)

Cover | Contest Winner Jamie Solomon

Untitled (chalk pastel). The Monthly received more than 70 submissions to our Sixth Annual Student Cover Contest. Entering her senior year at Piedmont High this month, first-place winner Jamie Solomon’s piece is a portrait of her sister, Terry. Setting out to illustrate different perspectives on the theme of isolation, Solomon drew Terry listening to music on her own. In addition to making art, Solomon enjoys acting and singing. “I’m an artistically inclined person,” she says, but she isn’t sure if she’ll go on to art school after graduation. “I’m trying to figure that out.” Local artist Carol Aust will present awards to the three top and seven honorable-mention winners on Sunday, October 8 at Blick’s Art Materials, 811 University Avenue, Berkeley. For information contact Blick General Manager Amy DeBrecht at (510) 486-2600. Click on Sixth Annual Cover Contest for second- and third-place artwork and bios on all three student artists–as well as honorable mention artwork and more.

Faces of the East Bay

In the Philanthropic Swim

In the Philanthropic Swim

Rockridge residents John Bliss and Kim Thompson may live far removed the gritty flats of East and West Oakland. But this philanthropic couple see themselves as one with the citizens of Oakland, particularly those who are struggling financially, and they’re leading a campaign to get their “financially blessed” peers to invest in the community like they have by funding city programs to teach kids how to swim.