2024 ian hassett memorial art awards
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This award is open to graduating high school seniors at most high schools in the Santa Maria Valley (Righetti, Santa Maria, Pioneer, Delta & Orcutt Academy) as well as those who are homeschooled or attending a Charter high school. ​
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This year we will be presenting 1 Art Award in the amount of $2,000.
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Deadline to apply: May 1, 2024.
Application Process: To help make this process as easy as possible, you can apply via our Google form (click the APPLY NOW button below) or download the Application here and email to info@ianmhassett.com. If you have additional questions about this art award, please contact us at info@ianmhassett.com
To date, the Foundation has given out $26,750 to emerging artists in our community.
2023 Ian hassett memorial art awards
We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2023 Ian M. Hassett Memorial Art Awards are....
Megan Bunkelman and Maleelah Acker, both from Orcutt Academy.
Megan's work was highly praised by our judges. Her use of color was exciting to see and they loved the radiant feel of her work along with the expressiveness of her figures. They also praised her developed compositions and backgrounds. In addition to her high school art classes and maintaining a 4.0 GPA, she studied art programs at Stanford as well as CalArts. She plans to pursue a degree in Multimedia Arts/Animation. We believe her talent will take her far.
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Maleelah showed us both her talent with digital work and beautifully done figure drawing. She has both an artistic and musical background. Based on her achievements witnessed at her Senior Awards Night, she is also an excellent student. While she plans to major in Biology with a minor in Animation, her stated goal is to be game artist. We are proud to help support her goals.
Portfolio by Megan Bunkelman
NOTE: ALL ARTWORK DISPLAYED IS THE SOLE PROPERTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL ARTIST AND ALL COPYRIGHT LAWS APPLY. IT IS ILLEGAL TO COPY OR REPRODUCE ANY ARTWORK WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE INDIVIDUAL ARTIST.
the story behind the art awards
Just a few months before Ian's death, he expressed an interest in learning how to use a computer system that would allow him to create graphic art. Our friends and family heard about Ian's 'wish' and a fundraiser was born. A Santa Maria style BBQ along with several bake sales were organized by friends and the response was overwhelming! Over $10,000 was raised and we were able to purchase the Cintiq drawing system Ian was hoping for. His condition worsened rapidly but he was able to use his Cintiq in the last weeks/days of his life. We talked to Ian just a few days before he died about the idea of establishing an art scholarship at his high school with the left over money from his fundraiser. He got this huge grin and asked us to call it the Ian Hassett Memorial Art Award