‘So exciting’: Sphere shows winning artwork from CCSD, UNLV students
Green Valley High School senior Miguel Diaz has been painting and drawing since before he can remember. On Tuesday, his passion for art landed him on a new type of canvas: the Sphere.
Diaz was one of six Clark County School District students and two UNLV students who won a competition to have their Earth Day-themed artwork displayed on the Sphere. The students also won $10,000 for their schools’ art programs, as well as what drew some of the biggest cheers among students: tickets to the upcoming production of “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere.
“It was so exciting, and it meant a lot to me to be up there,” said Leena Luu, a fifth grade winner from Rogers Elementary School in west Las Vegas.
Luu, who hopes to be a scientist when she grows up, said she worked on her art piece for two weeks. She was joined by a group of friends and staff from her school, who brought signs and created a cheer for her.
Art teacher Amy Cardinali said the $10,000 was a dream. Typically, she said, she has to use her own money or get donations for art supplies. The money will allow her to better fund an art gallery at the school as well as the art club.
“Teachers are always lifting up our kids, digging into their own pockets some days for their materials that they need. This makes sure that now the teachers have resources,” school district Superintendent Jhone Ebert said.
Annual competition
It was the second year in a row that Sphere hosted an event for student artwork, with last year’s on July 4.
More than 100,000 local students submitted art, and over a three-week period in March, more than a quarter of a million designs were chosen based on votes around the world, according to Rich Constable, executive vice president and global head of government affairs and social impact at MSG Entertainment, which owns Sphere.
“Anytime we enter a new community, we want to show up the right way. We want to give back,” Constable said.
The elementary school winners were Luu and Maksim Gridunov, from Bonner Elementary School in Summerlin. In middle school, Antonella Sanchez, an eighth grader at Henderson’s Thurman White Academy, and Lily Huang, an eighth grader at Guinn Middle School in Spring Valley, were the winners. Sophomores Iris Copeman and Diaz, of Henderson’s Liberty High School, won in the high school category.
The UNLV winners were junior Sebastian Rubi and senior Gage Glass.
“This is just a mind-blowing opportunity for all the students who work every day in the fine arts but never had an opportunity to project it onto a screen quite like this,” said Bo Bernhard, the interim vice president of the UNLV Foundation.
Blending art and technology
“How perfect is it to show that technology and art can come together to save the planet. With your talent comes great responsibility. We appreciate the work that goes into making art, but we also like to see you use art to save the planet, save the community and save yourselves,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.
Diaz, who said he is originally from a small, cold city in the mountains of Venezuela, wanted to represent his culture in his artwork. One one side, he drew the mountains and depicted what he said was the diversity of the area. He also wanted to raise awareness of his former home, which in 2024, it was widely reported, lost its last glacier. On the other side, he drew animals like giraffes.
“It’s so big and so beautiful,” he said of Earth. “It’s our only house, so we have to protect it and love it.”
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.