For a month and a half, Ms. Lake’s AP Art students painted a six-foot tall rose to be judged alongside other Pasadena artists. The roses for the Pasadena high schools were donated by the John Hench Foundation. Each school was given 6,000 dollars for art materials. The roses were displayed at the Pasadena Tournament House on November 2nd from 10 am to 3 pm.

Ms. Lake was contacted by Linda Klausner last spring, and asked if she had any students interested in painting a rose for “Roses on Parade”. The project is fashioned after “Cows on Parade,” where statues of cows are decorated by local artists and put on display. Ms. Lake said she immediately thought of her AP Art students. Her students were excited, yet slightly intimidated by the project. But they immediately dove into the project—incorporating lots of color, texture, patterns, and more. One section of the base of the rose even had denim on it!

Senior Mallorie Eckley said, “It was pretty cool seeing all the sections come to life and combine into one piece. The hardest part, though, was how to make it all cohesive.” Senior Ellen Bowles who worked on the base of the rose explained that she was inspired by her koi pond. “I used tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and paint to make the background and the fish. Kelsea came up with the idea of using bubble wrap as bubbles.” Eckley added, “It’s kind of like an underwater mosaic.”

Senior Alyx Rush, who worked on the actual rose petals said that she just started painting it red and turned it into a family of faces. Bowles also said, “It was nice working as a group.”

In the end, the title of the piece was “Collective Discovery”. Ms. Lake called it a, “conceptually sophisticated job” and praised the group as winners no matter what. “I know it was the best rose,” she said.