In this detail of his drawing by a student named Emily is part of the current 2026 Annual Art Exhibition by Pajaro Valley Unified School District students at the Watsonville Civic Plaza building. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

Dozens of artworks from all grades within the Pajaro Valley Unified School District are now on display at the Watsonville Civic Plaza Building. 

From portraits to abstracts and still lifes, the 2026 Annual Art Exhibition fans out through both floors of the Watsonville Public Library, the third floor County Courthouse and official offices on the fourth floor. The project is a joint effort between the district’s Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) program, the City of Watsonville and PV Arts.

A student named Presli created this painting (shown in detail) for the exhibit that is showing in the aisles of the mayor’s office. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

“The process is that we reach out to all 25 schools,” said Deepika Srivastava, who serves as Director of  STEAM Curriculum, Instruction & Professional Development. “We started in November and we worked with all the visual arts teachers. Thanks to a crew of volunteers we managed to get the art hung  Monday through Wednesday. It will be available for public viewing through March of next year.”

Srivastava gave credit to the staff at the Civic Plaza, including librarians, courthouse staff and the mayor’s office for helping with the presentation of the show.

These student works by Eliseo (top) and Frank are showing on the top floor of the Civic Plaza building. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

“I believe art is an expression of their ideas and how they look at the world around them,” she said. “I worked in very large school districts in Redlands and Riverside where there were between 28-49,000 students, but I have never seen such a wide variety of exciting work as I have seen in this area.” 

A reception for students, their parents and the public is set for May 13 at the Civic Plaza Building from 3–5:30pm at 275 Main St.

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Tarmo Hannula has been the lead photographer with The Pajaronian newspaper in Watsonville since 1997. More recently Good Times & Press Banner. He also reports on a wide range of topics, including police, fire, environment, schools, the arts and events. A fifth generation Californian, Tarmo was born in the Mother Lode of the Sierra (Columbia) and has lived in Santa Cruz County since the late 1970s. He earned a BA from UC Santa Cruz and has traveled to 33 countries.

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