Last Friday, Nov. 11, Idyllwild Arts Academy’s Visual Arts program held an opening reception for this year’s Visual Arts Student Theme Show, “Identity.” Students submit candidate themes each year; teachers then narrow the field to three on which students vote. The works are thus conceived and completed in about two months.

The show’s statement lays out some markers that make up identity: “What could identity mean to you? Where you’re from, who you are, what you look like, who you love, what you love, what you want to be, how you are perceived by the world and the people around you.” Also present in the minds of the artists is their own youth and plasticity: “How we define ourselves will change countless times over the course of our lives and, as artists, we can capture these snapshots in our artwork to look back and reflect on each stage and how we have evolved.” The artist statements that accompanied each work bore out these various themes and introduced others, from the daringly personal to the technical and philosophical.

The opening reception had a festive atmosphere; last year everyone was masked up and more subdued — now the artists were mostly happy to talk about their work, and even happier to point out and praise their colleagues.

Last year’s juror was virtual, corresponding by internet, but this year’s juror, Devon Tsuno, was in person. Tsuno is an associate professor at California State University Dominguez Hills. His vibrantly colorful, deeply layered work focuses on plant life, but contains stories about his family and heritage, and California’s environmental issues. His latest high-profile commission includes four works to enliven the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new Wilshire Rodeo station, slated to open in 2025.

The juror’s choices often affirmed the casual viewer’s judgment: some of these pieces had inescapable presence that impressed and arrested. Other works Tsuno singled out were subtle and understated in their mastery. The artists’ statements attached to the work allow (or force) the artists to put a piece of themselves out there into the world. The statements all lined up with the work; a viewer would usually get the gist of each work (as we should) from the work itself, but it was gratifying to get confirmation from the source.

Senior Adrain Wang, who last year was awarded third place, received first honorable mention (HM) for the digital media work “Magical Live Stream” that suggests the addictive but threatening and ultimately unsatisfying nature of online life.

Second HM went to freshman Audrey Everson’s hydra-headed “Personality.” The digital media work presents a character made of animal, human and mechanical selves blending uneasily.

Third HM was senior Lilikoi Amlin’s Goya-inspired dry point etching, “Brother and I.” An unsettling, perhaps strait-jacketed, Siamese-twin clown grins at the viewer. Behind are tables stacked with papers and what might be surgical implements, invoking the artist’s fear of separation. Ironically, this reporter learned, the artist has no brother, but an inseparably close friend who takes that role.

Fourth HM went to a first-year senior, Maria Barcelo Tous, for “Resilience,” which combines Lino printing on acetate with ceramic. The ceramic invokes the coral that grows in the sea around the artist’s native Mallorca, its fragility and resilience. It appears to be healing from a break. The prints on transparency suggest the ocean and the coral-like tangle of neurons in the brain.

Painting and drawing teacher Rachel Welch, commenting about the excitement of a student asking, “Can I do watercolor on canvas?” — the beginning of an exploration that led to Day Side’s third place “The Exhaustion of Comfortability.” The painting is both radiant and challenging. The watercolors remind of William Blake’s work, and the seated figure seems to be tearing themselves apart, an expression of gender dysmorphia.

Second place went to sophomore Luna Lee for “Kiss the Rain,” a mesmerizing, single-frame digital animation in which a figure kisses a spirit in the rain, having connected with a part of themselves.

First place went to Nil Delfin Uslu’s “Thank You,” one of the subtle pieces that were easy to walk by in a crowded gallery, but which are as full of detail as fingerprints. The artist’s statement expresses gratitude for even the difficult experiences that have shaped their identity. The acetone transfer method allows laser printed images to be transferred to canvas where the artist can further modify and distort them.

Best of Show went to junior Jiho Kim’s “Peccavi.” Last year, Jiho took second place with “Reflection,” another commanding oil. “Peccavi” is a work with a room-dominating presence, and its spiritual import is no less arresting. Although many works here (and in the canons) explore an artist’s wounds, here the “sinner” is the artist, and they show themselves taking ownership of their selfishness. The artist stands, back turned to a prone figure seen only as booted feet protruding into the frame. They seem to be facing a moment of guilt and self-awareness. The heaviness of the moment is not without a sense of humor, as the “crime” of self-absorption is lighter than the suggestion of murder. The large canvas invites a scrutiny of its breath-taking, old-master style photo realism.

Artists put a lot of thought and feeling and a lot of themselves into their work and this is a show worth checking out. The artists’ statements lift the veil and let the viewer know the makers’ thoughts. The Parks Exhibition Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. The show will remain until Thursday, Dec. 8.