Athletes have games, actors put on shows, and musicians have concerts, but student visual artists have few opportunities to showcase their work in a professional setting. The High School Self-Portrait Show gives high school artists a chance to display their art in a gallery show for the Sacramento arts community to enjoy.

High school teachers throughout the Sacramento area assign a Self-Portrait project to their students, and choose a few from each class to submit for the show. The show is displayed for the community in a gallery, and a cohort of local artists, art educators, and the Chalk It Up executive board choose the award winners. Awards are provided by Chalk It Up for Best in Show, Best in Medium, etc. and are presented at a 2nd Saturday Artists’ reception to honor the students, their teachers, and their families.

Chalk It Up was first established in 1991 through the hard work of local artists and community art supporters. As a non-profit arts organization, they are best known for the three-day chalk art festival held annually over Labor Day Weekend in downtown Sacramento’s Fremont Park. The number of visitors to this free event has grown exponentially over the last three years and is now hosting over 60,000 festival attendees. It is Chalk It Up’s mission to empower and support the next generation of Sacramento artists through targeted art grants for young artists and the programs that inspire them. They do this by hosting the High School Self-Portrait Show, and through the Chalk It Up Grants Program, awarding $500 mini grants through the Youth Arts Grant Program biannually.