Longtime local business Chiquita Canyon Landfill awarded $8,000 in scholarships to the winners of its Found Art Scholarship Program Tuesday at a gallery reception honoring the CalArts students who participated.

Chiquita Canyon partnered with CalArts to create a Found Art Scholarship competition exclusively for CalArts students. The purpose of the project was to demonstrate how artists use found objects that have been discarded by society at the landfill.

Chiquita Canyon, which supports organizations like the Boys and Girls Club and the SCV Senior Center, was interested in finding a new, creative way to give back to the local community. District Manager of Chiquita Canyon, Mike Dean, hatched the idea for a “Found Art” project and worked with CalArts to create the scholarship program.

“I’m a strong believer in giving back to the community where we do business and in supporting our youth,” Dean said. “The Found Art Scholarship program we developed with CalArts is an exciting way for us to partner with a local school.”

In addition to the $8,000, Dave Bossert, Creative Director and Head of Special Projects at Walt Disney Animation Studios and member of the CalArts Board of Trustees donated $500 for the Honorable Mention Scholarship.

A dozen students competed, visiting the landfill last semester to sort through items and find objects for their artistic creations.

“Eighty percent of each piece was required to be comprised of inorganic materials from the landfill and of a manageable size and weight for two people to transport,” according to the CalArts website.

The winners of the scholarship were notified earlier this summer and honored this week. They are:

* First Place – $4,000: Natalie Hon (Art BFA ’14)

* Second Place – $2,500: Emily Shanahan (Art MFA ’14)

* Third Place – $1,500: Vivian Sming Cheng (Art MFA ’14)

* Honorable Mention – $500: Samuel Shoemaker (Art BFA ’14)

Shanahan graciously donated her work to the West Ranch Art and Wine Gala for auction to benefit arts organizations throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. The gala is being held Sept. 29 at TPC at Valencia. Cheng’s work will be installed for display at Chiquita Canyon’s office.

Chiquita Canyon has committed to conduct the Found Art Scholarship program again with CalArts for the 2013 Spring Semester.