On Wednesday, May 13, the gymnasium of Westbury High School was packed to the rafters with all manner of artistic whimsy and cutting-edge creativity as the school hosted its annual Student Art Show, giving kids in grades 9-12 the chance to show off the fruits of their passionate and personal work for all to see.
The show boasted work from approximately 900 students and featured a vast array of mediums on display, including paints, pastels, photography, graphic art, computer animation, ceramic sculptures, decorative masks, 3D printed objects and pretty much anything else that the vivid imagination can envision and a talented hand conjure up, said Lisa Fernandez, District-Wide Art Chairperson.
“We pretty much use any medium, and showing off the great work of our students is a great source of pride for the Westbury School District,” she said. “We really have great teachers, that’s the bottom line. The teachers will stop and take their time to teach the kids, and the kids love it and work harder because of it.”
Fernandez, who also serves as an art teacher at the high school, noted that the annual art show has been going on for as long as she’s been with the Westbury district, and has certainly grown a great deal from its humble beginnings.
“I’ve been here for 26 years, and we’ve been doing the art show ever since I started,” she said. “It wasn’t always this big…in the beginning we didn’t have nearly as many art teachers or students taking art. When it first started, we held the show in the school lobby, but eventually it got so big that we had to move it into the gymnasium for the last five years or so.”
Junior Miracle Bennett has been an artist almost all of her life; she had three pastel drawings on display at the art show, including a beautifully stylized self-portrait that attracted a great deal of attention from attendees.
“I was inspired to get into art as a child by my uncle, and I just stuck with it,” she said. “I’ve had my work displayed before in a gallery, and I’ve also participated in this show before…I’d like to go to college for art and get into the design field.”
Sophomore Miriam Salawu was showing off several complex graphic art pieces. The impressive quality of her work was hard to believe considering the fact that she only really started taking art classes the year prior to her appearance at this year’s show.
“Art is really fun, and it’s something I really want to continue with,” she said. “The teachers here are really great, and it’s so cool to have my work out there at a show like this. People know me now.”
Sandra Diaz, a senior, is another recent convert to the realm of artistry; however, her surprisingly natural skill and versatility with multiple mediums—showcased by the many works she had on display at the show—has already earned her an art scholarship.
“It feels amazing to have all my work here on display,” Diaz said. “To have all of these people here looking at my work and telling me how good I’m doing…it’s such a great feeling.”
Kathy Matthews, a Guidance Counselor in the district, clearly had trouble containing her unbridled enthusiasm and admiration for the hard work put forth by the student artists—and their instructors—at this year’s show.
“Every year, this show leaves me speechless…it’s just amazing what these art teachers bring out of our students,” she said. “The talent is there, but to me, you need someone to motivate you to bring it out of you. To me, this stuff looks professional, and we’ve actually had teachers offer to buy works from the students at this show. They’re that good.”
