HHS Art Students Showcase Work at Osilas Gallery

Harrison High School IB Visual Arts students Sabrina Sakai and Maybellene Aung, along with Drawing and Painting student Heeyeon Kim, were selected to participate in the StArt 2014 Regional High School Art Exhibition at the Osilas Gallery located on the campus of Concordia College in Bronxville this past month. Sabrina Sakai received the judge's Award of Excellence for her still life painting.

StArt is an annual exhibition held each January which introduces talented artists from regional high schools to other students and the community. Students are afforded the extraordinary opportunity to showcase their work in a professional gallery setting.

Maybellene Aung’s piece, a still life mixed media showcase, was inspired by her own unique upbringing.  Born in New York, Ms. Aung moved to Burma as an infant and it is this childhood experience that she says influences her art.

In her essay for the StArt Exhibition Ms. Aung writes, “My art piece was based off the concept of balance because of the mix of black and white support with color and charcoal medium but the contrast made it off balance.  I had difficulty with this still life because it didn’t have the actual subject.  Rather, I put together photo reference and made up most of the elements such as color and composition.”

Growing up in Korea, Heeyeon Kim did not have any education in art.  She moved to the United States about two years ago where she was introduced to many mediums in her art class at Harrison High School. She writes in her essay that she first panicked when she began using pastel colors because the pressure in the techniques made it difficult to control the depth of the colors.  Her art teacher, Lisa Monti, taught her not to “fight” with the medium. 

“The still life pastel drawing was a really good experience for me and I learned to accept the characteristics of different mediums,” Ms. Kim said.  “It is just like people – everyone is special because they are all different.  I cannot wait to do other projects with different mediums that I never used.”

Sabrina Sakai’s story is slightly different.  Born in Japan, she spent little time there before moving to the United States.  Yet, Japanese tradition and culture continues to influence her life and art.  Ms. Sakai’s still life using acrylic paint showcases the cultural significance of the spring and summer seasons in Japan.

“This piece showcases summer symbols that I chose because I am fond of them,” she said.  “These types of wind chimes are often put out in that time of year, and the soda bottle next to it is a summer favorite, especially for children.”