By Elizabeth Vranka, Executive Director, OSilas Gallery, Concordia College

Jan. 17, 2018:  Hundreds of students, family members, and art teachers came to OSilas Gallery at Concordia College-New York on January 11 for the opening of the gallery’s 12th annual StArt Regional High Schools Exhibition.

This year a record 91 students from 31 high schools participated in the show. The public and private high schools that participated are from Westchester, Rockland, and Fairfield Counties, as well as the Bronx. This exhibition runs through January 21 and is free and open to the public.

For the past twelve years, OSilas Gallery has presented the StArt Exhibition in order to give high school art students an opportunity to showcase their work in a professional gallery and build their credentials and portfolios for college. Art faculty from each of the participating schools are invited to select up to three works, in any medium, for inclusion in the exhibition. Works this year range from photography to ceramics to paintings and drawings.

A panel of judges reviews the submitted works and this year selected six pieces to receive certificates of excellence. This year’s panel of art professionals included Liz Levine, the director of programming at OSilas Art Studio; Flladi Kulla, an artist, photographer, and instructor of art at Concordia College; Nancy Little, former director of the National Academy School of Fine Arts; and Randy Frost, a fabric artist and longtime member of the board of advisors of OSilas Gallery. Listed below are the six certificate recipients.

Ian Charles, Hastings High School, Untitled, black-and-white photograph of man in lamplight

Farhaanah Mohideen, Briarcliff High School, Portrait of a Boy, oil on canvas (pictured above)

Isabella Rios, Walter Panas High School, The Jump, digital photography

Katherine Sidari, Eastchester High School, Costuming, acrylic on wood plank

Alexandra Wang, Clarkstown High School North, Fruity, clay and glaze

Vance Wood, Bronxville High School, Self-Portrait, graphite on paper

For the past two years, the StArt Exhibition has been sponsored by The Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation, which supports organizations that bring enriching arts experiences to youth ". . . because ART changes lives."

OSilas Gallery is on the campus of Concordia College-New York, 171 White Plains Road, Bronxville, in the Donald A. Krenz Academic Center on the second level of Scheele Memorial Library. Free and ample parking is available on campus and is accessible via Concordia Place off of White Plains Road. 

Gallery hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, noon to 5:00 pm; Thursdays, noon to 7:00 pm; and Saturdays and Sundays, 2:00 to 5:00 pm.  

Participating high schools were Academy of Mount St. Ursula, Ardsley High School, Briarcliff High School, Bronxville High School, Charles E. Gorton High School, Clarkstown High School North, Sacred Heart Greenwich, Darien High School, Eastchester High School, Edgemont High School, German International School, Harrison High School, Hastings High School, Keio Academy of New York, Lincoln High School (Yonkers), Mamaroneck High School, The Montfort Academy, Mount Vernon High School, Ossining High School, Pelham Memorial High School, Pleasantville High School, Riverside High School (Yonkers), Rye Neck High School, Saint Catharine Academy, Scarsdale High School, School of the Holy Child, Tuckahoe High School, Valhalla High School, Walter Panas High School, Westlake High School, and Yonkers High School.

Pictured here (from top): Title wall featuring the artwork submitted by Edgemont High School (left) and Bronxville High School (center and right); Portrait of a Boy by Farhaanah Mohideen, Briarcliff High School, one of six winners of a certificate of excellence; OSilas Gallery on opening night of the exhibition.

Photos courtesy OSilas Gallery