H-ton Artists Impressive at Long Island’s Best Exhibit
Three talented Huntington High School artists have captured honors in this year’s Long Island’s Best juried exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art.
Senior Aaron Feltman won a second place in show award along with the Judith Sposato Memorial Prize, which carries a $500 stipend. Eli Mollineaux captured the $250 Renzo S. Biachi Scholarship Award and Huntington Fine Arts honorable mention recognition. Justin Meyer garnered an honorable mention award.
A record-setting 357 works of art were submitted by 53 Long Island high schools. Only 83 were selected for display at the exhibition. “Now in its 20th year, Long Island’s Best challenges students in grades 9 through 12 to choose a work of art on view in the museum as inspiration for their own creative expression,” according to the Heckscher Museum. “The quality of artwork is exceptional and delivers a professional-level show in a broad range of media, styles, and subjects.”
The exhibit opened on April 9 and will run through May 15. “This prestigious arts-in-education initiative is the only juried exhibition on Long Island that offers high school students the opportunity to exhibit their art in a museum setting,” according to the Heckscher Museum.
Aaron Feltman discusses his award winning art
Titled How You See Me vs. How I See Me, Mr. Feltman’s exceptional work is a graphite powder, charcoal powder and ink on paper. “I have struggled with my self-image for a majority of my life,” the senior said in an artist’s statement that accompanies his work on display. “Every day I look in the mirror and see every flaw that I possess from my crooked nose to my differently shaped eyes. However, this image staring back at me is not what the rest of the world sees, but the reverse.”
The teenager has worked closely with Huntington art teacher Kristin Singer. “While I will never truly be able to see my face as the rest of the world does, the closest I can come to viewing myself is in a photograph,” said Mr. Feltman in his artist’s statement. “Based on this idea, I created How You See Me vs. How I See Me by rendering two photorealistic drawings of the mirror images of my face. This process was therapeutic because it allowed me to view my face only in terms of lights and darks instead of my individual facial features; thereby separating my own perception of my face from the reality of what was in front of me. While the difference between the drawings seems drastic to me, the slight shift between the two has gone unnoticed by others.”
Mr. Feltman said he was inspired to create his artwork after viewing John Digby’s City Life, which the teenager said “deals with a slight shift of perspective between two images.”
Long Island’s Best judges were clearly impressed with the Huntington senior’s finished product. “While Digby physically cut slivers of each photo and collaged them together to form his unique design, I used a similar method with the creation of my lenticular print,” said Mr. Feltman in his artist’s statement. “Photographs of my two drawings were digitally stripped and meshed together, then printed out and cover with a ridged sheet of plastic that allows viewers to see either of the drawings depending on their position relative to the image. While Digby’s work evokes a theoretical sense of motion for the observer, my own requires real motion from the viewer in order to fully understand the artwork.”
Eli Mollineaux captures prestigious Bianchi Award
A talented Huntington freshman, Mr. Mollineaux titled his mixed media piece, bELIeve. “I spotted Stan Brodsky’s Around Yellow at the museum and was immediately drawn to it,” said the teenager in his artist’s statement. “Being legally blind, the bright colors, bold strokes and largeness of scale easily spoke to me. I found a deep connection between Brodsky’s artistic style and my own work in that we both use light and color to evoke emotion in our art. In my work, bELIeve I layered watercolors and acrylic paints onto rice papers and adhered it to a larger paper with paint applied with a brayer. As my disease, Pearson’s syndrome progresses and my tremors become more uncontrollable, I have learned to adapt my technique by using larger brushes, paint brayers and a weighted glove to make marks and layer paint.”
Mr. Mollineaux has also worked closely with Mrs. Singer, who was honored at the Long Island’s Best opening ceremony with an Outstanding Teacher Award.
“I find great pleasure in the process of creating art,” said Mr. Mollineaux in his artist’s statement. “I love choosing color schemes and applying different types of brushstrokes and marks on to surfaces. In creating art, I always find great success regardless of my physical challenges, because art is limitless. Art allows me to genuinely communicate, connect and relate to others in a way equal to my peers.”
Justin Meyer honored for My Blue Universe
Titled My Blue Universe, Mr. Meyer’s digital painting was inspired by Mark Markov-Grinberg’s Nikita Izotov. “I was drawn to the coal miner’s intense gaze and the depth of grey tones that make the subject, Nikita Izotov appear sculptural, as if he was carved from the very coal he is mining,” the teenager said in an artist’s statement. “Markov-Grinberg’s photographic portrayal of Nikita Izotov coincides with Izotov’s legacy of being the Soviet’s first worker to be singled out for having mined far more coal than anyone else. I attempted to replicate the sculptural overtones in Markov-Grinberg’s photograph by ‘carving’ a portrait of myself out of an imagined interstellar landscape. I chose space to represent my ongoing interest in astronomy and the potential of long distance space travel and exploration. It also is a symbol of the ‘space’ not yet explored or understood in our own minds.”
A member of Huntington’s Class of 2016, Mr. Meyer has developed a close working relationship with high school art teacher Kasmira Mohanty. His work on display in the Long Island’s Best exhibit is an indication of just how far advanced his artwork has become.
“The main challenge in executing my ideas was settling on a particular monochromatic color scheme of blues. I needed just the right tones to fully define the contours of my face, while limiting myself to the use of line,” Mr. Meyer said. “I spent periods of time making observations about the tones of grey in Markov-Grinberg’s photograph in order to skillfully translate them into a digital platform. Through experimentation, trial and error I was able to achieve the look and an overtone of contemplation I was striving for.”
The Heckscher Museum is open Wednesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Town of Huntington residents are admitted free on Wednesdays after 2 p.m. and on Saturdays before 1 p.m. Proof of residency is required for free admission.
According to its website, The Heckscher Museum of Art was founded in 1920 by industrialist August Heckscher. The collection is devoted to 19th and 20th century European and American art. In addition, the Museum owns and maintains the Dove/Torr cottage, the home of famed
American artist Arthur Dove and his artist-wife Helen Torr. Log on to www.heckscher.org or call 351-3250 for more information.