2022 MAEA Recognitions Exhibit

Organization or School Affiliation: Fairhaven High School

Student Name: Anett Valera-Moran
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: A girl who appears normal on the outside is having an internal struggle no one is aware of. The piece represents how easy it is for people to disguise their true feelings by forcing expressions. I want this artwork to connect with people, bringing awareness to mental health, uniting those who feel alone, creating a safe space our society needs.

Organization or School Affiliation: Pentucket Regional Middle and High School

Student Name: Sarah Grinnell
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: In this mixed media piece, the struggle to transition from childhood to adulthood is depicted as a push and pull battle against time.The child in the top of the hourglass innocently builds a sand castle, heedless to the reality of time slipping away, while the grown-up version of herself desperately, but in the end futilely, tries to stop the sand from falling to prevent her inevitable maturity.

Organization or School Affiliation: Pentucket Regional Middle and High School

Student Name: Grace Clevesy
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: As I was walking in the hallway of my school, I saw a lone desk sitting in the courtyard. The grass had been overgrown from it being unmanaged over the summer. Having been inspired by Dennis Osabede, I saw the past, present, and future represented. As a part of the last class to graduate from the old PRHS, I am representing the old and new school and everyone who has walked the halls before me.

Organization or School Affiliation: Cardinal Spellman High School

Student Name: Ginger Palaza
Grade: Grade 9
Artist Statement: This piece is about the feeling of having no self worth. In her mind she's telling herself to hide her feelings and that she's useless. By pretending and hiding, you’re not allowing yourself to let out your emotions and that can end up breaking you. Mental health is important for your well being and it's something that people struggle with.

Organization or School Affiliation: Cardinal Spellman High School

Student Name: Eva Dzus
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This piece is about feeling too incompetent to strive for perfection. In the botanical book shown, the person has covered up the pictures of ideal-looking flowers. They are replacing them with wilting plants as a way of remaking the idea of perfection. This is their way of lowering standards; thereby making them easier to obtain.

Organization or School Affiliation: Notre Dame Academy

Student Name: Ava Orlando
Grade: Grade 9
Artist Statement: What elements I think are obvious in my artwork is the height of the wave and the swirled-up papers that make up the wave. But also, the swirled-up papers combined with the colors I feel gives you the idea of an ocean. The Blue Wave brought out a lot of thinking behind the placement of the swirls, and how big, small, thin, or thick the swirls would have to be.

Organization or School Affiliation: Swampscott High School

Student Name: Ellie Levine
Grade: Grade 10
Artist Statement: Using clay, underglaze, glaze, wire and fabric, this hanging sculpture is a reference to memories of the first time putting on makeup as a kid. Each part was sculpted by hand and layered with underglaze colors, fired, and then attached to smaller strands of wire that are all connected to one larger hung wire.

Organization or School Affiliation: Swampscott High School

Student Name: Broghan Laundry
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: My plate surface design is influenced by organic flowing layers of shapes and color. Cool natural tones blend over each other outlining different leaves. The plate is a wheel thrown form, and the surface design is made by using cut-out templates and brushed on underglazes, along with glaze that is inlayed into carved designs.

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Jack Schoonover
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This photo is a demonstration of what life has become due to the pandemic. I captured the vivid lighting of our local pizza place to represent how Covid-19 has changed our once sociable and entertaining lives. I focused on picturing the utmost colors and details, countered with the absence of people.

Organization or School Affiliation: Cardinal Spellman High School

Student Name: Allyson Crowley
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This piece reflects on the impermanence of human life and its relation to everyday tasks. People seek refuge through the beauty industry. Dermatology is a means by which we ignore our decaying physical wellbeing, our inevitable mortality. Skin care is not destructive. Skin care is inherently productive to our physic and metal wellbeing. This connotational dichotomy is illustrated through mushrooms

Organization or School Affiliation: Cardinal Spellman High School

Student Name: Harley Spenard
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: This piece is intended to look like something out of a daydream. I created it to look like the hand was reaching out of the dull page to brighten up the book with color and imagination. It also gives the illusion of how you can get lost in a good book, using your imagination to create the reality you are reading about. I used cellophane for the butterfly to give it a delicate and translucent look.

Organization or School Affiliation: Groton-Dunstable Regional High School

Student Name: Natalie Gavin
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: For this piece I used acrylic paint on a black canvas to express space between ourselves and others in life metaphorically. This person feels alone and is slowly being consumed by the empty “space” around them. I used a black canvas to achieve the space background using paint splatter techniques. This piece is meant to express how our connection to our emotions is influenced and morphs over time.

Organization or School Affiliation: Groton-Dunstable Regional High School

Student Name: Linnea Ripps
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: Daily life urges us to stay adaptable. The range of mediums including magazine cuttings, paint swatches, and embroidery, shows a back and forth between the human form and the shapes of nature. There is something interesting about the opposition in texture; embroidered flowers bringing an organic feel vs paper layers creating a sense of structure. This piece reminds me to stay patient and grounded.

Organization or School Affiliation: Groton-Dunstable Regional High School

Student Name: Keons Sekera
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: In this piece, translucent plastic hangs in front of the painted surface to transform how the viewer initially sees the colors in the painting. Only once they make an effort to move the plastic out of the way, can they see the real colors. By making the viewer move the plastic themselves, I wanted to enforce the idea that challenging your own implicit bias is something ongoing and constant.

Organization or School Affiliation: Swampscott High School

Student Name: Maeve Hitchcock
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: I draw inspiration from nature, using plant and insect designs, natural toned colors, and flowing shapes within my work. Every year my family raises butterflies and moths to release into nature, inspiring the designs on these pieces. This wheel-thrown set is made from a dark brown clay, and incorporates white underglaze inlay with transparent gloss glaze.

Organization or School Affiliation: Swampscott High School

Student Name: Kyle Marlin
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: The Dragon, though from fantasy, is an animal that symbolizes strength and agility. The sculpture is made of various gauges and types of wire as well as paint. I predominantly used red in order to represent the passions I have in my life, and applied the purple to remind myself to follow my intuition while I continue to explore life and deepen my understanding of the world.

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Seth Lee
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: This photo captures the feelings you experience when you are alone and around other people you don't know: fear, awkwardness, and worry. People judge one another without knowing anything about them, and choose not to see each other's inner beauty. I photograph people to invoke curiosity about their thoughts, feelings, and to reveal the narratives of each person.

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Riley Petrin
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: I enjoy photographing pedestrians in the city. This subject stuck out to me because of his confidence while walking. The lighting highlighted his skin tone, and the cohesion between his hair color and clothing. His positioning in the storefront parallels and is symmetrical with the BLM sign, adding a deeper level of meaning to the light showcasing his figure.

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Sophia Couto
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: In this triptych of my mother, I used repetition and layering to demonstrate the daily routine of applying her makeup. I wanted to showcase the patterns of life, and how we partake in these routines due to our dependency on familiarity and a sense of security and comfort. The subject of the photo is my mother who constantly provides me with feelings of safety therefore strengthening this thought.

Organization or School Affiliation: Bishop Connolly High School

Student Name: Bethany Slivka
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: The repetition of abstract lines portray the illusion/uncertainty of an afterlife. The raven is realistic and certain, which represents the reality of death. As we age, the hovering thought of death is always present. No one is immortal; death is inevitable and bound to happen. Unlike death which is true and real, the possibility of life after death is unclear.