'The best of the best' on display at S.B. art show
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

CHRIS GAETANO Jackie Mazzola, a South Brunswick High School junior, had some of her clay sculptures on display at last week's art show.

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Students in South Brunswick got to show off their artistic talents last week in the second annual district-wide art show.

Held in the gym at South Brunswick High School, the event drew a large crowd, most of whom were parents of students featured in the gallery. People often accidentally jostled together as they walked and stood shoulder to shoulder as they examined the paintings, sculptures, murals and other works created by students from the elementary level all the way up through high school.

The event used to be a combined arts festival that also featured exhibitions from the various choral programs in the district, but as the population grew, it became apparent that separate events would work best.

The art displayed that night was selected by the various art teachers as what they considered the best work from the best students they had. According to Christine Chrabaszcz, assistant principal and supervisor for the art and music programs at the high school, the event has grown since last year.

"The teachers spent all day yesterday putting all this up. ... The artwork keeps getting better and better every year. That's because of the teachers, you know," said Chrabaszcz.

Teachers saw the show as an opportunity to draw attention to the artwork and to reward the students who have worked particularly hard in their art classes.

"I've been trying to highlight and honor them, trying to pick the best of the best," said Elizabeth Snediker, an art teacher at the high school.

Both teachers and students explained to parents what they were doing in their respective art classes. Not every student had their work presented that night, so the ones who did were excited to describe the process behind their work. One of those students was Jackie Mazzola, a junior who sculpted a detailed figure of a motorcycle rider out of clay.

"The assignment was to make an object's struggle come out of the clay. ... A lot of my friends ride, and I like the pictures of how they move the vehicle and everything, so you take a slab and you just start carving it," said Mazzola, who prefers working with clay.

Some students were excited at the chance to explore concepts that they had always wanted to do, such as senior Laura Kovakin, who made a painting of a fairy in a glowing egg.

"I wanted to do a fantasy-style painting for a while, and I always wanted to do a fairy kind of caged, so that's my little sister right there [who modeled for another character in the painting]. She's a good model," said Kovakin, who plans to study art in college. "The design for the fairy, my friends modeled for. The fairy and the wings I kind of modeled as I went along."

Parents had a generally positive reaction to the artwork itself, but some found getting around to be difficult.

"It's nice, very nice, fantastic work from the students, but people should be more courteous in the aisles. It's crowded, and they could have had more room between things. It's tough to get around people," said Steve Massaro, from Dayton.