Finding the artist within

"Web," mixed media by Matt DeRonde Four years of growth and development as artists culminate this week in the annual Senior Art Show, showcasing works from the portfolios of seniors at Red Bank Regional High School's Visual and Performing Arts Academy.

Art works and photographs by 14 graduating seniors in the commercial art and commercial photography programs at RBR in Little Silver is on display at the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA) in Long Branch.

The exhibit opened May 31 and will be up through Sunday.

The artwork is the culmination of the intense art training students have received for the past four years as part of RBR's Visual and Performing Arts Academy.

The exhibit represents the first time the art and photography programs have joined forces to create a more visually dynamic show, according to Claudia O'Connor, RBR commercial art teacher, who collaborated with commercial photography teacher Stephanie Petrakos.

Over the course of the year, the seniors in each program worked to create a portfolio of 24 to 30 self-assigned projects revolving around their chosen theme. In addition to applying knowledge acquired in previous years, this gives the students an opportunity to develop their own ideas and styles, O'Connor said.

"Summer," painting by Julie Dickerson The works range from realism to abstraction and include a variety of mediums and techniques from pencil to oil paint, and sepia-toned to digital.

According to O'Connor, students apply to the art programs during eighth grade, and about a dozen are accepted each year. This school year, there are six seniors in the commercial art program and seven seniors studying commercial photography.

"Generally 90 percent of the students go on to art school," said O'Connor, a fine artist who segued to teaching. "Many gravitate to fields like illustration, set design, interior design, and some of the commercial photography students go on to photojournalism."

Over the course of the four-year program, students become more focused, their work takes on more depth, and they learn to incorporate diverse styles, influences and trends into their own work, according to O'Connor.

"Eye Candy," mixed media by Aaron Santoro "They learn different techniques, styles, mediums they can use. And it's the same for commercial photography, where students focus more on black-and-white photography," she said.

"As seniors, they must create a portfolio of 24 pieces of work. This comes after three years of work during which they are learning many styles, techniques and mediums.

"By senior year, they come into their own style," she said. "They're trying to think outside the box and be themselves as artists. They try to do work that doesn't look like Picasso and Mondrian. They definitely get it. When you look at the exhibit, you see a range of techniques and mediums. Everybody is trying to define themselves and who they are as an artist and the person they want to become," she said.

Untitled photo by Jessie Rowe "At the beginning, they weren't sure what they wanted to do, which direction they wanted to go in. Now they have a sense of self and know which way they want to go. It's incredible."

- Gloria Stravelli

"Re-Birth," mixed media by Heidi Chaya Untitled photo by Haley Cermak