Art For All; New Hampton School’s Arts Day 2022

This spring promised the return of Arts Day—our school’s annual celebration of the visual and performing arts—and it delivered. Since 2020, this beloved day has taken a back seat, presented for two years in the virtual world and losing the lively energy of the community on campus. The Visual and Performing Arts Department led by Director Amy Wilson with the support of alumni, faculty, students, and friends, organized a grand return to this day-long celebration of the arts. This year’s event included thirty diverse workshop options from film to 3D design, hand drumming to pysanky. But first, it started with the annual art awards at school meeting.

This year’s art awards highlighted student-artists across several disciplines and mediums. From animation to musicianship, all areas were celebrated for emerging and scholarly artists alike. Also, for the first time, two students were honored with the Whole Artist Award: Cal Nolan ’22 and Sarah LaCroix ’22. Sarah is also the first person to win this award two years in a row. Please join us in congratulating all of the winners and their contributions to our community (see the listing below). Additional art awards will be shared later this month at the Underclass Awards and Senior Awards. Congratulations to all!

Art for All

Following an all-school meeting recognizing student-artists with awards in performing art and visual arts, students and faculty dispersed to their selected workshops for morning and afternoon sessions. Favorites such as special effects make-up, guitar, and hip-hop dance, worked in concert with visiting professional artists such as Rich Ortiz who led a workshop and performed during the lunchtime cookout. Alumnus John Romagna ’68, the founder of the Timothy D. Romagna Fund for Music, was also able to join the festive day and experience workshops, tour the facilities, and visit with students and faculty.

The diversity of the arts available reminded us of the incredible range and effect that visual and performing art touches. New Hampton School is grateful for the support of all the workshop leaders and the support of the school community to partake in this tradition each spring.

Exhibition and performance

In addition to the workshops, students were treated to several exhibitions and performances throughout the day. The Art Awards ceremony opened with a live performance of an original song—”Time Moves Fast”—by Sage Beebe-Jenny and Joe Bourbeau originally recorded at 9th Street Opus Studios in Berkeley, California during this year’s project week.

Next, English Department Chair Luke Tobin announced the winners of the April Poetry Contest, an annual tradition in celebration of National Poetry Month. Honorees this year include Henry Brunelle ’22, Gus Kusch ’24, and Sarah LaCroix ’22 for honorable mentions, while Leah Eastman ’24 (3rd place), Cal Nolan ’22 (2nd place), and Talia Shirley ’22 (1st place) earned top positions for their poems. Their award-winning submissions will be shared in the days ahead.

Interspersed between the awards, to the crowd’s delight, were animation shorts by Nga Nguyen ’22; a faculty powerhouse performance by Mr. Masterson, Ms. Jennison, and Mr. Thompson; a string quartet rendition of “Yesterday” by The Beatles with Max Ma ’22, Harry Lu ’22, Miles Sargent ’25, and Mrs. Hobbs; and, lastly, a sneak peek of the electric opening number of tonight’s spring musical—Little Shop of Horrors.

Pictures from Arts Day are now available on Flickr and more will be shared in the days ahead

2022 Art Awards

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized with Art Awards: