2023 MAEA Recognitions Exhibit

Organization or School Affiliation: Lynn Classical High School, Lynn Public Schools

Student Name: Amicka Shacklewood
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: A woman looks into herself, and into a mirror that surrounds her. Within the mirror, there are also eyes surrounding her, all looking and pointing inward to the focal point of her face. I created this piece to make an internal struggle. Narcissism and self-love are placed on a thin line, a line I often cross. Here I show what that narcissism can look like for me through very subtle signs.
Teacher: Erin Sutton

Organization or School Affiliation: Lynn Classical High School, Lynn Public Schools

Student Name: Quinn Heing
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: The big idea is to expose whether our curiosity is enough to handle the truth. Once we’re capable of receiving everything we longed for, what do we do then? My artwork alters the way of perception and manipulates the thought process that occurs in our minds. By doing this, I forced the viewer to see the battle between reality and imagination and to reveal whether our mind is in control or not.
Teacher: Erin Sutton

Organization or School Affiliation: Lynn Classical High School, Lynn Public Schools

Student Name: Dejonay Kelly
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: The multi-dimensional materials highlight different layers to pull in viewers. I wrote a poem communicating emotional emptiness and visually expressing it through a stretched face. Emphasizing the underlying emotion, colored paper and dyed tissue paper gave the illusion of the spirit draining out of the figure. In connection primary colors add contrast, while the pearls highlight the text shown.
Teacher: Erin Sutton

Organization or School Affiliation: Millis High School

Student Name: Lucian Hastings
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: When I was making this, I was listening to a cute song about germs. I drew this with the idea of a girl being surrounded by bacteria, and I just had fun with it. I started this on paper and then colored it digitally.
Teacher: Carol Haggerty

Organization or School Affiliation: Bishop Connolly High School

Student Name: Bethany Slivka
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This piece challenges the ideals of beauty. The media is becoming more inclusive regarding race, body weight, and self expression. It is an empowering message for women who have not felt validated for their physical appearance. It is also significant in showing that the standard beauty today is very abstract.
Teacher: Carol Mecca

Organization or School Affiliation: Bishop Connolly High School

Student Name: Nyla Carreiro
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: The artwork is about the simplicity and intimacy of one doing things they enjoy. The strongest lines are on the bottom, drawing your attention away from the figure. The eyes are closed, as this is a moment that was not meant to be shared- the watcher is hidden from the figure.
Teacher: Carol Mecca

Organization or School Affiliation: Lynn Classical High School, Lynn Public Schools

Student Name: Keiddy Vasquez
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: A creature walks past a landscape, transforming the landscape from dry to full of growing plants, representing how we grow in new circumstances. The eye is how we choose to view the life event and the one tear is how we decide to confront the change. The eclipse reveals aspects of ourselves that we have been longer at war with, while the sun brings awareness and understanding within the self.
Teacher: Erin Sutton

Organization or School Affiliation: Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District

Student Name: Nina Hill
Grade: Grade 10
Artist Statement: I am drawn to dramatic lighting. It brings life to my work; tells a story. Life is dramatic and has little innocence. The lighting in my photographs represents this. Just like life, my photographs have complimentary highlights and shadows. There’s something beautiful in the darkness and lightness. I find the flaws in everything and then make them beautiful by telling my truths. I am a storyteller.
Teacher: Angela Da Rocha

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Henry James
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: My Boston photo composition explores the distinctive atmosphere that is created through contrast. What is uncovered when a culmination of historical culture and contemporary modernity meet? At the intersection of Boston’s century old brownstones and towering glass architecture converges the concept of genius loci, the unmistakable ambience residing in the city’s medley of old and new.
Teacher: Virginia Troutman

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Cali Leger
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This junkyard has fascinated me since I was little. When the viewer looks at my photo, I want them to feel like they have stepped into the past. This scene caught my eye because of the contrast of the blue car with orange leaves and the reflections and light in the car windows. In this image I hope to convey the beauty that remains in broken things.
Teacher: Virginia Troutman

Organization or School Affiliation: Silver Lake Regional High School

Student Name: Brooke Phillips
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: I was studying the human body and the spine and ribcage had so many details and so much potential, I just had to paint it.
Teacher: Hannah Close

Organization or School Affiliation: Silver Lake Regional High School

Student Name: Yuki Vicino
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: In this work, I did a watercolor portrait of a Korean actress Kim Go-eun. I fell in love with her acting in one of the Kdrama and I come to appreciate her Asian features. This was not my first time doing watercolor portraits but because I tried to make them as realistic as possible it was a little challenging, but I enjoyed the process overall!
Teacher: Hannah Close

Organization or School Affiliation: Silver Lake Regional High School

Student Name: Jack Cona
Grade: Grade 10
Artist Statement: I created this piece with all of the memories of my close friend Chuck drifting through my mind. Chuck is one of my closest friends, and without his friendship I surely would not be the person I am today. This piece was made with my love for Chuck in mind.
Teacher: Hannah Close

Organization or School Affiliation: Somerset Berkley Regional High School

Student Name: Seth Lee
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This photo is an abandoned and trash ridden building conveying the reclaiming of a tattered factory by nature. We see green moss growing in a place that took over the land decades ago. This space also represents me: my childhood- and reclaiming what I used to be- happy, adventurous, and daring. This piece is a part of my active journey of finding myself through exploring my environment.
Teacher: Virginia Troutman

Organization or School Affiliation: Manchester Essex Reg SD

Student Name: Ava Rizzico
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: It is difficult to handle doubt when "choosing" an identity, because it comes from both internal and external sources. We're constantly trying to escape that web of doubt, and find the right labels that fit us. On top of all that, with the internet we have yet another source telling us what we are and what we aren't. In the end, we don't choose who we are, we only choose the labels that we use.
Teacher: Tamera Burns

Organization or School Affiliation: Manchester Essex Reg SD

Student Name: Lily Francoeur
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: Work was created with an awareness for body dysmorphia and the negativity surrounding it. It shows a medal rope wrapped around the body parts that societal standards force the person to be strangled with by the width of their fat. Included was a dream-like look with the use of colors, layers, and depth. Idealism and perfectionism were compared because it incorporates unrealistic ideals.
Teacher: Tamera Burns

Organization or School Affiliation: Manchester Essex Reg SD

Student Name: Luca Capotosto
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: Work explores the role of women in fairytales & how those fairytales have harmful stereotypes and poor representation. Through my research, I found a disproportionate amount of classic fairytales lack positive female roles. Instead, women typically constituted naïve teenage girls, evil old stepmothers, or independent witches. Multiple stories had no women at all and no stories had only women.
Teacher: Tamera Burns

Organization or School Affiliation: Manchester Essex Reg SD

Student Name: Mason Moruzzi
Grade: Grade 12
Artist Statement: This inquiry explores what it means to love yourself. My answer: a display of rest and relaxation. I wanted to convey peace and warmth through allowing time for yourself to heal and recover. Process: photography to obtain my reference, and digital painting. Lighting and composition were considered for the photo to suggest the figure is soaking in the warm evening. Color:tinted pink:soft/calm
Teacher: Tamera Burns

Organization or School Affiliation: Millis High School

Student Name: Emelia Leussis
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: I'd had a story idea in my head for a while but I was having trouble writing it so I tried drawing it. The premise is: A girl named Ivy gets caught up in a genocidal war against her people and she gets taken to a lab where she's tortured and only escapes when the lab gets bombed. After she escapes she has to survive on her own and also try to help the other people who got captured
Teacher: Carol Haggerty

Organization or School Affiliation: Falmouth High School

Student Name: Eloise Baker
Grade: Grade 11
Artist Statement: The Whippoorwill is a bird that apparently used to be common in our town, but now there are hardly any around for the past few years. I drew this bird from the collection at the Natural History Museum a few towns over. It looks complacent in it's ground-nest - hopeful or at least peaceful.
Teacher: Jane Baker