Students Display Artwork at OSilas Gallery

Three Bronxville High School students – Thomas Dragoni, Emma Estes and Olivia O’Keefe – have their artwork on display at the prestigious OSilas Gallery at Concordia College as part of the gallery’s StART 2020: 14th Annual Regional High Schools Student Art Exhibition through Jan. 25. 

The annual exhibit showcases the work of talented high school students from more than 30 public and private schools across Fairfield, Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties and the Bronx. During the opening reception on Jan. 16, judges critiqued the students’ work, which ranged from paintings to ceramics to photography. 

Dragoni, a junior, displayed his acrylic painting of a shark on canvas, “The Man in the Gray Suit.” He completed it for an assignment relating to vanitas, or the 17th-century concept that uses symbols to show the transience of life and the inevitability of change. 

“He used various color mixing and glazing techniques to complete his painting of the shark and was able to emphasize the scars and marks on the shark’s skin in incredible detail,” art teacher Courtney Alan said. 

Estes, a senior, submitted a series of photographs from her “Human Action” portfolio. Her works are titled “What About Animals?", “What About Sunrise?” and “What About the Seas?” In her artist statement, she stated that the “series of photos is designed to be noticed, foster dialogue and prompt activism.” 

“Her triptych comments on the results of the deliberate disregard humans have for our environmental crisis by exploring themes of animal hunting, rising ocean levels and ozone layer depletion,” Alan said. “Emma is involved in every aspect of her creative process, which makes her photographs more impressive. She does all of the makeup, styling, lighting, location scouting and props herself.” 

O’Keefe, a junior, displayed her digital painting “Adette,” which took more than 20 hours to complete using the Procreate app, on an iPad. In her artist statement, O’Keefe described her painting as a “realization of emotions and dreams, a surreal reflection of isolation and imagination.”

“Each different part of her work has enormous amounts of layers,” Alan said. “This was a painting in response to a field trip to the Guggenheim where we viewed ‘Artistic License,’ and students were asked to complete a work that would fit within the exhibition’s six themes curated by six contemporary artists.” 

OSilas Gallery is located on the campus of Concordia College in Bronxville, in the Donald A. Krenz Academic Center on the second level of Scheele Memorial Library.