Jisu Sheen photo
Erick Medina with his art.
It all started with a discovery in a red sketchbook. Hill Central student Erick Medina, now in seventh grade, remembers opening his mom’s sketchbook when he was younger and coming across a boat, some water, a skull, and roses. He couldn’t stop looking, and he’s been making art of his own ever since.
On Wednesday night, the middle schooler got the chance to showcase his work as part of the annual New Haven Public Schools’ (NHPS) preK-8th grade art show at New Haven arts organization ARTE Inc.
Jefferson Perez Reyes, kindergartener at Barack Obama Magnet University School, with "Irish Lambscape."
Kids’ art spilled across all walls of the main room at ARTE’s Atwater Street location, overflowing into hallways and extra rooms.
Looking around at the students’ work, Hill Central paraeducator Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez noticed much of the art was for sale ($10, $20, or $30, depending on the grade level). A work depicting sheep — complete with fluffy 3D elements — caught her eye, but she hesitated: “I don’t want to take it away from them.”
“Are you kidding me?” an art teacher (who wished to remain unnamed) said, turning around. “Once you tell them they could get five, ten dollars for it,” they reach a new level of excitement. The kids start asking, Can I sell this? Can I sell this? “They’ll pick up something from the floor and try to sell it!”
That observation was echoed by David Greco, co-founder and director of ARTE Inc., who has hosted the NHPS art show for 12 years now (along with Daniel Diaz, ARTE Inc co-founder and chairman and the famous voice behind NHPS snow day announcements). The art sales make it fun, he said; he’s seen kids go from being shy to exclaiming, “Let me show you my art!”
Holly Maxson, supervisor of fine arts at the New Haven Board of Education and key organizer in this year’s show, said the Board of Ed awards a letter to each artist who sells a piece, along with 100 percent of the proceeds.
To the mind of a young artist, excitement goes a long way. For Medina, “I really wouldn’t be here without my mom.” Seeing sketches made by his mother’s hand gave him the spark to set out on his own artistic journey.
Medina is part of a lineage of creativity; not only is his mother an artist, but his grandmother is as well. That strong core was evident in his calm comfortability with wherever his interests might take him; he said he had been into drawing eyes as of late, and his star piece on display was a gorgeous mixed-media work of a thoughtful eye, every bit of shine and shadow captured on the canvas.
Kamron Samuels, an art teacher at A.L. Troup, hoped the variety of art on display at the NHPS art show would do the same for local students. “They need to see what they can do with their work,” he said, gazing at the walls of drawings and paintings on Wednesday. “The hardest part is them knowing they can be creative.”
He told me the kids are happy when they’re done. L.W. Beecher Museum Magnet School art teacher Lydia Douglas agreed, laughing.
Douglas showed me her students’ art and the techniques behind them, pointing out a “crayon resist” piece where a student drew in white crayon and then painted, naturally filling in everything except lines where the wax of the crayon resisted the water-based paint. There was also “neurographic art,” where students wrote about something that made them happy or stressed them out, then painted on the other side. Could she tell which mood was which? “Actually, they kind of forgot about it,” she said with a what-can-you-do? grin. But perhaps somewhere deep in the brain, the connection remained.
Joanna Escandon, an art teacher at Benjamin Jepson Magnet School, got some lesson inspiration from a popular kids’ pastime: playing with that darn slime. She showed me some of her students’ vibrant sculptures, replacing slime with Model Magic air-dry clay and watercolor paint. The watercolor element was a tip from someone in her cohort at the MAT (Masters of Art in Teaching) Art Education PK-12 program at Southern Connecticut State University, where Escandon currently attends school while teaching full-time.
Art teacher Lydia Douglas pointing out the crayon resist in a piece by Anabella DiFabio, grade 5.
Medina wasn’t the only one with a village behind him. Marilyz Martinez, kindergartener at East Rock Community and Cultural Studies Magnet School, brought her mom, stepdad, both grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins to the show, all ready to share in the support and excitement.
Martinez’s piece in the show was a depiction of her dream house for her family, inspired by Disney Pixar’s Up. “We flying up,” she said, “and pop the balloons…to land down on Japan!” Her mother, Mayra Gonzalez, said Martinez is on the spectrum, and this was her first time showing her art. Gonzalez beamed, soaking up the joy of her young artist and the big fan club.
I asked Medina if his mother is proud to see the development of his artwork not just in his sketchbooks, but on display, garnering oohs and ahhs from the wandering crowd. He smiled. “She says it a lot of times.”
The NHPS preK‑8 art show is currently on display at ARTE Inc’s 26 Atwater Street location, which operates as Atwater Senior Center in the daytime. You can see the show during the center’s open hours, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
The wonders you can do with Model Magic and watercolor.
Erick Medina's mixed media eye.
Marilyz Martinez: "I like it."
Another eye, this one from Oni Redwell, 7th grader from Davis Academy. Redwell's "into sketching these days but wants to explore more."
Ahlani Branch, kindergarten at Wexler Grant school, showing her depiction of penguins breaking out of the ice. To her, art is "the best thing you can do."
Maia Tohom Cruz, 3rd grader at Barack Obama Magnet University School with her sister Melanie, 12: "It’s like a leaf, and it’s colorful. It's like spring."