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02/27/2019 11:01 PM

Many Lessons Learned While Creating Award-Winning Art


Sarah Conroy of Daniel Hand High School in Madison, with her film, A Girl Named May. On the mantel behind her is a set of sculptures created by Annie Cooper of Valley Regional High School, who won Best in Show and first place in ceramics.Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

While working on her first-prize-winning video in Shoreline Arts Alliance’s Future Choices competition, Sarah Conroy learned a lot about cinematography, animation, camera work, writing, and other aspects of the craft. The year-long project was done with the help of about 30 others—including students, teachers, and family members—so it also reinforced lessons about teamwork. Conroy says she also learned she is capable of being a creative person.

“And I learned a lot about myself,” says Conroy, 18, a senior at Daniel Hand High School in Madison. “By watching the actress, I learned about myself.”

Her film is called A Girl Named May, “an experimental, barely-a-short short film about identity, trust, and isolation. Also other random things.”

Tessa Williams, a 15-year-old sophomore from Haddam Killingworth High School who lives in Killingworth, learned that working with a new printing technique can be confusing. And then she realized that sometimes “you just have to go for it and put your mark down.” As soon as she did that, she began to see her way through the confusion to create a first-prize-winning entry in the print division.

For Falyn Freitas, a 14-year-old freshman who attends the Greater Hartford Arts Academy, creating a self-portrait in pastels, a new medium for her, gave her the courage to make mistakes that she could easily move beyond, just by putting down another layer. The first prize-winning work portrays a young woman with considerable self confidence. Frietas says she doesn’t always feel that self confident, but “while I was [working on the self-portrait], I could feel myself becoming more confident. It helped me see the good in myself.”

While discussing her work with a reporter, filmmaker Conroy says she learned one other thing. Taking the reporter’s notebook and writing down the names of her collaborators (Petra Sestan, Gaby Dollahite, Jackson Anselmo, Sam Stein, Lilly D’Ancicco, and Jake Beiner among many others), she says she learned “I will be friends with these people for life.” She then headed out the door to work on another project with her collaborators.

The winning entries in the Future Choices exhibition will be on display at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Sill House Gallery, 84 Lyme Street, Old Lyme through Tuesday, March 5. For more hours and more information, call the college at 860-434-5232 or the Guilford-based Shoreline Arts Alliance 203-453-3890

Best in Show

Annie Cooper — Valley Regional High School

​Ceramics

First Place: Annie Cooper — Valley Regional High School

Second Place: Kelli Schaefer — Valley Regional High School

Third Place: Rebecca Conti — Haddam-Killingworth High School

Drawing

First Place: Anna Mercier — Haddam-Killingworth High School

Second Place: Angela Agnello — Guilford High School

Third Place: Kristina McNeish — Old Saybrook High School

Mixed Media

First Place: Peter Santaro — Daniel Hand High School

Second Place: Gabriella Dollahite — Daniel Hand High School

Third Place: Hannah Johnson — Valley Regional High School

Painting

First Place: Sarah Conley — Lyme-Old Lyme High School

Second Place: Sophia Irzyk — Branford High School

Third Place: Dvora Redlich — Daniel Hand High School

​Pastel

First Place: Falyn Freitas — Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts

Second Place: Jessica Stanwood — Coginchaug Regional High School

Photography:

First Place: Jillian Jacek — Coginchaug Regional High School

Second Place: Eric C. Dillner — Daniel Hand High School

Third Place: Kamryn Surprenant — Daniel Hand High School

Prints

First Place: Tessa Wills — Haddam-Killingworth High School

Second Place: Emily Bagnoli — Haddam-Killingworth High School

Third Place: Jane Scheiber — Lyme Old Lyme High School

Sculpture

First Place: Edward Lenz — Valley Regional High School

Second Place: Zoe Smith — Haddam-Killingworth High School

Third Place: Carter Shannon — Branford High School

Video

First Place: Sarah Conroy — Daniel Hand High School

Second Place: Kaitlyn MacCullum — Daniel Hand High School

Third Place: Liz Schroeder — Daniel Hand High School

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Awards

Earl Grenville Killeen Founders Award: Maryann Donagher — Valley Regional

High School

Judy Streeter Outstanding School Award: Art Department of Daniel Hand

High School

Ruth Baxter-Tagliatela Award: Aexandra Burke — Nathan Hale-Ray High School

Jurors for 2019

Whitney Lorenze, Painter, Guilford

Joan McPherson, Painter, Madison

John Tintori, American Film Editor and Director, New York City

Mark Battista, Photographer, North Haven

Alice Chittenden, Sculpture, Guilford

Falyn Freitas says working in pastels, where she could make mistakes and continue to move ahead with the work by putting down another layer, was rewarding. Her self-portrait won first place in pastels, and she says it helped her see the good in herself.Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier
The Shoreline Arts Alliance presented its Future Choices show at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Sill House Gallery. First place and award winners gathered for a group photo. From left, Andrew Wood, chairman of the board; Sarah Conroy, Video and Animation from Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) for her work A Girl Named May; Edward Lenz from Valley Regional High School (VRHS) for his Sculpture, Space Age Spire; Alexandera Burke (Ruth Baxter-Tagliatela Award) for her work Rhinoceros Beetle, Nathan Hale Ray High School; Annie Cooper, Best in Show for her work in ceramics, The Three Graces, from VRHS; Falyn Freitas, pastel, for her work Self, from Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts; Tessa Wills, printmaking, for her work, Focus, from Haddam-Killingworth High School (HKHS); Jillian Jecek, photography, for her work Spearfishing, from Coginchaug Regional High School; Andrea Aron, chairman of the show; and Shoreline Arts Alliance CEO/Executive Director Eric Dillner. Not pictured: Anna Mercier, Drawing (HKHS), Peter Santoro, Mixed Media, (DHHS), Sarah Conley, Painting, (Lyme-Old Lyme High School),Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier
The Shoreline Arts Alliance presented its Future Choices show at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Sill House Gallery. The works will be on display through Tuesday, March 5. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier