Ella Esposito, senior, was chosen twice for the first annual Art Show Principal’s Choice Award.

“It was really exciting and kind of nerve-racking at the same time because a bunch of people would be looking at my art,” Esposito said. “It made me feel really proud after how many hours I put into my projects.”

Esposito was in the choir room at lunch when she found out she had been chosen for the Principal’s Choice Award. Each principal selected their favorite piece of work from the art show, with 7 total students being recognized by the 8 members of the admin team. The pieces of art that received the Principal’s Choice Award are set to be hung up in the Welcome Center. 

“It was really shocking and exciting,” Esposito said.

Esposito said she had three pieces in the art show: an octopus, a shoe which took her 18 hours and a portrait of Audrey Hepburn. Two of her three pieces were chosen for the Principal Choice Award.

For her octopus, chosen by Sophomore Principal Kyle Devine, Esposito said she used Sharpies to make it more vibrant and used an art form called stippling which involves dotting in layers to show depth and shading.

“I was trying to portray all the colors that the world has, and how vibrant certain things can be,” Esposito said. “Based on our perception and ideas, colors can range and change based on what the artist wants to do and not just what they are seeing.”

Esposito also created a portrait of Audrey Hepburn, a well-known British actress using various shading techniques. Esposito said this piece, which Freshman Dr. Rick Regina chose, took her 27 to 30 hours to complete.

“I’ve always known her as a very elegant figure, and a lot of people, especially women look up to her for her elegance and her ability to be such a great actress and have such a well-known name,” Esposito said.

Esposito said she wanted to show how a piece of art does not need to be super complex and crowded to be beautiful.

“Sometimes it is as simple as just what somebody might be feeling when they are having their picture taken,” Esposito said.

Esposito said she plans to continue doing art on the side with commissions and ceramic pieces, but she is looking to go into architecture which will keep art in her life.

Melissa Wilson, art teacher, had Esposito in class for Drawing I. 

“I know she probably felt very validated because those pieces took her a very long time to finish,” Wilson said.

Wilson also liked the variety of choices from the admin.

Devine said he originally wanted to pick the piece of art that Dr. Regina chose. 

I saw this beautiful picture of this young lady, pencil drawing and I go, OK. I’ll go check out the other artwork and of course, Dr. Regina sneaks in there and takes my choice,” Devine said.

Devine ended up picking the colorful octopus, and as it turned out, that was also Esposito’s art. 

Dr. Regina was shocked by the meticulous detail of Esposito’s art. 

“I was absolutely awestruck by the amount of detail on a drawing,” Dr. Regina said. “It’s portrait quality.”