Mahopac Art Students Display Work at Katonah Museum Show

Bethany Itzla, a Mahopac High School senior whose striking print of koi fish is on display at the Young Artists 2022 show at the Katonah Museum of Art, said every gallery show is an education. 

“I have had my work shown in public a couple of times before,” Bethany said. “It’s always interesting to hear what people say. But this time it was different because we helped install the show. To hear people talk about how a piece fits in with the work that’s displayed around it – that made me think about art in a new way.”

Ten MHS seniors have artworks in the Katonah Museum show, which runs through February 27, and four of them helped install the show. 

“It’s a great opportunity for students,” said Sean Flanagan, the interim chair of the high school Art Department. “Giving young artists a chance to show their work is really important. Our department has made sure there are many opportunities for student artists coming up.” 

Mahopac High School’s Computer Graphics and Animation Class is working with the music department to create an animated visual for the Pops Concert on March 9. Later that same week, Mahopac elementary, middle and high school students will all be represented at the Garrison Art Center’s annual School Invitational Theme Exhibition, or SITE show, which opens March 12. 

Mahopac Library displays student work in a bi-monthly rotation, and the Jefferson Valley Mall is planning a show of Mahopac student artwork. Then there’s the community-wide “District Art Hop” in May, which will showcase K-12 student work at Mahopac High School, Mahopac Library and the Putnam Arts Council.

But, the exhibit space Flanagan is most excited about is a gallery being set up right in the halls of the Mahopac High School art wing. Called “The Baldwin Gallery,” the hallway will allow student artworks to be shown where the artists’ biggest, most important audience – other students – can see them every day. 

“We are all kind of used to having our art publicly displayed because we put it on Instagram and people react to it,” said Manny Martinez, who has a piece in the Katonah Museum show. “But to have it where people can walk around and look at it from different angles and talk about it in the real world, that’s really cool.”

It will also be a lot more convenient for busy young artists to have a space in their own school to see each other’s work. 

Holly Cote, a senior, has not yet even found the time to see her own painting which is hanging in the Young Artists show at Katonah Museum. 

“I want to go, but I’ve been busy with school,” Holly said. “I also have an internship at an interior design business in Beacon, a job at Carvel and I’m on the ski team.

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