duCret Celebrates 32nd High School Art Show

The auditorium was packed wall to wall as 74 awards from 471 art submissions were formally presented to NJ’s participating high school artists by the duCret School of Art Director, Frank Falotico.  Friday, February 25th marked duCret’s 32nd High School Art Show and submissions from participating high schools across the state amassed an enormous array of talent as submitted pieces ranged from oil, pastel, acrylic, collage, pen and ink, watercolor, mixed media and charcoal to photography and digital manipulation.

duCret, NJ’s oldest non-profit visual art school, has been launching talented individuals into a wide array of successful art careers for 85 years, including; nationally acclaimed portrait artists, illustrators and graphic designers. The annual high school show enables gifted students seeking career opportunities in the art field to not only have their work reviewed and exhibited formally, they can meet and mingle with public art supporters, students and duCret faculty at the awards presentation ceremony as well.

Acrylic by MingZhu Hai

Each year students are notified mainly through their high school art departments and are called to submit one entry in any one of several mediums offered.  This year, duCret received art entries from not only local towns such as Watchung, New Providence, Bernardsville, Plainfield, South Plainfield and Summit, but also from Livingston, Bayonne, Randolph, Freehold and Bergenfield.

First Place Awards: Sam Wasserman of Watchung Hills H.S. in Acrylic, Jenelle Ramdeen of Bayonne H.S. in B & W Photography, Andrew Richard Ward of Piscataway H.S. in Chalk Pastel, Tyler Ruperto of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. in Charcoal, Melissa Olsakowski of Randolph H.S. in Collage, Stephanie Wademan of Piscataway H.S. in Color Pencil, Meldrick Umahon of Livingston H.S. in Color Photography, Elisa Chaudet of  Somerville H.S. in Digital Manipulation, Patrick Hall of Watchung H.S. in Graphics, Jessica Chu of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. in Graphite, Phoebe Feng of Livingston H.S. in Ink, Kaixi Wu of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. in Mixed Media, Austin Harry Peer of Watchung Hills H.S. in Oil, Nick Fellezolla of New Providence H.S. in Printmaking and Carolyn Thornton of Watchung Hills H.S. in Watercolor.

Digital by Melissa Martini

Second Place Awards: Catherine Shiau of Livingston H.S. in Acrylic, Trevor Rand of Hillsborough H.S. in B & W Photography, Sara May of Bergenfield H.S. in Charcoal, Rachael Laurilliard of Randolph H.S. in Collage, Bari Blanga of Livingston H.S. in Color Photography, Danielle Stecki of Livingston H.S. in Pastel, Raymond Diaz of Bayonne H.S. in Digital Manipulation, Maclain Riccardi of Oak Knoll H.S. in Graphite, Martin Demcale of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. in Ink, Rais Ahmed of Hillsborough H.S. in Mixed Media, Zoe Ambinder of Watchung Hills H.S. in Oil, Lauren Gallagher of Watchung Hills H.S. in Pastel, Luke Heisinger of New Providence H.S. in Printmaking and Hilary Cornick of Bridgewater Raritan H.S. in Watercolor.

Third Place Awards: Arturo Hernandez of Bound Brook H.S. in Acrylic, Emily Pettitt of Randolph H.S. in B & W Photography, Abigail Bianga of Oak Knoll H.S. in Color Photography, Elizabeth Ibrahim of Bayonne H.S. in Digital Manipulation, Sonya Han of New Providence H.S. in Graphite, Anna-Maria Sen of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. in Ink, Erica Ramos of Hillsborough H.S. in Mixed Media, Nicole Chesek of Piscataway H.S. in Pastel, Alexis Paredes of Livingston H.S. in Pastel/Charcoal and Erin Caffrey of Watchung Hills H.S. in Watercolor.

Acrylic by Catherine Shiau

35 other high school students from participating high schools received Honorable Mention Awards, including: Kimberly Radwanski of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S., Shaila Hug of Freehold Borough H.S., Kimberly Tsai of Watchung Hills H.S., Renylin Bacani of Bayonne H.S., Kristy Chan of Livingston H.S., Sonja Podesta of Oak Knoll H.S., Scarlet Hernandez of Piscataway H.S., Madeline Jones of Hillsborough H.S., Peter Chang of Hillsborough H.S., Allison Scalera of Watching Hills H.S.,  Alex Blitt of New Providence H.S., Allison Bradley of New Providence H.S., Dakota Santiago of Bayonne H.S., Brianna Peipert of Livingston H.S., Megan Harrop of Livingston H.S., Rebecca Niccolai of Oak Knoll H.S., Lauren Merrill of Watchung Hills H.S., Sofia Lizza of Watchung Hills H.S., Amanda Unger of Bayonne H.S., Kelly Zindel of Randolph H.S., Melissa Martini of Union H.S., Joanne Horng of Livingston H.S., Bryanne Brock of Piscataway H.S., Rachel Farber of Randolph H.S., Trenton White of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S., Jannel Varona of Bayonne H.S., Sara Neiss of Watchung Hills H.S., Paolo Martinez of Bround Brook H.S., Jon Wojcik of Bridgewater-Raritan H.S., John Cherichello of Livingston H.S., Rebecca Gruber of Freehold Borough H.S., Megan Martinez of John F. Kennedy Memorial H.S., Katie Zabel of New Providence H.S.,  Noelle Verrusio of New Providence H.S., and Shiwoo Yu of Wardlaw-Hartridge School.

 ‘Despite where one may live in NJ, location is not an issue when an artist has a dream’ says Frank Falotico, Director. This is a proven fact, as students enrolled at duCret School of Art hail from all across the state. Not only does the Annual High School Art Show allow high school teens to view works from their peers in different counties, they and their parents together can tour NJ’s oldest art school and actually see where some of NJ’s legendary alumni first learned their craft and launched their careers.

The duCret School of Art has been a major contributor to art education in central NJ since its founding in 1926. The school maintains a computer lab, library, ceramics lab, photography and fine art studios and offers fine art, illustration and computer-graphics programs, including OPEN STUDIO'S for local artists, SPECIALTY WORKSHOPS and the duCRET SUMMER ART PROGRAM for adults and children. Individuals interested in a career in art are encouraged to CALL 908-757-7171 & SCHEDULE A TOUR. More info about the school can be found at duCret School of Art.