Newtown High School sophomore Kylie Giroux's ceramic work of art, "Bubble Plate," was recently selected to be part of this year's National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition, which will be held in conjunction with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts national conference in Pittsburgh, Penn., March 14 to 15.

NHS art teacher Carol Pelligra said on February 8 that Kylie's piece is a "beautiful plate," and it was impressive that Kylie opted to also decorate the back of the plate.

Kylie, Ms Pelligra said, is, "an extremely talented girl."

While holding her plate, which will be shipped off to be part of the exhibit next month, Kylie said she found it "unbelievable" to have her first piece of artwork in a show. She started studying ceramics at NHS about a year and-a-half ago as a freshman.

"This was my first piece submitted to the [National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition] and it made it in," said Kylie.

Kylie said it took her about two weeks to create "Bubble Plate," from molding it to glazing it. She also worked on other pieces over that time period.

According to the National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition Foundation, the exhibition is an annual juried ceramic competition for kindergarten through twelfth grade students in the United States. It is designed to showcase the best ceramic work made in the country, the exhibition takes place in a different city each year in conjunction with the annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

The exhibition will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The show will be open from 10 am until 5 pm, on March 14 and 15. An awards reception will be held on March 14.