Ten Newtown High School students were celebrated last week when a closing reception was held for the annual NHS Art Portfolio Exhibition.

The show was presented in the southeastern corridor of Newtown Community Center for two weeks, having opened December 19. The exhibition included works by Jamie Davis, Isabel Harrington, Althea Hurley, Kaitlyn Kantor, Emilia Koziol, Moira McKinley, Kayleigh Roche, Abby Tainter-Gilbert, Alysha Wedler, and Jack Wojtowicz.

During the late afternoon of January 2, the student and their teacher, Carol Skolas, were all in attendance for the celebratory event. They mingled with friends, parents, and other visitors to the building.

Ms Skolas was pleased with the exhibition and the turnout for its closing.

“They’re very happy,” she said of her students. “Their friends are coming, their teachers are coming, and their families are coming to see this.

“What’s been nice,” she added, “are the comment books. They’ve had some great comments left for them.”

Each student participating in the Art Portfolio class and its exhibition was represented by multiple works of art, nearly 60 total. The collection offered works in pencil, charcoal, ink, acrylic, mixed media, oil on canvas, watercolors, pen and ink on paper, Nupastel, and graphite.

With each artist’s collection — the students had areas on a series of panels where they had grouped their pieces together — was a notebook. Each small book had been decorated by the student artist it had been assigned to, and then hung with that student’s work.

Visitors were then invited to leave comments and notes for the students.

“They’re all different,” Ms Skolas mentioned. “They all have such strengths, and they’re seeing that in what people have said in their notebooks.”

NHS Culinary Department provided refreshments for the gathering, according to Ms Skolas.

“We really appreciate that,” she said. Many guests were seen munching on cookies and other light refreshments while chatting with the artists. At other times, the artists themselves sat together on nearby benches, enjoying the snacks and each other’s conversation.