"The Art of the Sonnet" Prizes Awarded

Artist Sue Girardi Sweeney took first place in the Museum of Arts & Culture’s show “The Art of the Sonnet: Visual Works Inspired by the Bard,” on exhibit now through May 11^th. Her entry, entitled “Sonnet 24,” is a mixed media collage that explores “the significance of sight,” explains Sweeney. “Sonnet #24 for me conjured up the likes of Botticelli’s Venus and the classic figure of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. What the eyes perceive as beauty may contain turmoil inside. The silhouette is filled with a continuous tangle of words resembling the sand in an hourglass.”  

     Girardi-Sweeney, a graduate of The Parsons School of Design, has worked as a freelance artist for the past 20 years and is currently the leave replacement art teacher at William B. Ward School in New Rochelle. Best known for her window paintings, she also paints murals and furniture, makes signs and is the long time art director at a private day camp.   

     Laura Heiss took 2^nd place for her work “Sonnet LX: A Meditation on Mortality”, a mixed media piece. Heiss says she was “inspired to make this piece when I found a broken clock on the sale shelf in HomeGoods. Using it as a shadow box I painted out most of the numbers but tried to maintain the integrity of the clock as representative of the idea of passing time. An old ink well that I found embedded in the mud of Mamaroneck Harbor holds William's quill; a seagull feather from the beach.” Heiss is currently an art teacher at Albert Leonard Middle School. She is on the Mamaroneck Artist Guild Board of Directors and is active in the local art scene.

    Third place was awarded to Marisa Boan for “Beauty on Fifth Avenue (Sonnet 55)” a photograph from her book “Snow Days: Winter in NYC”, a collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets illustrated with contemporary photographs. Boan, a graduate of the Ursuline School, Fordham University -- where she earned a BS in Business Administration and a MST in Elementary Education-- and Pace University, where she earned a MBA in Finance, enjoyed a successful career on Wall Street before co-founding the High School for Public Service in New York City. She is currently a school administrator and teacher; for the past five years she has focused her photography on landscapes and gardens. 

     An Honorable Mention went to 21 NRHS students in Scott Seaboldt’s PAVE II class, who collaborated on a project based on Sonnet 94 that featured 21 separate fresco works on wood panels. The students are: Daniella Alvarado, Nicholas Barbaria, Gabriela Briseno, Shane Cabin, Fredy Cabrera, Gerardo Capistran, Ahnad Dunlop, Audreana Foster, Michel Generoso, Aaron Harewood, Brian Haynes, Carly Laplace, Artina Maloki, Jack Marotte, Karen Pass, Rudy Perez, Erik Resendiz, Erika Robbins, Lily Schenk, Allison Silberberg and Arielle Tait.

    Susan Weisman, Executive Director of the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence, and Theresa Kump Leghorn, Director of the Museum of Arts & Culture, awarded the prizes at an artist’s reception on Thursday, April 19^th. Each winner received a cash prize and an edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. The reception included a performance by The Knighthorse Theater Company, which was in residence at New Rochelle High School and Albert Leonard Middle School on April 19^th and 20^th performing workshops for students.

     The MAC is a program of the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence and is open to the public Mondays through Fridays, 9 am to 3 pm, and Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm. For details visit www.dbmac.org.

     The Sound Shore Shakespeare Festival is being made possible through support from the New Rochelle Council on the Arts;  NRCA’s programs are made possible, in part, by Arts Westchester with funds from Westchester County Government and the City of New Rochelle, as well as the support and participation of membership. (Visit www.newrochellearts.org to join.) The Museum of Arts & Culture‘s exhibit and the Knighthorse Theater Company workshops were supported by the City School District of New Rochelle and the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence. The free performance by Knighthorse Theater was also made possible by support from the Friends of the New Rochelle Public Library.