Arts & Entertainment

Usdan to Exhibit Student Work in New York Galleries

Artists include residents from the Town of Oyster Bay.

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts is presenting several free student art exhibits in Manhattan this spring.

In March and April, student work will be exhibited at the lobby gallery at 430 Park Avenue, and in May, at the seventh floor gallery of the UJA-Federation at 130 East 59 Street.

These are the largest series of off-site exhibits ever presented by Usdan. The highly regarded Huntington arts day camp has over the last several years displayed its students’ work on Long Island and New York City.

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The artists in this year’s exhibits were between the ages of 10 and 18 when the works were created during the 2014 season.

The first show, “Humankind: Portraits,” is a set of 13 portraits, some painted, some photographed. It will run through March 31 at the 430 Park Avenue lobby gallery. Artists include Delaney R. Cone, 15, of Patchogue; Molly Kaye, 17, of Dix Hills; Emily Kehrli, 18, of Merrick; Hannah Elise Kline, 14, of Manhasset; Justin Meyer, 16, of Huntington; Madeleine Mottel, 19, of Plainview; and Rachel Spiegler, 13, of Old Bethpage.

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The second, “Humankind,” April 1-30, at 430 Park Avenue, offers a mix of photography, painting and images of ceramics pieces. The artists are Christie Brand, 10, of Huntington; Ally Braunschweig, 15, of Jericho; Delaney Callaghan, 16, of Wantagh; Katharine Colgan, 13, of Sea Cliff; Diya Chadha, 13, of Woodbury; Rachel Dehan, 15, of Commack; Julia Ferrugio, 15, of Farmingdale; Jason Glazer, 14, of Plainview; Kristen Goepfert, 16, of Hicksville; Adrian Ke, 13, of Roslyn Heights; Emily Kehrli; Jessena Maxwell, 16, of the Bronx; Ethan Means, 13, of Brooklyn; Ava Nederlander, 14, of Manhattan; Sophia Santella, 15, of Centereach; and Sierra Schlesinger, 11, of Merrick.

The third exhibit, “On Hope and Humankind,” runs from May 1 to 25 at the seventh-floor gallery of the UJA-Federation. There will be an opening reception on Thursday May 7 at 6 p.m. An agency of the UJA, Usdan is open to all children, and frequently creates works on Jewish themes. Last June, several of its visual arts classes collectively created a Holocaust-themed multi-media piece titled “Hope,” based on interviews with Holocaust survivors, and the work won a first prize in the annual student competition of Long Island¹s Museum of Tolerance. The work of all of the student artists in the previous two exhibits will be featured.

The exhibits are curated by Rochelle Morgan, chair of Usdan’s visual arts department. Several teachers worked with the students over last summer to prepare the work for exhibit, including Lorraine Angeletti, Jackie Eggleton, Dan Gosnell, Heather Heckel, Melissa Johnides, Lori Oldaker, Lori Sklar and Bailey Whitney.

Image: Student-artists at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts

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