Congratulations to Sayville High School students Emma Dean-Stahl and Helena Pirozzi for being featured in and winning awards in Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at the Heckscher Museum 2024.

Now in its 28th year, Long Island’s Best: Young Artists at The Heckscher Museum is the only juried exhibition on Long Island that offers high school students the opportunity to show their work in a museum. Each year, students in grades 9 through 12 are invited to create a work of art inspired by artwork shown in the museum during the school year and submit it to this prestigious juried exhibition. This year, 69 public and private schools submitted students’ artwork for jurying. 456 entries were received, and consulting curator Meredith A. Brown and guest juror Andrea Wozny selected 87 for display.

Emma Dean-Stahl

Senior Emma Dean-Stahl won an Achievement Award in Feminist Art for her work titled “A.G.I.N.G. (Another Girl Is Now Grown).” Recycled fabric, crochet, embroidery.

Emma’s piece was inspired by Miriam Schapiro’s “Berthe Morisot & Me,” c. 1976, mixed media with collage.

“I was drawn to the playfulness of the textiles and inspired by Schapiro’s portrayal of the historically domestic life of women in her piece ‘Berthe Morisot & Me,’” Emma said. “In my piece, ‘A.G.I.N.G.,’ I wanted to explore the depth and complexity of female relationships and how they foster our growth. It is a collage of the shared uncontrollable chaos, madness, and rage of girlhood, yet the ever-present symbolic existence of women as pinnacles of beauty, comfort, and love.”

Emma’s teacher, Mr. Evan Hammer, noted that Emma has impressed him time and time again with her amazing creations and introspective concepts.

“Emma is the complete definition of an inspired artist,” Mr. Hammer said. “For the last three years, she has filled my classroom with amazing creations that are loaded with such thoughtful meaning that it’s easy to see that she cares a tremendous amount about her artwork.”

Helena Pirozzi

Freshman Helena Pirozzi won the Donald G. Horn Jr. Scholarship Award for her watercolor work titled “Inspiration Point (at Yellowstone National Park).”

Helena is the first freshman in Sayville High School history to be accepted into Long Island’s Best at the Heckscher Museum.

Mr. Hammer noted that entries are usually reserved for A.P. Art students, but Helena’s artwork and statement were so thoughtfully created that she demanded a spot.

“As a member of the Art Club, she attended our field trip to the museum, asking questions and recording her reactions to the creations in the museum,” Mr. Hammer said. “I am so proud of her accomplishment and will look forward to her artwork for years to come.”

Helena’s artwork is a painting of her hike through Yellowstone National Park.

“Finding that safe passage between the mountains, away from the storm clouds, was exhausting,” Helena said in her artist statement. “In order to find true relief from the repetitions of daily life, one must release the ideas they harbor. Each of us carries a waterfall of potential—a display of the cycle of change and acceptance that we carry into each new tomorrow. At the break of each dawn, you find yourself lying upon the weathering mountains, wringing your brain... tomorrow is a new day at ‘Inspiration Point.’”