MATTAPOISETT —New England students submitted 808 pieces of art to be considered for the 2024 Emerging Young Artists and Designers exhibition at UMass Dartmouth — just 199 pieces were selected. Three of those pieces were created by Old Rochester Regional High School students: Seniors Mitchell Mathieu and Mariana Sudofsky and Freshman Addie Crete.

Mathieu’s and Sudofsky’s pieces were made in ceramics’ classes taught by Old Rochester Regional High School teacher Joanne Mogilnicki.

According to Mogilnicki, Sudofsky made a set of bowls as part of a project where students needed to create a ceramic piece that could hold something. The theme of her set of bowls is “joy.”

Mogilnicki tasked Mathieu’s class with creating their own ceramic masks. Mathieu made a mask that was inspired by a traditional Japanese Oni mask. Mathieu named his creation “Supra”.

“I’m super proud that they can see that their work is appreciated,” said Mogilnicki. “It’s very nice to see them acknowledged for the work that they do — they enjoy it too.”

Mogilnicki said that Mathieu and Sudofsky are both very dedicated to their work, which has a role in their success. She added that both students are very mature and understand that content and intention behind a piece of art matters.

“They both hold themselves to a high standard and keep working until their work reaches their standard,” said Mogilnicki.

Crete’s watercolor painting was part of a project in a drawing and painting class taught by Old Rochester Regional High School teacher Kate Butler.

“She chose the sailing scene because that is a hobby or passion of hers,” said Butler. “I like to give students a lot of choice in their material, style and subject matter.”

Butler said that the work of Vincent Van Gogh provided Crete with some inspiration for her painting.

“Addie is a worker with quiet confidence,” said Butler. “She has lots of great ideas and works through the process of being influenced by other artists and looking at different techniques and incorporating that into her own artwork.”

Butler said that Crete “embodies” the artistic studio process.

“The first thing I noticed about her painting was the personal style coming through,” said Butler. “She created a piece of artwork that is not only beautiful to look at but a lot of people can relate to because of the subject matter.”

Butler said that she is very happy that Old Rochester students are being appreciated for their artwork and that the school does a great job of recognizing different forms of talent within the student population.

The Emerging Young Artists and Designers exhibition is run annually by the UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts. The pieces selected were put on display in a virtual exhibition, which can be viewed at https://www.umassd.edu/cvpa/explore/emerging-young-artists/.