By Tatiana Castellanos
The Bayside Business Improvement District will host its fourth annual arts and crafts festival Saturday. The fair will showcase the work of 30 Queens artists and for the first time several students from Bayside High School’s arts program.
Bayside HS’s assistant principal, Jonathan Hirata, hopes that with bringing the school and students’ artwork into Bayside, the school will build a stronger relationship with the community.
“Our high schools can play an important role in the community,” said Hirata.
Cheryl Steinberg, an art director and work-based learning coordinator at Bayside HS, urged her students, specifically those who are art majors, to attend the fair by offering extra credit.
Students will each have their own station to showcase their artwork at several Bayside businesses: Maggie Moo’s, Turn the Page Bookstore, Citibank, J & J Barber Shop, Bayside Business Association, Bagels & Bake and Il Vesuvio.
At the Gallery Walk exhibit, six seniors and some students from the school’s graphic design program, who work at the Bayside Business Association offices, will present their pieces to the public. A designer from Tommy Hilfiger and two Queensboro Community College fine arts professors will pick portfolio contest winners on the day of the show to win cash prizes.
The school’s Bayside creative program has in the past and will continue to create the street banners that hang in several locations in Bayside.
Not only will the high school bring its students out onto the streets of the neighborhood to show them that the work they do in class is applicable to life, but they also hope the fair will encourage people to walk down Bell Boulevard.
The arts program is a four-year sequence starting in the ninth-grade. One student in the program, Christina Palomino, said she pursued the arts program as a hobby, but soon realized she could make a career out of her passion.
Most arts program students are inspired by older students who are further along in the program after seeing amazing pieces of artwork they created, Christina said.
In the fall, Christina will be attending the School of Arts in Philadelphia, on a full scholarship.
Ni Jia Cui, an arts program senior, was accepted to three art schools, but has not decided where she wants to go.
Naeem Barrett, also a senior in the arts program, has been accepted into Stony Brook University and plans to major in science and minor in art. These students were able to turn their passions into a future through the Bayside arts program.
For a chance to see the students’ artwork, stroll down Bell Boulevard between Northern Boulevard and 35th Avenue to visit the stores Saturday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
