Young Artists Get "Lost In The Sound"

Top: Attendees, including many adoring parents, check out the show. Lost In New Haven Photo. Bottom: Student riffs on Lender's Bagels, once a beloved New Haven business. Ruby Szekeres Photo.  

It’s the bagels, rendered in fluorescent pinks and rich chocolate browns, that draw a viewer in. In one, a flamingo-toned bagel leans to the side, becoming the oversized pistil at the center of a single, graceful flower. In another, a bagel has transformed into a ladybug, with neat black spots that glisten on a round red body. A third is a soccer ball, patterned in black and white with eyes that turn it into a smiling, bagel-headed player.

That ode to Lender’s Bagels—and to New Haven history—is just one special part of the Sound School’s inaugural art exhibition Lost In The Sound, a sweeping display from dozens of high school students runs through June 4 at Lost In New Haven on 80 Hamilton St. A collaboration between Sound School art teacher Steff Smelser and Lost In New Haven Founder Rob Greenberg, the exhibition brings together students’ visual skill and Lost In New Haven’s collection, which tells the story of the Elm City through thousands of its artifacts.

Those include, for instance, works of oyster-inspired art (including painted oyster shells), comical and creative odes to Lender’s Bagels, papier-mâché hats like those in the museum’s dramatically lit vitrines, and portraits of countless musical artists, many of whom have graced concert venues in New Haven over the years. For both Smelser and students at the Sound School, a regional vocational aquaculture center situated on Long Island Sound, it represents a leap into a creative future that Smelser is still building.

“First of all, the Sound School has never had an art department in the history of the entire school,” Smelser (pictured at the left, with NHPS Superintendent Madeline Negrón and Lost In New Haven's Robert Greenberg) said in a phone call after the opening last Friday. “The fact that the New Haven Public Schools have funded an art teacher and an art program [at the school], that's historic.”

So too is having the exhibition in a space that is designed to display art, she added. As a product of both the New Haven and Branford Public Schools—Smelser attended Davis Street School (now Davis Academy for Arts and Design Innovation) through fourth grade, then went to Branford—she knows firsthand how hard it can be to hold art shows in gymnasiums and cafeterias, where they often take place. Likewise, she’s learned how hard it can be to break into the professional art world when a person can’t point to any public showings.

By being in a space with professional lighting and displays intended for art and artifacts, “100 kids got their first rodeo,” she said.

“I want young people to use it creatively,” Greenberg added, echoing how hard it is to break into the art world without having your work shown somewhere other than a school cafeteria.

So far, Greenberg said, the museum has hosted numerous events from public and private schools in the New Haven area, including live theatrical performances by students at ACES Educational Center for the Arts (ECA) and students in Monk Youth & Jazz’ after-school STEAM Academy. This marked the first time a student art show unfolded at the museum.

Greenberg said that the museum was honored to welcome young artists from Sound School to be the first students ever to use its gallery.

Top: Nathan Strickler. Ruby Szekeres Photo. Bottom: Lost In New Haven Photo. 

At an opening last Thursday, complete with donated pizza and Foxon Park soda, it seemed that the adoration and enthusiasm was mutual. Nathan Strickler, one of Smelser’s students, praised the art class as a perfect way to get away from tedious work, and stretch his creative skills beyond the school’s aquaculture curriculum.

“It lets students do things [that are] more enjoyable,” he said, noting how repetitive science can get after a while. In part because the exhibition is unlike any experience he has ever had at the Sound School before, he’s proud to be able to show his work. His favorite creation from the course is a poster of the musician Kendrick Lamar, whose star has exploded in recent years.

This assignment came from researching Toad’s Place, a historical concert venue in New Haven, and finding out more about someone who had performed there. Lamar performed at Toad’s in June 2012 and again in January 2013—a fact that some New Haveners don’t even know. Many parents, including Strickler’s, came out to support the young artists and their work.

Beyond student posters, each of which reimagined or paid homage to a performance downtown, there was bagel art inspired by Lender’s Bagels, part of a New Haven small business story that went on to become part of many household name brands, such as Kraft and Kellogg.

Currently, the company is owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, but New Haveners like Greenberg and Smelser have family members who remember the old-school Lender’s, before the brand was part of a national name. In a text message Friday, Smelser said that her grandfather, Arthur Sachs, was the lawyer who oversaw the company’s 1984 merger with Kraft.

Besides the “bagel heads,” as Greenberg dubbed them, students created their interpretations of other items on display at Lost in New Haven, from pop-art lollipops to watercolor paintings of oysters and oyster shells.

Smelser explained that she encourages her students to focus on specific topics, and the reason that they are creating a certain piece, rather than just on the materials they are using. Because the Sound School is right on the water, she uses nature as her biggest classroom.

Top: Ayleen Rodrígues. Bottom: Students doing research at Lost In New Haven. Ruby Szekeres Photos. 

As she showed off her work and admired that of her classmates, student Ayleen Rodrígues said she appreciates how she can just make art. Her favorite piece on display was her sketch of an old fan, part of the prompt to make something from the Lost in New Haven’s collection. Using perspective and shading techniques, Rodrígues’ piece makes viewers feel like they might get blown away, she said.

“I never had an art class like Stephanie's,” she said.

“She lets you express yourself,” student Johnny Gingy added. A couple years ago, he considered himself an artist, but lost interest in drawing. Then Smelser started teaching at the school, re-sparking Gingy’s creativity. “You can focus on making it feel like yourself.”

The art class lets students see the “different things in their hearts,” he added. 

While the school’s principal was on an annual scuba diving class trip to Bermuda, Vice Principal Tom McCarthy was there to watch the students grow during this pivotal moment. With him, other faculty members attended the opening as well, with significant representation from the school’s aquaculture programs. One, freshman tech teacher Kenny Donovon, serenaded attendees, playing guitar and singing into the crowded room.

Dr. Madeline Negrón, Superintendent of the New Haven Public Schools, also made an appearance, stressing that the exhibition was the first step in having students immerse themselves in art. For her, Smelser is a sign that a new era is coming.

“Steff’s redecorated the Sound School,” McCarthy said before the night was over. He described new murals and landscape portraits lining the walls. “We’re so happy as the administration to see these kids have an art teacher five days a week. We want to see all the amazing things they make next.”

This article comes from a graduate of the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Ruby Szekeres is a junior at Oak Meadow School. Lost In The Sound runs through June 4 at 80 Hamilton St. in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood. Visit the museum’s website for hours and more information. Lucy Gellman contributed reporting.