Talent abounds at Bethel Park Arts Fest

Amid the dazzling array of artwork on display at Bethel Park High School was a graphite drawing that was on its way to a new home in Washington, D.C.

Beginning in June, senior Tatum Brown’s “Canaries in the Coal Mine” will be exhibited at the U.S. Capitol for a year as a winning entry in the annual Congressional Art Competition, which started 41 years ago to recognize and encourage students’ artistic talents.

Her depiction of a man wearing a mining helmet, flanked by a lamp and a cage with a bird at the bottom, was the contest selection for Pennsylvania’s 12th District in the House of Representatives.

“I just found out our house is built on a mine here in Bethel, which I thought was so exciting,” she said. “So I got all this coal miner stuff in my head, and then all of a sudden it came to me: I should do a piece that represents our district, and it will be representing our district in the Capitol, so I may as well make it feel like home.”

The drawing was featured in a display case with other examples of Tatum’s work — including a three-dimensional piece adapted for the cover of Vernissage, her school’s literary magazine — during the Bethel Park Arts Fest and STEAM Expo on May 13.

For the event, the area near the main entrance was converted to galleries of projects by artists in kindergarten through 12th grade. In the cafeteria, guests participated in the likes of silk screening, face painting, button making and paper crafting, while saxophonist Jordan Barber and drummer Paul Baronak provided music as the PB&J Jazz Duet.

During the festivities, senior Kat Tena worked on a detailed painting of Dr. Leoncio Tena, her grandfather, who died in January at age 89.

“This is the first one of my grandparents to have passed away, and so it was a big shock and surprise to me. So I really wanted to do something to remember him by and kind of be able to process everything,” Kat said. “I do art as much as I can, and one of the things that I’m really proud about is being able to get people’s likenesses in my art.”

Students had the opportunity to sell their handiwork, with seniors Alexa Esposito and Isabella Testa offering handmade crafts as “The Junkyard.”

“We saw that the art show was coming up, and we decided that we wanted to start something and keep it going,” Alexa said. “So we’re starting an Etsy, too, where we’re going to be selling all sorts of stuff: ceramics, jewelry, stickers, T-shirts.”

As the name of their operation suggests, they work with items that otherwise might be headed for the curb on trash day.

“We took a lot of the things that I had at home and she had at home, and we wanted to do crafts out of them,” Isabella said. “A lot of this is old stuff that I did have from when I was a kid — some of these beads I’ve had for years — and just pulling out stuff that I find and seeing how I can use it.”

The theme is similar for “Miss Makey and the Magic Bin,” a children’s book by Mandi S. Figlioli telling the story of a teacher who encourages creativity with leftover materials. As part of the expo, Dylan Finnell read the book aloud as classmate Alea Taylor demonstrated what was happening at various points.

For the Bethel Park seniors in attendance, the event represented one of their final school activities prior to graduation on June 8.

For Tatum Brown, the next step is studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, majoring in illustration with a minor in business and possibly French.

“The goal is to do art for the rest of my life,” she said, “because I never see myself doing anything else.”