Diversity and Discovery On Display in the Annual Student Art Exhibition

The artistic talents of Northfield Mount Hermon students take center stage in The Gallery at the Rhodes Art Center, as the annual Student Art Exhibition closes out the 2025-26 school year on a high note. The exhibit features more than 60 pieces from across the visual arts curriculum, from ceramics and 3D sculpture to paintings, mixed media installations, photography, digital media, and more.

To celebrate, the Visual Arts department held an opening reception on April 3 in The Gallery. Featured artists were on hand to greet their classmates, families, and other members of the NMH community as they celebrated the vibrant, innovative display of talent and artistic vision.

"I think it's pretty awe-inspiring to see the technical and artistic capabilities of my peers," said Allen Chen '26. "You're surrounded by people's expression of beauty in a visual form, especially in this gallery layout."

For faculty, the exhibit is a chance to see and appreciate their students' efforts from a new vantage point, said Jamie Rourke, chair of the visual arts department.

"Sometimes when you're in the classroom watching the projects develop a little at a time, you don't realize how much progress is being made," Rourke said. "When you have opportunities like this to pause and see the work in this one singular moment, it's really impressive how productive, industrious, and absolutely creative they are."

Rourke said he's noticed “more of a flair for experimentation [and] a little bit less hesitancy to move into abstraction" among students' work this year. "They're finding ways to discover what the creative process means to them, what they want to gain from this experience, and how to use it to connect with other people."

Many of the exhibited artists highlighted the new techniques they'd learned in their classes. Erica Mansurova '29 said her still life, composed in charcoal and white conte, "really allowed me to see some of the quirks of working in charcoal and how you can blend it."

Mia Soriano '27 said her piece, "Woven," was inspired by a desire to push the boundaries of her chosen medium, rather than any specific image. "I wanted to try to capture something that has dimension and movement in a linocut, which is usually a very stiff, black-and-white type of medium."

Soriano said she enjoys the chance to "see everyone's different art style and how the classes might have led them along to their pieces," while getting "other people's takes and interpretations on your work that you might not have considered."

Serafina Wilson '26 turned to a familiar subject to explore a new medium, crafting a self-portrait of her own head for her sculpture class.

"I find it's the easiest to work from life, so I chose myself because I have a mirror and can see from all angles," she said. "I had never done a 3D sculpture like that before. I have a much deeper understanding of the face as a 3D form now."

Wilson appreciates the way NMH infuses the visual arts into all aspects of the school, from the gallery exhibits held in the Rhodes Arts Center throughout the year to the chance to learn from visiting artists in class to the wide variety of student art that graces the walls of buildings around campus. "Being surrounded constantly by inspiration is what's so special about this place."

Other students used their craft to celebrate their family and cultural heritage. Arabella Chong '27 produced several paintings and ceramic pieces as an homage to her grandfather, an orchid grower who passed away before she was born.

"I never had the chance to meet him," Chong said. "Growing up, I definitely wondered what he was like. Through my family history and painting his orchids, I feel like I can reconnect with him through my art."

Working in multiple media taught her valuable lessons in patience and perspective, she said. "The way you work with glaze versus oil paint, it's an entirely different chemistry. I was treating the glaze like oil paint and watercolor, so when it ran after I first fired it, I was disappointed. In reality, though, that is the beauty of ceramics. So I really learned to lean in and accept that."

For her 3D installation "Heart of Stone," Bonnie He '27 fashioned a traditional Chinese Hanfu robe using a mixture of canvas, beads, paint, and embroidery. The piece, the culmination of six months' work, was inspired by watching her mom deftly handle a pot of hot soup that had burned her own fingers during dinner one evening.

"She's willing to bear the pain, so that my hands are not full of calluses," He said. "My artwork is able to hang here because of her sacrifices. The beads inside represent her nurturing to make me the best person I could be, and the outside represents the things she had to go through. Like a geode or a sea urchin, the exterior protects the beauty that's inside."

He said NMH has helped her develop the skills and confidence to push boundaries in her art and integrate it with her other passions.

"This is a place where you get to be interdisciplinary," she said. "NMH has taught me to speak my mind, even amongst adults, and share my voice. All the art courses and, really, all the classes here are so collaborative with each other. I'm excited to experiment, and that's definitely a reflection of how NMH nurtures its students."

The NMH Student Art Exhibition is on display in The Gallery at the Rhodes Arts Center through May 8. Off-campus visitors can email mseno@nmhschool.org to arrange a visit.

Photos by Matthew Cavanaugh. See more images from the 2026 Student Art Exhibition on Flickr.