Cranbury School chose me (Elaina Phillips) as the recipient of the Tamara Woronczuk Art Award in 2017. As part of this award, I was to create a 2D piece of art for display at the school. I finished this painting “On My desk” in 2018.
“On My Desk” has five smooth stones which represent a physical education teacher, coach and others, including the administration and staff who understand the social and emotional challenges teenagers face. These special people helped students understand that they could face obstacles and could ‘do it’. They were encouraging and happy for me in my accomplishments.
A Quodlibet is a type of trompe l’oeil still life.
I learned about the style she used when I was almost done with the painting. My mom was touring the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and saw something similar. This style of painting doesn’t usually have natural objects so I would not consider it a purely ‘still life’ painting.
The randomness of the objects is deliberate.
The plant and fish are for my English teacher, Mrs. Grimaldi, who brought the world to her classes. History, science, civic responsibility and each person’s responsibility to do (and be) their best were ever present in her classroom. She would hand back work and say ‘you can do better’.
I submitted one such creative writing piece to Scholastic and earned a National Gold Medal.
Mrs. Grimaldi went to Carnegie Hall to accept the award with me. She also received an award that year. It was in the local paper, hopefully this link still works.
The purple candy is for my social studies teacher, Mrs. Fernandez who truly understands her subject and does amazing things to encourage and help her students comprehend the significance of history.
I am grateful to the administration at Cranbury School, Dr. Genco & Mrs. Waldron, the faculty and staff and also for the opportunity to share my artwork in the school gallery.
