Arts Advisory Committee Honors 7 MHS Students

The Millburn Short Hills Arts Advisory Committee is awarding seven Millburn High School students with scholarships this year – three seniors and four juniors – and honoring them at a reception at the Paper Mill Playhouse tonight.

Friends, family, administrators, teachers and local dignitaries will celebrate the accomplishments of MHS seniors Morgan Gruer, Amanda Huang and Samantha Schaevitz and juniors Jake Oleson, Owen Schumacher, Aria Savadkouei and Lilly Blum at the Paper Mill Playhouse art gallery.

Laraine Barach, Arts Advisory Committee Chairwoman and her committee members meet with AP Art teacher Kathleen Harte at the high school in March of each year to review the portfolios of juniors and seniors enrolled in the Advanced Studio Art program.

After hours of deliberation and review, the committee selects a small group of students as award recipients. The students then create high quality prints of their work and have the prints matted and framed to donate to the committee.

This year Nicholas F. Rizzo Fine Arts of Chatham donated the matting and framing of the students’ prints.

"We celebrate the very best portfolios of AP Art students," Barach said. "We curate 40 to 60 pieces."

The reception includes an art show, buffet and special guest speakers courtesy of Millburn Arts Advisory Committee and sponsors: Paper Mill Playhouse; Jerry’s Artist Outlet of West Orange; Nicholas T. Rizzo Fine Arts in Chatham, Kings Food Market ofShort Hills; La Strada Restaurant; David Gary Framers; CSM Art and Frame of Chatham; Jalm Gifts; Staples – Millburn Mall; Millburn Chamber of Commerce; Downtown Millburn; Wells Fargo Bank; Catherine Scorsese and Ken Waddell Film Production; the Millburn-Short Hills-Chatham Chapter of the Rotary Club and the Millburn Township Committee.