The Richness of Art

The ambition, energy and enthusiasm of Cheshire Academy’s students and faculty is amazing – and the arts at CA unquestionably enliven, challenge and educate the community each and every day. Cheshire Academy is fortunate to have highly experienced members of the art department who bring exuberance, skill and award-winning results to the theater, music, and fine and visual arts programs.

A THRIVING THEATER PROGRAM

Theater teacher and director of the theater program, Jennifer Guarino says her passion for theater began in a simple childhood love of stories.Each and every production has unique joys and challenges of many kinds, which she loves about theater, but they all have the same heart: telling a story. As Ms. Guarino states, “I enjoy teaching the literature and performance class because it combines my love of English and theater. We take the stories we read and bring them to life on the stage, and I love seeing my students perform works of literature because it shows how well they understand the plot, the characters and their motivations.”

After many years teaching English at Southern Connecticut State University, Ms. Guarino came to CA along with her husband Nathan, a member of the music teaching faculty, and daughter Maggie ’18. Bringing many years of high level experience from a well-known theatre program in Westville, Connecticut, Ms. Guarino immediately established herself as a sensitive, imaginative and excellent program leader.

Interest in theater at CA has nearly doubled in the last three years. There are several reasons for this – an increase in total enrollment, several other talented teachers, and expanded curricular offerings – but there is no question that Ms. Guarino’s style and skill are an important part of the growth. When asked about this, she humbly said, “A main strength of Cheshire Academy in all areas is the emphasis on creativity and independence, not only for students but for teachers as well. I value the focus on student-centered learning here. In theater this means allowing students to develop their own ideas about characters and, in the spring season, to write and direct their own material.” Recent graduate Bryn Clarkson ’17 feels the same way, “I did theater tech for all four of my years at CA, and I loved it. Students get to explore their own ideas.” Fine Arts Department Chair Fran Poisson said that Ms. Guarino has been especially successful in drawing international students, often shy about their English skills, into the school theater community.

Currently there are three theater courses offered: an acting class, IB (International Baccalaureate) Theater, and IB Lit and Performance. The IB Lit and Performance class, taught by Ms. Guarino, involves students reading a text, often a novel, and then writing and performing a dramatic enactment of the text. Ms.Guarino hopes to add a course in theater production, which last happened at the academy in the early 1990’s, when the Black Box Theater was created.

The Black Box gives faculty and students a workable space for small, high quality productions. Ms. Guarino has upgraded the light-board and the soundboard, so the basic technical elements of the stage area are good, and she cites the extreme intimacy of the space, where actors can easily see the faces of the audience, as a positive quality. Conversely, it presents significant limitations for a growing program. The maximum capacity of about 120 persons often limits what could be larger audiences. Despite these limits, the faculty of Cheshire Academy maximize the resources available, and are grateful for the Black Box.

EMBRACING FINE AND VISUAL ARTS

If you walk around campus, you might see a small hobby horse in a tree or a shark fin emerging from the center of the pond in the “back forty.” A student might arrive to class with a late pass scribbled onto a ping-pong ball or a piece of tree bark. Everyone comes to know the source of these oddities: art teacher and department chair, Mr. Fran Poisson.

Mr. Poisson came to CA sixteen years ago after many years working in a variety of artistic genres, including businesses, secondary schools, and universities. His first love, though, has always been painting.

Alisalee Aaron '19

Mr. Poisson believes that CA has always had strong visual artists, and continues to grow in this area every year. In fact, as Mr. Poisson puts it, “Over the past few years, Cheshire Academy has gained an international reputation for providing our students with high level preparation in the visual arts, should they be interested in attending any number of top ranked art and design programs for college.” The Academy routinely sends several students to the finest art schools in the country to major in various kinds of design, and many other students prosper in the extensive visual arts program. The fine and visual arts building offers excellent space and natural light, available to the visual arts program. “I believe the Cheshire Academy visual arts program is something that affords students the opportunity to experience the beauty of art and also work towards the ultimate goal of a professional art career. “The program has enhanced my techniques as a painter and my comprehension as an artist. It has also encouraged me to try new things” says Peter Deng ’18 about his visual art experiences.

The work of students is on display all around campus and visiting professional artists present their work to enthusiastic audiences on selected Thursday evenings in the Kohn-Joseloff Gallery on the lower floor of the John J. White Building. A recent show featured the beautiful architectural drawings of Dave Jepson ’59, a member of the Board of Trustees, and, other alumni have presented as well, including Andrew Fezza ’72, a fashion designer and inaugural Cheshire Academy Arts and Letters Hall of Fame inductee, who has been featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. Students who attend these exhibits hear stories about the lives of professional artists and get to ask questions about ideas and techniques.

Mr. Poisson now spends his afternoons helping art students with independent projects. He supervises all of the portfolio development of the Academy's Art Majors and helps them with their college application process.

JOYFUL NOISES

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” While this may be too gloomy or romantic for some, if you were to attend one of CA’s two seasonal concerts, you would, at the least, be inclined to think Nietzsche was on to something important. The joy and exuberance of the performers radiates throughout the packed auditorium for every minute of the concerts, as percussion, guitar and jazz ensembles, a capella groups, rock and jazz bands, and a large orchestra share their considerable talents with the community in the jam-packed Richardson Lecture Hall.

While the concerts are special and unique events featuring all school musicians, music has a presence in several other ways. More than half of the students at the Academy are involved in musical programs. The wide variety of choices include the jazz band, two rock bands, the concert choir, the a capella choir called “The 1794’s,” the CATS (Cheshire Academy Through Sound), a group of high-level vocal performers, the dance company and the Varsity Players theater group. Music program director Eunyoung DiGiacomo is responsible for supporting the wealth of musical talent on campus.

Ms. DiGiacomo’s music story began, typically enough, at age five, with piano lessons with a teacher boarding in her family’s house. She loved to play and worked at it with the energy and passion typical of true lovers of music. But she had a lifechanging epiphany one day when eighteen years old. She was riding a bus on a rainy day and listening to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. This was not unusual for her, but on this particular day, a new level of depth and meaning in the music opened to her – the beauty, structure and power of the music overwhelmed her. She knew in that instant that her pursuit of happiness would include a devotion to music.

A whirlwind of intense effort under the guidance of a gifted teacher, in an unusually condensed time frame, led to her acceptance into a prestigious music program in Korea. After four years of studying composition and performance, however, she felt there was something else she wanted, or perhaps needed. She wanted to use her talent to help people through music. It was a strong feeling, and it led her to apply to a music therapy program at New York University.

After graduating from NYU, Ms. DiGiacomo worked as a music therapist with profoundly disabled children for five years. The children in her care had an average lifespan of fourteen years and only reached a mental age of about six months. The work was intensely difficult, of course, and left her with a deep respect for the people who dedicated their lives to that work. Ms. DiGiacomo moved on from there to music teaching. After working at two other secondary schools, she came to CA to grow the music program.

Ms. DiGiacomo’s teaching philosophy is beautiful and profound. Echoing the thoughts of Pablo Picasso, she says, “Music is the place where I can escape from everyday reality.” She believes music is within everyone and is a kind of magic. She says “you can find music everywhere, even in silence.” She supports everyone, without bias about any kind of music. If all this seems to add up to a portrait of an extraordinary, passionate teacher, it’s because she certainly is. You might expect students would respond favorably to all this - and indeed they have. Participation has grown enormously in all phases of the program. But even more impressive is the improvement and the joyousness of the musicians under the guidance of the entire music teaching staff.

Ms. DiGiacomo thinks about what is best for each student, what will bring them excitement and joy, and then pushes them to reach their potential. She can be tough. Her standards are high, and she never lets anyone quit before they have given their best effort. “It is a loving environment, like a second home to me,” says Alexa Williamson ’18. “Everyone gets a chance, regardless of previous experience,” and, “all the art teachers are deeply committed to the well-being and accomplishment of their students.” Samantha Weed ’18, adds “All of the arts teachers at CA are reliable, talented, and great mentors.”

Around our country, we often see art programs cut when budgets get tight. Cheshire Academy deeply values the arts and programs continue to grow. Students, faculty, and leadership are grateful for what they have, but are also dreaming of what could be accomplished when achieving the goal of constructing a modern arts building suitable for all the dynamic, growing programs. The arts at CA bring joy, interest, excitement, beauty and meaning into the life of the school every day.