Kara Talve Captures
Long Island Best Award
Kara Talve is an artist and a really good one at that. The Huntington High School sophomore earned a coveted third place award for her collage in the Heckscher Museum's annual Long Island Best show, which recently ended a one month run.
A student in Huntington art teacher Kristin Singer's class, Ms. Talve drew inspiration for her work from famed Czech poet, writer, painter and translator Jiří Kolář's collage on board, Charles Baudelaire: Hymn. Kolář's work was displayed in the Heckscher Museum's Ripped: The Allure of Collage exhibit.
"When viewing Jiří Kolář's collage, I was intrigued by the way the artist repeated the small portraits to form another image," Ms. Talve wrote in the artist's statement accompanying her work. "I interpreted the artist's addition of the word 'hymn' into the title of the work as his form of praise toward the poet, Charles Baudelaire. Kolář's collage inspired me to create my own collage dedicated to my personal hero, Morgan Freeman. In a whimsical tone, I have constructed a self-portrait from a single image of Morgan Freeman."
Ms. Talve's artwork was among 81 pieces chosen for the Long Island Best show, which drew 300 entries from exceptional student-artists representing 48 public and private high schools. Participating artists were asked "to make connections between artwork on view in the museum and their own experiences."
Ms. Talve called her work, Korgan Talveman, "which combines our names, similar to the way the artwork combines our shared portrait," she said. "I found the process of creating this collage exciting in the way one image can be combined to make a different, larger piece of artwork."
Long Island's Best show judges were so captivated with Ms. Talve's work that they presented her with one of the top awards during the opening night reception.