Shaye O’Beirne is one of Long Island’s most talented young artists. The Huntington High School junior was among an exclusive group of Nassau and Suffolk teenagers to have had works chosen for a recent exhibit at the Heckscher Museum of Art.
Ms. O’Beirne has been studying with Huntington art teacher Kasmira Mohanty, who has developed a well-regarded computer graphics program. The teenager quickly went about mastering a series of skills, which when combined with her exceptional creative talents has resulted in gorgeous artwork.
“My interest was first sparked about mid-year through my freshman year,” Ms. O’Beirne said. “I always saw these really cool computer generated pieces of art in the hallway and as the year went on, I discovered they were from her (Mrs. Mohanty) computer graphics and advanced computer graphics classes. I became really interested in it, and decided to take computer graphics in my sophomore year.
Huntington High School junior Shaye O'Beirne.
The junior’s current academic schedule includes Advanced Placement Spanish, AP Language and Composition, AP US History, AP Biology, Pre-calculus, Advanced Computer Graphics and Fashion Design & Illustration.
Ms. O’Beirne plays on the Blue Devil varsity volleyball team. She is a member of the National Honor Society as well as the Art, Spanish and English Honor Societies. The teenager is also on the staff of The Dispatch, the high school’s student newspaper and is treasurer of the Grandfriends club.
“I think we have a really strong art program with a lot of really talented students and I think Mrs. Mohanty is a really excellent teacher,” Ms. O’Beirne said. “She has really helped me in my development as the artist that I am today.”
Ms. O’Beirne hopes to attend college in California and ultimately pursue a career in dermatology.
The junior was one of only 80 high school students to have one of their pieces chosen from a pool of nearly 400 for display in the Heckscher’s Long Island’s Best Young Artists exhibit that recently close a month-long run.
“Students in grades 9-12 are invited to create a work of art based on artwork shown in the Heckscher Museum of Art during the current school year,” states the contest application.
Titled The Patio, Ms. O’Beirne’s recently exhibited piece is a vector illustration and collage. It is simply stunning.
The Huntington teenager said she was inspired by artist Ralph Goings’ Camper. “I created a suburban landscape that is reminiscent of the early days of pop art in combination with mid-century modern design,” Ms. O’Beirne said in an artist’s statement that accompanied her work at the Heckscher Museum. “Goings liked to paint on top of photographic material. Afterwards he would create a lithograph of those efforts. This process omits the artist’s personal touch in the form of brush strokes and other artistic gestures. I like this somewhat stoic approach to creating art and selected a process that would resemble that particular look in spirit.”
Ms. O’Beirne said she “knew from the start” that she wanted a building to be depicted in her artwork. “I researched the architectural styles of the 1950’s and settled on a California ranch style house,” she wrote in the artist’s statement. “I illustrated the house and surrounding elements using a current style called flat design. The color scheme I chose is intended to reflect the 1950’s. Lastly, I super imposed vintage photographs of the fifties era “ideal woman” into the landscape to add to the ‘facsimile of reality’ Goings strived for in his paintings. This also adds a quirky juxtaposition between the flat design of the landscape and the photographs of the women.”
The Huntington junior’s artwork was very well-received at its public showing at the Heckscher Museum. Fans of Ms. O’Beirne can’t wait to see more of her pieces on display in the near future.
