H-ton Sophomore Kiley Barch Creates Dazzling Artwork

Kiley Barch is certainly among Huntington High School’s best. The sophomore is a vital member of the Blue Devil varsity cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field teams and her academic grade average exceed 104 in the second marking period. She’s an exceptional artist, too, submitting a highly regarded piece for consideration in this spring’s Long Island’s Best Young Artists exhibit at the Heckcher Museum.

Ms. Barch is a credit to the community, excelling in everything she does. She’s been studying computer graphics with Huntington art teacher Kasmira Mohanty and the results are eye-popping.

Participants in the Long Island’s Best initiative choose a work of art in the Heckscher Museum’s collection as the starting point for their own creative process. The teenagers then interpret the respective pieces through their own art.

“I was influenced by Amanda Valdez’s ‘New Me’ to create my piece entitled ‘The Quilted Woman,’” wrote Ms. Barch in an artist’s statement accompanying her artwork. “The ‘quilted’ texture of Valdez’s art allowed me to imagine the stories we carry throughout our lives. The myriad of patterns evoke a sense of familiarity and tradition being passed on to many generations.”

Ms. Barch is articulate, hardworking and creative. “In my image, I wanted to bring forth the same idea of quilts representing new beginnings and a family’s story being preserved,” she wrote in her artist’s statement. “I layered several articles of clothing and textiles in my piece to create the illusion of a textured quilt. I was also inspired by Valdez’s use of circles to represent the human body and the impact of our emotions when faced with new phases of our lives. I attempted to emulate the circles in the image by adding some vignetting in Photoshop that correlated with the warm tone colors also seen in the patterns on the model.”

The teenager said the inclusion of a pair of white flowers in her image is meant to symbolize the character growth that comes with adjusting to change.

“Just as a flower blossoms from a young seedling into a petaled showpiece of nature, humans grow and change with the influences of our ancestors and culture that we are constantly reminded of and surrounded by,” Ms. Barch said.