Junior Natalie Parrott Captures Art Award at Exhibit

Natalie Parrott is among Long Island best young artists. The Huntington High School junior recently had one of her pieces selected for exhibit at the Heckscher Museum.

Ms. Parrott’s artwork has been chosen for display at the Heckscher Museum’s Long Island’s Best Young Artists exhibit, which will run from March 23 to May 5. Of the 456 pieces of art submitted for the show, only 87 were accepted. Ms. Bautista’s was one of them.

“This annual juried exhibition features extraordinary works of art created by Long Island high school students from across Nassau and Suffolk counties” according to the museum’s website. All student artwork was inspired by work exhibited in the museum during the 2023/24 school year.

At a reception next Saturday, Ms. Parrott is set to receive the Renzo & Lynette Bianchi Scholarship Awards, which carries with it a $350 stipend. The teenager has been working with Huntington High School art teacher Kristin Singer.

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. “The quality of the artwork is exceptional and delivers a professional-level show,” exhibit organizers said.

“I was inspired by Robert Carter’s ‘Mama Taught Me Piano and Much More’ and the symbolism that lies in his work,” wrote Ms. Parrott in an artist’s statement. “To me, the piece represented the idea of passing down knowledge of the arts and in Carter’s work this was represented by music. The art piece resonated with me, as it reminded me of the comfort that came along with learning how to paint from my dad. Using a photo of me, my dad and my brother at a Heckscher exhibition my dad was a part of, I wanted to communicate my personal version of Carter’s work. In my painting, I included my dad as well as me and my brother to depict the parent-child dynamic which is prevalent in Carter’s artwork.”

The teenager said she also took inspiration from Carter’s use of a piano as a symbol for the arts, as well as how the piano illuminates the young girl’s face, foreshadowing her bright future.

“In my painting I reflected on this idea,” wrote Ms. Parrott in the artist’s statement. “I centered the painting around my dad’s drawing and painted a slight spotlight on it to resemble the light coming from the piano in Carter’s work. In my work, I made sure to create the effect of light shining on the girl’s face as well. I used other small components of Carter’s work while coming up with my painting, highlighting Carter’s use fabric by spending more time on my dad’s shirt.”

Ms. Parrott is an outstanding young woman and highly regarded around Huntington High School, where she compiled an academic grade average in excess of 103 during the second marking period.