Carolina Ramos Tapped for Long Island’s Best Exhibition

Huntington senior Carolina Ramos has been tapped by judges to display her artwork in this year’s Long Island’s Best exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art. She is among 84 teenagers chosen from a field of 402 submissions.

Ms. Ramos has been studying closely with high school art teacher Ayallah Jeddah. Her sculpture, titled “Thoughts and Prayers” is thought-provoking, to say the least. It was inspired by Evelyn Beatrice Longman’s “Youth Eternal.”

The show will run from March 23 through May 3. The formal opening of the exhibition will coincide with the award ceremony on Saturday, March 28 from 12-6 p.m.

Ms. Ramos is a strong student academically and an especially gifted artist.

Artist’s Statement by Carolina Ramos Saravia

My piece, ‘Thoughts and Prayers,’ was originally inspired by the emotional power of public monuments and their ability to capture collective experiences. While Evelyn Beatrice

Longman’s ‘Youth Eternal’ celebrates the purity, vitality and timeless innocence of childhood, my work explores the fragility of that innocence in today’s world.

‘Youth Eternal’ portrays children united in a moment of eternal youth, symbolizing hope, friendship, and the enduring spirit of childhood. This timeless ideal contrasts with the reality I address in ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ — how that innocence can be violently taken away, especially in schools, which should be safe spaces for growth and learning.

The arrangement of items like textbooks, notebooks, and stationery in my piece represents a child’s desk at school, showing the personal space where students learn and grow. These objects symbolize the future these children never got to have—their education, their growth, and the possibilities of who they could have become. For many, this desk became the last place they were ever able to do that.

Using children’s toys, school supplies, and handmade bullets, I illustrate the harsh intrusion of gun violence into these sacred spaces of youth. The contrast between soft, familiar objects of childhood and the cold, metallic bullets emphasizes the tragic loss of life and opportunity.

Where Longman’s sculpture offers a hopeful vision of youth everlasting, my piece asks viewers to confront the urgency of protecting that innocence in our society today.

Together, these works invite reflection on the value of childhood — both as an ideal to celebrate and a reality we must fiercely defend.