Upper School Arts Week Celebrates the Artist in Each of Us

Music, visual, and dramatic arts at Severn are more than outlets for creative expression. They provide a lens through which to view our world with an understanding of self and empathy for others. The arts can be transformative both for the creator and the audience. Each year in April our Upper School arts community invites everyone to share in that transformation with Upper School Arts Week. From our Spring Concert and Art Show to daily workshops led by our expert faculty, Arts Week is a celebration of the artist in each of us.

Spring Art Show

The celebration began the evening of April 22nd with the opening of Severn’s annual juried Upper School Art Show. McCleary Student Center was transformed into a gallery with an array of impressive work demonstrating technical skill and conceptual sophistication; innovative and thought-provoking. Thank you to our Upper School Visual Arts faculty members Ms. Mary Ellen Carsley, Mr. Skip Sensbach, and Ms. Cassandra Kapsos for helping our students realize the best in themselves through the arts.

Please click through these slides to see the winning pieces in each category.

Spring Concert

Following the Art Show opening, guests were treated to our Upper School Spring Concert showcasing the hard work and talent of our instrumental and vocal groups. The production included a varied and interesting mix of music spanning genres and decades. Thank you to our Upper School Music faculty members Mr. Frank Donn and Mr. Rob Redei for inspiring our students to push the limits of their abilities and grow to be confident, accomplished musicians.

Fine Arts Assembly

A celebration of art, performance, and creativity wouldn't be complete without recognizing the student artists who contribute their energy and passions to our community throughout the year. At the annual Fine Arts Assembly on Monday morning, the arts department honored those students for their commitment to the visual and performing arts while family and friends gathered to show their support.

Honorees included: 
  • Flora Damon '20, 3-D Visual Arts Achievement Award
  • Tori Cronin '18, The Daniel Maurice Rothman Memorial Three‑Dimensional Art Award
  • Yeala Grimes '21 and Kendall Jacobsen '19, 2-D Art Awards
  • Anna Sfakyanudis '18, The Jane Schwartz Memorial 2-Dimensional Art Award
  • Reilly Miller '18, Digital Arts Award
  • Emma Agro '20 and Jordan Cox '19, Digital Art and Photography Achievement
  • Will McCollum '19, Renaissance Award
  • Jake DeCicco '19, The Arts Achievement Award in Drama
  • Sam Agro '18, Senior Performing Arts Award
  • Greg DiMario '19 and Matthew Beagan '20, The Arts Achievement Awards in Music
  • Evan Judge '18, The V Award for Music


Art Every Day, For Everyone

This year, following the kick-off show, concert, and assembly, our arts faculty hosted daily workshops for students, faculty, and staff to try their hand at all things creative. Workshops included:
  • Medieval brass rubbing and gold gilding
  • Making cards for the military
  • Creating camera-less sun prints (cyanotypes)
  • Sculpting ceramic slab bowls, plates and coil pots
  • Improv comedy
Severn School teachers work with a ceramics student to make coil pots.
Kendall Jacobsen ‘19, Ms. Cassandra Kapsos, and Mr. Skip Sensbach sculpting coil pots.
Severn School students working in the art studio making cards to thank the military.
Grant Kunowsky ‘19, AJ McNemar ‘19, Caroline Stevens ‘19, Lauren Gibbons-Neff ‘19, Flo Pribble '19, Caroline Bayless ‘19, and others making cards to thank our military service members.

About the Arts at Severn

We are a community of artists who paint, sculpt, draw, design, film, sing, strum, dance, and act. Our students choose from an array of arts, old and new — from drama to dance, drawing to digital illustration, and sculpture to architecture. They become apprentices to master teachers and learn by doing through purposeful practice.

At Severn, we challenge and inspire every student to reach their full artistic potential. Whether learning to draw for the first time or taking the lead in the school play, every student learns to express themselves through the arts. Our expert faculty is nationally recognized for excellence in performance and teaching and make it their mission to nurture the artist in every child.

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