SMAF’s A SMASH! St. Mark’s first Arts Festival is a hit

—Elise Gobron ‘21

On the weekend of May 18th, the 2018-2019 Monitors hosted the very first St. Mark’s Arts Festival, SMAF, on the athletic quad. The Monitors hope that SMAF will help promote the arts and give all of the talented artists here at St. Mark’s a platform to showcase their talents. At the arts festival, there were several categories under which artists could perform including music, poetry, dance, and film.

The girls A Capella group here on campus, the Royal Blues, were among the first musical acts to perform. After just two weeks of rehearsals, the group was able to debut “I’m Stuck” by Noah Cyrus. The performance featured solos by VI formers Clem McKeown and Mei-Mei Arms, as well as beatboxing by Padma Mynampaty. With seven graduating seniors including Cait Lochhead, June Seong, and Shelby Howard as well as co-heads Haley Dion and Mary Flathers, the performance was one of the collective group’s last performances. While seniors will be dearly missed by the Royal Blues, the group still has a few more performances left in the year.

A number of poets were also able to perform including Bethany Batista, Brendan Peters, and Crawford Wittman. Bethany showcased an original poem in an emotional and captivating performance. Brendan and Crawford found inspiration from the movie 22 Jump Street and preformed a slam poetry scene from the film. Titled “Cynthia”, the comedic slam poetry performance received an abundance of laughter from the audience as well as great applause. While Ms. Adams was unfortunately unable to attend the event, her poem “ ;-) ” was read aloud by advisee Alexander Sumner.

Anishka Yerabothu took the opportunity presented at SMAF to showcase a traditional style Indian dance along with the help of dancers Kate Normandin, Gift Paekul, Laura Sabino, and Ms. Zhu. During this spring term, Anishka taught a Saturday class on traditional Indian dance and choreographed a dance with the dancers who took the class. The dance was set to a mix between “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran and traditional Indian music. The class wore saris and showed what they they had learned over the course of seven Saturday classes classes on the grass of the athletic quad.

One of the other new changes made possible by SMAF was the debut of the annual student directed One Acts. While typically performed in the black box, these short three to five minute skits were instead set up on the athletic quad as well. Kate Normandin was among the sixth form members who chose to direct a one act. One of the two directed by Kate was titled “I Remember the Leg” and showcased actors Haley Dion, Frances Hornbostel, Megan Christy, and Hannah Hassara. In the skit, each actor explained a short interaction their character had with a sole leg creating a comical and entertaining story line.

To conclude the event, short films created by both Colin Capenito and Hans Wu were premiered. Overall the audience awarded great applause to both short films as well as the other acts. With snow cones, cotton candy, and other snacks, audience members were kept full and entertained as many claimed to have thoroughly enjoyed the arts festival. As it is a great way to showcase the artistic talents of many St. Mark's students and earned positive reviews by community members, SMAF was a successful event that students hope will be held in the future.

Empty Bowls Fill a Need

—Cathy Zhou ‘21

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 11th, St. Mark’s hosted its annual Empty Bowls Sale in the cloisters to raise money for fighting hunger in the world. Led by ceramics teacher Mrs. Belt and her students, the sale successfully raised over $900 dollars for local organizations including the Southborough Food Pantry and the Worcester Country Foodbank. Coinciding with the Reunion Weekend, Spring Trustees Meeting, and Spring Groton Games, the event was highly supported by students, faculties, parents, Alumni, and Trustees.

St. Mark’s first Empty Bowls Sale was initiated by student Lucy Grogan in 2005. Since then, the sale is held annually. According to the organizer of the event, Mrs. Belt, the fundraiser has grown in student involvement, numbers of bowls produced, and interest of the community each year. $900 in raised money was a particular success this year, with a $200 increase from last year.

In 2019, more than 100 ceramics pieces were put up for the sale. These pieces include bowls, cups, mugs, and plates of various colors, shapes, and sizes. Some were coated by shiny glaze or vibrant colors, and others adopted plain colors with different patterns on the outside and curvy shapes. In addition to purchasing delicate hand-made bowls, buyers could also enjoy ice-cream in flavors of vanilla, cookie dough, and mint chocolate chip from Uhlman’s on a sunny afternoon. “The ceramics bowls made Uhlman’s ice-cream taste even better,” said Clara Hua’21.

According to Mrs. Belt, the sources of this year’s pottery donation were especially diverse. Apart from donations from her Ceramics I and Ceramics II classes, the Empty Bowls Sale also received vases from faculty members, faculty families, and the Clay Club, featuring bowls from Mrs. Belt, Ms. Killeen, Ms. Michelson, Ms. Kiely, and eight pieces from Mrs. Belt’s son, Machias.

This event was much more than an opportunity for the community members to showcase their art, however. While describing her experience in making bowls for the sale, ceramics enthusiast Anni Zhang’21 said, “there’s a layer to the fun that’s added to it when I know there’s a purpose. All my bowls add up to something bigger, something meaningful. I am proud that I could make a difference with my passion for ceramics.”

Volunteers and organizers of this event include Stephanie Moon’19, Zenia Alaron’19, Laura Sabino’20, Bannon Jones’21, Anni Zhang’21, Cathy Zhou’21, Nashua Poreda’22, Jocelyn Cote’22, and Maya Scully’22. Bannon, who is also a passionate ceramicist, talks about her experience in volunteering at this event: “It’s really fun to see all the artwork from different people even if some of them have literally never done pottery before,” she said, “and I loved helping to scoop ice cream and just telling people about the event.”