On John Pingry's 200th birthday, please consider giving to the School, and help us to unlock a generous challenge grant!
Pingry
Artists
Brandon Spellman
Class of 2019
As a sophomore, Brandon Spellman ’19 had trouble locating Pingry’s clayworking studio. By junior year, he was spending most of his flex and conference periods there, soaking in the knowledge of Upper School visual arts teacher Mr. Richard Freiwald. A lover of the visual arts from a young age, Brandon had never been exposed to clay until he arrived at Pingry. Mr. Freiwald’s studio ignited a passion. “Frei’s style is to give you an entire room of materials and, combined with his knowledge, you can make whatever you want, in whatever medium you want—glasswork, metalcasting, throwing on pottery wheels, sculpting, slip casting. My favorite part of class is just getting to try all he has to offer.”
Brandon also keenly appreciates that no two pieces of pottery ever turn out the same. Two pieces of clay, applied with the same glaze, will inevitably look different when they exit the reduction kiln. Oxygen, the heat thrown by the fire, and time all work their distinctive magic, he explains. The #1 wrestler on Pingry’s varsity team—who earned a top-12 ranking in the state last year—Brandon is quick to point out parallels to the sport he is so ardent about.
“For me, it’s all about pursuing my passions however they manifest themselves,” he says. “In claymaking, you can try to make a single bowl five or six different ways over the course of two months and none seem to work. And then that seventh time, it works! There are just so many different factors. With wrestling, you can try the same move or the same defense 10 different ways before you find the one that works. In both, you have to experiment with different techniques and keep trying.”
It is the lesson of that magic formula, unique to every piece of pottery, every wrestler, and, Brandon says, every Pingry student, that he will take with him to college, no matter his pursuit of the arts. “Every student at Pingry has the opportunity to express themselves in their own way, and find what they’re meant to do.”
Callie Mahoney
Class of 2021
Callie Mahoney’s passion for theater began to shine years ago, when she entered Pingry as a Grade 6 student and joined the ensemble of The Secret Garden. In Grade 7, she continued to assist in the school’s theatrical productions, as a member of the tech crew for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When she was given the opportunity to step into a leading role the following year, as Antonio in The Tempest, there was no turning back. “It was incredible—the lights, the set, the costumes. It really sparked something in me,” she says.
“One of the things that amazes me about Pingry is the school’s dedication to drama. Kids have the chance to be a part of something so professional from such an early age,” she adds. “The productions are truly high quality, from the lighting booth to the staging to the sets. [Set designer and visual arts teacher] Mrs. Asch used to work on Broadway! The experience of something so real continues to be crucial in my development at Pingry.”
In the Upper School, wanting to continue her dedication to drama, Callie served as a stage manager for the Middle School’s spring musical. “Even from behind the scenes, seeing something you put so much effort into come to fruition, and watching fellow students grow and improve, it’s so satisfying. You think, ‘Yes! We did it, and we did it together!’”
Looking ahead to her remaining high school career at Pingry, Callie plans to be a fixture in the drama department, whether on the stage or behind the scenes, while continuing to explore her other interests. From a challenging Grade 9 drama class with Mrs. Romankow, which earned her the Drama 1 Award, to all the performance opportunities that await her, she doesn’t want to miss a chance to grow and learn, both as a performer and as a student. “Drama touches different parts of you and your life, and enhances them! I have learned to become a better listener, writer, and presenter, among other things. My self-confidence has increased tenfold, and I’ve gotten better at working with others collaboratively. The skills I’ve honed, the lessons I’ve learned, how far I’ve come? I’ll never forget them.”
Ariel Li
Class of 2021
When asked about her sources of artistic inspiration and influence, Ariel Li ’21 cites her mother, a dentist, who has always loved to draw in her free time, and her great aunt, a professional artist in China. “Growing up, I saw my great aunt’s paintings around our house. I was just a baby when she came to visit us. She drew my portrait,” she recalls. Today, Ariel occasionally sends her aunt photographs of her own drawings—the protégé nodding to her master.
At Pingry, Ariel’s inspiration comes in a different form. For example, sketching with a graphite pencil are the medium and tool most comfortable to her, but in Art Fundamentals last year, Mrs. Mack-Watkins challenged her to try something different. “We were assigned a project in which we had to recreate a small portion of an artist’s painting, but we had to select a work that focused on the concept of color theory, and we had to use acrylics,” she explains. “I chose a little piece of red robe from The Death of Germanicus. I really enjoyed it because with graphite, you’re only working with one color; you’re not mixing. But with acrylics, you have to be careful to get not only the right color but the right shade. The project really forced me out of my comfort zone.”
Also a source of influence is Mr. Sullivan, Ariel’s former Middle School advisor. He was always very encouraging of her work, and some of her “messing around” drawings can still be found on his classroom walls. “I can only see my mistakes, but having someone else look at your work and say that it’s good fills you with a sense of pride,” she says. “I started to actually be proud.”
When it comes to her future, post-Pingry endeavors, Ariel, who also loves biology and the sciences, is considering following in her mother’s footsteps and becoming a dentist. “She has always told me that dentistry is a form of art because you’re helping to perfect someone’s smile. I love drawing portraits, so I think it might be a good fit.”
Diego Galvan
Class of 2025
Diego Galvan ’25 will tell you that his main passion is sports—soccer and baseball, specifically. But even as a Middle Schooler, he understands that his art classes, and their lessons in creativity and imagination, have far-reaching applications. “Like at a soccer game, you have to try different strategies and be creative with your game,” he explains.
In art class, his preferred mediums are paper (“Sketching cartoon characters makes me feel more relaxed”) and clay, and he fondly recalls the clay tile project that Lower School art teachers Lindsay Baydin and Russell Christian assigned in Grade 5. “We were given a clay tile and had to create something on it from an artifact of our ancient roots. My family is from Mexico, so I carved an ancient sun god on it. I painted it yellow, with a black background.”
He also vividly recalls a visit by contemporary American sculptor and visual/conceptual artist Willie Cole, and the collaborative “water bottle” project he launched with Pingry students. “It was so interesting to see what you can make out of these empty plastic water bottles. We strung them together with metal wire and made our own little people,” he says. “I liked his style of art the most. How many artists use plastic water bottles!”
So, when he’s not playing soccer or baseball or throwing the ball around in his backyard with his two younger brothers, Santiago '29 and Jordi '31, Diego may be found sketching. What does he enjoy most about making art? “You can’t do art wrong. It can be bad, but you can’t really do it wrong.”
Josh Thau
Class of 2020
In first grade, Josh Thau ’20 was an audience member, watching his fourth-grade sister perform in the Lower School play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When he arrived home that afternoon, his message to his parents was clear. “Sign me up—I want to do that!” He would have to wait another year and a half for eligibility, but his Grade 3 debut was a memorable one, he recalls: he played a circus animal in Seussical, Jr.Since that first show, he has performed in (or behind the scenes of) 14 productions, 11 of which have been at Pingry. His freshman year, he won the Drama 1 Monologue Award. He is already plotting his Independent Senior Project (a two-person musical), which is still three years away, and dreams of his culminating, senior-year Drama IV performance.
Aside from the sheer joy he feels when he’s on stage, Josh says Pingry’s tradition of welcoming special needs children to attend dress rehearsal before opening day performances is a real highlight. In fact, he recalls one such performance, after which a young boy asked to meet him in person, as “one of the best moments in my life. . . Here was a small child actually wanting to meet me, even though I was just an eighth grader.”
Off-stage, English is Josh's favorite class. He credits his former teacher, Dr. Reid Cottingham, with fostering his love of reading, writing, articulating, and engaging in healthy debate, like when his freshman-year English class read and acted out parts of Othello. All of these skills, he notices, translate into his acting. “I used to be so shy, but now I’m a lot more confident. People are different when they’re in their happy places.”
Katerina Deliargyris
Class of 2019
Katerina Deliargyris ’19 came to Pingry in Grade 6 via schools in Germany and, before that, Greece. A few of her new Pingry friends took part in the Middle School musical her first year, but drama wasn’t on her radar. “I thought, ‘Good for them. They’re doing their thing, but it’s not something I want to pursue.’” Then, the following year, she decided to give it a shot, and landed the role of Mrs. Oneeta Sengupta in Haroun and the Sea of Stories.“It was just so much fun,” she recalls. “Being part of that play really helped me to adjust to the school and it took me out of my shell—now I’m definitely the loudest in my class! That experience solidified how much I enjoy acting and singing.”
Kat, as her friends call her, went on to play Martha in The Secret Garden in Grade 8, and, by her junior year, she auditioned for—and was accepted into—Pingry’s female a cappella group, the Balladeers. Since her first foray into acting as a Pingry Middle Schooler, she has been involved in two productions a year, and once she hit the Upper School, she began stage managing the Middle School musical as well. “It’s fun to inspire the younger kids,” she says.
Thanks to an Honors Bio class she took her sophomore year, Kat—also a science lover—is confident that she has identified a fitting career path, as an oncologist. “The same skills I learn through drama—relaxing, connecting with the audience and with my fellow performers—are also so important for doctors. I think I may have found the perfect way to combine the things that I love!”
Sehyr Khan
Class of 2018
When Sehyr Khan ’18 was in the seventh grade, a classmate of hers told her she had a nice voice, and suggested that, when she reach the Upper School, she audition for the Balladeers, Pingry’s female a cappella group. Aside from a few years of piano lessons, she didn’t consider herself particularly musical, and certainly not a singer. But that classmate’s remark planted a seed that stayed with her for two years. She and a friend launched an a cappella club in the Middle School, and, once she reached the ninth grade, at the urging of music teacher and Balladeers Director Jay Winston, she auditioned. And she got in.“I never thought I could be this deeply involved in music, but being part of the Balladeers has shaped every aspect of my life at Pingry,” she says. By her account, the experience has made her more creative, more confident, and less averse to taking risks. Her freshman year, wanting to get comfortable singing in front of large groups of people, she made a pact with a fellow newbie Balladeer to audition for every single solo opportunity. By her sophomore year, she nailed the solo for Bohemian Rhapsody. She also sees her newfound risk-taking playing out in the classroom. Says the science-minded alto, “I’m an analytical paper kind of gal. I don’t take many risks in English class, but now I find myself experimenting more. Now I think: ‘If I can get excited about this song, I can get excited about the other things I’m doing.’”
A member of the Project 80 science club, in which students develop podcasts and videos on a variety of compelling scientific stories, she has further honed her ability to hear carefully, to listen thoughtfully. Last year, she did a Journal Club presentation on how listening to music affects neurons in the brain.
Having never before considered pursuing music in college, now she does. “The Balladeers have been a stronghold for me, a group of people I can fall back on. Even during a solo, I know they’re always there behind me, no matter what.” She laughs as she tells about their annual holiday gift exchange, when one Balladeer asked for a boyfriend. What did she receive? A cardboard cut-out of Zac Ephron, on which the group practices their serenades. “Yeah, we’re all here to do music because we love it,” she says, “but we’re also here to have fun, to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Tyler Williams
Class of 2018
A South African safari in the seventh grade—setting his eyes on the majestic landscape and wild animals—along with a guide who was a photography enthusiast, all led Tyler Williams ’18 to take an interest in taking photos.Back at Pingry, when he reached Grade 9, he took a year of Art Fundamentals—a required course for all art students—so that he could pursue Intro to Photography his sophomore year. That was followed by Photo 1, and now, fully immersed in the art form, he is a student in Photo 2, continuing to learn and hone his craft. His teacher, Chair of the Fine Arts Department Mr. Miles Boyd, is instructing him on the use of a 35 mm camera, with film.
“It’s a really interesting process,” says Tyler. “Unlike digital photography, film really makes you slow down and pay attention to what you’re shooting. You have to be more precise and make sure your settings are correct. It gives you a real appreciation for composition.”
Photography in general, he says, gives him an opportunity to rest his mind from traditional academic classes, refocus, and challenge it in a different way. He finds it rejuvenating. People are his favorite subject, especially crowds, where he can capture one or two unsuspecting individuals in the midst of many, going about their day. Back in the classroom, English and Spanish are his favorite subjects. “I enjoy being able to explore the limits of my creativity and my ability to illustrate what I am thinking,” he adds.
Tyler, a student government representative and three-year member of Pingry’s track & field team (a sprinter, he races the 100, 200, and 400 meters), doesn’t think that he will pursue photography exclusively when he gets to college. That said, he doesn’t envision abandoning a hobby about which he’s so passionate anytime soon.
A comment that Mr. Boyd made to him rings true. “He told me that once you discover photography, you will never see the world the same way again. Now, whenever I look around and see something interesting or pretty, like a sunset, I see it as if I’m looking through a frame.”
Shortly, the junior will join his fellow fine arts classmates on a field trip to the Whitney Museum to view a photography exhibit. His camera will be close by.
Ram Doraswamy
Class of 2022
Ram Doraswamy ’22 has always liked to sing and act. So, when his older brother, Rajeev ’19—who is a member of the Buttondowns and a regular performer in Pingry’s Middle and Upper School Drama Department—strongly urged Ram, a third-grade student at the Lower School at the time, to give the spring musical a try, he did. And he loved it.The following year, he landed the role of television-obsessed Mike Teavee in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (“I enjoy video games, so it was a natural part for me,” Ram jokes). As a sixth grader, he played Francis Flute in Midsummer Night’s Dream, a role that required him to also portray Thisbe, a female, in the play within the play that takes place. “At first I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, do I really have to do this? But everyone was very supportive, and it was really fun.”
As a seventh grader, he transformed himself into The Tempest’s Caliban, “a misunderstood demon child,” as Ram characterizes him. Indeed, every year since his first show in the third grade, he has performed in a Pingry musical or play. Not a bad repertoire for a young thespian, whose self-drive and work ethic are evident. “You really have to work for something if you want to get it,” he says.
Ram, who sang in the Middle School boys’ chorus, credits his teacher, Pingry’s Music Department Chair, Dr. Andrew Moore, with teaching him a lot—and with allowing him and his fellow choir members to have a good deal of fun. As an Upper Schooler now, he hopes to become a Buttondown himself (his brother is a senior, making the prospect of performing together exciting).
What does he love most about acting? “The fact that you can do it with others. I love that you’re on stage with so many other people, combining your talents, and making friends along the way.”
Ajuné Richardson
Class of 2021
When a visiting artist treated Middle Schoolers to a sculpture workshop, introducing students to materials they hadn’t before worked with, aspiring artist Ajuné Richardson was inspired. Using pulp, wire, and dyes, she invented her own mixed media pizza. She recalls another visiting artist who taught her about larger scale projects—murals. “It’s great to be introduced to the work of other artists and exposed to different types of art,” she says. “I like to sketch with pencil and paper—it’s very simple—so I was pretty single-faceted before. I still love to sketch, but now I have a better appreciation of other approaches.”Ajuné has been drawing since preschool, and fully intends to continue to pursue visual arts through the Upper School. Like many Pingry students, she is multi-faceted, however. Her other main interest: chemistry.
Middle School art teacher Jane Kunzman is one of Ajuné’s greatest admirers and promoters, agreeing to her creative mandala project even though it didn’t meet the assignment’s exact requirements. In turn, Ajuné often shares even her private sketches with her teacher. “Mrs. Kunzman always keeps an open mind about our ideas and lets us bend the rules a bit,” she says. “She encourages me to follow my ideas, suggesting that maybe the result will turn out to be better than what I originally imagined.”
Jon Huang
Class of 2018
Every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Jon Huang travels to New York City for rigorous music instruction from The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, a prestigious weekly program for promising elementary and high school musicians (and dancers and actors) from across the globe. It’s a routine he has been following since the eighth grade, when his talents playing the viola earned him acceptance into the program. (The year before his audition, he switched from the violin, which he had been playing since age 4.) That same year, he played at Carnegie Hall, and was featured in a video project for Sting.Ask him to compare his Juilliard experience to his life at Pingry, and he will respond: “Juilliard is an extraordinary place to go. However, I feel right at home at Pingry, and home is where you belong.” As he sees it, one day a week he experiences the Juilliard community, and five days a week he is able to pursue his music in a different way, among many other interests, in the Pingry community. “It’s such a great community, and I am so proud of it.”
A member of the Pingry’s Glee Club and the Buttondowns a cappella group, his singing complements his playing, he says. He gives special thanks to Dr. Andrew Moore, Music Department Chair and Director of the Buttondowns, for supporting his interests, both vocal and instrumental. (When he needs a quiet place to do homework, Dr. Moore’s office is always open to him.) Jon has even arranged popular renditions of Ed Sherran’s Photograph and Boys II Men songs for the group. Although he doesn’t envision becoming a professional singer or musician, wanting instead to explore different options, his experiences at Pingry and beyond have equipped him well. “Practice time with the Buttondowns is the class I most look forward to,” he says. “It’s chaos, and it’s pure fun.”