Celebration of the Arts!

Jesuit High School's Student Commons and MPR were bursting with exceptional artistic talent – and fabulous food – on Sunday afternoon (April 24) at the annual Celebration of the Arts and A Taste of Jesuit event enjoyed by hundreds of school supporters.

Jesuit's visual artists, under the direction of Kevin Ball ’03, once again created a remarkable showcase throughout the Multi-Purpose Room for the Juried Art Show, featuring 14 AP portfolios and some 400 projects.

The highest honors were awarded to Ryan Eberly ’22, who earned Best in Show, Ezra Moros ’22 for Best AP Painting and Drawing Portfolio, and John Paul Llanos ’22 for Best AP Photography and Design Portfolio.

Eberly claimed first place for his oil on canvas painting, “Blua the Octopus.” Avery Hames ’22 was runner-up in AP Painting and Drawing, and Archie Teller ’22 placed 3rd. Drew Hunt ’22 took 2nd place for AP Photography and Design, while A.J. Nessler ’22 placed 3rd.

There were four additional category winners for individual works. Lance Hager ’23 placed 1st in the Honors – Dry Media and Digital Art division for his portrait of his art teacher, Mr. Ball. Kevin Sanamé ’23’s portrait of Tyler, the Creator was tabbed 1st prize in the Honors – Acrylic Painting category. In Studio I Digital Media, Nicolas Herrero ’24 placed 1st for his Giannis Antetokounmpo portrait, and Jack Szponar ’24 received 1st prize in Studio I Digital Media for his work entitled, “Veiled Woman.”

The judges for the Juried Art Show were Academy of the Holy Names art teacher Tobey Sonenberg and her husband Mark Sonenberg, a master framer and professional ceramicist. Click here to view all of the Juried Art Show winners from Celebration of the Arts 2022.

Earlier in the Student Commons, the hundreds in attendance enjoyed wonderful theatrical performances. Several powerful performances from some of Jesuit's award-winning thespians commanded the stage under the direction of Richard Miller, Jesuit's theater director.

The cast of the highly acclaimed Spring Production “Little Shop of Horrors” – James Slack ’24, Matthew Justin ’22, Arianna Cortés, Maeve Miller, Rowan Miller, and Reagan Miller – performed scenes from the musical, Jesuit’s first since 1999.

In addition, students performed selections from competition at the Florida State Thespian Festival, where they all earned ratings of Excellent for their performances. Luke Davis ’22, Aaron Norris ’22, Shane Donnelly ’23, Simon Wills ’24, and Aedan Gregory ’24 presented their ensemble acting scene from The Clive Way by John Dowgin, and Andy Kozlowski ’25 performed his monologues from A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin and Grace by Craig Wright.

Music director Nina Wegmann led Jesuit's musicians through numerous pieces featuring the full range of instruments. These numbers, as well as many others, were performed at the April 22 Mission Drive Day concert and will be featured at the annual Spring Music Concert on Saturday (April 30) at 7:00pm in the MPR.

A Taste of Jesuit provided the delectable food on Sunday, serving a fantastic array of cuisine from tents in the walkway between the Student Commons and Chapel of the Holy Cross. Jesuit is thankful for all of the vendors who supported this year's event: Hot Rocks Pizza, Gangchu Chicken & Beer, PDQ, Florida Fresh Vending, Catering by the Family, and M.C. Ice (Italian Ice) along with the Jesuit Mothers' Club and Jesuit Dads' Club. Thank you!

View below a photo slideshow from Celebration of the Arts 2022.