Sayville’s Bay Area Friends of the Fine Arts (BAFFA) added a new student art show to its schedule last month: Art from the Heart: An Artistic Journey, an exhibition featuring work by special-needs students from two local BOCES schools.
The exhibit was conceived by art teachers Kristina Testani from Brookhaven Learning Center and Loriann Christian from Sayville Elementary School. Testani and Christian had participated in BAFFA’s member exhibit, Light from Darkness, last September. While viewing the gallery during that reception, they envisioned an exhibition to showcase their extraordinary students’ work.
Testani said it’s about “bringing some recognition to these students. We have students with so many different types of talents, and I think it’s important for people to know that.”
Previously, both teachers had showcased their students’ work at shows in their individual schools, but this would be the first time their art was displayed in a dedicated public art space.
BAFFA Gallery Director Jeanette Leonard was excited about the idea, seeing it as a great complement to the existing elementary and middle school show in March and the juried high school show in late April.
Turnout for the show was impressive—especially considering the weather—with students, parents, friends, BOCES staff, and several walk-ins who braved the frigid temperatures to see the students’ efforts.
The artwork radiated vibrance, color, and, most importantly, individualism; each gallery wall displayed work inspired by a different theme or famous artist, further highlighted by each student’s unique interpretation.
For example, as Christian noted, “One theme was apples, and I had one project that was inspired by [artist] Romero Britto… and then some students worked on pop art apples by Andy Warhol. It was like, well, you’re doing Apple this way, you’re doing Apple that way, and then, even within that, then each kid is putting their own twist on it.”
When asked about the difficulty of teaching art to students with such diverse abilities and sensitivities to materials, both teachers firmly stated that they don’t see it as a challenge.
“I look at it as them having a different toolbox of abilities,” said Testani. “And I think that’s true for anyone with a special talent. We have students who can hear a song and then play that song. We have students who sing. It’s kind of endless what we discover they are capable of.”
Christian agrees: “It’s really just about figuring out who the students are and then working with what they need to express themselves. So it’s about finding the right materials… like if I have to make a special utensil or a brush with a wider handle so the student can hold it and manipulate the paintbrush and paint, allowing them to create whatever their vision is.”
Both teachers regarded the exhibition as a great success, and seeing how the work was arranged in the gallery has given them even more ideas for next year.
“We didn’t really know how much artwork we could accommodate,” Testani added. “We can display three-dimensional pieces now. [The exhibition] opened our eyes to the possibilities of what other kinds of artwork we can display from our students.”
If all goes well, Brookhaven Learning Center and Sayville Elementary School student art will return to BAFFA in February 2027.”Having the Eastern Suffolk BOCES students exhibit at the BAFFA gallery brought such joy!” said Leonard. “It is incredible to see the shared excitement radiating from the students, parents, and teachers alike. The teachers went above and beyond to make this show truly special. I am so glad that they came to me with this idea!”
Visit the BAFFA exhibition schedule at BAFFA.org.
