The Essex Art Association Gallery will host the Valley Regional High School (VRHS) Art Show from Friday, April 8 through Wednesday, April 13, which will also feature an awards reception.

The show will feature works of art created by students from VRHS, with prizes awarded to pieces that are determined by the judgment of the gallery’s board members to be the best in the various categories of work presented.

Usually an annual event, the exhibition will be hosted for the first time since 2019, as it was previously canceled twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Attendees can expect to see a diversity of pieces, ranging from drawings, paintings, mixed media, sculptures, ceramics, print-making, and jewelry, all of which will be up for the top prizes, according to Gretchen Di Giannantonio, the gallery’s administrative director. Category winners will receive $100, and the overall best in show will get $300.

Another category up for a $100 award will be the work judged as the most innovative, according to Di Giannatonio.

With the return of the show to the gallery following cancellations over the previous two years, students from VRHS and the association are proud to be hosting the event again.

“It’s a big deal to the kids and the community. It’s their tradition doing that for the community. It usually draws quite a good crowd,” said Di Giannatonio.

The pieces being featured will include those that have been year-long projects by students taking art classes at VRHS under the tutelage of their teachers, and were submitted to the gallery as presentations of the best artwork from the school.

Those works that will be featured take on various intriguing, eye-catching qualities, demonstrating great examples of different artistic techniques and viewpoints. One of the pieces to be part of the show is a rotary dial telephone with mushrooms growing out of it, which was an especially interesting piece to Di Giannatonio.

“That’s a whimsical look. Some of these kids have never used one of those telephones, so they may have seen it at their grandmother’s or who knows. They are used to cordless phones or cell phones. With the mushrooms growing out of it, it’s like a moldy old artifact, and I thought it was a good piece. Funny, very whimsical and creative,” she said.

Other works demonstrate masterful drawing skills, including a work whose most prominent feature is of a black high heel towards the center.

“That is an example of classic drawing skills. Really mastering light and shadow, the shapes of the forms,” she said. “To me it was all about light and shade, giving something shape rather than hard lines. It was a good study in light and form.”

The association will be completely devoted to show during its six-day run at the gallery. Di Giannatonio expressed hope that the association’s 76-year history of presenting local artists in the Valley region and the show’s return can act as a point of encouragement for junior artists.

“Having young people involved in the arts is very important,” she said. “It’s acknowledging just how important it is to give everyone a chance. Anybody who has an interest in the arts should have an opportunity to show it at a real gallery, and give them the excitement of knowing they were in a gallery show. That’s what we are about, trying to bring the appreciation and the knowledge of art out to the community.”

The Essex Art Association Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. at 10 North Main Street in Essex. For more information, email essexartct@gmail.com, visit essexartassociation.com, or call 860-767-8996.