Portsmouth High School’s first annual Fine Arts Night was an exciting opportunity for PHS students to showcase their talents and for other members of the community to experience it. 

Art pieces from PHS freshmen through seniors — and recent alumni — were displayed throughout 3S Artspace in downtown Portsmouth on May 19. 

The event was hosted by the PHS Visual A

rts Department and included student art, charcuterie, live music, senior showcases, and an amazing turnout of attendees.

Sarah Mundy, a PHS art teacher, said that the event was planned since the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. 

Mundy reached out to current and recently graduated students for their artwork to showcase. One of these students was senior Emeline Keturakis.

Keturakis had seven pieces in the show, both paintings and ceramic pieces. Her biggest inspiration comes from her favorite painters John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet, as well as from her friends and family and of course, Mrs. Mundy. Keturakis is grateful to have her work in a real art show and excited about coming back to see next year’s Fine Arts Night.

Students Grace Beam, junior, Natalie Peterson, senior, and Sasha Gallaway, senior, also listed Sarah Mundy as one of their top inspirations.

EJ Housley, a PHS junior, performed Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day on the trumpet. He also had artwork on display, which included a ceramic piece titled George, which he made in Handbuilt Ceramics 2.

One of the performers was PHS senior Kira Bailey. She performed Bed I Made by Allen Stone ft. Alessia Cara with Natasha McIntyre and Tommy Brown. 

Bailey said that she is passionate about music because it is something that she has grown up with. “Literally, as soon as I could start to speak, I was, like, writing songs in my

high chair,” said Bailey.

Other performers that night included junior Kerris Parkington, who sang Me and My Dog by Boygenius, sophomore Brielle Nazarian, who played Experience by Ludovico Einaudi on the piano, closed out by recent Portsmouth alum and current Berklee College of Music student Analise Marin.

The Visual Arts department has already fundraised for the event to return next year and Mundy is “super happy that it went so well and we just can’t wait to do it again.”