Five Pelham Memorial High School seniors—S Tapogna, Vikman, Lydia Whalen, Nadine Whalen and Naiya Gonzalez Breen—have work from their AP Art portfolios featured at the Katonah Museum of Art’s “Young Artists” exhibition, which opened on Feb. 5.

For the past 40 years, the “Young Artists” show has featured seniors’ work from more than 40 public and private high schools in the Westchester area. For the exhibition, students submit one piece for the show, accompanied by a written statement describing their artistic process and inspiration.

The exhibition features approximately 400 pieces of art work ranging in scale, concept, media and process. Students were able to learn from peers around the area and can see different points of view through artistic expression and style.

“It feels fulfilling as a chance for other people to see your work and recognize you as an artist,” said Lydia Whalen.”It’s a great experience and opportunity.”

Tapogna said, “I’m very excited to get to share my work and see a bunch of other works by seniors from other schools. Katonah is also a very professional museum, and it’s so cool that we get to exhibit work at a place that has hosted so many amazing artists and exhibitions.”

In addition to displaying the work of high school seniors, “Young Artists” gives students the opportunity to participate in the behind-the-scenes aspects of creating a museum exhibition. They were invited to learn about exhibition design, curation and installation. No Pelham students participated in that portion of the event this year, although students have in years past.

“It’s a great experience to see the top student artists from the region,” said PMHS AP Art teacher Devon Fallon.

The senior participants were supported by Pelham’s strong art community. Fallon encouraged and aided the artists throughout the submission process and transported their work to Katonah herself. PMHS Principal Mark Berkowitz was also in attendance at the exhibit’s opening.

“It’s definitely one of the highlights of my senior year,” said Lydia Whalen.

The show runs until Feb. 26.