Fine Arts News

List of 6 items.

• Springtime in the Arts: Inspiration, Collaboration, & Creativity

  Spring is almost here, and with blooming flowers and April showers comes an abundance of performances, competitions, and art openings. This year, I am especially looking forward to joining the Upper School Fine Arts faculty at the ISAS Arts Festival in Dallas. ISAS brings together thousands of students from more than 40 schools across the Southwest region. St. John’s will send over 90 fine arts students to participate in the festivities and showcase their talents in both visual and performing arts. This multi-day experience is sure to be inspiring for everyone involved. It will be my first time participating in this extraordinary event, and I look forward to being energized while surrounded by so many talented young artists.

  
  

  In addition to ISAS, I am always excited about this time of year, because it means the annual Artist-in-Residence program will be kicking off. Every spring the Visual Arts department invites a local artist to exhibit their work and spend time with St. John’s art students. The several days of class visits will culminate in a collaborative exhibition featuring works from this year’s guest artist, Sheila Hall, and students from Lower, Middle, and Upper schools. Ms. Hall is a graduate of SJS (class of  '97) and works as a multi-media specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital. She is also a working artist who loves making connections between biology and art. This year’s theme is “Patterns in Nature” and will focus on everything from human organs to pollinators to plants. My Class 8 students are thrilled to be involved and are hard at work making ceramic flowers that will be hung throughout the walls of the gallery. I love that my students are able to meet and work alongside someone who not only graduated from St. John’s School, but found a way to integrate visual arts into her career. 

  
  

  "I am looking forward to working with children of all ages and learning from their creativity and curiosity. It will be exciting to explore such a wide variety of materials each day. Sharing art and science with others is a long standing passion of mine, so the gallery exhibition will be a true joy." –Sheila Hall '97

   

• Congratulations to the following students recognized in the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition. Gold Key award winners will advance to the national level!

  Natasha Guo '29:

  Sweet Shadows, Gold Key (Photography)  

  One Step At A Time, Gold Key (Photography) 

  Halfway Through, Silver Key (Photography) 

  Bridging Peace Honorable Mention, (Photography) 

   

  

   

  Nicole Simon '29:

  Mother's Love Set in Stone, Gold Key (Photography) 

  T.G.I.F., Honorable Mention (Photography) 

  Paranormal Trails, Honorable Mention (Photography) 

   

  

   

  Philippa McCord '29:

  Fractured Realities, Silver Key (Photography) 

  Evening Visitor, Honorable Mention (Photography) 

  Hands of Hope, Honorable Mention (Photography) 

   

  

• Congratulations to these SJS students who were selected to the TPSMEA All-State, South Region and Middle School Honor Bands

   

  All-State Band: Brayden Lim, Lynn Pham

   

  South Region Band: Brayden Lim, Emily Pesikoff, Lynn Pham, Maddie Stelmak, Charlotte Stelmak

   

  Middle School Honor Band: Maggie Chen, Hannah Lemieux, Daren Hu, Milena Solano-Arango, Matthew Bernal, Jack Verma, Ben Zhang, Andrew Kamins, Noah Nowamooz, Sevak Soni, Teddy Pinkerton, Gray Johnson, Audrey Salisbury, Felix Shaitelman, Derek Lim, Austin Woerner, Ryan Lester, Reza Imam, Alexander Kim, Andrew Zhang, Dhruv Sheth, Rachel Wang

• Congratulations to these SJS students selected to the TPSMEA All-State, US Region, and MS Honor Orchestras

  All-State Orchestra: Alexa Curtis and Michelle Liu

   

  US Region Orchestra:  Olivia Ludwig Bertuccio, Alexa Curtis, Katherine Gao, Vihan Javle, Evie Laskaris, Tiffany Li, Michelle Liu, Aria Nowamooz, Sophie Opreau, Krishna Yalamanchili, Angie Yang, Mabrey Stokes

   

  MS Honor Orchestra: Arina Banerji, Jonathan Chen, Catherine Chlebus, Emily Fu, Riona Hiwali, Jessica Hong, Ethan Hwang, Nikhil Kadia, Julian King, Marcus Lee, Jane Liang, Jerry Liang, Stanley Martin, Esha Mary, Noah Musher, Eleanor Zong

   

• Congratulations to these SJS students for being selected to the SWACDA Honors Choir

  SWACDA Honors Choir: Sarah Nguyen, Yasmin Archer-Yearwood, Milena Solano-Arango, Isabel Laporte, Ben Wilson, Daniel Johnson, Lucas Wang, Maddie Jones, Selin Oszamer

   

  To stay up-to-date, follow us on our official Instagram - @FineArtsSJS

  Candlelight

   

  

  

   

  US Student Choreography Showcase
  
  

  

  

   

  US Winter Studio Play: Let the Right One In

   

  

  

   

• Alumni Spotlight

  
  Beth Merfish '01

  At Wellesley College, I had the benefit of Art History courses that were both object-centered and deeply engaged in political and social histories. Buoyed by my Spanish skills (thank you, Señora Hethcoat!) and interest in persuasive imagery, I chose to focus on Mexican 20th century art in graduate school at the Institute of Fine Art- New York University, where I earned an MA and PhD. 

  

  After teaching in Colorado for a short time, I landed my first tenure-track job at the University of Houston-Clear Lake, where I pursued and was awarded tenure and then became chair of the Department of Liberal Arts. I loved my time at UHCL, where my job involved leading that interdisciplinary department and overseeing Transforming Lives by Degrees, our Higher Ed in Prison program.

   

  In 2024, I joined the University of Houston as Director of the School of Art. The School of Art contains UH's programs in Art History, Arts Leadership, and Studio Arts at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Our MFA in Visual Arts is the larger of only two in Houston; we provide a fully-funded, three year degree to 45-50 MFA candidates at any given time. In total, we serve about 1000 majors and graduate students each year. Our faculty are second to none, and our facilities, highlights of which are the gorgeous Elgin Street Studios and our Arts and Technology Center, allow our students to create without limits. I maintain an active research agenda (with a book on antifascism and fascism in Mexican visual culture forthcoming) and spend my "spare time" travelling and museum hopping with my husband, Dan, and daughters Etta (SJS '34) and Flora (SJS '37).

   

  In uncertain times, I have found tremendous comfort, joy, and fulfillment in working with the emerging artists, art historians, and arts leaders in the School of Art community: the lenses they bring to the world, the community conversations they create, and the optimism they nurture are necessary solutions for the issues that weigh most heavily on us today. I am always ready to welcome visitors for a School of Art tour; get in touch whenever you are in need of some of that optimism.

   

  To stay up-to-date, follow us on our official Instagram - @FineArtsSJS

  February 2026

  2/10: Choral/Instrumental Concert
  📍 St. John the Divine Church – 7:00 p.m.

  2/12: MS Pop Show – Endless Summer
  📍 Lowe Theater – 4:00 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

  2/17: Artist-in-Residence Gallery Reception
  📍 Glassell Gallery – 5:00–7:00 p.m.

  2/26 – 2/28: US Musical Show – Mary Poppins
  📍 Lowe Theater – 7:00 p.m. (2/26 & 2/27), 2:00 p.m. (2/28), 7:00 p.m. (2/28)

  ---

  March 2026

  3/7 – 3/14: Kantorei Concert Tour of Switzerland

  3/22: US Les Chanteuses Spring Concert
  📍 St. John the Divine Church – 3:00 p.m.

  3/23 – 4/10: US/MS Media Arts Exhibit
  📍 Glassell Gallery

  3/31: MS/US Band/Orchestra Spring Concert
  📍 Lowe Theater – 7:00 p.m.