An annual collaboration between Newtown High School and C.H. Booth Library, the 2018 NHS Art Portfolio exhibit is on view at the town library during holiday break.

Five NHS students — Audrey Benson, Grace Howgego, Ellie Moxham, Katie Sailer, and Dorothy Yllanes — have their work on view in the first floor meeting room of the library, 25 Main Street, through January 2.

(The show was originally planned for The Olga Knoepke Memorial Room, but was relocated during its setup to the room just inside the building’s main entrance.)

NHS Art Portfolio teacher Carol Skolas says that timing is deliberate.

“We try to do this show during the holiday period so that more people coming to the library can see the collection,” she told The Newtown Bee on December 13.

Students were responsible for setting up their displays. Most have six works on view, representing works created since the start of the current academic year; Audrey has nine works displayed.

Each student artist took care of hanging their art on December 20.

Audrey’s work is primarily in charcoal and pen. Among those on view are portraits, still life offerings, and illustrations of animals, including “Cody,” depicting a dog owned by a friend.

Grace Howgego favors acrylic, which creates “bright and bold colors,” she said.

Grace’s works ranged from three acrylic paintings to mixed media pieces, including one that incorporated “nearly everything possible,” she said.

In designing a collage called “Jean Jacket,” which depicts one of her own articles of clothing, the high school senior used colored pens and colored pencils to draw the jacket. She then embellished the work with a number of beads from a necklace previously owned by her grandmother. Thread, charcoal, and acrylic paint completed the piece.

The one junior with works on view, Ellie Moxham also uses “a mix of things” in creating her art. One piece shared in the Booth Library show was created using newspaper, cardboard, sheet music, colored pencils, and colored pens. Another came to life through the use of pencil, charcoal, brown pens, and instant coffee.

Katie Sailer prefers working with pencil, she said.

“I find it’s easier to use, easier to make shadows,” she said while waiting to put her works on view.

Dorothy Yllanes uses “mainly watercolor and pastel,” she said while placing her pieces on hangers Friday afternoon.

At least three of her works on view, which are on the first few panels just inside the entrance to the meeting room, include watercolor as its primary medium. She also selected a self-portrait done in pastel and pencil, and an ink illustration in her presentation.

A closing reception is scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, January 2. The public is invited to take a final look at the collection and meet the artists between 4:30 and 6:30 that afternoon.

The NHS AP Art Portfolio exhibition can be viewed any time the library is open: Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 8 pm; Friday, 11 am to 5 pm; Saturday, 9:30 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm.