Through the support of the McLear Visiting Artist Fund, we were honored to welcome Rebecca Kamen this fall, an artist and lecturer on the intersection of art and science. Kamen says her “artwork is informed by wide-ranging research into cosmology, history, philosophy, and by connecting common threads that flow across various scientific fields to capture and re-imagine what the scientists see.” She worked with students from Diantha Giltz’s and Domenic Frunzi‘s art classes to explore these connections between art and the sciences. Students first visited the lab in the Science Center to look at various types of soil (and the organisms in it) through microscopes, then used what they saw as inspiration for their sketches and art pieces.

Kamen says she loves coming to Westtown and working with our students; this is her second visit. In fact, she was the inaugural artist in the McLear Artist-in-Residence program, though her residency was cut short by the pandemic. The McLear Artist-in-Residence Program was created in January 2019 to support a residency in the Upper School visual arts department. Artists-in-residence are chosen by the Upper School arts faculty, and preference is given to artists working in the visual arts, particularly those exploring the intersections between art and science.

The Upper School fall play was Peter and the Starcatcher, a thrilling prequel to Peter Pan! The story begins as a young orphan and his mates are shipped off from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain’s cabin, which contains precious, otherworldly cargo. At sea, the boys are discovered by a precocious young girl named Molly, a Starcatcher-in-training who realizes that the trunk’s precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful that it must never fall into the wrong hands. When the ship is taken over by pirates—led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and its treasure for his own—the journey quickly becomes a thrilling adventure.

Our thanks to Theater Director Shawn Rowley, and our amazing cast and crew for this excellent production!

See the talented cast in action here!

The Upper School production of The Addam’s Family was a smash! From set builders to light and sound technicians to the actors on stage, the students did a remarkable job! Enjoy photos of this fabulous musical here!

At the end of the year, students, faculty, and families gathered for Senior Art Exhibition. The Senior Art Exhibition is a summative experience that brings together works of students from all visual arts disciplines — drawing and painting, photography and digital art, sculpture, ceramics, and fiber arts created during the 2024-2025 school year. This year’s talented artists included Sophia Atkins, Sofia Burgos, Coco Chen, Ella Dobrzelewski, Adele Daughenbaugh, Nick Fabricatore, Nia Foote, Kennedy Hall, Georgia Smith, Bitong Sun, and July Wen. You can visit Westtown Senior Art Exhibition website to see the students’ work and can visit the gallery here for more photos of their work. 

The Senior Art Exhibition was part of the Evening of the Arts celebration which began with a reception in the gallery and concluded with performances by our Jazz Ensemble and Symphonic Band.