ShareITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Lynn English High School students Austin Jagodynski, left, Sarah Gilberg, and Yirkelys Santana work on their drawings in the art room at Lynn English High.
By MICHELE DURGIN
LYNN — Lynn English High School is home to three flourishing and ambitious teens who hope to become part of the vast landscape known as “The Art World.”
ALSO: Breakheart Reservation gets ready for Santa
Yirkelys Santana, 17, is a member of the senior class and is currently enrolled in a six-week figure art course at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. The class is Saturday mornings and his works are on display at the school until Dec. 3.
“I have four pieces in the show and I am pretty proud of that. I have learned so much from this course,” Santana said. “ I love to create things and express myself through my work.”
Santana, the recipient of a scholarship for the course, is in the process of applying to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design for the Fall 2017 semester. His professional goals include becoming an architect and owning his own business.
“I love to design and create models of buildings and other structures,” said Santana.” I am really looking forward to making my dreams come true.”
Austin Jagodynski, 17, is a classmate of Santana’s and is currently enrolled in an eight-week course at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly. The lifelong Lynn resident also works at Raw Art Works, a program dedicated to nurturing the artistic talent of local youth. It is located in downtown Lynn and boasts a loyal and dedicated following.
“The class I am taking is called Portfolio Prep and is teaching me how to organize and choose my artwork for the college application process,” Jagodynski said. “ Art colleges require applicants to submit at least 15 pieces of art with their applications.”
Jagodynski has a particular fondness for cartoon drawing and hopes to make it part of his professional life after college. He is applying to Montserrat and hopes to meet the early action deadline of Dec. 1.
“I like to make people laugh and cartoons are my thing,” he said. “I would love to work in the entertainment industry someday and be a cartoonist for television or the movies.”
Sarah Gilberg, also 17 and a member of the next graduating class of Bulldogs, is another talent in her own right. Last summer she took a course at Montserrat and was especially happy with the college “experience” she encountered in the program.
“The class was three weeks long and it was a true camp format,” Gilberg said. “We slept in the dorms at night and there were about 60 students enrolled. I was the only one from Lynn, but I met some good people from all over. It gave me a real sense of what college is going to be like.”
Gilberg is applying to both Montserrat and the Maine College of Art. She is currently enrolled in three programs at Raw Art Works three afternoons a week. She also finds time for piano and guitar lessons and believes she has a love of the arts that will stay with her for life.
“My dream is to own my own bakery and apply my artistic skills to cake decorating like the Cake Boss on television,” she said. “Making people happy makes me feel good and doing that through something I love will be a big accomplishment. There is nothing better than art!”