Superintendent’s Artist of the Week: Adella Kurosz

In addition to being a talented painter, Warwick Valley High School senior Adella Kurosz also demonstrates strong leadership skills. She was the art director of the WVHS pumpkin-carving project for the last two years and was the captain of the WVHS girls’ swimming and diving team in the fall.

Each year the WVHS enters Crystal Springs Resort’s annual pumpkin carving competition. Adella was in charge of the set design, pumpkin display and transportation to the event. Last year Adella helped the class take home the grand prize of $1,000. Last month, Adella won “Best Craftsmanship” for her illuminated pumpkin of The Other Mother from the film “Coraline.”

“The first time it was really difficult to do with time management, just trying to get the sets done and the pumpkins done before they rotted,” Adella said about her first year as art director. “But looking back, of all the things I’ve done in high school, it was one of the most enjoyable times. It was so stressful, but it was also so fun and so worth it.”

For her own art, Adella mainly concentrates on painting with acrylics. She also enjoys working with clay and hopes to do more 3D projects in the future.

“Painting is a good creative outlet,” Adella said. “I’m able to put my emotions into my art. Even when I’m having a really bad day, I’m still able to sit down and paint. It’s almost like therapy.”

WVHS art teacher Kristen Spano was impressed with the newspaper dress that Adella created for the fashion show last year. Adella’s dress exceeded Ms. Spano’s expectations and raised the bar for the other designs in the class.

“Adella layered fans and created intricate cut outs to simulate lace,” Ms. Spano said. “She added a pop of color by hand painting the dress with red gradations of dark to light hues to give the garment a flamingo flare. Students were cheering and applauding when her model walked down the runway. “

Ms. Spano and Adella’s sixth grade art teacher Ms. Julie Cosco have had a big impact on Adella, who plans to become an art teacher herself.

“Ms. Cosco was the first teacher who really acknowledged my artistic skill, and she was always very positive with her motivation,” Adella said. “Ms. Spano always pushes me to do my best. It’s impressive to see what she’s doing, and I hope to be like that.”

Next year Adella plans to attend either SUNY New Paltz or Mass Art (Massachusetts College for Art and Design) and study art education.

Adella started swimming when she was seven, and competed on the WVHS varsity team from seventh grade through this fall, when she was the team’s captain.

“Senior year was great,” Adella said. “I had a really fun time managing the team, and I had a lot of really great teammates. We were a close group.”

See more of Adella’s work below: