Superintendent’s Artist of the Week: Phoebe Shostal

Art is full of endless possibilities for Park Avenue Elementary School fourth grader Phoebe Shostal, a student who also expresses her creativity through music, drama and Odyssey of the Mind.

“Phoebe is a passionate artist who loves to be creative,” said Park Avenue art teacher Lisa Martimucci. “Her passions include drawing, painting, and playing the trumpet. I am constantly getting drawings brought in from Phoebe that she is very proud of. I love the growth I have seen from her art last year to this year and I look forward to the art she will make in the future.”

Phoebe creates her art both in school and at home, where she has an area set up with clay, markers and pencils. She started doing art at home when she was 4 years old. Her favorite medium is watercolor, which she paints in her watercolor book. Her favorite watercolor work so far is an oak tree with different colored leaves.

“Art is a calming kind of thing for me,” Phoebe said.  “It’s peaceful and you get to open your mind up and you can do a lot of different things. Whatever your mind thinks of, you can do that with art. There’s no point where you have to stop. You can just keep going. And if it fails, you can just turn it into something new.”

Phoebe has been playing the piano since she was five after saw a toy piano and asked her parents if she could take lessons on a real piano. She also plays trumpet in the Park Avenue band.

Park Avenue music teacher Ryan Muehlbauer said the trumpet, a bright and bold instrument, matches Phoebe’s personality perfectly.

“Phoebe has a really interesting mix of intensity and compassion,” Mr. Muehlbauer said. “In band she gives 100% effort every rehearsal, while at the same time, she encourages everyone around her to try to rise to that same level. Sometimes it feels like I have a teaching assistant in the band.Her mind works very fast and it keeps me on my toes when I’m teaching her.”

Phoebe said being a runner helps with the trumpet because it strengthens her lungs. She runs 5K races with her brother Leo and was in the Warwick Track Club last spring. 

As far as the future goes, Phoebe is debating between a career as a lawyer or as an artist. 

“I like to argue and debate things and think of logic and problem solving skills for a lawyer,” Phoebe said. “But being an artist, you get paid for your art and you can experiment with new things. It’s not like you have to stay in one line of art because there’s so many different ways you can do art. You can do painting, you can do watercolor, you can do clay, you can sketch, you can do whatever you want.”

Phoebe is also a member of the Park Avenue Student Council and recently took part in two Wreaths Across America events.