Alums Bring Art Show to Renbrook

Earlier this month, Renbrook hosted its first alumni guest speakers of the school year. Arianna Calabrese ’10 and Megan Lee ’10 met at Renbrook in sixth grade and have been friends ever since. After an exhilarating and successful run of their first collaborative art show, they decided to return to Renbrook, where it all began, and brought their show, Saga, with them.

 

For three days prior to Megan and Arianna’s visit, students, faculty, and staff were invited to visit Saga. To engage with the pieces, visitors used their cell phones to access a special augmented reality (AR) lens. The lens allowed viewers to view Arianna’s poetry in conjunction with Megan’s paintings. Then, on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, Arianna and Megan visited Renbrook as part of our alumni career speakers series. They met with the eighth grade; shared stories about their Renbrook days, educational journey, and career experiences; and led the eighth grade in an inspiring and interactive poetry-writing workshop.

 

Arianna Calabrese ’10 is a poet, jewelry designer, and sustainability consultant working at the intersection of artistic tradition and social and environmental liberation. After Renbrook, Arianna attended Loomis Chafee and then Georgetown University. A 2015 Fellow at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice, she founded Communion, a newsletter platform that guides readers to use poetry as a catalyst for social and political action. Her artistic practice is her ‘portable paradise.’ She currently serves as the Director of Davos Programming, hosting a salon series on sustainability during the World Economic Forum. To sign up for Communion, email ariannacalabrese1@gmail.com. 

 

Megan Lee ’10 is an artist and digital designer based in Brooklyn. Her design practice constantly informs her painting and vice versa, distilling essences through color and expression to capture the energy of a fleeting moment. After Renbrook, Megan attended Hotchkiss and then Washington University. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2018 and currently works as a design consultant at Deloitte Digital. For more information, visit meganjlee.art.