The Paw Print

By Alexa Gola, Associate News & Features Editor and Mia Mathew, Staff Writer

Payton’s first art exhibit opened on Jan. 10 and included pieces ranging from photography to crochet, showcasing work submitted by the school’s students, faculty and staff as Payton’s Jazz Band performed to “set the ambiance.”

According to organizers Eloise Khoury ‘26 and Mx. Guizzetti, the exhibit has been in the works for quite some time. Speaking to the Paw Print, Guizzetti said that Khoury had first approached them about the possibility of creating a visual arts showcase in October of the previous school year, but it wasn’t until the start of the 2024-25 school year that planning really took off. 

“We started talking about how we could plan something… and [I came up with the idea of how] it could be the whole school,” said Guizzetti. They ran the idea past Khoury, who quickly agreed. 

“So we start thinking, let’s do this. Let’s have an old school show. We decided that faculty, staff, students, teachers, security, anybody who wants to can submit one to two pieces of visual art. We’re taking anything from photography to sculpture to crochet and everything in between, and I’m really excited to see the creativity,” Khoury told the Paw Print.

According to Khoury, there’s somewhat of a gap to be filled in terms of showcasing Payton’s visual artists. “We thought that there’s a lot of performance arts showcases, which is great. We have a lot of dance, we have a lot of singing and music, and I love it,” Khoury said, adding that she attends every performance arts showcase that she can. “But I think that it’s time for the visual artists to get their day in the sun.”

Guizzetti is a self-described mixed media artist whose work generally focuses on sculpture, drawing and painting. They plan to share a painting and a sculpture at the art exhibit, and also noted that their work usually focuses on “some kind of interaction between people and animals.” Khoury is “primarily a textile artist,” and enjoys knitting, crocheting and sewing in addition to a variety of other visual art forms, including painting, pottery and metalworking. Seeing as much of her work is gifted to her friends and family, she jokingly added that she might have to “borrow back some of [her] gifts” to add to the exhibit. Additionally, Khoury is an assistant art teacher at the Lillstreet Art Center.