Thursday, October 1, 2026
The 22nd annual All-County Art Exhibition took place at W.T. Clarke High School, in Westbury, on March 1. School districts across Nassau County took part in the event, with students from every grade displaying work in paint, pencil and ink, photography and sculpture. Fifty-four seniors were selected as recipients of $250 senior scholarship awards, and Sara Biancamano was the winner from Long Beach High School.
The exhibition was coordinated by the Art Supervisors Association — a Nassau County-based nonprofit focused on promoting visual arts education. “The arts nurture innovation, resilience and empathy,” Kathy Nixon, president of the association and the director of music and art in the East Meadow School District, said. “These skills serve our students in every academic discipline and in every future career path. When we invest in the arts, we invest in the whole child.”
SUNY Farmingdale has hosted the event in past years, but renovations at its Roosevelt Hall made it inaccessible. The exhibition took place virtually from 2020 to 2022, because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the subsequent search for a suitable site with enough space for more than 1,000 displays and several thousand visitors was a challenge, but the in-person event returned in 2023 with a showcase at Long Beach High. It moved to Clarke in 2024, and to Herricks High School, in New Hyde Park, last year before returning to Clarke.
This year, more than 500 schools were represented, with art teachers submitting work from up to three students per school. The result was a gymnasium-turned-gallery filled with more than 1,300 pieces of art. A total of 33 Long Beach students had their work showcased. Lindell Elementary highlighted art from one second-grader and one third-grader. East Elementary and West Elementary were each represented by one fifth-grader, and Lido Elementary, two fifth-graders. Long Beach Middle School presented work from two seventh-grade students and seven eighth-graders, and the high school featured seven freshmen, four sophomores, four juniors and three seniors.
Biancamano’s Senior Scholar Award-winning oil-on-canvas painting was a self-portrait titled “Under the Surface.” In an artist’s statement published in the exhibition’s program, Biancamano explained that the work was intended to express anxiety, insecurity and vulnerability — a response to the external and internal pressure she felt to conform to social norms.
“I like a lot of different mediums,” she said. “I would say painting is my favorite, but I also like to do charcoal and graphite pencil. I’ve been trying a lot of other mediums, like oil pastel.”
Biancamano added that her college plans are to study art, and eventually to become an art teacher, and share her craft with students of all ages. Her father, Jay Biancamano, said he sees her hard work, and the passion she pours into her art. “She’s down there grinding every day,” he said. “It’s hard. I’m impressed. There’s a lot going on emotionally, and the discipline to go and do it. We’re very proud.”
Julia Lang-Shapiro, the immediate past president of the Art Supervisors Association and the director of media, visual and performing arts for the Long Beach School District, said that visual arts were the first language used by people to communicate ideas, beginning with rudimentary cave paintings. Those ideas, she said, have allowed artists to comment on events and culture — and students have a powerful reason to share their own perspectives.
“The arts are the voice and the memory of all societies,” Lang-Shapiro said. “I feel that artwork is like the zeitgeist. It’s reflective of what’s going on in their communities, in their lives and in the world at large.”
Nixon emphasized the importance of allowing students to find their creative path. “The arts are a vital part of our human spirit,” she said. “It’s what makes us human. It makes us creative. It makes us collaborative. It makes us kind. It’s what connects us. And students are such a beautiful reminder of that creativity and that spirit.”
