Kat Barber ’23 | Bridget Murphy ’25
Many EA students pursue the arts in college as their majors or extracurriculars. Two artists, Paloma Zozaya ’18 and Madeleine Ott ’22 describe their journeys in artistic fields during and post-college.
After graduating from EA, Zozaya went on to attend the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), majoring in graphic design and minoring in art history. Zozaya states, “In my senior year at RISD I interned for Clear Channel Outdoor, an out-of-home media company, designing ads. I graduated in the spring of 2022. After graduating I took time to travel; I backpacked with Brynn Doyle ’18 and we did 14 countries in 10 weeks.”
Moving from a small school like EA, to a large university, can make it challenging to pursue art courses and clubs in college, especially as an underclassman. Ott, a current freshman at Georgetown, describes her pursuit of art there, explaining, “At Georgetown, freshmen get last pick for registration, and all of the art classes were full by the time I got to register. Even though I was unable to take any formal classes, it’s still really important to me to stay involved in the visual arts through extracurriculars and have a creative outlet in college.”
Ott discovered her creative outlet at Georgetown’s student-run news magazine, The Voice. Her contributions include “draw[ing] graphics and visual elements to accompany a written article, as well as design[ing] the page layout for that article.” She creates the majority of her work digitally, using an iPad to draw illustrations.
Zozaya has continued her path in graphic design as a freelance artist. She says, “As a freelancer, I am working on a bunch of projects right now. I have worked with small businesses and nonprofits in developing their logos and motion graphics (Neilly Jewelry, Saving Our Sharks Foundation, and Coastal Community Foundation). I am also working on a show that will air next year on Amazon Prime, doing the motion graphics for the show. And lastly, I am working on a chapbook [a small pamphlet containing literary works] with Emily Wingfield ’18, this will be our second collaboration, it’s her poetry and my book design.”
DEUX PITCH: Paloma Zozaya’s ’18 pitch for cookie dough company, Deux.
Photo Courtesy of Paloma Zozaya ’18
Zozaya details the moment she realized she wanted to pursue the arts, “I have known that I wanted to pursue art and design at the college level since I can remember, but I didn’t know exactly in what discipline or how when it came time to look at schools.”
Photo Courtesy of Paloma Zozaya
Reflecting on her decision to pursue art, Zozaya credits EA teachers for their support in her artistic development. “The faculty at EA with teachers like Mr. Sigel and Mrs. Bertucci helped me grow exponentially as an artist. They exposed me to a range of artists and designers to inspire me and challenged me in my work to try new things. With their guidance, I surprised myself with what I could accomplish. If I could do that in high school, I felt pretty confident going into an art-focused college,”
Ott reflects on the transition from Episcopal’s newspaper to Georgetown’s magazine. She states, “After working on Scholium at EA, I love working on a magazine now because it’s a lot more visually engaging. The layout of a page and its illustrations set the tone for each article, and it’s a really fun challenge to try to capture the essence of a piece of writing in my illustrations.”
Photo Courtesy of Madeleine Ott ’22
Ott offers advice to current students who are interested in pursuing the arts at EA, and are looking to continue it in their college career. She says, “I would encourage all high school art students to stay involved in the arts in college in some way shape or form. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the classroom, just anything to give yourself that creative space apart from studying and your other commitments. Personally, it’s helped me to stay grounded and meet other art-minded students.”