Senior Levi DeMatteo is well-known around campus for both his compelling artwork and his captivating work onstage. Students take a journey by staring at his pieces demonstrating dark imagery. The details spill from the page, each waiting to be understood and analyzed by the eyes. He brought Tartuffe to life with his witty demeanor and vibrant energy, making the students and faculty tear up from laughter.

Art was ingrained into Levi’s childhood. Levi recalls his earliest memories as sketching rainbows and rocketships in pre-school. Since then, Levi has moved away from his childhood drawings to imagining more vivid images depicting his thoughts on world conflict. “I’ve always had a passion for creating things in general, [but] I cringe when I look at the drawings I made in eighth grade,” said Levi.

Now in the AP Art Studio class, Levi uses his passion to create social commentary pieces on environmental crises, sustainability, and institutionalized animal cruelty. Focusing on the intensity and extent of humanity damaging the Earth’s ecosystem, Levi uses darker images to stress the severity of the situation. “It’s not so much that I want to inspire a revolution. I want people to think how we got to this point and how our decisions have affected the fate of our world,” said Levi.

The complex details and intricacy of his works, which many find taxing, allow Levi to easily transition his focus. “I think having so much detail makes it less tedious,” said Levi. “While I have a ton of tiny drawings, I can choose which ones I want to work on and transition to a different style once I get bored. In the end, I have a piece of work composed of a thousand different pieces.”

With the intricacy of his pieces, many wonder about the amount of time spent on each work. “It really depends,” said Levi. “Getting the pieces done is really fast once I’ve collected images and arranged my composition. The harder aspect is choosing which images I want to string together and how they can tell a story or illustrate a concept that I want the viewer to think about. If I’m putting a ton of time into it, which I often try to do, I guess a week and a half is a good estimate. There has not been a piece that has taken more than two weeks, so far.”

His love for the arts is not bound to the art studio. It expands onto the stage and under the spotlights overlooking the Hackley community. Levi discovered his passion for performing arts while attempting to escape study hall in 8th Grade. “It was Willy Wonka: The Musical. I had never done acting or singing before. I auditioned and they gave me the lead role!” said Levi. Since discovering his passion, Levi has been a part of four upper school productions, “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Tartuffe,” “The Dining Room,” and “The Winter’s Tale.”

Levi attributes his passion for acting to Hackley’s Drama community — or “Hacktors” as they prefer to be called — and Drama teacher Willie Teacher. “I think the drama community has completely changed my view on this institution as a whole. Once I joined, I found myself in an accepting community of really fun people with whom I feel comfortable with. There’s very minimal seniority polluting the atmosphere. Everyone gets along in this giant, messed-up family in the best way possible. Also, Teach is awesome,” said Levi. His only complaint about acting is line memorization, which usually takes him a week. “It’s a simple task but it’s quite arduous,” said Levi. “Sadly, it’s a necessary evil that comes with doing theater.”

Aside from acting and visual arts, Levi is also a drummer, often playing drums with his brother, Griffin.  “I am working on a project with Griffin for a while now. Our style is progressive rock music,” said Levi.

Looking into the future, Levi sees himself living a carefree lifestyle. “I want to live in a studio apartment drawing T-shirts for local bands to make enough money to eat. Maybe have a cat and a small mini-fridge. Live freely,” describes Levi. “After that, I might want to work in an advertising firm or a graphic design company. I’m not too worried about it though, I’m only in high school.”