If you’re a second-grader and your art teacher asks you to draw a penguin, but your favorite animal is in fact the bulldog, what do you do?

Nansemond Parkway Elementary School’s Kirsten Carroll remedied the delicate situation by drawing a penguin wearing a beanie and scarf with a bulldog design.

“Because I like them,” Kirsten said of her decision to meld bulldog and penguin, adding that although she doesn’t have a bulldog, her friend does.

Kirsten’s artwork was one of many on display during the school’s second annual Art Gala on Tuesday evening. Parents were invited to the school for a glimpse of their children’s creative talents.

Art teacher Qua Cummings selected 100 artworks to showcase, said Rachel Chegini, president of the school’s parent-teacher association.

“We really try to support art and music in our school,” Chegini said. “We feel they are important to overall education for all our students, and we want to support them in our efforts.”

The event proved popular, with a large crowd of parents circulating around the cafeteria-turned-art-gallery. It featured a silent auction of paper maché masks created by the school’s cohort of talented arts students.

Fifth-grader Kendall Carroll — Kirsten’s big sister — had worked on a mask that was divided into quarters to depict a zebra, giraffe, horse and leopard.

“We decided to do the horse, and then we just came up with the other animals,” Kendall said. “We decided to put them in four sections.”

To become talented art students, children take a test in the third grade that includes “a series of different drawings,” Cummings said.

They make it into the program, which is for fourth- and fifth-graders, if they score 95 or above, she said, adding that they can take the test again in the fourth grade to join the program as a fifth-grader.

“We meet once a week for 50 minutes, and its just additional art time,” Cummings said. “I might introduce them to some advanced (techniques), such as paper maché or painting on canvas. They learn to mix paints themselves. They learn a lot of things they don’t necessarily learn in their art class.”

Cummings said she usually gives her students a “general idea” for the task at hand, then allows them to expand on that idea, “and they’re pretty good about doing that.”

Refreshments were provided at the event, as well as musical entertainment by Nansemond River High School senior Lauren Farrar and Western Branch High School sophomore Brandon Sparrer.