CelebratingArt.com is devoted to the promotion and appreciation of student art. The intent of their student art contests is to motivate student artists.The top entries are published in an anthology that will record the creative works of today’s student artists.

Several OHHS Art and Design students recently submitted work and were invited to be published in “Celebrating Art”!  Only the best art is selected to be included in the full-color hardbound art book, “Celebrating Art”. Additionally, final judging for “Top Ten Artist” awards will be completed and announced soon. The following students should feel honored. This is not a contest where every entry is invited to be published and is a highly selective competition. Thousands of entries were not invited to be published. Being published represents a lot of talent, hard work and dedication from teachers and students.

Congratulations to the following students:

This week, the Drawing and Printmaking students began working with “The Memory Project”. “The Memory Project” is a nonprofit organization that invites art teachers and their students to create portraits for youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, and extreme poverty.

The goal is to create portraits to help the children feel valued and important, to know that many people care about their well being, and to act as meaningful pieces of personal history in the future. For the art students, this is an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.

We received photos of children and teens from global charities operating residential homes, schools, and care centers in a number of different countries every year. This year, we are working with 43 children from Madagascar.

Students will work to create the portraits, and “The Memory Project” then hand-delivers them to the kids. Finally,  a video of each delivery will be shared with all of the art students and teachers involved.

Watch for updates about the images, see our delivery video, and images of the students with the child they drawing. There is a cost to participate in “The Memory Project” to cover cost of mailing photographs and delivery of the artwork. The National Art Honor Society, OHHS NAHS Chapter, provides funding for this project through fundraisers and donations. If you are interested in donating to the fund to help us continue participating in this project, contact Jamie Schorsch at schorsch_j@ohlsd.org. To learn more about the project, view the video below!

Portraits of Kindness from The Memory Project on Vimeo.

Day Without Art (DWA) began on December 1st 1989 as a national day of action and mourning, aligned with World AIDS Day, in response to the AIDS epidemic. Over 800 U.S. art and AIDS groups participated in the first Day Without Art by shutting down museums, sending staff to volunteer at AIDS services, or sponsoring special exhibitions of work about AIDS. Over the years, Day Without Art has grown into a collaborative project in which an estimated 8,000 national and international museums, galleries, art centers, AIDS service organizations, libraries, high schools and colleges take part.  Oak Hills High School has been a part of this tradition for over 19 years.

In 1997, Day Without Art switched the approach to a Day WITH Art, in order to recognize and promote increased programming of cultural events that draw attention to the continuing pandemic. The name was retained as a reminder of the impact the disease had on the arts and entertainment communities, but parentheses were added to the program title. Day With(out) Art highlights art projects intended to inspire communities to action by creating art and awareness about AIDS.  The artist’s role as social commentator and activist has been engrained in the history of civilization and culture. Art and its creation as a response to social and political issues can be a powerful catalyst for influencing and raising public awareness resulting in positive social change.

Art has a long history of using social commentary as a weapon of change or enlightenment.   German expressionist painter Kathe Kollwitz created artworks that centered on themes of poverty, unemployment and worker exploitation during WWI and WWII.  Mexican muralist Diego Rivera used his art as a tool to vocalize for the oppressed against their oppressors.  These artists expressed their opinions and message to the literate and illiterate alike, and earned worldwide recognition. In April 1937, the world learned the shocking truth about the Nazi Luftwaffe’s bombing of Guernica, Spain- a civilian target- through Pablo Picasso’s great anti-war painting, Guernica.  American Pop artist Keith Haring created public works to raise awareness about issues of drug abuse, corruption in government and societies- such as the Berlin Wall in Germany and South Africa under apartheid.

To mark the anniversary of this event, the Art Department at Oak Hills High School focused on the positive and influential role the arts play in AIDS activism- as well as in other social and political issues.  Artwork will remained uncovered as a way to draw attention to the possible future roles our current art students may play in our globalized future.