Earlier this year, Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking students completed Drypoint Etching submissions for the USA Miniprints for Peace and Justice. Students researched the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and selected an Article for their inspiration in voicing their hopes and concerns related to issues of peace and justice.

In addition to having their work selected for inclusion in the exhibition, one OHHS Art and Design student was selected for recognition for the “Coup de Coeur” award. The “Coup de Coeur” award is given to an artist whose work had a profound emotional impact on viewers. Kevin Cotterell’s piece, “Article 3”, was selected for its message as a part of this year’s exhibition.

“I picked article 3 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. I learned other countries do not share the same freedoms that we have in the US and they have to fight for their rights each day when we are just given them in the US and just expect to have them. The images I chose conveyed well my statement. The world would be a much better place if every country would give their people the human rights they deserve to have. Also treated with respect by their government they might then not revolt or migrate to other countries that treat them like people, not like objects.”

The 3rd annual challenge and exhibit of Miniprints for Peace and Justice by American Artists and Artists living in the USA, launched by SOS ART is now available for online viewing! Presented in the online gallery are the works submitted for both the SOS ART 2023 exhibition and the 2023 USA Miniprints. Among the exhibiting artists are 8 Drawing and Printmaking students, along with their teacher Jamie Schorsch, representing OHHS Art and Design.

You can view the OHHS Art and Design prints and artist statement on the online gallery: https://sosartcincinnati.com/sos-art-2023-exhibit-including-usa-miniprints-2023-online-gallery/

Over the past semester, OHHS Art and Design student Tyler-Tuong Tran worked to create an informational brochure for SOS ART. SOS ART began in 2003 as an art exhibit and an art festival with related events and publications concerning issues of peace and justice as expressed by Greater Cincinnati artists. The annual art event grew to include, in addition to the works of established artists, artwork by school and after-school children; also to engage children through classroom visits and workshops. SOS ART has since expanded its various activities through more art exhibits and art events, more workshops and wider educational programs, expanded publications, greater media presence, and more dynamic public engagement, all around issues of peace and justice.

Under the guidance of OHHS Art and Design teacher Francine Gibson, and in collaboration with SOS ART founder Saad Ghosn, Tyler was able to engage in a real-world client-based experience which resulted in an end product that will be shared across the region.

“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.

This year, students in Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking class at OHHS created 20 portraits for Syrian children who are displaced and living in refugee camps as a result of the civil war raging for a decade in their country, resulting in one of the most complex humanitarian crisis in the world. Many of the children have lived in camps with makeshift tents and shelters for years, being kept alive by donated food from foreign governments and aid agencies. This is the only life many of these children have known.

The ultimate goal of the project 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. The project also provides an opportunity for students to practice kindness and global awareness.

This year’s participation brings the total of portraits the students have created for Syrian children over the years to 115! Over the past seven years, Drawing and Printmaking and NAHS students have created over 420 portraits for children in Madagascar, the Philippines, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, Puerto Rico, the Rohingya in Rakhine, Columbia, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone.

“Celebrating Art” is devoted to the promotion and appreciation of student art. The intent of their student art contest is to motivate student artists. The top entries are published in an anthology that will record the creative works of today’s student artists.

Students recently submitted work and 66 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Spring 2023 “Celebrating Art”!  Only the best art is selected to be included in the full-color hardbound art book, “Celebrating Art”. Additionally, final judging for the “Top Ten Artist” and “High Merit 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 students.

Congratulations to the following students:

From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Art Foundations, and Studio Art AP 3D Design, 2D Design, and Drawing classes: 

Anna Ackman
Isabelle Barkley
Anna Caito
Lindsay Curless
Scout Estes
John Gray
Molly Lorenz
Kate Myers
Sophia Osborne
Ethan Ridder
Marshall Shorten
Jordan Tinsley
Tiffany Truong
Lydia Wilson
Rachel Wunderlich
Sarah Young

From Amb’s Art Foundations, Graphic Art Foundations, and Ceramics classes: 

Breonna Barker
Mia Cortez
Julian Cortez
Sid Doering
Jack Ebbers
Megan Huffman
Natalee Kilburn
Kendayln Kress
Addison Kress
Chloe Linnig
Evelyn Mendez-Coronado
Taylor Messer
Maria Pitchford
De-Janay Reid
Michelle Schwetschenau
Devin Shields
Alexis Singson
Bella Tucker
Naveah Withers

From Kopf’s Art Foundations, Digital Art Foundations, and Painting and Public Art classes: 

Jaxon Creech
Evelyn Dann
Grace Gray
Stephanie Herold
Avery Junker
Colin Klaserner
Logan Nerlinger
Annie Riley
Vanessa Saunders
Justin ‘JT’ Schmidt
Laerke Silberbauer

From Dignan-Cummins’ Ceramics, Honors Enamels, Mosaic, and Glass, Honors Fiber Arts and Sculpture classes:

Molly Audretch
Victor Benken
Cannon Chirumbolo McKee
Annelise Colley
Nadine Conteh
Lily DeCaro
Kelsey Gallagher
Alyssa Giordano
Laine Haders
Kayla Linkenfelter
Ava Marsh
Jess Miller
Kaitlyn Mueller
Zoey Pottinger
Ella Seery
Mary Shelton
Marshall Shorten
Morgan Sickman
Addison Weldele
Brennan Werner

The “Race and the City – Art” book documents the 2022 SOS ART project that consisted of artistic responses by invited Greater Cincinnati artists (poets, visual artists, performers), each artist responding with their own poem, visual art, or performance to one of the eleven chapters of the book: Race and the City: Work, Community, and Protest in Cincinnati, 1820-1970, edited by Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., and published in 1993. The book represents a history of Black Cincinnati from 1820 to 1970 and compiles academic studies by twelve authors who address various aspects of Black life during that period, highlighting the racial situation prevailing at that time in employment, real estate, ghettos, segregation, leadership, etc. 14 local poets, 40 local visual artists, and 2 local performing groups, took part in the project, adding their own artistic response to the original book, also their reflection about the current racial situation in Cincinnati

The launching of the book, featuring artwork by OHHS Drawing and Printmaking students, will take place on April 27th, from 5:30-8:30 pm, at the Walnut Hills Public Library.