The OAEA (Ohio Art Education Association) High School Show showcases Ohio’s Emerging Artists’ artistic efforts. The Emerging Artist show is dedicated to showcasing the artistic efforts of students who have only had the chance to take one or two art classes in high school. The competitive professional forum is intended to prepare young artists for their creative future in college or in an art career. This showcase is designed to inspire new artists to excel in areas of drawing, painting, sculpture, crafts, computer art, photography, and printmaking. Everyone involved should be proud of the students who inspire, creative thinking, problem-solving and skillful techniques.  

This year’s exhibition showcases 194 works of art by students in grades nine through eleven from across the state. The work will be on display at the King Arts Complex in Columbus this fall.   

Congratulations to the following students from Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking class for being selected to exhibit at this year’s Emerging Artist show.

Anna Ackman, “The Plush Life”
Molly Audretch, “Care Bear Stare”
Anna Caito, “Pressure”
Jada Kidd, “Liberty and Justice for None”
Anne Riley, “Waiting”

The Memory Project portraits that the OHHS Drawing and Printmaking students created earlier this year were successfully delivered to the children and teens in Sierra Leone! This year, students at OHHS created 20 portraits for children in Sierra Leone.

“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. Over the past four years, Drawing and Printmaking and NAHS students have created over 325 portraits for children in Madagascar, the Philippines, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Rohingya in Rakhine. 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.

The portraits the students made for the school children in Sierra Leone will remind each child of their own strength and beauty; it will show them that someone living far away is paying attention to the challenges that they face. 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.

The people at The Memory Project wanted us to know that the children were so excited to receive the portraits and absolutely loved them! They fully understood that creating the portraits was a way to show them how much the students care about their well-being and their future. The following video of the delivery shows the children receiving their portraits together at all the different locations that were involved.

https://vimeo.com/735560755/fcc5c1aa9b

Congratulations to the 10 OHHS Art and Design students whose art was selected as a High Merit piece, and our 1 artist earning Top Ten, for the Spring 2022 Celebrating Art competition and publication! Receiving a Top Ten or High Merit award means the art was an exceptional piece. Out of thousands of entries received for the Spring 2022 contest, it stood out as being one of the top 5% submitted. Receiving the award of Top Ten indicates that the artwork stood out as one of the Top Ten for the thousands submitted! Students who have art selected as Top Ten or High Merit work will receive special recognition in the book as it is displayed as a Top Ten or High Merit piece.

Congratulations to the following students:

Receiving the honor of Top Ten, from Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking class:

Anne Riley

Receiving High Merit Awards:

From Ambs’ Art Foundations classes: 

Scout Estes
Adriana Schupp

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

Anna Ackman
Molly Audretch
Sydney Berting
Anna Caito
Ellie Cox
Sophia Osborne
Mars Shorten
Sarah Young

“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 45 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Spring 2022 “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” 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 Ambs’ Art Foundations classes: 

Zahraa Abuzaara
Irem Bakici
Scout Estes
Candace Middleton
Adriana Schupp

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

Aether Meyer
Bethany Bachman
Brayden Hall
Brooke Watkins
Carly Shiplett
Corey Willett
Myla Baldwin-Friedhoff
Haley Renner
Kelsey Gallagher
Leah Stolla
Lilly Keith
Matthew Burg
Madison Kemplin
Paige Stockhoff
Sarah Bosse
Stephanie Herold

From Kopf’s Digital Art Foundations and Painting and Mixed Media classes:

Sophia Boone
Matthew Burg
Teagan Charles
Emma Clark
Stephen Haas
Gabrielle Joseph
Molly Lorenz
Layla Salvaggio
Mary Shelton

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

Anna Ackman
Kylee Adams
Molly Audretch
Sydney Berting
Emma Brunner
Anna Caito
Ellie Cox
John Gray
Flynn Koehler
Raegan Louis
Riley Ludwig
Sophia Osborne
Anne Riley
Mars Shorten
Sarah Young

Alongside their teacher Ms. Schorsch, OHHS Art and Design students in Drawing and Printmaking worked earlier this year to create artworks in response to “Race and the City” for a special multi-disciplinary exhibition. On May 14th, 2022 an art event showcasing artworks, poetry, and performances from Greater Cincinnati Artists in response to chapters from the book “Race and the City: Work, Community, and Protest in Cincinnati, 1820-1870” will take place at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church from 2:00-5:00 pm.

Icons of Influence

For “Icons of Influence” students selected an African American icon of society to research who impacted and influenced Cincinnati in a positive way.  To begin the task, students reviewed information from Chapter 3 of “Race and the City” and the accompanying virtual book discussion posted online. Students then researched either an individual discussed specifically from Chapter 3 or other historic or contemporary African Americans, that impacted the advancement of this marginalized group of individuals in Cincinnati. To create the image a scratchboard stylus was utilized to capture carefully observed details, textures, highlights, and shadows. A term was selected as a descriptor of the selected icon that was included in the work to summarize the individual’s life or characteristics.

Exhibiting Artists Include:

Anna Ackman
Molly Audretch
Carly Butts
Anna Caito
Anna Campbell
William Dennison
Jada Kidd
Ashlynn Kleier
Abby Linenkugel
Ella Loudermilk
Rain Magrum
Abigail Miley
Avril Predmore
Anne Riley
Lizzie Schriebeis
Jamie Turner

Virginia Coffey and Sarah Fossett

Ms. Schorsch created a new work focused on Sarah Fossett based upon “Race in the City” and will be exhibiting her Virginia Coffey piece from the “10_Women” exhibition alongside the students at the event.

Sarah Fossett was an early American social reformer and advocate for African American rights in 19^th century Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah, born in 1826 in Charleston, South Carolina, moved to Cincinnati in 1954 after marrying Peter Fossett, a former slave of President Thomas Jefferson. Together, the Fossett’s actively assisted runaway blacks on the Underground Railroad and founded a church along with various orphanages in the area. Sarah is prominently known for her integral part in the desegregation of the Cincinnati streetcar. A white conductor refused to let her board in 1860, resulting in her filing suit against the company and ultimately led to the desegregation of the streetcars, but only for African-American women.

The portrait created as a representation of Sarah Mayrant Fossett’s impact includes symbolism related to the early streetcar operations and her part in the creation of a divergent trajectory of the systems of segregation in place at the time in Cincinnati.  The coloring of the landscape emphasizes the struggle between segregation and desegregation through the use of contrasting colors. The overall primary color palette used in the creation of the piece alludes to Sarah’s role as a foundation for early American social reform. Echinacea, a symbol of strength, resilience, and healing, stands opposite the image of Sarah, setting up a dialogue between the literal Sarah Fossett and the ideals she embodied. The singular canary represents her role as an early voice emerging in opposition to segregation and oppression that would later impact generations of social reformers.

“The hardest thing in this world to do is like people for what they are – regardless of the artificial barriers of color and worship.” –Virginia Coffey

Virginia Coffey was an American social reformer and civil rights activist who worked for improved race relations in and around Cincinnati, Ohio. Virginia arrived in Cincinnati in 1924 to teach at an all-black school, one of the few opportunities for African-American teachers.  Instead of finding a progressive northern city, she found a segregated city. Virginia fought to integrate areas of the city, including Coney Island where she coordinated an event protesting the segregation at the gates of the park. In addition to the multiple committees and organizations that Virginia partnered with throughout her life, she formed the first Girl Scouts troop for African-American girls and became the first woman, and first African-American, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission in 1968. Throughout her life Virginia worked to achieve her goal of getting people to listen to each other, getting to know each other, and treating each other as human beings.

The portrait created as a representation of Virginia Coffey’s impact includes symbolism related to the Coney Island protest and her role as a leader for the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission in bridging the gaps of a divided community. The divisions of the landscape become united by color. Gladiolus, a symbol of faithfulness, sincerity, and integrity, frames the image of Virginia, calling emphasis on her strength of character and perseverance. Symbolic association with the Girl Scouts emerges from behind the gladiolus as a sign of her fostering and growing similar characteristics amongst young women. Canaries, representing the power of voice, illustrate a connection with freedom and inspiration of Virginia’s message being carried through generations.