“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 20 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Summer 2017 “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 DC’s Ceramics, Honors Enamels and Glass, Sculpture, and Studio Art AP 3D classes:
Allie Schaefer
Andy Busker
Carlie Becker
Emily Hetrick
Gabby Naber
Haley Roberts
Katie Schnieder Smith
Kyara Murrell
Kylee Dominguez
Kyra Lough
Leah Bushman
Madison Mitchell
Monika Kubak
Rachel Lincoln
Sara De Los Santos Mazariegos
Taylor Riestenberg

From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Painting and Mixed Media, Studio Art AP Drawing and Studio Art AP 2D classes:
Caden Adams
Sydni Crass
Kara Heckmuller
Megan Taylor

On June 7th, 2017, 18 fearless travelers joined OHHS Art and Design Teacher Jamie Schorsch on a 12 day excursion to Ecuador and The Galapagos Islands to explore the landscape, experience the culture, and live life like a National Geographic photographer. The adventure took the group through Quito; Isabela, San Cristobal, and Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands; and then up to the Highlands in the Andes to visit Riobamba to spend time in village of Palacio Real and view the world’s tallest mountain, Chimborazo. The travelers  hiked at altitudes up to 13,000 feet, snorkeled alongside sea lions, sharks, and sea turtles, harvested potatoes with Trinidad in Palacio Real, and stood on the Equatorial Line. Travelers were given the special opportunity to name and hold a 2 day old baby llama at Palacio Real. Schorsch became the godmother of the little guy during a special naming ceremony that took place during our visit (we named him Cusco). The group also explored local archaeological sites, museums, and landmarks while trying out local cuisine and interacting with the people of Ecuador. Everyone involved agreed that this was an opportunity of a lifetime that changed us all forever through the friendships and memories formed along the way.

Check out some of the tour highlights below:

Sydni Crass created this video of her experiences in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Syndi, and her mom Veronica Diaz, were also able to make a side trip to visit family! Veronica hadn’t seen her family in Ecuador since she was a teenager and Sydni met them for the first time!

Schorsch’s snorkeling highlights.

Groh’s Sea Lion adventures!

The OAEA (Ohio Art Education Association) High School Show is dedicated to showcasing Ohio’s Emerging Artist artistic efforts. The Emerging Artist show is dedicated to showcasing 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 and in an art career.

Congratulations to the following students from Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking and Painting and Mixed Media classes for being selected to exhibit at this year’s Emerging Artist show. The Emerging Artist show will be on display through mid-September and early October in the 2nd floor lobby of the State Teachers Retirement Building in Columbus, OH. At the reception, various awards and prizes will be given to selected students with art in the exhibition.

SOS Art Cincinnati sponsors a yearly SOS ART Show and Event of creative expressions for peace and justice. This year, OHHS Art and Design students from: Groh’s Drawing and Printmaking class; Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Painting and Mixed Media, and Studio Art AP classes; and Ambs’ Art Foundations classes, will be participating in the event. Students will be exhibiting alongside many established artists, including OHHS Art and Design teacher Jamie Schorsch, all addressing issues related to peace and justice.

The  primary objectives of SOS Art Cincinnati are:
To promote the use of art as a vehicle for peace and justice and for a better world.
To provide art-related educational programs towards peace and justice for all ages.
To help facilitate the creation and development by local artists of literary and artistic works focused on peace and justice.
To help create a community of local artists who use their artistic voice for peace and justice, who connect and collaborate.
To use art, to inform, educate and create a dialogue on issues pertaining to peace and justice.

Information about the student’s selected to exhibit is provided below:

Icons of Influence
For “Icons of Influence” students selected an individual, an icon of society, to research who has impacted and influenced society in a positive way.  Using a stylus, with a variety of Scratchboard tools, students 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.

Communicating Social Narratives: “Girl Rising”
Drawing and Printmaking students created a narrative image based upon one of the story vignettes from “Girl Rising” that they selected for inspiration. The compositions demonstrate the unification of notes and sketches taken during the viewing of “Girl Rising”, research related to the stories, and project planning completed previously. The artwork of Kara Walker served as inspiration for the silhouetting of the resulting images that convey the struggles that girls face around the globe in receiving and education.

Symbols of Global Issues
Having learned about the graffiti style artwork of Keith Haring, students created a drawing in the style inspired by Keith Haring as a means of using symbolic imagery to communicate a message based on a global or social issue.

Social Perspectives
For this assignment, students researched some of today’s greatest socially conscious artists, such as Banksy, to discover what makes art powerful and life-changing.  The collage-style work of art communicates to the audience the students’ position on a social issue, a moral stance on a particular incident, or viewpoint on a topic that affects their life.

Art & Civil Rights
Students researched some of history’s most (in)famous events of civil unrest and justice and visually communicated the essence of those events through the relief printmaking format. The goal of the work was to communicate the importance of documenting the power of people who challenge the violation of Civil Rights through a media that can be mass produced. Kathe Kollwitz served as the inspiration for this project for her role in educating the people about the horrors of WWI and WWII through mass produced prints.

“Pax Americana”, Jamie Schorsch

The SOS Art Exhibition, now in its 15th consecutive year, will take place at the Art Academy of Cincinnati from June 2nd-11th, 2017. The opening reception will take place on June 2nd, starting at 6 pm.

Visit www.sosartcincinnati.wordpress.com for more information about programming.