All Oak Hills High School students electing to enroll in an Art and Design Department course will develop a Competitive Advantage, Appreciation of the Arts, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills, Interdisciplinary Connections, Social and Global Awareness, and Career Preparation related to Visual Communication.
“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 8 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the Summer 2026 “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 Dignan-Cummins’ Honors Enamels, Mosaic, and Glass class: Maeghan Zimmerly
From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Studio Art Foundations, and AP Art and Design 2D Design and Drawing classes: Tym’Shay Akins Ava Kaiser Jocelyn Lawrence Evelyn Mendez-Coronado Anna Schuler Maddie Smith
The Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms program (ARC) immerses high school art students in Cincinnati’s visual arts community, artistic practices, exhibitions, and marketing strategies while exposing them to careers in the arts. This year, Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking students are participating in this amazing program which consists of 1 museum visit and 4 classroom visits during the 1st semester, culminating in an exhibition of collaboratively created artworks at the Taft Art Museum in the winter. This year, students will be working alongside Cedric Michael Cox to experience the practices of a professional artist firsthand. Cedric will also lead students in the creation of a collaborative artwork, and an individual piece, for the Annex Gallery exhibition.
Cedric Michael Cox is best known for his paintings and drawings that merge surrealism and representational abstraction. As a student at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), Cox was awarded a fellowship to study at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 1999, he began to exhibit regionally and nationally. In addition to his work being in corporate collections, Cox has executed several large murals in various public and private schools in The Cincinnati Region. Cox’s past exhibitions include The Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, The Weston Art Gallery, The Columbus Art Museum, the Dayton Art Institute, Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn, the Museum of Science and Industry and Gallery Guichard in Chicago, and The Taft Museum of Art.
In 2019, Cox’s work was exhibited at the 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati; in 2020, he had a solo exhibition at James Ratliff Gallery in Sedona, Arizona. A 20-year retrospective exhibition was created for Caza Sikes Gallery, along with a commissioned body of work for the Kinley Hotel Cincinnati in 2020. In 2021, a series of 64 paintings were installed for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and in 2022 created work in the Metro Dayton Library west branch. Recently, he executed four new murals for the community of Avondale that stand as monuments to the healing spirit of joy and community pride as well as several murals featured in local schools.
The Drawing and Printmaking students spend their first visit getting to know Cedric and brainstorming ways that they could communicate their collective interpretations of ‘Amplifying Student Voices’. Following the idea brainstorming sessions, through which they established a theme focused on music and culture, they generated sketches to be shared with Cedric which he will use to synthesize their different perspectives into a collective, cohesive, design.
Over the next few weeks, the Drawing and Printmaking students will continue their collaboration with Cedric in preparation for the winter exhibition of their work at the Taft Museum of Art.
A year-long collaboration between the OHHS Art and Design Department and The Wellington at North Bend Crossing has culminated in the completion of a beautiful new mural that will welcome residents and visitors to the Vista building for years to come.
The project began during the summer of 2025 when The Wellington at North Bend Crossing sponsored an open mural design contest. Students in Ms. Kopf’s Painting and Public Art classes were invited to submit original mural concepts, providing them with the opportunity to create artwork for a meaningful community space. After reviewing several outstanding student submissions, residents of The Wellington selected the winning design created by junior Sona Sougoule. Her vibrant concept served as the inspiration for the final mural, showcasing both her artistic vision and creativity.
Once the design was selected, students began preparing the wall in April 2026. Over the course of several months, the Painting and Public Art classes worked together to transfer, paint, and complete the large-scale mural. Through careful planning, teamwork, and countless hours of painting, the students transformed an ordinary wall into a colorful work of public art that reflects the spirit of community and creativity.
The Wellington celebrated the project’s completion with the following message on its Facebook page:
“We are thrilled to share that the mural at our Vista building is now complete! What began as an incredible vision has become a beautiful work of art that will brighten our community for years to come. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the talented students in the Painting and Public Art Class at Oak Hills High School, led by Miss Kristy Kopf, for bringing this project to life.
A special congratulations once again to junior Sona Sougoule, whose winning design inspired this amazing mural. Your creativity, dedication, and talent have left a lasting impact on our residents, families, and team.
Projects like this remind us of the power of community partnerships and the joy that art can bring across generations. Thank you to everyone who made this collaboration possible—we couldn’t be more grateful!”
This project is a wonderful example of how public art can bring people together while providing students with authentic, real-world artistic experiences. The OHHS Art and Design Department is incredibly proud of Sona Sougoule and every student in the Painting and Public Art classes whose hard work, dedication, and collaboration made this mural possible. We are grateful to The Wellington at North Bend Crossing for creating this opportunity and for partnering with our students. We look forward to seeing the mural continue to brighten the lives of residents and visitors for many years to come.
Just Earth – Cincinnati, in collaboration with new and longtime partners, aims to educate and facilitate action among residents of the Cincinnati region to address the intersecting crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental injustice. The Just Earth Visual Art Competition, open to 2 categories of artists (18 and under, and 19 and over) called for submissions that expressed warnings for the future, images of celebration, images depicting regret or loss, or pieces of art depicting hope and exaltation over a healthy world and all of life’s cycles. Submissions were judged by a committee of local artist and art educators and prizes were awarded for 1st ($500); 2nd ($250); and 3rd ($100) place.
Tym’Shay Akins, a student in Ms. Schorsch’s Studio Art Foundations class, was recently awarded 2nd place for her submission, “Stop Chemical Waste”!
Stop Chemical Waste Tym’Shay Akins
“My artwork responds to the growing environmental crisis caused by pollution and chemical waste in the ocean. I created this piece to raise awareness about the damage humans are causing to marine life through careless dumping, plastic waste, and toxic chemicals. The artwork is meant to confront viewers with the reality that the ocean is suffering because of human actions, while also encouraging people to take responsibility before it is too late.
One of the main symbols in my artwork is the large “X” placed over the fish. The “X” represents death, danger, and the destruction of sea life caused by pollution and toxins in the water. It symbolizes how marine animals are being harmed by chemicals, oil spills, plastic waste, and contaminated environments that humans create. I specifically included sea creatures like dolphins and turtles because they are animals people often love and connect with emotionally, yet they are still endangered by human behavior.
I used bright, bold colors to immediately grab the viewer’s attention. The vibrant colors are meant to draw people in at first, but once they look closer, they notice the darker message about environmental destruction. The contrast between the colorful design and the serious subject matter reflects how pollution is often ignored even though it is happening all around us. The words “Stop Chemical Waste” serve as a direct call to action, pushing viewers to think about their own habits and the ways they may contribute to pollution every day.
My artwork is also a warning for the future. If people continue to ignore environmental issues and refuse to change harmful behaviors, many ocean animals could disappear forever. I want viewers to understand that small actions, like recycling plastic bottles or reducing waste, actually matter. The piece challenges people not to simply feel sorry for the animals, but to recognize their own role in the problem and take action to help protect the environment. Through this artwork, I hope to inspire awareness, responsibility, and change before the damage becomes irreversible”.
Each Biennial, FotoFocus is structured around a unifying theme. The 2026 Biennial theme, The Long View, considers aspects of time and perspective in photography and film, and how these mediums shape our understanding of the world. “The long view” is a phrase used to invoke a broader perspective. It suggests both distance and duration, i.e., looking far into the distance and/or looking for a long period of time. The Long View acknowledges the semiquincentennial of the United States, encouraging a posture of reflection in regards to the grand sweep of our country’s history, its past, present, and future. Photography can show us many moments from that history but it can also serve as a metaphor for how we understand our past and decide to shape it over time.
As a part of this year’s FotoFocus Biennial, OHHS Art and Design Photography alumni will be exhibiting alongside their former teacher, Steve Groh, in the Wayfarers exhibition at Delhi Event Center. The exhibition theme and title, wayfarer, defines a person who travels, especially on foot. The term is often used in a literary or poetic sense to describe someone who goes on long, wandering journeys, embracing the freedom and unpredictability of life on the road.
Groh will be co-curating the exhibition with alumnus Hannah Knight (2018). The exhibition will feature a photograph that represents an earlier point in photographic journeys, and another that represents where individuals are now, along with a pair of shoes that somehow represents the journey through life. As an official part of the FotoFocus Biennial, the exhibition opening will include a brief educational component in the form of artist talks. Jamie Schorsch, OHHS Art and Design Department Chair, photography teacher Steve Groh, and definitely be speaking, and Hannah Knight will be featured speakers with additional alumni contributing to discussion throughout the event.
Mark your calendars now for the exhibition opening at the Delhi Event Center:
Wayfarers Opening Reception Sunday, October 4 1:00–3:00 p.m.
OHHS Art and Design 