Exploring ‘The Beauty Within’ and ‘Sacred Spaces’ with the Taft ARC Program

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, 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 at the Annex Gallery 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. In 2022, Cox created work in the Metro Dayton Library west branch; and this past summer, he executed four new murals for the community of Avondale that stand as monuments to the healing spirit of joy and community pride.

The Drawing and Printmaking students recently visited the Taft Museum of Art where they engaged in docent-led tours of the galleries and worked alongside Cedric in the studio. Students synthesized Cedric’s approach in generating the composition for the collaborative piece the classes are painting together and created individual designs based upon the abstraction of their initials. This was the first time that most of the students had ever visited the community treasure that is the Taft Museum of Art!

OHHS Art and Design Student Awarded 1st Place at the Taft Museum of Art’s ARC Exhibition Opening!

OHHS Art and Design students enrolled in Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking class had the opportunity to participate in the ARC program this year. The Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) offers an immersive educational experience to Greater Cincinnati high school students that includes a range of activities, including museum visits, classroom sessions with professional artists, and studio tours.

Throughout the first semester, students had the opportunity to engage in meaningful interactions and mentoring with artists Kay Hurley, Cedric Cox, Kevin Muente, and Saad Ghosn. The students built an understanding of artists, art, and society, working artists’ methods, exploration of various careers in the arts and culture sector, and appreciation for the Taft Museum of Art as a local resource with a rich history.

The experiences culminate in the creation of original artworks, 5 of which could be selected for a juried exhibition at the Pendleton Arts Center Annex Gallery. Students were challenged to consider their interpretation of “Wonder” and generated works that demonstrate their approach to the term after brainstorming, project planning, and setting up their own resource images.

5 students from each participating school were selected for this year’s competition. The 5 Drawing and Printmaking students who were selected for this year’s exhibition to represent OHHS were:

Miles Frisch (10)
Aubree Fuson (9)
Austin Haarmeyer (9)
Jackson Mundstock (9)
Michael Smith (9)

The “Wonder” Exhibition, which opened on February 18th, 2024 at The Annex Gallery, showcased the work of students from Aiken, Hughes STEM, McNichols, Oak Hills, Princeton, School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Spencer School for the Gifted and Exceptional Students, St. Bernard, Summit Country Day School, Walnut Hills, Western Hills, and Winton Woods High Schools. At the opening reception, Miles Frisch received the Noteworthy Award for the Best in Show from OHHS and Jackson Mundstock took home the 1st place award!

As part of the award, Jackson will continue to learn the professional aspects of the life of an artist by being paid for the use of his image, having the work reproduced onto the Taft Museum of Art’s reusable bags, having his work showcased to funders and the community to show the outcomes of the ARC program, as well as the creation of a museum banner that will be displayed outside of the Taft Museum of Art as well as Oak Hills High School!

Jackson Mundstock, Grade 9, “Les merveilles de se demander”, Charcoal on Canson Paper

Check out “Wonder” now through March 30th, 2024 at the Annex Gallery!

OHHS Art and Design Students Exhibiting at the 2024 CAM Teen Expo

Each year The Cincinnati Art Museum engages young artists to display their artwork at our 10×10 Teen Art Expo.

Students from the OHHS National Art Honor Society will be exhibiting work at the Cincinnati Art Museum! The Cincinnati Art Museum Teen Expo Volunteer Team curated an exhibition of artworks addressing the theme of “Behind the Scenes”. Artists were invited to interpret and use their creative voice to address this theme in the media of their choice. The only parameter was that works submitted had to be 2-Dimensional and only 10 inches by 10 inches.

Congratulations to the following students whose work was selected to be a part of the exhibition this year!

Finley Nguyen will be exhibiting “Setting the Stage” at the Cincinnati Art Museum
Emma Brunner will be projected in the Great Hall at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Artworks selected by the Teen Expo Volunteer Team will be displayed in the Great Hall from March 26–31, 2024. Participants are invited to an opening party planned by the team on Thursday, March 28, 2024.

Exploring “Wonder” with the Taft Museum of Art

OHHS Art and Design students enrolled in Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking class had the opportunity to participate in the ARC program this year. The Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) offers an immersive educational experience to Greater Cincinnati high school students that includes a range of activities, including museum visits, classroom sessions with professional artists, and studio tours.

Throughout the first semester, students had the opportunity to engage in meaningful interactions and mentoring with artists Kay Hurley, Cedric Cox, Kevin Muente, and Saad Ghosn. The students built an understanding of artists, art, and society, working artists’ methods, exploration of various careers in the arts and culture sector, and appreciation for the Taft Museum of Art as a local resource with a rich history.

The experiences culminate in the creation of original artworks, 5 of which could be selected for a juried exhibition at the Pendleton Arts Center Annex Gallery. Students were challenged to consider their interpretation of “Wonder” and generated works that demonstrate their approach to the term after brainstorming, project planning, and setting up their own resource images.

Congratulations to the 5 Drawing and Printmaking students who were selected for this year’s exhibition:

Miles Frisch (10)
Aubree Fuson (9)
Austin Haarmeyer (9)
Jackson Mundstock (9)
Michael Smith (9)

In addition to having the works professionally framed at Suder’s Art Store, the Taft will be awarding 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place overall as well as Outstanding Wonder for each school. The Exhibition opening will be SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18th, 2024, from 1PM-4PM at the Annex Gallery (1310 Pendleton St, Cincinnati, OH 45202). Remarks will be at 2PM. Winners will be announced at this time.