50 Years of Inspiration: An Exhibition Honoring Artist and Educator Jan Thomas and Five Decades of Creative Legacy

50 Years of Inspiration is a powerful exhibition celebrating the extraordinary career and lasting influence of Jan Thomas, artist and former Oak Hills High School (OHHS) art teacher, whose dedication to arts education has shaped generations of creative professionals. Spanning five decades of teaching, mentorship, and artistic practice, the exhibition highlights the profound impact one educator can have on students and communities alike.

The exhibition brings together 128 artworks, including 15 works by Jan Thomas and 113 pieces created by former students, offering a multi-generational portrait of creative growth. Among the artists represented are 26 former OHHS students, eight of whom are now art educators themselves, continuing Thomas’s legacy in classrooms across the region. The title 50 Years of Inspiration reflects a remarkable full-circle moment: two exhibiting artists were students during Thomas’s very first year of teaching at Regina High School in Norwood, 50 years ago. Their inclusion underscores the enduring relationships and creative influence that have defined Thomas’s career.

Artists in the exhibition represent a wide spectrum of creative paths, including college professors, photographers, graphic designers, tattoo artists, community arts leaders, independent artists, and a nationally recognized drag performer. The exhibition also features a clay mosaic artist whose work directly inspired the mosaic tile walls at Oak Hills High School, as well as a Northside arts naturalist currently building a permaculture cobb house, illustrating the expansive ways art connects to place, purpose, and community.

The exhibition opens with a public reception on Sunday, January 11th, from 3:00–5:00 p.m. Come out to celebrate an educator whose commitment to creative thinking has left a lasting imprint on students, schools, and the broader arts community, and mingle with OHHS alumni, current, and former art teachers. The show will remain on view at Ruth’s Parkside Cafe (located at 1550 Blue Rock St, Cincinnati, OH 45223) through the end of February.

Fall 2025, and Final, “Celebrating Art” OHHS Art and Design Students to Be Published

For the past 15 years, “Celebrating Art” has showcased the work of students across America in their quarter contests. Unfortunately, this is the last publication and contest that will take place. “Celebrating Art” has been 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 a record number of 100 OHHS Art and Design students were invited to be published in the final Fall 2025 “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 Ambs’ Ceramics 1, Ceramics 2, Fashion Studio 1, and Studio Art Foundations classes:
McKenzie Balford
Ryleigh Brader
Ryan Cooper
Tony Cooper
Caleb Curtis
Sophia Dawson
Maria Dektas
Ultan Delaney
Addison Dennis
Gentry Elsener
Eva Etris-Schuler
Ava Flickinger
Lila Gormley
Josie Hollander
Taylor Jackson
Carson Johnson
Ava Leahy
Chloe Linnig
Gabe Lowe
Olivia Lucas
Grace Marcus
Kaya Middleton
Lilah Morgan
Sonia Motino
Kiah Plants
Moriah Pree
Hannah Roellig
Khloe Roland
Brayson Sandman
Elise Sargent
Megan Schmidt
Aaliyah Schunk

From Dignan-Cummins’ Ceramics 1, Honors Enamels, Mosaic, and Glass, Honors Fiber Arts, Sculpture, and AP Art 3D Design classes:
Josie Audretch
Katie Auer
Mylla Davis
Sophia Flaig
Eleanor Good
Evelyn Good
Lily Gunnarson
Maddie Haley
Sophia Latisa
Jocelyn Lawrence
Brynn Schreck
Nelly Wimp
Kyla Witt
Tamara Alkhaldi
Skyla Blevins
Eva Duke-Ibanez
Ruby Dunham
Niamh Fitzpatrick
Nathan Niehause
Kily Sinex
Rachel Wunderlich
Sam Getz
Ichika Nakagawa
Kia Helmers
Maggie Heydorn
Lexi Holzbacher
Charlie Morehead
Morgan Sargent
JT Schmidt
Ahleya Velasco
Brailee Schulz
Lin Whyle

From Kopf’s Painting and Public Art class:
Josie Auciello
Lily Gunnarson
Lilly McGuire

From Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking, Art Foundations, and Studio Art AP 2D Design and Drawing classes:
Tym’Shay Akins
Maria Arrivillaga Munoz
Anastasia Brantley
Cynthia Brown
Hope Casey
Desmond Damon
Julia Chapman
Gaby Coronado Orozco
Evelyn Dann
Liam Edenfield
Valeria Espinoza Barrios
Miles Frisch
Aaliyah Gracey
Aubree Harden
Ava Kaiser
Belle Kirby
Connor Korte
Colton Krummen
Sydney Lehman
Alejandra Lui
Lennox Ludeman
Baylee Moorman
Nathan Muhlen
Liliana Pisegna
Anna Schuler
Sarah Sieve
Madeline Smith
Michael Smith
Lillian Thomas
Christian Vanlandingham
Eli Wilson
Lydia Wilson
Kyndall Woodie


As an added bonus, the OHHS Art and Design Department was highlighted as one of the top ranking schools overall for the numbers of students accepted to be published through the national program!

“Where Our Worlds Meet”: Ending the Taft ARC Journey of Creative Unity

Ms. Schorsch’s Drawing and Printmaking students are wrapping up their experience with the Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) program, which immerses high school art students in Cincinnati’s visual arts community, connecting them with artistic practices, exhibitions, marketing strategies, and careers in the arts.

As part of ARC, students collaborated with their Artist-in-Residence, Adoria L. Maxberry, a Cincinnati-based visual and performance artist, educator, designer, and founder of Most OutGROWing LLC. Guided by a belief in the power of creativity for personal and collective growth, Adoria creates immersive experiences that blend education, reflection, and community. Her work spans murals, fiber arts, illustration, and mixed media, often embedding hidden phrases and personal stories. Throughout the students ARC experience, she guided students in creating a large-scale collaborative artwork for the upcoming exhibition at the Taft Museum of Art.

“Where Our Worlds Meet” is a whimsical celebration of the everyday worlds students move through: school activities, neighborhoods, digital spaces, shared hangouts, impactful life experiences, and quiet personal moments that bring joy. By incorporating favorite objects, symbols, and visual references from these familiar environments, the piece reflects how individual identities are shaped by daily experiences while remaining deeply connected to others. Each element carries personal meaning, but gains new significance when placed alongside the contributions of peers.

At the heart of this work is the question: How can we come together to creatively respond to the world around us? Through collaboration, students explored what it means to live together creatively: listening, adapting, and finding harmony within difference. The process emphasized connection over perfection, inviting playful experimentation and collective problem-solving as a way to build creative unity.

Aligned with ARC’s focus on collaboration and connection, this artwork represents both self and community. It honors individuality while highlighting shared experiences, showing that creativity thrives when voices overlap, ideas intertwine, and imagination becomes a common language. Together, these contributions form a joyful, unified response to the environments we all inhabit every day.

“Where Our Worlds Meet” will be on exhibition at the Taft Museum of Art from February 13th-16th, 2026. There will be an exhibition celebration on February 15th, from 1:00-2:30pm, with remarks at 1:30pm. Please join us in celebrating the creative vision of the Drawing and Printmaking students and Adoria Maxberry!

Exploring ‘What a Revolutionary Must Know’ and the Biological Made Digital

On December 5th, AP Art and Design students embarked on their first field experience as a part of this year’s Contemporary Arts Center School Outreach Program. The CAC SOP offers students from grades 2 through 12 a comprehensive, immersive experience with contemporary art. Running from September through May, this year-long program includes an in-school orientation, guided tours of CAC exhibitions, a classroom project tied to the exhibition led by a local artist, and a spring visit to an artist’s studio. Program docents work with the same class throughout the year, fostering continuity and rapport with the students.

During the tour, students engaged with the Sheida Soleimani’s “What a Revolutionary Must Know” exhibition. Sheida Soleimani’s solo exhibition presents her complete “Ghostwriter” series, uniting photography, sculpture, and video to reconstruct her parents’ escape from Iran’s totalitarian regime through surreal, staged visual narratives that explore resistance, identity, memory, and political trauma, while also marking her first presentation of video work in a museum. An Iranian-American artist raised in Cincinnati, Soleimani examines interconnected histories of political violence across Iran, the United States, and the Middle East through multimedia, photo-based installations. Her work is held in major museum collections and widely covered in prominent publications. Based in Providence, she is an associate professor at Brandeis University and founder of Congress of the Birds, and she created a public artwork of 100 cast aluminum tulips honoring protesters killed after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a project that debuted at the 2023 Armory Show and continues to raise funds.

“Second Nature” showcases three digital animation works from the 21c Museum Hotels collection, featuring artists Jennifer Steinkamp and Chris Doyle, who use computer-generated imagery inspired by natural forms such as trees, vines, butterflies, and mushrooms to explore movement, pattern, and the fragile relationship between humans and the environment, with Steinkamp’s Dervish 3 depicting a tree shifting through the four seasons in a wind-like, whirling motion, and Doyle’s Circular Lament and Rondo using animated, nature-referencing shapes and bioluminescent mushrooms within symbolic, sacred-like forms to suggest ecological tension and the simulated presence of organic life through digital technology.

Students also had the unique opportunity to experience an artist talk from their teacher, Jamie Schorsch, an exhibiting artist in the “Journey to Healing” exhibition, where she shared how creating artwork has been a powerful tool in processing trauma and shaping her identity in adulthood. Through her personal story and visual work, students gained insight into how art can serve as a path to healing, self-expression, and resilience.

Experiencing ‘Creative Unity’ with the Taft ARC Program

The Taft Museum of Art’s Artists Reaching Classrooms (ARC) program immerses high school art students in Cincinnati’s visual arts community, connecting them with artistic practices, exhibitions, marketing strategies, and careers in the arts. This semester, Drawing and Printmaking students are participating in the program, which includes one museum visit, four classroom visits, and culminates in a winter exhibition at the Taft.

As part of ARC, students are collaborating with Adoria L. Maxberry, a Cincinnati-based visual and performance artist, educator, designer, and founder of Most OutGROWing LLC. Guided by a belief in the power of creativity for personal and collective growth, Adoria creates immersive experiences that blend education, reflection, and community. Her work spans murals, fiber arts, illustration, and mixed media, often embedding hidden phrases and personal stories. She has led significant public projects, including Revolutionary Recipes: The Flavors of a Black Woman Amplified, and partners with organizations like ArtWorks. Adoria also teaches in schools, performs as a lead puppeteer and voice actress on the Emmy-winning children’s series Paige’s Place, and was recognized as a Black is Excellence: Unsung Hometown Hero by the City of Cincinnati in 2022. Through ARC, she will guide students in creating a large-scale collaborative artwork for the Taft exhibition.

After spending their first visit getting to know Adoria and brainstorming about the things they experience in their daily environments, or what they find impactful about objects they interact with on a daily basis, they created a collaborative design synthesizing their different perspectives. During this week’s visit with Adoria, they began laying out their design and blocking in color. Over the next few weeks, the Drawing and Printmaking students will continue their collaboration in preparation for the winter exhibition of their work at the Taft Museum of Art.