Kate Fletcher
eSomethin staff
Jun (Keian Leland) Andres is a junior currently taking AP 2D Studio Art. She loves storytelling through her art, especially her comic featuring her original character, Shanti, a robotic superhero.
Her piece, “Where Am I Going?” will be featured in the Owens “Passages” High School exhibit.
Andres wants to pursue art as a career, adding that “art for me has been something that has helped me feel seen and aided me in the hardest of times… I wanna give people something they can relate to, that helps them feel understood, or not alone, or inspired. That’s my goal in life through my art, and I hope what I make does that for people, and that’s why I wanna dedicate my life to it and not have it on the side.” She plans to go to an art school in Ohio like CCAD or CIA and get a job producing her comic.
You can find her artwork, as well as cosplay content, on Instagram @juni.moony.
1: “Where Am I Going?” is Andres’s favorite piece and features many symbols and easter eggs. The tower that looms over the city is owned the company that created and abandoned Shanti; the bright light of the city outside the window contrasts with her own unhappiness; the window, shaped like the screen on her chest, symbolizes that her room and uniqueness is her own heart, though dark and unorganized.
“She’s so focused looking outside that she forgets to look within herself; she doesn’t realize that everything she needs is already inside her,” Andres explains, knowing that many can relate to the meaning of the piece.
2: “You’re Just Like Me” is another piece featuring Shanti, this time entirely black and white to symbolize her shock. Before the moment captured in this piece, Shanti was exploring an abandoned mall and discovered a tree that had been left behind; she draws connections between herself and this tree.
3: “Behind You” features a horrifying surprise in the mirror—by the time you notice him, it’s already too late. Andres created this piece using a technique called stippling with thousands of tiny dots. “It’s meant to instill an actual sense of fear…not from a visual like guts, but from knowing that if this was real you would have seen the intruder in your house too late.”
Logan Brandel is a junior in AP Art. Each of his art pieces are inspired by music.
His piece, “25 or 6 to 4” will be featured in the Owens “Passages” Art Show.
1: “25 or 6 to 4” is inspired by a song by the same title. The song, written by Chicago, is about the process of bringing a song from lyrics into its final form. “It’s about thought process and how I bring an art piece into physical form,” Brandel explains.
2: “A Horse With No Name” was inspired by the song by America. The 1971 hit follows a man escaping to a place of comfort; similarly, Brandel escapes by listening to music. Brandel explains his other inspiration: “It was also inspired by a poem I wrote about feeling alone and not having anyone to help me and feeling like I have no say in anything, which I represent by not having a mouth.”
3: “Let It Happen” is inspired by the Tame Impala song about allowing overwhelming forces take over and learning to overcome it. Brandel created the piece with glow-in-the-dark paint.
“This piece is about blending in with society and showing your good side but when you turn off the lights, you see a different side that has a different control over oneself,” he said of the piece.
4: “Eclipse” is a work-in-progress inspired by Pink Floyd’s album, The Dark Side of the Moon, each part representing a different song from the album. Brandel intended the piece to have an overarching theme of procrastination.
“Procrastination has taken the better of me time and time again, which I represent with all these different factors that either cause me to procrastinate or result in my procrastination,” Brandel explains.
Marianna Elkhatib is a junior taking AP Art this year. Each of her pieces/investigations contribute to a future webcomic and animated series with fellow student Gianna Johnson entitled The Butterfly Syndicate. While she will be majoring in music education, her dream is to have a career producing her series.
Two of her pieces, “The Beast” and “Azrael” will be featured in the Owens “Passages” Art Show.
1: “The Beast” is Camden, a character that can transform into a sabertooth tiger. Elkhatib captured the first time that Camden transformed in this piece; the other characters, driven by fear, tied him up. She explains a favorite detail: “Camden has vitiligo, and that’s represented in his tiger form as a half-dark, half-light sabertooth.”
2: “Azrael” is the main villain of the series. Elkhatib created the piece as a character study to get comfortable drawing the complex form of the fallen angel. “I wanted to give him that sinister Green Goblin look,” Elkhatib writes, inspired by the Marvel villain.
3 – Cover: This piece, a cover for the series, offers a glimpse into the story. Villain Azrael’s hands are placed over the protagonist, Vanny, showing the control he has over them. Elkhatib adds, “The lighting shows the two sides to Vanny; the green eye represents the good side of them, and the pink eye represents the assassin side.”
Madison Fisher is a junior in Painting. She is President of the Art Club and runs Photo Club. Her favorite medium is linoleum printmaking, a process where a stamp is made by carving into a lino block. She loves that it allows her to easily make multiple copies of a piece and to play around with multiple color combinations.
Many of her pieces have won awards and have been featured in art shows.
1: “Metamorphosis” is a self-portrait of Fisher with a stunning contrast of light and dark. It won a Scholastic awards Gold Key. “It’s my most recent project, so I have an in-progress photo along with the finished product,” she says.
2: “American Girl” is another self-portrait, but of Fisher’s younger self. The piece was selected for the 2023-24 Ohio House of Representatives High School Student Art Exhibition. “It has a picture of little me in the center, surrounded by things that I loved and significant items to my childhood; I made it because I felt like I had grown up too fast and was leaving a lot of my childhood possessions and friends behind,” she reflects vulnerably.
Kasey Hill is a senior in AP Art this year. Her favorite art medium to use are colored pencils, specifically Prismacolor. She plans on pursuing art as a minor in college and selling her works.
1: “Whiteout Conditions” is a 5-point perspective piece featuring Hill and her father at a Penn State Whiteout game. The piece won a Principal’s Choice award at the PHS art show last year.
“This piece is my favorite because it represents my interest and love for Penn State Football as well as my role model, my Dad,” she says fondly.
2: “2015 Volvo S60” depicts the car of the same name. The piece was chosen to be featured in the Owens “Passages” Art Show. “It’s an acrylic and Posca painting of my car,” she explains.
4: “Blooming” is a work-in-progress piece. It was created using colored pencils. “It’s unfinished, but one of my favorites! It’s my favorite flower, tulips, with a caning background,” says Hill.
Gianna Johnson is a junior in AP Art. Her favorite art medium is acrylic paint because it is smooth, easy to layer colored pencils on, and she has worked with it since she was young.
She hopes to major in education and minor in art to become an art teacher. “In some manner, art will be in my life. Maybe I’ll illustrate a children’s book, or comic, or become an animator—I’m not 100% sure on exactly what I’ll do,” she adds with a laugh.
Her piece, “Double Digits,” was selected to be featured in the 2025 Congressional Exhibition presented by The Arts Commission and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s office. The piece will be on display at the Toledo Museum of Art.
1: “Double Digits” is Johnson’s favorite piece and a self-portrait that conveys the loneliness of growing up. It was the first time she painted something so personal; in Painting last year, she mainly focused on landscapes. “This piece means a lot to me; it was my first attempt at a portrait and I find a lot of beauty in the mistakes I made,” she says.
2: “Nostalgia” features a stylistic difference between Johnson’s current self and her younger self. Johnson represented her current self in a realistic and complex style reflective of her mindset, while she created the younger version of herself in a style that portrayed her simplicity and naivety. “I enjoy drawing stylistically a lot more than realism, and I wanted to include that through a younger me,” she adds.
3: “Pretty in Pink” is a realistic self-portrait using shades of purple and pink. Johnson created the piece last year in Painting, and it was her first time experimenting with perspective in portraits. “I really just like the contrast in realism and the bright, fake colors like purple and pink,” she explains enthusiastically.
Peyton Lynch is a junior in Advanced Painting. Her favorite art medium is acrylic paint. One of her pieces, “Calling Home,” will be featured in the Owens “Passages” Art Show.
1: In “Calling Home,” Lynch captures a glimpse into vintage life through this still-life painting. Her theme this year was nostalgia. “I think it really went for my theme for the year with the old phone, iron, and Coca-Cola bottle,” she says.
2: “Tap to the Beat” shows off Lynch’s is passion for dancing. Last year, she painted this piece to express both artsy aspects of her life. “My shoe painting is special to me because I also love dance, so I painted my tap shoes at my dance studio,” she explains.
Alexis Lyren is a senior in AP Art and Ceramics. She’s a well-rounded artist, dabbling with colored pencils, watercolor, acrylic paint, and clay on a pottery wheel. She hopes to continue ceramics in her career.
Her piece, “Sparkles,” was chosen for the Owens “Passages” Art Show.
1: “Through a Fish Eye” is almost entirely in black and white. It was made with graphite and colored pencil. Lyren explains the meaning behind the piece: “It resembles the way that seeing things through different lenses or perspectives makes your sense of reality stray from what is real.”
2: “Sparkles” is a portrait of Lyren’s cat. It was created with watercolor and colored pencils. “This painting was so special to me; she was and is a huge part of my childhood that I cherish,” she reflects warmly.
3: “Dark Yellow” is a still life piece. Lyren created it as a study about the way the mood of colors is affected by the colors around them. “The mood of this piece is melancholy—yellow tones are commonly bright and exciting, though the shades of gray and black downplay the yellow color,” she explains.
4 – Mug: This is Lyren’s first mug she ever made on the pottery wheel. It sparked her love of ceramics. “I have progressed in my skill of throwing slowly, as this is my first year in ceramics,” she reflects.
Sienna Momberg is a senior in Photography and Advanced Painting.
Her favorite art medium is graphite; “I have always preferred drawing, and I like to include other elements such as black and white ink pens,” she adds. She also enjoys oil paint for its bold colors, blendability, and slower drying time.
Her painting, “Worn Down and Out” will be featured in the Owens “Passages” Art Show.
1: “Worn Down and Out” is a realistic painting of Momberg’s own Converse. It was made with acrylic paint on a canvas panel. “I like how the colors go together,” she says, explaining why it is one of her favorites.
2 – Botanical: This colorful painting of a bouquet of flowers pops against a dark background. Momberg created this piece using gouache paint. Given that it was her first time using gouache, she said, “I ended up enjoying how versatile it can be; it has the properties of both watercolor and acrylic paint.”
3: “Exquisite Corpse” is a classic art exercise in which three collaborators continue a body using only the bottom/top lines of each other’s sketches. Momberg’s piece includes a self-portrait as the head of the creature. “For my portrait, I went for a more semi-realistic approach as opposed to my usual realism style,” she says.
The Owens “Passages” High School exhibit will display students’ artwork in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts Building on the Owens Community College Campus from January 31st to March 21st.
The opening reception will be held February 7 from 6–8 p.m., where our very own PHS artists may be awarded merit scholarships. Come show your support for your talented peers and view a collection of art pieces from all over northwest Ohio.
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CORRECTION: The article has been corrected to reflect that The Green Goblin is part of the Marvel universe of characters. An earlier version of this article erroneously said that The Green Goblin was a villain from the DC universe.