SHAWNEE TOWNSHP (WLIO) - Art can depict a lot of emotion, and no one knows it better than Shawnee Senior Ohel Zhuk who is keeping the awareness about the war in his home county of Ukraine front and center in his artwork.
“I feel like the world news has stopped talking about the problem which are happening in Ukraine every day,” says Zhuk. “Problems like violence, abuse of the civilian population, murder, and people struggling every day. Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom and for the democracy of the country every day. This is what I want to show in my portfolio.”
Zhuk has been at Shawnee for two years and his parents are still in Ukraine, so through every picture he wanted to show how the Ukrainian people stay strong, despite the odds they are facing.
“For me, it was like a therapy because I really enjoy doing arts. I feel like I could just through my emotions, my anxiety, my worriness in my artworks,” adds Zhuk. “Then my artworks have meaning. They have meaning for me and I can share this meaning with others.”
For Senior Jazmyn Scott art is one of the favorite things that she does at Shawnee. When she graduates, she wants to be part of a theater program and will be using her art skills to create the sets for performances. She says she has learned more about herself through art.
“I have learned to push myself,” says Scott. “Because before I was really stuck working with the same mediums with the same things. But Mr. K (Brian Krawetzke) has pushed me so hard to get better and try new things.”
This is the 29th year for Shawnee High School Fine Arts Exhibition, featuring around 150 works in mediums like pictures, photography, ceramics, and jewelry. Like the students that made them, each piece is unique and so is their experience with art.
“It really where so many students thrive and seeing them find themselves in that space,” says Gayle Trueblood, 3D sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry teacher. “Sometimes they are taking it because they have to and then discover things about themselves within that semester time. They realize some of the things that draw out their emotions and how they can communicate that through the arts.”
The artwork will be on exhibit at the high school through May 12th.
