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Nov
20
AAC Hosts the Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
  • Posted By : Art Academy of Cincinnati/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : AAC News, Community Education News, FEATURED News

Art Academy of Cincinnati Hosts the Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

For its third year, The Art Academy of Cincinnati (AAC) will produce the Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana on our urban campus in historic Over-the-Rhine. Established in 1923, Scholastic is the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious national recognition program. Participation ranges from grades 7 to 12.

Through the Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, students from public, private, and home schools receive rare opportunities for national recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships. Last year, students from across the country submitted a record-breaking 346,000 original works of art and writing. These submissions were in 29 different categories with nearly 5,000 submissions from the Cincinnati region.

The Awards Ceremony will host both art and writing awards recipients.

Selected art and writing works will be on display at the Art Academy (1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine) presented by Summerfair Cincinnati from January 28 to February 8, 2019. A celebration and awards ceremony is set for February 1, 2019, at the School for Creative and Performing Arts. The event will draw thousands of visitors from across the Tri-state. 

Each June, national Gold Medal recipients from across the country gather in New York City to attend the National Ceremony.  Over the years, numerous artists have been recognized by these awards when they were still students.  Notable alumni include: Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Steven King, Sylvia Plath, Charles White, Kay WalkingStick, Ken Burns, John Baldessari, Mozelle Thompson, Joyce Carol Oates, Hughie Lee-Smith, Zac Posen, and Lena Dunham. Cy Twombly, Donald Lipski, and Tom Otterness.

Submissions are accepted until December 12, 2018. For more information about the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards or how a teen can participate, visit www.artandwriting.org or https://www.artacademy.edu/scholastics


Picture of Emily Momohara's billboard
Oct
17
For Freedoms: Never Again is Now
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : AAC News, FEATURED News

About For Freedoms Billboard

Two years ago a billboard appeared in Pearl, Mississippi that sparked confusion and conversation. The image on the billboard was of an iconic photograph from the civil rights era with the words, “Make American Great Again”.
It was the work of For Freedoms, an organization using art to promote democratic participation.

Now they’re commissioning artists from across the country to create billboards addressing political and social issues of their choice.

Professor Emily Momohara Responds

Art Academy Associate Professor, Emily Momohara was commissioned to create two of these thought provoking billboards.

One billboard is currently located on I-75. It depicts a young Japanese girl in an internment camp with the words, “Never Again is Now!”. During WWII, Momohara’s family was incarcerated because of their Japanese heritage. This was a result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unconstitutional use of power, when he signed Executive Order 9066 incarcerating all Japanese Americans. In turn, families were separated.

Recent accounts of children being separated from parents at the U.S.-Mexico border have inspired Momohara to speak out through art. Using documentation of the WWII incarceration to compare today and the past, Momohara stands firm with immigrants in Never Again is Now!

 

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Camp Art Academy student November Hardy's artwork
Jul
11
Camp Art Academy to BFA: A CE Success Story
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
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  • Under : AAC News, Community Education News, FEATURED News

Camp Art Academy to BFA

A CE Success Story

Illustration by, November Hardy

November Hardy has just completed her sophomore year at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (AAC). It all started when she attended Camp Art Academy at nine years old.

Hardy is an example of a successful Community Education transition into art school. Experiences in camp helped to encourage her interest in art and discover her creative ideas. As a result of her artistic passion she enrolled into the BFA program at the Art Academy.

“I feel that my exposure to art at camp influenced my decision to attend art school. I never really thought about having a career in art or going to an art college. Therefore, having grown up attending art camp every year, it stimulated my interest in art,” said Hardy.

Hardy is now a Camp Art Academy Teaching Assistant. “Assisting at the camp is fun to do and I like having a teaching role. Having students genuinely interested in learning how to draw is a great experience. I also appreciate the kids looking up to me for advice and ideas.”

Hardy plans a future in art. “Majoring in illustration and minoring in design will hopefully open many different paths for me. I would like to freelance as it would afford me the opportunity to work on variety of projects. But I would be glad to just work in a design firm or illustration studio, and freelance when I can. I just would like to be doing something creative”.

“I hope to take away from all the experiences I’ve had from the various projects and people I’ve met here. Learning from the ‘real life’ projects with clients and just the way you can work with peers and professors is exciting to me.”

“Just to take the atmosphere of the Art Academy — where everyone will help you if you need it, and helping others if they need, when I leave would be rewarding.”

You can find Hardy this summer assisting Camp Art Academy teachers.

 

Sign Up For Camp Art Academy HERE.

Written by, Katherine Beck


Photo of Noel
May
18
Q&A with Wilder Winner Noel Maghathe
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : AAC News, Alumni Featured, Alumni News, FEATURED News
Q&A with Wilder Winner Noel Maghathe

Artists draw inspiration from many places including the environment that surrounds them. The opportunity for a change of scenery can prove especially valuable. At the Art Academy of Cincinnati the Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Scholarship provides just that, affording art students of all disciplines the chance to explore the world around them as fuel for their creative expression.

Noel Maghathe is a Mixed Palestinian American artist and graduate of the Art Academy. Dedicated to radical gender and identity politics, Maghathe uses performance, photography, sculpture, and installation to advance socially conscious dialogues centering queer voices.

Check out a Q&A with Maghathe below to learn more about Noel’s experience traveling on the Wilder Scholarship.

Q: You were one of last year’s recipients of the Wilder Traveling Scholarship. Where did you go and how did you use this award to continue your practice and research?

I was lucky enough to travel with my father to his home in Halhul, West Bank, Palestine.

I decided to use Wilder Traveling Scholarship to experience being a queer person/femme in Palestine first hand, but to also reconnect as an adult with this whole side of my life. Using several social media outlets, I connected with other queer Palestinians to listen to their experiences and collaborate.

Q: Can you share with us your experience in Palestine?

I spent the majority of my time in the small town of Halhul, where my grandmother lives. My father was born and raised in this rural town.

It was a wild experience full of ups and downs; two men asked for my hand, conversations of marriage, conversations of equality. I gained and lost feelings of wonder, revisiting a home after seven years brings comfort but distortion.

It became so much more than me being queer, but re-birthing the home in my heart for this place. When creating with my new friends, I felt happy and strong finally being here after all of this hard work.

I sat and spoke with my friend Rawand from Ramallah for an hour as we did each other’s hair after we’d just met. I thought back to my childhood where I spent hours sitting with my sisters straightening our hair for school the next day, we spent so much time laughing and intertwining. After our hair, we did our makeup and she took me to the old city of Birzeit, where we interacting with the space using my cellophane forms I had been making in Halhul.

It was an enduring experience with a lifetime friendship, I plan on coming back and studying at Birzeit for gender studies in the next couple years.

Q: How did your experience in  Palestine change your work?

It changed the way I thought of art making and what it can impact.

Q: After returning, you went on to become an Agent of Change delegate to this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Womxn. Was this a continuation of your work during your time in Palestine?

This was a continuation of my path as an artist. I was shown and recommended this opportunity by a new friend, Mitchell Sutika Sipus.

He spoke at graduation last May and we connected after hearing about the work he has done overseas. I was encouraged to apply after he expressed that we need more artists outside of this form to be involved in global conversations.

Q: Could you tell us more about your experience as an Agent of Change?

It was an overwhelming time!

I loved being in NYC and to be at the United Nations HQ every day was hair-raising. I spent every morning taking a train and bus over to Manhattan then heading to a conference room full of people from all over the world. I’m just sitting here two seats from the minister of women of New Zealand, speaking of the economic empowerment of rural women in NZ.

I’m in awe that I am here and able to be a part of the conversation. Speaking and hearing views of these gender issues and the lack of universal conversation of the trans and gender non-conforming community really pushed me to my choice of gender studies for masters.

I hope to connect more with ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association ) in the future for this matter, they were the only group to truly address these issues within the whole commission. Shout out to Zhan Chiam! I met so many people that were doing amazing things to help further the gender equality from Fiji to Indonesia to Estonia.

I am so thankful for the time I spent not only at the United Nations, but the people I met in New York. What a beautiful time I had.

Q: Where do you see your work going from here and how do you feel your art/design will make an impact on the world?

I see myself going in a completely new direction after this conference, I was very torn on whether to continue fine arts in grad school, but I have decided to dive into gender studies as well as Arab studies.

I will always make work and perform, but I need to be involved in these issues and use my art and performances in those environments as one. Especially with what is happening this moment with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with the Land Day peaceful protests, I can’t just bury my head.

Q: How do you view yourself as a change maker?

I’m still learning how I can make a change. Thus far I’ve been advocating as much as possible and my performances are becoming more political and facing these issues head-on.


Cara and Carly win the Wilder Traveling Award
May
08
2018 Wilder Traveling Award
  • Posted By : Art Academy of Cincinnati/
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  • Under : AAC News, FEATURED News

The Art Academy of Cincinnati is pleased to announce that seniors Cara Gallagher and Carly Simendinger are the recipients of the 2018 Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Award, one of the most coveted awards given to graduating seniors.

As a result, Gallagher will pursue performance work in England, and Simendinger will travel to India.

Since receiving this award, Simendinger has embarked on a six-week journey across India.

“When I graduated from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in May of 2018, I was awarded the Wilder Scholarship, which is an award specifically for graduating seniors to continue your education and broaden your horizons through travel. I chose to go to India to study zen meditation and immerse myself in the beautiful patterns and colors that this country is known for. My first few weeks will be spent in a zen ashram in Tamil Nadu and then I will continue up the west coast to the beaches of Kerala and Goa, then to Mumbai and Agra before finishing my journey in New Delhi. I can’t find the words to fully express how grateful I am to be here and for this opportunity. I have already learned so much about myself and I am so excited for the places I will see, the cultures I will experience, and the people I will learn from along the way.”
-Carly Simendinger

Carly Simendinger's thesis exhibition. 2018 Wilder Traveling Award.
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The Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Scholarship was first awarded in 1947.

In 1941 Edith Carson Wilder endowed the scholarship in memory of her husband. In turn, it was specified the scholarship be given to deserving students for travel.

Funds serve as a travel stipend for special research in fine art or design in the United States or abroad.

Each applicant must submit a proposal that includes a budget, itinerary, senior thesis, and portfolio. In addition, students must submit a description of how the experience will benefit their artistic goals.

Full-time faculty members, the Academic Dean, and the President vote to select the winners of this award.

 

 


Piece by Cody
Feb
27
Poetry 4 the People: Cody Dawn Bechtol
  • Posted By : Art Academy of Cincinnati/
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  • Under : AAC News, Admissions Featured, Admissions News, FEATURED News

On February 19th, Art Academy of Cincinnati hosted a night of poetry reading full of dedicated, strong-willed, and politically activated poets. Below is the poem read by AAC student, Cody Dawn Bechtol.

“PSA THIS IS NOT OKAY 2018”

 

I am tired of my bleeding going unappreciated
I am tired of my wounds never healing

 

Open and seeping they wait for you to prod them again
Anticipating the pain as if it’s intrinsic to womanhood at this point

 

 

 

He never hit me but boy did my body suffer

 

Sleepless nights
Black under eyes from rubbing rubbing rubbing

 

 

 

 

Staring at the wide and plush moon
Gently dissociating

 

 

 

 

Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons
Tasers & Tampons

Clinging tightly to my taser and my tampons

 

 

 

You pass me with that bald eagle on your license plate
Men in pickup trucks scare me more than almost anything else in this world

 

 

 

859-667-2958
213-922-7046
513-299-7254
859-927-3001
513-438-2183
575-418-6124
513-449-1492
651-529-3240
513-401-6852
513-880-5358
513-428-6124
513-665-3892
213-237-1091
470-305-0873
513-665-4341

 

 

You think your time has come but you’re wrong
I fantasize about stooping to your level
What if we all literally began to fight back
Hurting the men who slink behind us down alleys
And follow us through department stores

 

 

You get off on the look of discomfort painted across my face
Whispering creepy nothings to me in the line at Home Depot

I imagine the look of surprise on yours when I pounce

 

Women are not a threat to you
Why do you treat us as such

You hit us with no provocation
Your rape us while we are fully clothed

 

 

We refuse to be powerless anymore


Thesis exhibition
Feb
27
Poetry 4 the People: Hailee Herin
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
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  • Under : AAC News, FEATURED News

On February 19th, Art Academy of Cincinnati hosted a night of poetry reading full of dedicated, strong-willed, and politically activated poets. Below is the poem read by AAC student, Hailee Herin.

 
 
“12/14/16″
  
I am a maturing pomegranate.
My heart
my mind
my emotions, so juicy
and you have to be so intimate with it
get it to open,
not crushing the seeds,
avoiding the declining ones
So tender,
unapologetic in her forwardness,
“may I touch myself?”
Not a survival tactic,
Meekness.
 

 


Photo of DJ Gathers by Nikki Nesbit
Feb
27
Poetry 4 the People: D.J. Gathers
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : AAC News, FEATURED News
On February 19th, Art Academy of Cincinnati hosted a night of poetry reading full of dedicated, strong-willed, and politically activated poets. Below is the poem read by AAC student, D.J. Gathers.
 
“Dear White People”
Dear White People,
    Stop getting offended at legitimately anything that challenges your position as a majority (even though us mixed breeds are about to weed you the fuck out). Dear White People don’t respond to Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter because someone will most likely slap the shit out of you. Not in a shitty way, just in a “are you actually serious right now that’s really not the fucking point” kind of way. WE know that all lives matter, however not all lives are being scrutinized, getting their culture constantly appropriated for monetary gain and being disproportionally killed based on the color of their skin so you know, chill the fuck out. Dear White People stop saying Blue Lives Matter because what the fuck is a blue life? I didn’t know Smurfs were so marginalized. We get that you support police, but do it in a non-shitting on a legitimate civil rights movement kind of way.
    Dear White People stop saying that black athletes are privileged bastards because they stand up for (or should I say kneel for) what they believe in. You didn’t give a shit how much money athletes made until one didn’t stand up for your precious piece of ugly red white and blue cloth during the national anthem. Dear White People stop telling other people to stay in their lane. Actors and actresses, athletes, and musicians are all humans and all able to have their own opinions. It’s the “land of the free” right? Dear White People you elected a fucking reality TV star as your goddamn president. Sit down please.
    Dear White People stop asking me why you can’t say the word nigga. You can and will also get slapped and lectured upon use of the word. You overly used it centuries ago to bring us down but we took it and made it our own, so no you can’t have it back. You take everything else from us, why do you want to say nigga so badly? P.S. I’m watching the movement of your lips at every rap concert. Nigga. Dear White People Jesus was NOT white and if he was a living breathing person today, you’d say he looks like a terrorist.
   Dear White People stop getting triggered by statements such as Dear White People because Dear White People is a call to action for Dear White People people who have a ridiculous amount of privilege and don’t always use it the way they should. BUT DJ YOU CAN’T JUST LUMP ME IN WITH ALL THE OTHER BAD WHITE PEOPLE I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG. Well, now you know how Muslims feel. *Sips tea and puts sun glasses on*. Also, stop fucking trying to get the TV show Dear White People canceled because Dear White People: YOU DON’T HAVE TO FUCKING WATCH IT. Don’t you have Starbucks cups to protest? You know, the REAL issues.
    Dear White People, this is a BIG one, stop assuming that because my mother is white, and I was raised in a white family, that I’m not allowed to care about ANY of this shit. Dear White Family don’t get offended when I say you didn’t prepare me for any of this racism shit but…well….ya know. Dear White Family it is vital for you to remember I’m not just a family member I’m a minority family member. How you all treat me doesn’t translate to every other white person in the world. Can you even imagine?
    Dear White People, don’t EVER refer to me as a “smart one” because I speak in proper English and while we’re at it Dear Black People stop saying that I talk “white”, that’s just an insult to other black people. Dear White People don’t assume black people are “trying to be white” by skateboarding and being into that culture, skateboarding saved my life fuck you very much.
   Dear White People how come when people of color commit crimes they’re considered dangerous thugs and terrorists, but when nothing but white men terrorize Americans every year in school shootings they’re considered lone wolfs with mental problems? Get back to me when you can.
    Dear White People, I’m honestly so curious about this, why do you care more about Harambe and Fiona then any of the hundreds of police brutality victims?  Like foreal I’ve been racking my brain and I can’t understand why there was more outrage from you when Harambe got shot than when Eric Garner was choked to death by 4 police officers while saying “I can’t breathe” 11 times, all for selling loose cigarettes. Get back to me on that too.
    Dear White People responsible for Donald Trump becoming our president were you all drunk at the same time on November 8th orrrrrrrrr what? Like really I’m legitimately fucking curious how you thought this piece of shit would be suitable to run a country. And piece of shit is putting it lightly. Dear Other White People why are you surprised that Donald Trump became our president? I called that from a mile away, and it only confirmed that this is the same ol’ America we’ve always known. You know that feeling you had when trump got elected?-where the bad guys beat the good guys? To black people the bad guys have been beating the good guys for 400 fucking years Jesus Christ.
    I was always told not to wish harm or death on another soul but BOY it’s getting harder the dumber this motherfucker gets. I’ll simply say that if he were no longer existent, I wouldn’t be mad.
    Dear White People I’m sorry. Nah fuck that.
    Dear White People I’m sorry for you. Nah fuck that.
    Dear White People I’m sorry for you to have to have the most privilege out of anyone in the entire world and have to listen to me whine about my life. Nah fuck that.
    Dear White People I’m not sorry for SHIT.
    Dear White People I will never actually apologize.
    Dear White People I will never compromise who I am for your comfort.
    Dear White People stop fucking killing us.
    Dear White People stand up and use your voice.
    Dear White People you’ll stop being lumped in with other dear white people when you realize that dear white people have caused these things to happen and dear white people ignoring a problem because it doesn’t effect dear white people is called privilege.
    Dear White People I hope my mixed race children will see a better world than the one that exists today but I know that’s far fetched due to racist dear white people.
Dear White People,
I’ll let you respond to my grievances after four hundred years of letting us speak.
Photo by, Nikki Nesbit

Brittnee Renee artwork
Feb
26
Brittnee Renee
  • Posted By : Chelsey Hughes/
  • 0 comments /
  • Under : AAC News, Alumni News, FEATURED News

Photo By, Nikki Nesbit

“I love the Art Academy because I’ve been introduced to some of my best friends that I’ll keep forever and I’ve come across all walks of life the past 4 years I’ve attended. I look at art from all different perspectives now because of critiques and hearing the many different opinions of my peers.”

-Brittnee Renee

Brittany Walker is an African American photographer born in Long Beach, California and raised in Toledo, Ohio. Her photography started off being predominantly street photography, further gravitating towards portraits of people. She really appreciates the beauty in people, and wants to share this beauty with her audience. She also enjoys fashion photography because she believes fashion and models are a representation of beauty and set beauty standards. She wants her photos to represent all kinds of people, especially those with darker skin complexions because for so long “we have been told we aren’t beautiful and are undesirable to the world”. She aims to inspire others and make a difference with her photos by representing people who feel like they can’t conquer a field dominated by people who claim they have no value.


Feb
09
Help-Portrait Movement
  • Posted By : artacademy_admin/
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  • Under : AAC News, Admissions Featured, Admissions News, FEATURED News

The Art Academy of Cincinnati hosted a full day of service to community members through the mission of Help-Portrait, a collective that brings photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, and volunteers together to serve people in need. On December 2, the AAC served over 100 Cincinnati residents via donation of luxuriating, life-affirming personal services, resulting in professional portraiture and photographs given to people who cannot afford such amenities.

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The AAC Help-Portrait Site Coordinator, Andrea Bacca contacted leaders of the Help-Portrait movement to enlist the expertise, time, and resources of AAC students, faculty, and staff to mobilize the movement’s core mission:   “to empower photographers, hairstylists and makeup artists to use their skills, tools and expertise to give back to their local community.” In 2008, Help-Portrait began as an idea that transformed into a movement in just three months. The idea behind Help-Portrait is simple: 1. Find someone in need; 2. Take their portrait; 3. Print their portrait; and 4. Deliver their portrait. The AAC is pleased to join community sites around the world in this mission.

Local Partnering Non-Profit Organizations:
Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition; Our Daily Bread; Over-the-Rhine Kitchen; Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce; Over-the-Rhine Community Housing; Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center; Peaslee Neighborhood Center; Seven Hills Community Center; St. Francis Seraph Ministries; Talbert House; Tender Mercies; Walnut Hills Kitchen & Pantry; and YWCA.

About Help-Portrait:Celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart formed Help-Portrait, a non-profit organization, in 2008 as he contemplated using his skills and expertise to give back to those who may not have the opportunity for a professional photo. The idea is that a photographer has the unique ability to help someone smile, laugh, and return their dignity. It is a movement, a shift in photography. From Bangalore, India to Ghana, Africa to Ubuntu, South Africa to Chukotka, Russia, the language of Help-Portrait crosses cultural and socio-economic barriers. Visit www.help-portrait.com.


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