Voices Ringing Blog /

Seven members of the Class of 2026 are displaying their works of art at the Wilmington/Stroop Branch of the Dayton Metro Library.  Stop by the library through April 30 to see their creations!

Ava Ford

I believe that art is a gift from God. Today, we live in a world that moves so fast. Being able to sit back and create is a blessing. Art is the most universal form of expression, has endured since the beginning of time, and is infinitely changing, evolving, and adapting. It transforms the way you think and feel. Art takes you through tunnels of dark and towers of light. It is an emotional beam that shines and highlights each and every soul. Just as art is always evolving and changing, so is humanity. We are learning and growing in ways that are unimaginable. We observe, adapt, and we create. Every human grows and develops, each of us creative beings made in God's image and love. The beauty of art is eternal and can be moved and bended in every which way.

Art is my bliss. It is an escape from the everyday, superficial, and overwhelming world. When society is constantly moving and rushing, art slows it down. It is a form of expression that serves as a mirror, reflecting the artist's views on a personal and puzzling perspective. Many say it enriches and brings color to life, but I believe that art is life. The world around you is art. Every detail woven into nature, music, fashion, and even emotions, is art. The Almighty Himself created a universe so vast and a planet so large yet each detail drawn down to a single atom was designed and created.

Art shapes our inner lives and connects us to one another, making it an indispensable part of the human experience. Humans connect with one another through art. When viewing my art today, I hope you feel connected and transform your view on the world, art, and yourself. 

Thank you for coming to view my artwork! 

Cameron Mercuri

I've been interested in art since before I can remember. I've always loved doing anything artistic such as painting, drawing, and really bringing art into everything I do. I enjoy adding charm to the things around me such as decorating my room or even picking out cute outfits. I've always loved expressing myself and with my art.

I can remember being young in elementary school drawing in class and never doing my work because all I wanted to do was draw. My teachers loved that. Art was a way for me to be creative and create my own little story in a drawing. Someone who helped me in my art journey was my Uncle Nathen who I call Nay Nay. He would babysit me when I was little and always made sure we did some sort of painting or craft.  Now that I'm older, I've still always carried this artistic value. Art is important to me because it's always been something I can go do if I'm stressed to just relax and express myself.

I hope one day I can make a career out of my artistic talent. I would love to be an art teacher, interior designer, or a fashion designer and express my creativity.  Art has brought so much joy to my life and I'm so grateful for the ability to create.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my art!
 

Grace Mosher

Art has played an important role in my life for as long as I can remember. The act of creating and making something I value out of plain materials captivates me, whether that be paint, pencils, or random scraps.

As I've gotten into high school, creating art has become a significant tool for exploring aspects of myself. Art allows me to enter a state of total awareness of my environment. I found that I see the world differently. Colors mean more, and the world around me enables my creativity and the drive to capture it.

I hope my art will continue to allow me to create things that make me proud. My ultimate goal is to continue exploring techniques and mediums and hopefully improve my skills. Thank you for your time, and thank you for viewing my work!

Evangeline Moylan

Ever since I was in kindergarten, I have had a love for drawing. I always tried my hardest whenever we had a project that had drawing in it. By the time I was in third grade, all my classmates had labeled me as “the artist” (even though I wasn’t really that good.) I loved drawing ponies with my friend, and as I got into fifth grade, I started drawing more people, mostly mermaids. I always had a love for girly things, and mermaids were at the top of my list.

During 6th grade, which was during COVID, I started to draw digitally. It all began on my dad’s old Samsung Galaxy S8. It had a hole in the side, and I’d draw art for characters I made for different shows and movies.

At this point, I started wanting to make my own things. I made my own characters for my own world as well as stories and writing them to go with drawings. I wanted to be an animator, a story board artist, or an illustrator. I wanted to do anything that would get my stories out to the world. I wanted to be influential like Walt Disney, James Baxter, or anyone who I thought were the coolest people ever.

Now, I’m a senior in high school, and I still have a dream to get my stories somewhere. Whether I make my own graphic novel, comic, show, movie, or something to share my thoughts and stories. I want to inspire people that are just like me to follow their dreams.

Thank you for viewing my artwork!

Matthew Petty

I’ve always had a hyperactive imagination, devising stories and developing characters. For me, art is an extension of this imagination, a method of preserving and understanding the worlds I create.

Animals are usually the main subjects of my artwork. My older pieces focus on animals and nature more generally, and both topics arose from my love of hiking and zoology. Throughout my senior year, I’ve combined this focus on nature with disasters or post-apocalyptic situations, attempting to portray a world where nature survives and adapts to destruction, albeit permanently changed. I hope these pieces inspire perseverance.

In my sketches and recent projects, I’ve expanded on my love of zoology by anthropomorphizing the animals in my works, placing them in situations commonly experienced by humans. I find that the unique instincts and biology of animals can provide new perspectives on our own thoughts, actions, and beliefs. The large abdomen of bees combined with an extravagant feast of honey can convey themes of excess in a fantastical way, merging imagination with relevant and relatable issues. I adore having the opportunity to share my stories with you and I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoy making them.

Thank you for viewing my art!

Dominic Sellers

I have been doing art for most of my life. My art started out as mostly scribbles. All kids' art starts out this way, so it's no surprise mine did, too. However, it's through these random lines and curvy lines that my artwork truly began to shine. Basic shapes can become something beautiful if you learn how to manipulate the shapes and colors in certain ways. For the first 14 years of my life, I would experiment with the shapes and lines to create little stick figures and basic houses.

This is where my art really started, and it's where all artists' art truly starts. However, I never actually got into art as a hobby until I came across the person who inspired me to work harder at it. It didn't come from my grandfather or my own parents. It came from a YouTuber, Jazza. He taught the basics of both environmental drawings and anatomy, or figure drawings, through his videos. Ever since then, I have been big on creating figure drawings as my main form of artistic expression.

Art is something you can pour your entire heart into: something that has a true meaning behind it. With AI on the rise, art nowadays will definitely look and feel fake because there isn't an artist spending hours or days of their time making their piece because of something they were inspired by. Art means being inspired by the most random things, whether it be birds, environments, or people, and interpreting that emotion or story into a well-thought-out, emotional piece.

AI is just one of the motivations, as of today, for me to keep doing art because there aren't many actual, physical artists left. A lot of artists today use AI to create images, music, or even videos as a form of their “art.” Another reason I keep doing art is my Grandpa. He would always push me to be better, even though he wasn’t an artist himself. He saw my potential and told me to keep going at it, to try again, and to use tips on how it should look. I always took his creative criticisms seriously because I knew he meant it. I know that he meant every word he said with the purest of intentions. He could say, “That eye needs work, but otherwise it's great, Dom!” However, since he passed away a year ago, it's been hard to keep going. He can't give me those same tips and criticisms he used to give anymore.

Over the past few months, I have found God, and since then, I have found a newfound desire to spread His Word. So what I want to leave behind with the amount of art I put out is that no matter what happens in our lives, Jesus will always be walking alongside us, saving us from ourselves. That is the big message that i want to put into every piece as well.

Stella Sharp

Art is something that I have always surrounded myself with in many different facets. When I was younger, I always watched my cousin draw and do art. Watching her inspired me to start drawing with her, as well as starting to grow as an individual artist. After I got inspiration from her, I started watching videos on YouTube that helped me to try different forms. Throughout my trials, I found that my favorite medium revolves around the use of markers and microns.

Art is important to me because it is a time in my life where I can relax, rather than be stressed. In life, my grades and sports are very important to me and can put a lot of stress onto my everyday life. When I have downtime, I can turn to art to express myself in a facet that is not stressful. In college, I am planning to major in Biology and Chemistry. I know this will be a very stressful time in my life, but I know that I will be able to turn to art in order to help me calm down.

In my personal life, not many people knew that I did art for a while. It is nice having a hobby that can keep me grounded and calm that I can also use for projects in school. Although I will not be using art for my future career, I will continue to use it as a hobby that will allow me to relieve stress.

Thank you so much for viewing! I hope you enjoy it!