In Art of Healing student-artists reflect on what it means to cope and make meaning during life’s most challenging moments, in particular the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by personal stories and experiences from the self and through family, each student-artist examines the complexities of the challenges faced this last year through the creative process and bravely offer their stories and artworks to those who may be experiencing their own healing process.
Presented by Lexington Medical Center.
Art of Healing is an annual juried competition exploring the intersections of art, healing, and health and features select student work from Lexington County high schools.
2021 Art of Healing Judges
Steven Ford
Owner
Steven Ford Interiors
Jane Przybysz
Executive Director, McKissick Museum
University of South Carolina
Isolation
Ashlyn Bouknight
Artist
Plexiglass, clay
Media
Carly Templeton
Teacher
Chapin High School
My sculpture’s name is Isolation, and it is about trying to show the effects of quarantine and how isolation affects people. Some can be alone and isolated from human interaction, which can play into depression. But quarantining with multiple people can also cause tension. My parents got divorced in June during the quarantine. I’m sure other people can relate to the tension in their own household due to COVID-19.
Serenity Prayer
Conley Grace Pingree
Artist
Photography
Media
Joy Pouncey
Teacher
Chapin High School
Addictions
Will Porter
Artist
Ink
Media
Jane Rangel
Teacher
Chapin High School
An important aspect of healing is one’s ability to come back from whatever struggle he or she may be facing and use that experience to become stronger physically and emotionally. As shown in the illustration, struggles, such as addictions, can send people down a dark path. Yet, people still find ways to recover from these difficulties – whether it’s with the help of others or through the strength of their own will power.
The Savior
Kai Williams
Artist
Digital Photography
Media
Nicole Tese-Gladden
Teacher
Dutch Fork High School
Many times in our history, Americans have turned to religion as a way to deal with the changes happening around them. 2020 is a year full of changes, especially with a pandemic raging across the country. Having to be stuck at home and being restricted from seeing family member’s leads a lot of people to spend extended periods of time alone, and it’s extremely emotionally draining for most. Religion, Christianity in this case, helps millions of people heal from the strain that is being forced on them this year, along with all the live lost since the beginning of the pandemic.
Tears of Joy
Avery Young
Artist
Acrylic Paint
Media
Jaime Chason
Teacher
Dutch Fork High School
The past nine months have been nothing short of chaotic. The world has been drowned in fear and worry. We have suffered through losses, have seen the unimaginable, and all the while we are required to continue the walk of life. There will soon be a day where we can lookback on these strange times and share a laugh and see our loved ones again in the absence of caution. The piece depicts the suffering and emotional hardships that the whole world has faced, but at the same time it provides comic relief. The initial tears, which represent melancholy and despair evolve into bubbles, a symbol of child-like joy. The transition conveys the beginning of healing, taking the first step into normality. Without healing, we perish like a target practice silhouette.
Empowerment
Shynasia Rice
Artist
Mixed Media
Media
Catherine Smylie
Teacher
Irmo High School
Empowerment conveys my struggles with social issues that have recently become more prominent during our quarantine. One of the social issues that has impacted me personally is the Black Lives Matter movement. In my piece, I symbolically represent the struggles and hardships that we experience as African Americans in the U.S. The heavy brushstrokes of paint conceal my identity and represent the hard realities of racism. The colors I chose express confrontation with the hurtful effects of discrimination, while also portraying hope and equality for the future. Violet represents pride, wisdom, and power which the BLM movement has fostered for those who have been oppressed. Empowerment acknowledges the lives that have been lost and broken due to the racial prejudice and represents newfound empowerment and justice for the future.
The Shadow to Our Mental Health
Alaska Anna Ziegler
Artist
Color Pencil
Media
Kevin Petit
Teacher
Irmo High School
Every person has a mental “shadow” This “shadow: is the side of your personality that contains all the parts of yourself that you wish to hide from the world and not admit to having. The Coronavirus pandemic has been associated with mental health challenges that create new worries that add to our shadows. It is only through self-awareness that we can recognize our “shadows”, and understand that we need our shadows in order to see the good in our life.
Fractured
Timothy Harmon
Artist
Alcohol Markers
Media
Allan Anderson
Teacher
Lexington High School
During COVID-19 there are many emotions: fear, anger, and sadness. Many of these emotions are brought on by the stress and fear of coronavirus itself. You have so many emotions flowing through you at one time and it makes you feel like you are going to crack. Finally, when you do crack in those cracks is coronavirus spreading through the cracks like plague. Coronavirus is not only a physical pandemic, but a pandemic of your emotions too.
Covid’s Kiss
Claire Holbrook
Artist
Acrylic
Media
Candace
Cannon Teacher
Lexington High School
This piece reflects the impact of COVID-19 on love and romance as two masks prevent and embrace of a married couple. In this piece, the masks represent the distance and space that has come about due to COVID-19. Physical touch is a crucial part of relationships, and the pandemic has taken that affection away. COVID-19 has changed the way we can love one another, but as human beings we will always find a way to love.
The Struggles of Online School
Sophia Spence
Artist
Graphite
Media
Jospeh King
Teacher
Lexington High School
My piece was centered around my struggle with insomnia due to the new online learning. I tried to convey the exhaustion and feeling of being drained through value with graphite pencils. The reflection on the computer screen in the glasses solidifies the idea of staying up late on the laptop completing assignments. I also used a white pen to intensify the glare of the screen on the wall as well as the person. The hand pulling on the face was meant to intensify the idea of how badly the person needed sleep.
The Slow Growth towards Normality
Molly Wilson
Artist
Mixed Media
Media
Morgan Poole
Teacher
Lexington High School
In my art piece “The Slow Growth towards Normality”, the hand and greenery are meant to express the slow growth that is coming from such a hard time in our country. We have all been affected by this virus regardless of whether we ourselves have contracted it. I specifically chose the moss because it grows in a dark place and very slowly, and that is what I think this rebirth period is bringing to us. The hand was left bare at the bottom, but the fingers are a pink flesh color to show that life is reemerging.
One Mask Away
Joey Britt
Artist
Photography
Media
Chris Stafford
Teacher
River Bluff High School
Coronavirus gave me the opportunity to open a lens to the public to show how much teenagers’ lives have change this year. These two girls are both willing to sacrifice their health and their families health, to do what the love, when a year ago today, they would’ve never imagined how different it may feel to dance together. These girls are sacrificing so much of their lives to continue living their dreams. This photo holds a very strong message and show just how much people’s identities have changed in the past year.
Looking for the Light
Alexis Deason
Artist
Photography
Media
Carlee Myers
Teacher
River Bluff High School
2020 has brought us unprecedented times. We’re all experiencing different emotions during this time of uncertainty. This photograph was taken while my family was quarantined after I tested positive for Covid-19. This photograph defines my family and I being trapped, fearful of what was going to happen. It shows the dreadfulness of fighting Covid-19 and being closed off from the outside world. Most importantly it shows unity as my parents hold one another. As a whole, our world is fighting together against Covid-19. My parents and I only had each other. We stood side-by-side together fighting Covid…and won.
Patchwork
Elena Funderburk
Artist
Digital
Media
Audra Yesnach
Teacher
River Bluff High School
During isolation, I had built a box for myself. A box made out of work and habits. Somewhere safe to hide from the darkness around me. This was my sanctuary, but as the summer dragged on it became my prison. I had trapped myself in distractions to the point that I couldn’t spend time with those that needed me. In my blindness, I had torn myself apart. I desperately tried to put myself back together, but it was too late, the darkness found its way in and I found myself unraveling.
A Familiar Comfort
Jaden Hylton
Artist
Colored Pencil/Watercolor
Media
Sara McGregor
Teacher
River Bluff High School
My piece represents a pair comforting one another during a time when they have to stay away from their loved ones in order to keep them safe. It represents the warmth and the closeness of familial bonds and how sticking together during this time of uncertainty can bring us closer and make us more aware of just how much our family really means to us. Their colors blend together to show the intimacy we share with the ones closest to our hearts.
False Hope
Olivia Kass
Artist
Oil Paint
Media
Stephanie Mower
Teacher
River Bluff High School
False hope is in our unconscious like a hidden virus, occurring when we are let down after only believing what we want to hear. When our president assured us that “the virus would disappear”, I was hopeful. Unexpectedly, a continuation of events would arise, exacerbated from the high tensions of the pandemic. I emphasize with all of the protests and demonstrations performed in response to carelessness of those leading our country. Left feeling hopeless, I realized that art is my wat to process the series of events this year and an outlet for to inspire others.
Helianthus
Lily Piercey
Artist
Digital
Media
Scott Hoffman
Teacher
Spring Hill High School
During quarantine, someone incredible came back into my life, and while I did manage to better myself and reach a place of stability over the course of those eight months at home, I never truly felt whole without her there with me. When she reached out, it was like everything began to mend itself. After spending so long completely enveloped by uncertainty, she brought me back. Whenever, she has to calm me down, she always reminds me that sunflowers grow facing the sun- they look for warmth and light and thrive in it. Hearing this is what helped heal me.
Mizpah
Reagan Taylor
Artist
Oil Paint
Media
Cristel Collins
Teacher
Spring Hill High School
The piece I made, Mizpah, is an illustration of the struggle in maintaining relationships through Covid. Mizpah is defined as a deep emotional bond between people, especially those separated by distance or death. I thought the world did a wonderful job at summarizing the painting because it shows a girl hugging another person, and the other person being blue. I wanted that to represent either a ghost or some sort of hologram (which I left up to interpretation). Luckily, I have not been directly affected by death, but I have felt a loss through friends.
A Reformative Generation
Ruby Shaw
Artist
Paint
Media
David West
Teacher
White Knoll High School
This piece entitled “A Reformative Generation” represents the artist’s response to an unjust, polarized society and the need to stand for diversity and justice. The United States was founded on discrimination. Newer generations are fighting to being the healing process from the wrongdoings of our founders. During Covid-19, protests against police brutality and the U.S.’s justice systems took place; inspiring people to invoke change in creative ways due to the quarantine. Covid-19 has killed and impacted everyone’s lives and continues to do so, but it has started an important conversation, allowing people to speak about our unjust society.
