As in the past, art teacher Kathy Kehs issued invitations to teachers, students and community members to view hundreds of individual art pieces created by her art students over the course of the year.

“All the guests are invited to vote for their four favorites [works],” Kehs said. “Two in the sculptures and crafts and two in fine arts, [which includes] drawing, painting, pastels and ink.”

“The top four winners [earned] a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby as part of the people’s choice awards,” Kehs said.

Over 350 pieces were on display in the show.

Winning in the fine arts category were Mya Conti for a three-panel galaxy background with faces and Kylie Wade for a three-panel landscape.

In sculpture and crafts, winners included Taylor Divers for a clay pig and Ben McQuilken for his clay Plank.

Though the art show reflects the work students have devoted their time to completing over the course of this year, many of them have taken art classes throughout high school.

Senior Gina Marrazzo has taken eight art classes.

“I love art and I like designing things,” she said.

Sepp Lind is also a longtime student of art.

“I think I took five courses,” he said. “I actually like to draw more. This 3D class was my back up elective. It helped me learn how to add value and shading into my drawings.”

Junior Kate Breininger is completing her sixth class in art.

“I’ve taken both intro and studio for drawing and painting and 2D art and this year,” Breininger said. “I took 3D art and ceramics and crafts.”

“I really liked doing art in 10th grade and it fit in with other harder classes,” Alex Rice said. “It’s calming and allows for a lot of creativity.”

“Art courses are a great way to balance the school day and traditional academics,” Kehs said. “My goal is to share a variety of techniques so the students can better express themselves and produce works that they feel are successful.”

“Art has always been something I loved since I was really young,” Breininger said. “I find it calming and peaceful to be working on art. I was mostly a fan of drawing and painting.”

Thinking and creativity go hand in hand.

For Alex Rice, it involves “taking an idea from online and making it our own.”

Pointing to one of his completed works, he explained that it was “meant to symbolize a celebration of a birth with one of the hands being the mother and the other the father’s. They’re holding up a swing for the kid.”

Rice said he was inspired by an image he found online.

“I made the child hang from a chain swing but added the tree, so it looks like the kid is hanging from the tree. I added the sun and the moon and the Milky Way. I’m really good at making trees but it took a lot of time because of the leaves, three hours or more,” he said.

Kehs is always looking for ideas to challenge her students.

“I search online, and search through art books, a favorite hobby of mine and I like to experiment with different media to see what it can do,” Kehns said.

“Then there are some projects, those that yield the most participation and the most learning, that I have been using and modifying.”

Kehs is not the only one thinking about art when the last bell rings.

“At home I design things,” Marrazzo said. “I painted my own dresser, sanded it and put a new color on it. Then I did a freehand painting of a silhouette on it.”

“I like to visit art galleries,” Breininger said.

“The most recent one was over the summer in Jackson Hole Wyoming. There were a ton of art galleries there. The art was based on the landscape of the area and the animals around there.”

As far as the future goes, some students are actually thinking about incorporating art into their career.

“I’ve looked into a lot of fields, some related to art and others more STEM related,” said Lind.

“I want to become an illustrator for books in general,” Breininger said. “My parents really like my projects and are happy that I’m working so hard.”