“Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It’s our birthright. And it’s for all of us.” — Rick Rubin
For the past 3 months, I have been intensely immersed in the Fulbright TGC program and have gained an amazing amount of new knowledge, resources, and connections. Finally, fueled by inspiration from the program, I have officially brought my passion project to life!
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Gogh Global, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering students and teachers through art education and travel experiences to embrace investigating our roles on the global canvas!
Gogh Global focuses on the transformative power of art to connect people, spark creativity, and foster global competency.
The mission is to:
Inspire art educators with instructional resources and workshops that bring fresh, globally-minded perspectives to the classroom. Provide community members (student and adult travelers alike) with travel opportunities that open their eyes to the world’s rich artistic and cultural diversity. Build a community of passionate individuals who see art as a universal language for connection and growth. Based in Southwest Ohio, Gogh Global is just getting started—but the possibilities are endless!
Stay tuned for updates, upcoming adventures, and opportunities to get involved. Together, we’ll Gogh Global and create a brighter, more connected world through art!
The second annual art exhibition, “Journey of Healing – The
Trauma-Informed Power of Art” opening reception will be take place on October 10th, 2024, from 6pm – 8pm at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and will be on view until the 28th.
The exhibition highlights gender-based violence through the healing power of art, coinciding with October’s designation as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The event will showcase over thirty local artists’ original creations—their personal journeys of well-being representing the power art has as a healing modality. Through this exhibit, Zonta hopes to bring awareness to the lived experiences of those seeking a world where no woman lives in fear of violence.
Zonta Club of Cincinnati President Jane Wiehe says, “Art provides a safe way to process our emotions from experienced traumatic events. That same artistic expression is also an effective way to bring about public awareness of gender-based violence that has often been kept hidden. We cannot solve what we can’t see or choose not to see.”
The mission of the Zonta Club of Cincinnati, a member of Zonta International, is to build a better world for women and girls. Zonta International has consultative status with the United Nations about women’s issues. With over 26,000 members in 63 countries, Zonta clubs worldwide hold events in their communities and raise their voices on social media to promote their annual Zonta Says NO – 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign. The campaign was launched in November 2012. To learn more and join the campaign, please visit www.zontasaysno.com.
For more information about the event and the Zonta Club of Cincinnati, visit their website atnwww.zonta-cinti.org.
Sail into a night of enchantment and elegance as Kentucky’s stunning natural beauty is brought to life at Art Off the Walls: Sunrise to Starlight, Saturday, September 14 from 6:30–10:30 p.m. at Newport Car Barn.
This year, you can bid on my works at the silent auction starting on Wednesday, September 11th, here: https://event.gives/aotw2024/items
“Sol: Midwinter Icelandic Sunlight”, captures a unique encounter in southern Iceland of winter day bathed in sunlight despite the sun’s persistent absence, encapsulating a supernatural moment. The image represents the spirit of the Norse gods, whose power can transform the impossible into reality. In this captured moment, the land itself becomes a living myth, embodying a paradox where light exists without its source create a spectrum of color conjuring visions of the Rainbow Bridge, echoing the mysteries that have shaped the stories of ancient civilizations. My images invite viewers to see nature not just as a backdrop but as a living entity, where the gods still reside, whispering their tales through the wind, the light, and the earth itself.
“The Journey of Huitzilopochtli and Tonatiuh” capture the sunrise over Mexico, home of the Aztec gods, as seen from above the clouds. The interplay of light and atmosphere conjures the timeless power of these deities. The heavens unfold as if presented by the gods themselves, where the brilliance of the sun speaks to the eternal dance between light, darkness, and the delicate nature of the clouds and sky above. More than a sunrise; it is a manifestation of the divine forces that have inspired human wonder and reverence throughout history. My images seek to reveal the sacred in the natural world, inviting viewers to witness the world as a place where myths are alive, and the gods continue to shape our reality.
Update: BOTH works were sold at the auction!
“Sol: Midwinter Icelandic Sunlight”“The Journey of Huitzilopochtli and Tonatiuh”
On August 1st I received the exciting notification that I was selected for the 2024-2025 Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program. This prestigious program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. The Fulbright Program is an international academic exchange program founded in 1946 with an ambitious goal — to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Today, the U.S. government oversees an extensive suite of fellowships and scholarships in partnership with more than 160 countries worldwide. I’m honored to have been selected to be a part of this year’s cohort.
SOS ART, founded in 2003, began as both an art exhibit and an art festival with related events and publications concerning issues of peace and justice by Greater Cincinnati Artists. The annual art event grew to include, in addition to the works of established local artists, artwork of school children; also to engage children through classroom visits and workshops.
For information about the annual SOS ART Exhibition and Event, check out this interview with Fresh Air on WVXU.
The SOS ART Youth art exhibit organized by SOS ART is devoted entirely to the artistic voice of our children and youth for Peace and Justice. In past SOS ART editions, their voice was part of the larger SOS ART exhibits catered primarily to adult artists. It was felt that it would be good and advantageous to provide them their own space and venue for expression and thus facilitate their interactions, collaboration, and growth.
The SOS ART YOUTH Art Exhibition and Event of Creative Expressions for Peace and Justice is an annual multidisciplinary show and event featuring various youth creative expressions for Peace and Justice. Works, creative writings, or performances for the exhibition should focus on any of the broad themes of Peace and Justice, including but not limited to the following: Tolerance, Empathy and Compassion, Equity and Equality, Homelessness, Discrimination, War, and Non-War Related Violence, Environment, Gender, Race, Religion, Poverty, etc.
For entry information regarding the SOS ART Youth Exhibition, review the document below.
SOS Art Cincinnati sponsors a yearly SOS ART Show and Event of creative expressions for peace and justice.
The primary objectives of SOS Art Cincinnati are: To promote the use of art as a vehicle for peace and justice and for a better world. To provide art-related educational programs towards peace and justice for all ages. To help facilitate the creation and development by local artists of literary and artistic works focused on peace and justice. To help create a community of local artists who use their artistic voice for peace and justice, who connect and collaborate. To use art, to inform, educate and create a dialogue on issues pertaining to peace and justice.
The Guf: Cosmogenesis & The Guf: Anthropogenesis
The birds depicted in my artworks are referenced for their migratory patterns and characteristics; specific birds are selected for their symbolic representation and cultural significance. Numbers and numerology are integrated to symbolize specific dates related to significant transitional life events, ages, or passages through tribulations that have become encoded as a part of my identity. Accompanying the images are elements of personal narrative, the creation of my own story describing the significance of events, and how they have contributed to my personal journey. A multitude of religions and mythologies attribute Sparrows as the carrier of the human soul. The mapped hand alludes to the life path, our journey partially mapped from birth, but ever evolving. Serving as a metaphor for the womb, the empty nest and fallen feathers represent vacancy. The Guf: Cosmogenesis, addresses the fledgling creation of confidence in embracing my decision to not bare children in a world where this is still widely considered to be one of the primary duties of womanhood. The “Guf: Anthropogenesis”, addresses the strength in acceptance of going against the cultural norm of using my body as a vessel to bare children.
SOS Art Cincinnati sponsors a yearly SOS ART Show and Event of creative expressions for peace and justice.
The primary objectives of SOS Art Cincinnati are: To promote the use of art as a vehicle for peace and justice and for a better world. To provide art-related educational programs towards peace and justice for all ages. To help facilitate the creation and development by local artists of literary and artistic works focused on peace and justice. To help create a community of local artists who use their artistic voice for peace and justice, who connect and collaborate. To use art, to inform, educate and create a dialogue on issues pertaining to peace and justice.
Psychology, religion, literature, and history inspire the conceptual and visual development for my artworks which focus on the relationship of the construction of identity and gender expectations through narrative.
Lavinia
“Lavinia” is inspired by the daughter of Titus Andronicus and her objectification as “Rome’s Ornament”. While she is valued for her beauty and graciousness, she is viewed by the men around her as an object. Ultimately, Lavinia raped and disfigured, her identification as an object of beauty brutally stripped away, is discarded like fallen leaves. “Lavinia” serves as a commentary on the continued emphasis on the standards of beauty placed upon women in society as well as the role that men play in the maintenance and destruction of that ideal. Embedded in the image is stream of consciousness writing intertwined with text from the Shakespearean play as a means to emphasize how the stories we are told, or read, throughout our life ultimately become a part of our constructed identity.
Desdemona
“Desdemona” is a representation of the oppression of female empowerment and independence. In “Othello”, Desdemona demonstrates bravery, loyalty, and independence through her refusal to be crushed by the patriarchy. This outspokenness ultimately results in her downfall that was predestined because of her vulnerability of her position as a woman in a male dominated society where freedoms were inaccessible. Crushed against the picture plane, the struggling image of “Desdemona” channels the suffocation suffered by women in society. Embedded in the image is stream of consciousness writing intertwined with text from the Shakespearean play as a means to emphasize how the stories we are told, or read, throughout our life ultimately become a part of our constructed identity. The text and image are created on beeswaxed rice paper to emphasize how these ideals communicated through stories become an inseparable part of the development of the female identity, and illusion to the skin we come to live in and struggle to separate from.
Ophelia
“Ophelia”, the rejected lover of Hamlet, symbolizes innocence gone mad. Her death symbolizes a life tragically spent in tolerance of manipulation and restriction with the struggle to maintain some sense of independence or dignity constantly alluding her. As a woman, I’ve often felt the pressure to accept or conform to the prescribed ideas of how women should behave in order to attract the favor of men. Drowning in societal expectations for behaviors in relationships, or the struggle to honor a true sense of self, rests at the core of her story and the stories of many women. Embedded in the image is stream of consciousness writing intertwined with text from the Shakespearean play as a means to emphasize how the stories we are told, or read, throughout our life ultimately become a part of our constructed identity. The text and image are created on beeswaxed rice paper to emphasize how these ideals communicated through stories become an inseparable part of the development of the female identity, and illusion to the skin we come to live in and struggle to separate from.
The annual challenge and exhibit of Miniprints for Peace and Justice by American Artists and Artists living in the USA, launched by SOS ART is now available for online viewing!
Among the exhibiting artists are Drawing and Printmaking students, along with their teacher Jamie Schorsch, representing OHHS Art and Design. All Miniprints are “6x”6 and for sale with proceeds going to both the artists and SOS Art.
You can view the OHHS Art and Design prints exhibited below. Be sure to check out the entire USA Miniprints for Peach and Justice gallery at:
Lanceare Drypoint Etching on Stonehenge; 10×10″; image 6×6″
“‘Lanceāre’ serves as commentary in response to the February 24th, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The points populating the background of the image along with the linear shape symbolize the locations of the Russian troops encroaching on the borders of Ukraine. The storks, representative of the national bird of Ukraine, represent the strength of the people standing together to protect one another while also seeking shelter from the violent onslaught brought forth by the Russian military.”
Cornu Libertas Drypoint Etching; 6” x6”
“Cornu Liberats” delves into the symbolism of the Peruvian condor, intertwining it with the socio-political realities shaped by globalization and the stark divide between urban and rural areas of the country. The condor, a majestic bird deeply rooted in Peruvian culture, embodies strength, resilience, and freedom. It soars high above the land, bridging the gap between the earthly realm and the heavens, and serves as a powerful metaphor for the aspirations and collective spirit of the Peruvian people. In the context of a rapidly globalizing world, this once-unifying symbol has become a poignant reminder of the growing chasm between urban and rural areas. Historically, rural Peruvians faced systemic marginalization, lacking even the basic right to vote until as late as 1979. Political power and economic prosperity have taken root in the urban realm, and continues to sprout inequities between regions. The condor, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, serves as a catalyst for transformation—a call to bridge the divide, to heal wounds, and to foster a more equitable and harmonious Peru.
Exciting News for Wanderlust Wednesday! 
Provide community members (student and adult travelers alike) with travel opportunities that open their eyes to the world’s rich artistic and cultural diversity.
Build a community of passionate individuals who see art as a universal language for connection and growth.
Based in Southwest Ohio, Gogh Global is just getting started—but the possibilities are endless!
Jamie Schorsch 