The purpose of the Images Art Acquisition is to support and honor the role of the arts in education and recognize the creative and expressive powers of students and teachers in the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District. This leased collection includes works by high school students from many of our local districts. The walls of the Educational Services Building are enhanced and enriched through the showcasing of student works that promote excellence in creativity and student learning. A special thanks to Dreese Fine Art for framing all of the student artwork. Through the High School Visual Arts programs within the OAISD, students use art as a tool for higher level thinking, problem solving, analyzing, evaluating, creating and communicating. Truly, through the eyes and work of these young artists we can catch a glimpse of their world. These visual images may not be transferred, printed, or in any way removed with the intent to create products for sale, resale, or for profit in any manner without the expressed written consent from the artist.

1. “FILM”
ELENA AZOST
GRAND HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL – GRADE 12

2. “WARM AND COOL”
Ismael Aguilera Balcazar
Holland High School – Grade 9
My artwork was a class assignment. We had to make
self-portrait using oil pastels. At first I thought it was
going to be difficult because oil pastels were a bit too
messy for me to use. As I was working on my project, I
always got to a point where I felt like I was done, but
my teacher told me that I still needed something more
on my portrait. To him, something was always
missing. It took me a while to realize what he was
talking about. It needed more than just color. It
needed something that would stand out, so that‟s when
I just started to scratch away at it. After much
thought, I ended up creating something I really
liked, and was proud of.

3. “UNTITLED”
Erica Bauman
Jenison High School – Grade 12
This piece was an assignment for my Studio Art class. We had to wrap an animal with an open mouth. I chose to
wrap this cheetah because I loved his ferociousness. To me, the weaving pattern kind of suppresses this and makes
the cheetah seem harmless. The weaving pattern was challenging and monotonous, but the result was satisfying.

4. “WOMAN AND CHILD”
Elize Boersema
Spring Lake High School – Grade 12
I chose this piece of artwork by Jonene Ficklin, and replicated it
in colored pencil because I was truly inspired by the story of the
mother in this picture. In Mali, Africa this woman was banished
and humiliated because she was unable to conceive, but thanks
to a humanitarian foundation and medical team, she was treated
and after three years had her first child. She was no longer seen
as a burden to her culture. This piece took me about a month to
complete and I enjoyed recreating it and sharing the story behind
it with others.

5. “HANDS”
Haile Bos
Zeeland High School West – Grade 11
I‟ve never been good at math. I was taught to count on my
fingers in 1st grade. This worked most of the time, until we
started adding and subtracting numbers more than 10. This
became a problem for me and my classmates, sometimes
we would borrow each other‟s fingers, but that was always a
hassle. When my teacher explained realism to us being a
real thing, but having unreal characteristics, I thought of
things that would make my life, along with others, easier.
What if my hand had hands? I could surely do my math
homework with ease now! Or could I? Counting may be
easy, but how do I go about holding my pencil?

6. “PASTELS”
MADELINE CIOFU
GRAND HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL – GRADE 12

7. “HONEY JARS”
Mackenzie Craymer
Zeeland High School East – Grade 12
The purpose of this piece was to experience
what it would be like to be an artist for hire in
illustration. First, we had to choose a book
we had read with art pictures. Then we
searched for vivid pictures that came to mind
as we read the book. We had to take that
imagery from our mind and place it on the
canvas the book I chose for this project was
“The Secret Life of Bees.” I remembered a
scene in which they were in the honey house
and looked at the shelves of honey jars in the
windows. So, I incorporated that scene, as
well as another with a bee and honey comb.
It was painted in oil paint on canvas.

8. “ABSTRACT APPLES”
Trent James
Allendale High School – Grade 11
This painting was a five part color scheme
project of a piece of small fabric our art
teacher assigned.
I chose a piece of apple fabric that I didn‟t
really want to paint but do to the small
selection I went ahead and chose the piece.
During the process of painting the
project, most of the time it went without any
major issues except for time. Due to the time
limit I had to quickly finish the project as soon
as I could. There are some small details that
I wish that I had the time to fix up but those
beans are cold now. In the end I was quite
satisfied with the result even though I wish I
had more time with it.

9. “PEACOCK GROVE”
KARISSA KEMME
ALLENDALE HIGH SCHOOL – GRADE 9
For this work piece I chose the peacock and such, because I grew loving the birds beautiful
coloring. I normally tend to show color and vibrancy in my work, giving it more excitement.

10. “BLACK AND WHITE SHADED INSECT”
Joshua Hill
Jenison High School – Grade 10
This was a shading assignment for my Intro to Art class. I chose the insect because of all the different opportunities for
shading in the patterns.

11. “FLOWER POWER”
Stephanie Howard
Coopersville High School – Grade 11
My piece “Flower Power” is about technology and nature. We forget how important our planet is and what it does for us.
Nature is a beautiful thing and we need to appreciate it more. Technology and nature need to work together for true
progress for our future.

12. “Giving Thanks”
Shelby Lacy
West Ottawa High School – Grade 12

13. “FACES”
TRENTON LACY
SAUGATUCK HIGH SCHOOL – GRADE 10
This project was a very rewarding project that I was able to
accomplish because the end result was so lavish. I had some
difficult parts in this journey but I was able to overcome them. I
really enjoyed doing this drawing.
I started by using the technique of contour drawing to draw the
people. This was very hard due to not being able to look at the
paper while drawing the people. This by far was the most
difficult part of the project. After I got the people on the board, I
designed and colored everything. When the coloring was
completed, I outlined everything with black marker to let
everything in the piece stand out. The next step was to cover
the piece with black ink. After it was dry, I used a sharp tool to
scratch the ink off where I wanted the color to be shown. After
this was completed the piece was done.
The project helped me learn to focus on detail especially when
I was contour drawing. Overall, this project turned out very
nice. I hope people will notice the hard work that was put into
this piece.

14. “MANDY”
Katelyn Mulder
Zeeland High School East – Grade 10
The inspiration for this piece was a photograph I had taken of my 9 month-old puppy.

15. “ROOSTER”
Paige Paul
Spring Lake High School – Grade 12

16. “REVOLVING PLANETS”
Chadd Pfahler
Coopersville High School – Grade 12
There aren‟t many things that are as
calming or relaxing as fishing.
Especially fly fishing. There‟s really
nothing quite like hiking a couple miles
into the woods and arriving at a slow
moving stream, where there are no
troubles and nothing to worry
about, except for where your next cast
will be. Time ceases to exist.
Above, you see what seem to be a
million mayflies soaring over the river
like an insect highway. They cloud the
sky and almost block what little sunlight
is left as the day is nearing an end.
Soon the „hatch‟ is over and the
mayfly‟s short life ends as it falls into the
stream and floats down the river. As
the moon makes its appearance so do
the quiet splash from the brown trout
feeding. Then, you cast your mayfly
lure upstream onto the water, and just
hope a big one latches on . . .

17. “LOVE LETTERS”
Emily Patten
Allendale High School – Grade 10
My piece of art was an assignment for an art class I had taken. My inspiration for my piece was my boyfriend Scott
Whitby and my relationship. We‟ve been together for a year and a half and I couldn‟t be happier.

18. “WONDERLAND”
Grace MacMaster
CTC – Grade 12
I entitle this piece “Wonderland” because of the whimsical characteristics it contains. I used several different line weights to
add depth and variety. Nature is also a theme that runs through it because it incorporates the
sun, moon, lightning, trees, flowers, mountains, and animals. There are four houses that emphasize the importance of the
home.

19. “SHADES OF FACE”
Stephen Pols
Careerline Tech Center – Grade 12
I wanted to re-invent the Andy Warhol “era”. Most of my intentions were to make a collage of one of my drawings. My
inspirations would have to be Andy Warhol and Jehan Choo. The story is, I was supposed to be doing a different project, but I
got bored and started doodling, then got distracted and colored them on Photoshop, and then pieced them together in a
fashion that best balances the color.

20. “GIRLS IN THE GARDEN”
Nora Reed
Spring Lake High School – Grade 9
Girl‟s in the Garden was an impressionism project in which
we were supposed to combine two famous oil pastel
drawings and create one piece. I chose to use the two
young girls from Renoir‟s “Two Girls in the Meadow” and
place them in Claude Monet‟s “The Garden in Flower.”

21. “RAUCHVERBOT”
Katie Schnobel
West Ottawa High School North – Grade 12
My piece “Rauchverbot”, meaning the prohibition of smoking, was inspired by an article in a German newspaper that I received while traveling to Germany this
past summer as an exchange student. The article explained a new policy regarding the ban of smoking in public places in areas of southern Germany. I was
shocked at this due to the fact that I had witnessed more people smoking in Germany than imaginable. When my art Teacher assigned a project which included a
reactive self-portrait, I was ready to respond to the article I had read, through my artwork. I was not only amazed at the number of people I saw smoking in
Germany, but also the number of public places available for smokers, including airports! I support the prohibition of smoking in public areas of Germany, as
smoking can lead to many health complications and even death. If there is one thing America has over Germany, it is our public policies regarding smoke-free
areas.

22. “CAT WITH GREEN EYES”
Tiffany Sikora
Grand Haven High School – Grade 11
The intent of my painting was to show viewers that beauty is all around them. An average house cat contains beauty, just like many other
things that people often overlook in their daily lives. I want my painting to cause people to slow down sometimes, and be grateful for this
beautiful world full of amazing things.

23. “SELF PORTRAIT”
Ethan Stahlnecker
Hudsonville Freshman Campus – Grade 9

24. “PATH TO HEAVEN”
Lillian Tath
Holland High School - Grade 10
This is my first true oil pastel piece. Since I‟ve never attempted a landscape with this medium before, it was like taking a dive into
the unknown. Half the time I wasn‟t sure what I was doing, but in the end I managed to pull it together with encouragement from
my art teacher. It truly was a great experience.

25. “MYSTERIOUS LADY”
Alexandria Vos
Hudsonville High School – Grade 12
I wanted to show through an illustration that emotions
can be provoked. It‟s one of my fondest aspects of art.

26. “TAG”
Brenton Wehrmeyer
West Ottawa High School – Grade 10
The assignment for this project was a spray
stencil of a photo of ourselves. So I started
with a photo of me holding a spray can and
then created the stencil. The stencil actually
broke many times, so I used different color
prints to fill in the negative space and spots
where the stencil broke. This gave it more of a
streetcar or graffiti look.

27. “IF ONE DOOR OPENS”
Jenna White
Hudsonville High School – Grade 10
For the final project in my digital photography class at Hudsonville High school, I was inspired by the Rascal Flaats song, “My
Wish,” hearing the lyrics “and if one door opens to another door closed, I hope you keep on walkin‟ till you find the window.” On my
way downtown, I thought to myself how appropriate it would be to take pictures of unique doors. As I took the photos, I thought
about the people that walked through these doors and wondered if there was a window of opportunity on the other side

28. “Illusive”
Eliza Zahm
Coopersville High School – Grade 11
In this artwork, titled Illusive, my piece symbolized the difference in one‟s state of mind. While some thoughts and ideas fall away, others
spiral into your conscious mind. I created this piece simply by playing with texture and color, and by creating a focal point. Though this piece
is non-objective, I feel that it symbolizes all the difference and diversity in the world through my use of color.

29. “Untitled”
James Broe
Saugatuck High School – Grade 12