Engage the Arts 2026

Engage the Arts 2026

During the Autumn 2025 first-year seminar, Arts Scholars engaged in various workshops, discussions, and gallery visits that served to explore new perspectives and consider how their own stories relate to those of their peers and the Ohio State community. Their learning culminated in their Engage the Arts projects. This multimedia academic exercise encouraged Arts Scholars to do the following: tap into their creative identities, incorporate new ideas, and work collaboratively in small groups to bring original stories to life through art. Final project format options were the following: 1) zine series 2) short film and screenplay or 3) music leitmotif and poster art. We hope you enjoy the five stories that scholars voted into this year’s UAS online exhibition. 

All seminar projects can be viewed in person at the Fine Arts Library from Thursday, January 22 – Thursday, February 26. 

Thank You! These stories could only be developed with the expertise and support from the following people: Walker Ballard, Shaheen Beardsley, Catalina Bode, Nicholas Booker, Lisa Congdon, Jessie Horning, Sarah Robison, Caitlin McGurk, and Megg Mullarkey. Thank you to the OSU Urban Arts Space and Fine Arts Library Staff for sharing these projects with the community. 


Learn more about Ohio State's Arts Scholars program here.

"A Hero's Journey"; Silhouette of a hooded traveler walking toward a bright teal horizon, framed by chaotic black ink strokes with a jagged title at the bottom.

A Hero’s Journey

By Victoria Chindavong, Jessica Ellis, Alexander Garza, Gavin Hodge, and Anjali Paul

Our pieces detail the tragedy of J. Blackwell, a misjudged and misunderstood antagonist set within a dystopian setting. The works explore themes of betrayal, sorrow, and corruption through a music composition, an 8 ½" x 11" character design, and a 12"x16" poster art through the medium of ink. Both the character design and poster art pulled inspiration from several concept arts found within the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum through the usages of value, early character designs, and tones and hues. The music composition uses inspiration found within Nicholas Booker’s presentation of "Music as Storytelling & Narrative Song" through the techniques of dynamics, tone color, timbre, texture, harmony, and pitch. We want our viewers to explore unique themes of interpretations when listening and hearing the pieces, whilst exploring what may occur within the story, as well as how the pieces affect their emotions towards the work.  

Roles: 

Victoria Chindavong – Artist of Poster Art and Character Design 

Jessica Ellis – Vocalist, Story Creation, Lyricist, Alto Vocalist 

Alexander Garza – Composer of Music Composition, Lyric Translation, Scoring of Vocals, Assisted with Story Creation 

Gavin Hodge – Assisted with Story Creation, Bass Vocalist 

Anjali Paul – Soprano Vocalist

Read the Lyrics
 

See the Music Score

 

Mysterious figure in a glowing teal mask and hooded cloak, set against a dark, shadowy background of textured acrylics.
A screenshot of an Ableton Live 12 DAW session titled "A Hero's Journey." The arrangement view shows twenty tracks of colorful MIDI and audio clips, including orchestral instruments like Piccolo, Timpani, and Cello, as well as vocal tracks and sound effects.
A screenshot of an Ableton Live 12 DAW session titled "A Hero's Journey." The arrangement view shows twenty tracks of colorful MIDI and audio clips, including orchestral instruments like Piccolo, Timpani, and Cello, as well as vocal tracks and sound effects

 

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Art Is Everywhere

By Willow Birdette, Arman Kaur, Peyton Perry, and Faith Tengker

A college girl in the midst of an academic burnout finds inspiration in the most unlikely places. The girl, portrayed by Peyton Perry, discovers the simplicity and consistency of art in life. The inspiration for this project stems from a unique photography activity we took part in during our Arts and Scholars Seminar that emphasized detail in the most mundane places. That, combined with our favorite places on campus, helped cultivate our short film. 

The team behind this short film was created by Arman Kaur as director, Willow Birdette as cinematographer, Faith Tengker as editor, and Peyton Perry as lead actress. This short film was created solely from the minds of these four individuals and their experience in college life thus far.

Remote video URL

 

Read the Script

 

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A black-and-white noir film poster titled "NINE LIVES," featuring a large, dramatic shadow of a cat cast against a brick building with broken windows. In the distance, a small cat silhouette stands under a streetlamp, leaving a trail of paw prints that lead toward a discarded fedora and a smoking cigarette in the foreground.

 

Nine Lives

By Luca Brusco and Sam Haskell

Our movie concept Nine Lives is a cartoon mystery/thriller belonging to the 1950s–60s genre of film noir. It follows a feline detective (a "jazz cat" if you will) who frequents jazz clubs and solves mysteries. The art style is inspired by the early animation and characters such as Felix the Cat from the early 20th century. The music is inspired by the blues and cool jazz that contextualized film noir in films such as Anatomy of a Murder scored by Duke Ellington.

To make this project, we drew inspiration from pieces of art and media we gravitated to in our life and used skills laid out by the Arts Scholars seminar to bring it to life. To create the movie poster, we organized the design into thirds as described in the photography presentation and used lighting and shadows to emphasize key parts of the scene. The music is a jazz quintet performed by Sam on trumpet, Luca on bass, and three other musicians playing saxophone, piano, and drums.
 

See the Music Score
 

An ink drawing featuring a stylized anthropomorphic cat detective leaning against a brick wall in a noir-style alleyway. The character wears a trench coat and a small fedora, looking toward a chalk outline of a body on the ground. In the background, tall, geometric buildings rise under a crescent moon, with a bright searchlight or beam of light cutting through the night sky.
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A digital horror poster titled "Scopophobia" featuring a woman’s face illuminated in red, surrounded by many staring eyes and two figures with exaggerated, toothy grins.

SCOPOPHOBIA

By DJ Austin, Sarah Lewis, Alexander Matusiak, and Angela Mensah

Elena Ward lives peacefully. Her town, full of life and friendly neighbors, gives her life a new perspective. Daily routines are enjoyable, time with friends is always a laugh, and her boyfriend is the best man she could ever ask for... but what is that? A stranger stares, a toothy grin, a whisper of the wind? When Elena enters a room now, conversations are silenced. Her friends look at her with oddly hollow eyes and wide smiles. Her world is slowly slipping into madness. As she pleads to leave this hell, she will only find the embrace of what lies beyond the gate.

Our inspiration for this project was from the film and music discussion with Roman during an Arts Scholars weekly meeting. Horror music is a very different field of movie music, often relying on more noises and techniques than actual music, and the visuals of horror movies can be so varied. Using our knowledge of horror music and common design for horror movies, we created a simple design for our characters and musical motives. On the poster, we used a combination of cool and warm color palettes to demonstrate the juxtaposition of Elena’s wonderful life and madness. In the music, we used atonal writing techniques to show a never-quite-settled feeling of the music. With the different techniques used over this project, we hope you enjoy the madness of Scopophobia.

See the Music Score

 

A character design sheet for "Alma," showing a 16-year-old girl in a red cardigan and blue pants, with various facial expressions labeled "Happy," "Scared," and a profile view.
    Query successful  A character design sheet for "Marcus," featuring a 16-year-old boy with curly brown hair. He is shown in a full-body pose wearing a light blue polo shirt and tan pants while looking at a phone, alongside several headshots displaying different facial expressions. Handwritten notes indicate he is 6 feet tall, likes "Alma" and "playing on phone," and dislikes "divorced parents".

 

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A handmade collage on purple cardstock featuring various cutout phrases in different colors and fonts. The text reads, from top to bottom: "SUPER normal," "Totally AVERAGE," "Very Regular," and "Day in the Life of an OSU student". The words "Very Regular" are decorated with small pink flowers on either side.

Super Normal Totally Average Very Regular Day in the Life of an Ohio State Student

By Kyla Dunphy, Harper Fleming, Kyla Dunphy, and Ava Napoli

Read the full zine below! Accessible image descriptions are available beneath each image.

Join the W Art Group for a day in their lives at Ohio State. Their day may seem normal at first, but don't let that fool you. Throughout four chapters, travel with the group through morning, noon, afternoon, and night, and see how weird The Ohio State University can get. Each member of the group will face challenges, adventures, and chaos until they run into the next person. Finally, at the end of everyone’s crazy day, they are all reunited for a final debrief. 

The inspiration for our zine was discovering what life is like as an Ohio State student. The chapters are based on each member's interpretation of their day, with added fantasy elements. As the day continues, in each part—morning, afternoon, evening, and night—the story gets progressively stranger, meant to represent how we, as freshmen, are trying to adjust to the craziness of college life. Our zine also has a strong emphasis on collaboration and individuality. Each chapter is drawn from one member's point of view and art style, until they run into the next person. This is when art styles and world building collide, giving the zine a fun mixed-media look. 

Grace Miller: Chapter 1: Morning story and illustration 

Kyla Dunphy: Chapter 2: Noon story and illustration 

Harper Flemming: Chapter 3: Afternoon story and illustration 

Ava Napoli: Chapter 4: Night story and illustration 

Together: Cardboard bind, book binding, and collaborative back pages and covers (when we meet up)

A handmade diorama in a cardboard box featuring a pink backdrop with four hand-drawn, cut-out characters in various styles. Below them, a notebook sits in the box, titled "Super Totally Average Very Regular DAY IN THE LIFE of an Ohio State Student," with a drawing of a building and the words "Chapter 1: Morning."
The cover of a handmade comic titled "Super Totally Average Very Regular DAY IN THE LIFE of an Ohio State Student." It features a drawing of a green arched door under a stone portico and a lamp, with "Chapter 1: Morning" written in the corner.

The title page for the first chapter repeats the title on off-white paper with rounded corners: Super Normal Totally Average Very Regular Day in the Life of an Ohio State Student. The central illustration is a sketch of an Ohio State campus building entrance, featuring green double doors under a stone archway with a hanging black lantern. Handwritten text in the bottom right corner identifies this as Chapter 1: Morning.

A two-page colorful comic titled "Chapter 1: Morning," depicting a young woman's morning routine of waking up to an alarm, getting ready, and heading out.

A 12-panel comic chronicles Grace’s morning. The sequence begins with an alarm clock at 7:00 emitting a loud Beep Beep!, followed by a Smack! on the snooze button. Panels show Grace waking up with messy hair, brushing her teeth, and applying eyeliner. The routine ends with a large drawing of Grace striking a pose in her blue hoodie and jeans with the text "Ta Da!" followed by a tiny panel of her exiting through green dorm doors.

An open notebook shows a multi-panel comic strip across two pages. On the left page, a girl accidentally steps on a squirrel's tail while walking toward a large white building. She feels bad and gives the squirrel a cracker, telling it "don't be sad". On the right page, she continues her walk but is suddenly surrounded by a large, angry-looking mob of squirrels squeaking at her for more food.

This 16-panel grid shows Grace walking toward a white campus building. After an accidental Squeak!, Grace says, "OH!" and offers a cracker to a sad squirrel, saying, "Aw! I'm sorry buddy... don't be sad. Here, have a cracker!" The squirrel takes it with a bounce bounce, but the mood shifts as dozens of squirrels emerge. Grace nervously tells the crowd, "Ha! Sorry guys, no more!", but they respond with more aggressive Squeak!sounds.

The girl is being chased by squirrels into a hollow tree. Inside, she is held captive by a "squirrel king" sitting on a Nutella jar, but she is eventually released and says "thank you!" as she crawls out.

In a 16-panel spread, Grace runs at full speed with the text "OH NO!" and "AAAAAA..." as a wave of squirrels pursues her. She hides behind a tree, whispering, "Come on," but is cornered by a "Squirrel King" wearing a crown and sitting on a jar of Nutella. After a tense exchange with much squirrel squeaking where she pleads, "Lemme go? Please," the king allows her to leave. Grace is shown crawling away with relief and says, "thank you!"

A full-page illustration of the girl, looking disheveled and muddy, standing in a bathroom. Another character stands opposite her, shouting "GRACE!" while Grace responds with a speech bubble saying, "Don't ask..."

Grace stands by her dorm sink, looking defeated and covered in brown mud splatters. She sighs and says "Don't ask..." Her roommate, Maya, appears as a paper cutout pasted onto the page, wearing blue plaid pajama pants. Maya looks shocked with her mouth open, yelling, "GRACE!" in a large speech bubble. A faint rainbow aura is drawn around the edges of the room to frame the scene.

The title page for the next section, "Chapter 2: Noon." It shows Grace and the other character facing each other in the bathroom, both looking stressed or upset.

A profile view of Grace and Kyla facing each other in their shared bathroom, titled Chapter 2: Noon. Grace is on the left in her blue hoodie, looking visibly annoyed. Kyla is on the right with a calm, inquisitive expression. A gray pedestal sink sits between them, and the background mirror reflects a simple pattern of blue and white diagonal stripes.

A second character getting ready in a dorm room labeled "Kyla" and "Maya"; she applies makeup and puts on a yellow and pink ballgown.

The left side shows her dorm door, room 2132, with name tags for Kyla and Maya. Panels show her toothbrush, makeup, and her applying blue mascara. The right page features a transformation sequence as she pulls a garment over her head, ending with a panel of Kyla wearing a bright yellow bodice with a blue gemstone and a voluminous pink skirt.

Kyla in her gown saying, "I guess I am a princess now," before receiving a donut from a friend and running off to class.

A large, sparkly portrait of Kyla in her full gown, who says, "I guess I am a princess now. This is followed by a knock knock at the door. A person says, "Donut for princess Kyla!" There's an illustration of a donut with pink frosting and the text STRAWBERRY DONUT! Kyla smiles happily with the donut, but the final panel shows her eyes wide in shock as she yells, "CLASS!" and sprints away in her gown, leaving red motion lines behind her.

The princess character and a friend in a "PITT" shirt walking past animals on campus toward a building labeled "McPherson" for Chemistry.

A trio of animal friends—a startled rabbit, a round pink bird, and a squirrel eating a chocolate bar—run across the ground to the hem of Kyla's dress. One student observer smiles and another looks weirded out. There's a panel showing the front of McPherson Hall. Kyla smiles as another character in a PITT shirt side-eyes here and her group of forest animals. A piece of paper reads Chemistryin ornate handwriting. We see Kyla from the back and then a wide shot of the campus Oval, with someone shouting, "HARPER!"

A full-page illustration showing a wide view of a campus building with a dome, with several small figures walking on intersecting paths in front of it.

In a full-page illustration that expands on the previous scene, the camera zooms in on the campus green with a pale blue sky. A domed building stands as a central anchor. Paths cut through the green grass of the Oval like spokes on a wheel, leading toward a central circular plaza. Two small figures (Kyla and Harper) have a conversation. Nearby, a third figure in red walks away down a diverging path.

A title page for "Chapter Three: Evening," featuring a character with long dark hair walking through a park at night, thinking about going to "study Orton?".

A hand-drawn comic page marks the start of "Chapter Three: Evening." In the bottom panel, a long-haired character walks through a dark, hatched landscape framed by silhouetted trees. Two speech bubbles capture their internal monologue: "Well that was weird..." and "I think I'm going to study Orton?" The art style features bold block lettering and heavy ink contrasts, giving it a distinct indie-zine aesthetic.

The character entering Orton Hall and finding a purple book titled "A Spellbook of Dinosaurs" after deciding to take a study break.

We follow the character to "ORTON HALL," a large stone building with a prominent arched entrance. Standing outside, the character thinks, "Maybe I don't want to study..." The right side of the page uses multiple panels to show the passage of time: the character first laments, "Ughh I do not want to study," before a "1 HOUR LATER" graphic transitions to them declaring, "Okay I am taking a Break!" Finally, while browsing library shelves, they spot a purple book and remark, "Hmm this looks cool!" as the final panel reveals the title: "A Spellbook of Dinosaurs."

The character reads a spell to "Bring back Dinosaurs"; a T-Rex skeleton comes to life and asks the shocked character for help.

The character opens the "Spellbook of Dinosaurs" to a page reading, "CAUTION! Spell to bring back the Dinosaurs. Say: Bring back Dinosaurs!" Enthusiastically thinking "OMG, This is so COOL!" and "Ummmmm Yes!" to the idea of casting it, they shout the incantation: "BRING Back Dinosaurs!" After an initial moment of silence where they remark, "HUH. NOTHING HAPPENED," a massive, jagged sound effect reading "GRRAAH!" erupts, prompting a shocked "WHAT THE HELL?!?" On the facing page, a large Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton comes to life with a roaring "ARGGHHHHH," leaving the character wide-eyed and trembling. As the character flees while screaming "AAHHHHH," the skeleton surprisingly calls out, "WAIT I NEED YOUR HELP!" The scene ends with the character pausing in confusion to ask, "You're a dinosaur. WTH do YOU need MY help?"

A hand-drawn comic page where a character named Ava helps a group of dinosaur ghosts. She uses a dangerous spell book to chant "GEDEH," successfully turning their skeletons back into colorful living dinosaurs.

The Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton explains its tragic history, stating that long ago, humans invaded Earth and cast a spell to turn dinosaurs into bones so they couldn't fight back. It asks, "Somewhere there is a spell to bring us back.... Will you help me? So yeah that’s what happened." The character, though hesitant, agrees by saying,"I will help," and "But I don't know how...!" while the dinosaur adds, "I miss my friends."

They consult "THE BOOK!" again and find a "Caution! VERY Dangerous Spell... Dinosaurs are Dangerous." The instructions specify that to bring back all dinosaurs, one must say "GEOEH" in runes with a dinosaur. Determined, the character says, "Okay, we can do this!" and "LETS DO THIS!" The character and the T-Rex skull together shout the incantation. Initially, as they look at other skeletons, the character sighs, "I DON'T THINK IT WORKED." However, the magic takes hold, and a blue sauropod and pink stegosaurus appear with a heart between them. The story ends with a celebratory "WAIT!" and the character exclaiming, "We did it! I can't believe it!"

The dinosaurs immediately declare war on humans. Looking panicked, Ava flees the scene, running past the "Thomas E. and Patricia" building and warning herself never to read books or go to Orton Hall again.

A jagged, red-tinted speech bubble shows the colorful dinosaurs brandishing weapons and declaring, "NOW WE Rage WAR!!" Witnessing the unintended chaos, the character wide-eyed and stunned, thinks, "Oh... MY... I am just going to leave now..." and begins to sprint away while whispering, "Oh... No...". The final large panel shows the character fleeing a building labeled "The Thomas E. AND Patercia." Looking back one last time, she warns herself in a frantic thought bubble: "AVA! NEVER Read books... and don't go to Orton," while saying, "BYE!"

The title page for "Chapter Four — Night — At Thompson Library." It shows a cheerful character with long brown hair and a red sweater waving goodbye to her friend Harper.

This full-page illustration serves as a title card for the next section of the story, transitioning from black-and-white ink to a more colorful palette. The top half of the page features the words "CHAPTER FOUR" in large, teal-colored block letters, flanked by two yellow stars and underlined by the word "NIGHT."

Below a solid black divider, the scene shifts to "AT THOMPSON LIBRARY." The illustration shows two characters on a light-brown wooden floor in front of a textured red wall. One character, seen from the back with long dark hair, waves goodbye and says, "BYE HARPER!" The other character, Harper, is a girl with brown hair wearing a red sweater and a blue skirt. She waves back with a smile, her speech bubble reading, "BYE AVA!"

While exploring the library to avoid homework, the girl finds a glowing yellow football. Suddenly, a giant cockroach named Jeff grabs her, shouting "LET ME GO!" as he drags her away.

Harper begins exploring a seemingly deserted library floor. After stepping out of an elevator, she notes, "HUH... FLOOR'S EMPTY!". While sitting at a desk and thinking, "I need a straight edge," she pulls a book from a nearby shelf, exclaiming, "This'll work!" Her action triggers a hidden mechanism; as a bookshelf slides away with a scrape sound, she stares in shock at the opening, her thoughts punctuated by a large red "WHAT." Discovering a secret passage, she decides, "OOOO!! A distraction from homework. Might as well EXPLORE!"

Upon entering the secret room, she spots an artifact on a pedestal and asks, "Is that a... glowing football!!" As she reaches out to grab it, she is suddenly intercepted by a giant bipedal cockroach labeled "JEFF." The scene ends in a frantic struggle as Jeff and another insect grab Harper by the arms, dragging her away while she screams in large red letters, "LET ME GO!"

In an underground lair, the "Roach Council of South Oval" tells the girl she activated a monster. She agrees to help them defeat it in exchange for the roaches never entering Baker Hall again. A training montage follows.

Harper is brought before "THE ROACH COUNCIL OF SOUTH OVAL." Confused, she asks, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" A cockroach explains, "YOU HAVE PUT OSU IN GREAT DANGER. Basically that football you touched activated the MIRROR LAKE MONSTER. Now you have to help us DEFEAT it." Harper initially declines, saying, "Yeahhh... so I actually don't want to deal with that." However, the cockroach offers an incentive: "IFFFF you help us, we will never enter Baker Hall AGAIN." Relieved, Harper exclaims, "ACTUALLY?! DEAL!"

The corner of the page reads, "Back in the Underground Lair." The cockroach points to a football-like planning board with O's and X's, saying, "You defeat him by FIRST: Attacking him—THEN you have to throw the football into his mouth." Harper admits, "YEAH so I actually CAN'T throw a football." This leads to a montage sequence labeled "INSERT TRAINING SCENES & RAD MUSIC." Small panels show Harper practicing her throw and running through crowds of cockroaches while screaming "AHHHHH." The training concludes with the council encouraging her, "YOU'RE READY," as Harper adopts a determined expression.

A battle sequence where the girl and "Flying Brutus" use a football to defeat a giant dinosaur monster that is a Michigan fan. After the victory, she receives a medal and heads "Back to Baker."

In this final action-packed spread, Harper faces the "BATTLE" against the "MIRROR LAKE MONSTER", who is revealed to be a dinosaur wearing a Michigan jersey with a roar of "RAAAAAA". Witnessing the beast, she thinks, "IT LOOKS EVEN WORSE THAN I IMAGINED." After a teammate notes, "he's a Michigan fan..." the fight commences with Harper landing a PUNCH and a KICK. Despite a moment of doubt where she thinks, "It's not gonna make it!" Brutus Buckeye arrives to help with a "FLYING BRUTUS" maneuver, prompting Harper to exclaim, "IT'S YOU!" Together they deliver a final BAM!that results in a massive explosion and a celebratory "high five!"

Following the victory, the Roach Council awards her a gold medal and declares, "YOU'RE OUR HERO!" They instruct her to "Follow the trail of buckeyes to return home" as she head towards a "PORTAL" marked "touch" while the council cheers "WOO!", "YAY!", and "BYE!" Harper re-emerges "Back at Thompson" with a TRIPand a BAM!After silencing some onlookers with a "SHHHH!", she quickly grabs her things and runs out with a WOOSH! determinedly stating, "I HAVE TO TELL MY FRIENDS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" as she heads "BACK TO BAKER."

A final splash page featuring four different characters—including Ava and the girl in the red sweater—all standing together and saying in unison, "You guys won't believe the day I've had...

In this final full-page illustration, the four characters stand before a brick wall and speak in unison through a large blue speech bubble where everyone declares, "YOU GUYS WON'T BELIEVE THE DAY I'VE HAD..." The group features Ava, still rendered in a black-and-white hatched style with a small pink dinosaur on her head and a green neon outline, and Harper, who is drawn in color with an orange outline while wearing her gold medal. They are joined by a girl in a light-blue jacket and jeans outlined in purple, as well as Kyla in a yellow gown outlined in yellow. This colorful ensemble brings the various storylines together, highlighting the unique artistic styles used for each character.