photo by: Contributed

Isabel Klish's self-portrait "Papule, Pustuels, Nodules, Cystic," was selected for an international art exhibition.

In a self-portrait that will soon appear at an international exhibition in New York, Lawrence High senior Isabel Klish quite literally reflects on living with a skin condition that causes acne breakouts.

The piece, titled “Papule, Pustules, Nodules, Cystic,” depicts Klish peering into a mirror while attempting to cover up her acne with a makeup brush. It and three more of her works have been selected to appear in the international juried PKX Teen Art Exhibition, which will be at The Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery in New York from April 18 to May 17.

And Klish isn’t the only Lawrence High student who will soon get the chance to showcase their art on a national stage. Ceramic artist Oliver Elwell, a senior at LHS, and photographers Lola Brown and Selah Wolfe, both sophomores, have also had their works chosen for high-profile exhibitions.

Klish said she submitted her entries on a whim and was surprised that they were selected.

“It’s a really big and unique opportunity that I wasn’t expecting.” she said. “I’m happy and excited to have the privilege to be a part of such a really cool show.”

In creating the self-portrait, Klish said she experimented with different ways to portray skin tones and the environment around them, as well as with layering different surfaces to create unique textures and color schemes. Klish sculpted pimples with modeling wax, and adorned the piece with real hair hanging from the side.

Lawrence High art instructor Todd Poteet said that Klish is among his most advanced students, and that she’s used a variety of materials in other works, including one where she used an assortment of fabrics to symbolize memories of her grandparents. Poteet said he encourages students to find their inner voice, asking “what is it you want to say while creating your work?”

“We encourage students to start finding that place where they can speak openly about things that maybe they can’t say verbally,” Poteet said. He said Klish’s “(art) language has developed far beyond what a typical high school student would be doing.”

“It just continues to expand,” he said. “So she can talk about things in her art that maybe she wouldn’t be able to if she was standing in front of you. And it’s important, because a lot of the issues that need to be said are often overlooked.”

For example, Poteet said Klish’s self-portrait was born out of the idea of being “encouraged to cover up and hide” her perceived facial flaws.

“As a teenager, that becomes a very real existence,” he said. “That you sort of have to cover up who you are in the moment.”

Klish, too, said her art is all about communicating ideas that would be difficult to convey any other way.

“My work is about exploring and expressing ideas that aren’t often represented or portrayed,” Klish said. “And it’s also about things that I want to express, but that are hard to express in words.”

photo by: Contributed

Another of Isabel Klish’s works that was selected for an international art competition in New York.

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Elwell, the ceramic artist, recently had the sculpture “My Greenhouse” accepted into a student exhibition that is held in conjunction with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference. The hand-built slab piece was one of 150 pieces selected from nearly 1,200 submissions. Elwell’s work will be displayed at NCECA’s annual convention in Richmond, Va., next month.

LHS ceramics teacher Emily Markoulatos described Elwell’s piece as a “functional lidded container” with a surface design that’s rich in detail.

“The surface design was really intricate work,” Markoulatos said, adding that it was hand-painted with underglazes.

photo by: Contributed

Lawrence High School senior Oliver Elwell poses with a ceramic piece that was selected for a national art exhibition in Richmond, Va.

The piece displays a windowsill with a number of plants on the outside, as well as miniature plants framed as side paneling. In addition, the lid is patterned after a monstera leaf. Markoulatos said she was not surprised that the piece was selected, “because I knew it was a really high-quality piece of artwork,” and the “judges recognized that.”

“Based on past ceramic pieces I’ve made, I was trying to progress with that same style,” Elwell said. “All of my art pieces are pretty personal, and this is based off my room and things that I have in it.”

Markoulatos called it a “cool take on a self-portrait without putting a figure into it.”

“It’s a non-figurative self-portrait,” she said.

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photo by: Contributed

Lawrence High School sophomore Lola Brown’s photograph “Preserved Serenity” was selected for an art exhibit and competition and New York.

The two photographers, Brown and Wolfe, are good friends, and both recently had photographs selected for exhibition at The Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery in New York.

“The amazing thing about both of those girls is that they came to me asking for assignments in between (Photo 1 and Photo 2 classes),” said LHS photography teacher Angelia Perkins. “They can do it on their own, but they want to be challenged.”

For one of Brown’s photos, “Preserved Serenity,” she snapped a picture of one her friends peering from the side of a bookshelf at a library on the University of Kansas campus. Perkins said the image creates allure.

“A lot of Lola’s work has a real mystery to it,” Perkins said. “Even if you can identify what’s in the picture, people can still be drawn to it because of that isolation — you don’t really know what’s going on.”

Brown said that she often takes photos of things that have a “deeper connection and makes me feel good about the work that I’m putting forward.”

“It’s about the meaning behind the work that I create,” she said.

photo by: Contributed

Lawrence High sophomore Selah Wolfe’s photograph “The Echo of Muffled Sobs” was selected for an art exhibition and competition in New York.

Perkins said that Wolfe has excelled at creating images “that can speak on different levels.”

“Selah really does not want to create an image unless she has a story or idea behind it,” Perkins said.

Wolfe’s photo that was selected for the exhibition, “The Echo of Muffled Sobs,” is abstract and shadow-heavy.

“This is the first big gallery show that my work has been selected for,” Wolfe said. “So it’s really cool.”