The Ohio Governor Youth Art Exhibition award show is an art show that awards 275 youth artists out of 6,000 entries. Sophomore Lon Wright accepted the Top 25 Medal and awards for four different works of art that were selected for this exhibition.

Wright’s piece of art that got recognized in the Governor Youth Exhibition is called “second period”. This piece reflects on the unsafe feeling of the unknown at school and school safety. The piece is a young boy sitting doing his work, and in the back is another kid with a book bag. In the book bag a gun is glowing in red. Wright describes this piece of art as socially aware, valid and triggering.

“I feel like a lot of people kind of relate to the subject of being scared of school shootings,” Wright said

Out of thousands of entries, Wright was one of the few to get top 25 for the Ohio Governor Award. However, Wright’s piece was a very unique piece that caused a lot of setbacks within his personal life.

When Wright created this piece, it caused some worry and led to someone reporting this to a website called See Something Say Something, which immediately reports to the school and the local police.

When someone reported this, they zoomed in on the gun, which does not present the piece in a whole context. This resulted in the police showing up at Wright’s house, causing some worry within the household.

But after everything was resolved, it ended with many teachers using this as a lesson within the classroom and using it to understand the importance of cultural context with an art piece.

“On the flip side afterwards we were able to learn about context, discuss and real-world living, and I think it really clicked with my juniors,” art teacher Jill Balderson said.

Wright started making art as soon as he was old enough to hold an instrument. This sets Wright apart from different artists because he’s been painting, drawing, documenting and thinking with art a lot longer than other artists.

Balderson feels that when Wright is making an art piece, he thinks through it very thoroughly and is very good at observing his surroundings.

“He has a very specific lens from what he’s looking through when he makes a piece of art, and he wants to communicate to his audience and reach them in a different way and that makes him a little different from the others,” Balderson said.

To Wright, art is much more than a hobby; he views it as an academic subject.

“Some people don’t truly understand the impact that art can have on people, and that art can change people’s lives in a way that others can’t see,” Wright said.