Akron Beacon Journal (OH)
Author: Gina Mace
Dateline: SPRINGFIELD TWP A bloody hand print hangs in the center of the drawing, overshadowing somber-faced African tribal figures.
The hand print is covered with words to describe the systematic annihilation of millions of people.
Wretched. Merciless. Violence. Horror. Sorrow.
More than 60 years ago in Germany during the Holocaust. Today in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Courtney Lowers, 16, created the emotionally charged white-charcoal-on-black drawing that earned the Springfield High School sophomore a tie for first place honors in the Division II Individual category of the 2005 City of Akron Holocaust Arts and Writing Contest.
The other first place Division II winner is Thomas Metzger, a junior from Archbishop Hoban High School.
The theme of this year's contest was "Lessons of the Holocaust: Reflections Then and Now."
Courtney and other winners in the art, multimedia and writing categories traveled to Washington, D.C., on May 19 to visit the National Holocaust Museum.
"I can't even put into words how much it meant to go there and see actual artifacts from the Holocaust," Courtney wrote in an e-mail shortly after her return. "There was even a whole wall of Anne Frank."
Visiting the museum was an overwhelmingly emotional experience, she wrote.
"It's a wonderful way for people to face the reality of it all and realize that it did, in fact, happen, and it's happening again," Courtney wrote.
The D.C. trip is not the first award Courtney has won for her art. As a freshman, she won Best of Show in the Scholastics Art and Writing Contest, beating out high school artists from all over Northeast Ohio.
This year, she won an honorable mention in the same contest, and Best of Show at the Summit County Art Expo, said her high school art teacher, Nancy Michel.
But for Courtney, the Holocaust Project was special.
To encourage and inspire her students, Michel showed videos about the Holocaust and taught them a little about genocide in the Sudan.
But Courtney's interest in World War II Germany started long before Michel hit the play button on the classroom VCR.
"I read about Anne Frank in fifth or sixth grade, and she inspired me," Courtney said. "I started reading more on my own."
Courtney said as an eighth-grader, she was fascinated by a Holocaust survivor who spoke to her class. And with her teacher's permission, she said, Courtney taught her classmates about Anne Frank.
So when she was given the opportunity to create an art piece for the Holocaust Project contest, Courtney didn't see it as a prize to win as much as a way to help other people understand -- through her art -- the pain and horror of genocide.
"The Holocaust was such a big thing," she said. "It was the massive killing of millions of people and no one saw it coming. Then they just allowed it to happen."
She hopes those who see her drawing, titled "Wounds Won't Heal if You Keep Tearing Out the Sutures," will understand that genocide is something that is occurring to millions of people now.
Courtney began drawing at the age of 4 or 5, she said. Michel -- in her 26th year as an art teacher -- said Courtney's work is "above and beyond what an average teen would do."
"She has a great sense of design and contrast," Michel said. "She's going to go far, whatever she does."
Courtney has plans for a career in art, but not as an artist. She plans to major in psychology and minor in art. She wants to be an art therapist. "I'm fascinated with the way the brain works," she said. "I think art stimulates the brain. Art is an amazing way to express the past."
The young artist uses her talent the way other people use journals or diaries. "Art is a way to express my feelings," Courtney said. "Every picture, painting or drawing I do, there's something going on in my life."
Other area students who won top honors in the 2005 Holocaust Art and Writing Contest are: Green High School students Annie Knight, Holly Watkins and Trevor Westbrook, first place (Best of the Best) Multimedia, Division II, Collaborative. Green High School senior Kyle Johnston, first place in Writing, Division II.
Copyright 2005, Akron Beacon Journal
