On display in the South Gallery at the Columbia Art League

July 8 - August 2, 2025

⁠Featuring artwork from local high school students who participated in this year's Mentorship Program, this gallery show is always a celebration of their hard work and dedication in creating a body of work that represents their growth as young artists!⁠
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Join us for the reception Thursday evening, July 10, 5:30-7 pm! ⁠
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For those unfamiliar with CAL's Mentorship Program, the program is designed to cultivate meaningful engagement with the arts among high school students in Columbia communities. Each student accepted into the program is paired with a professional artist working in their desired media category. Over six months, they work together with their mentor to build a portfolio representative of a concept or theme, plus they attend professional development workshops to strengthen their art practice!⁠

Please keep scrolling to see each piece in the show + read about each artist in the program!

Ace Murrell, *ADHD* - Carved foam & needle felting - NFS

Ace Murrell - Battle High School

Mentor - Marina Cano

Artist Statement

Most of my art circles around identity, mental health, queerness, and the like. I have spent my entire life deeply aware of mental disorders. Anxiety, depression, and ADHD all run deep in my family and in my own mind. This was never hidden from me; my family was very supportive of me being able to understand the inner workings of my head. Beyond the teachings of the outside world, I spent much of my own time contemplating who and what I was. My identity, my life, my mind, I have spent hundreds of hours analyzing it all.

For all of the difficulty these various mental conditions have caused in my life, I have never seen them as malicious. I see much of the world through the lens of animals, and as I learned about mental disorders, I saw them as odd little beasts, with my mind as their home. All of them were just trying to survive, doing the best they could to help and keep their home safe. The Personified Series gives these little beasts room to play. I wanted them to be alive and soft. Each one was carved from foam to act as their skeleton, before being wrapped in wool, giving them definition and texture. Raw roving is malleable, soft, colorful, and fluid. It allows for expressive, fantastical, and gentle pieces. I combined felt with foam for structure, and accentuated with resin and wire for emphasis on movement. Each detail is carefully and intentionally designed to show the personality and nature of the creatures.

Artist Bio

Raised in Columbia, Missouri, Ace Murrell is a multimedia artist who has worked with digital drawing, painting, ceramics, and primarily fiber arts. Drawn to fantastical, colorful, and expressive visuals, Ace makes works often inspired by youth, nature, mental health, and identity. Eir work has been displayed in the Partners in Education virtual gallery, Art in the Park with the Columbia Art League, and the CoMo Spinners and Weavers Guild fiber art show. Ey are currently pursuing their dreams of being a freelance artist, and in eir free time enjoy playing games, birdwatching, and baking.

Ashlynn Stocks, *Quilt #1* - Textile - NFS

Ashlynn Stocks - Kirksville High School

Mentor - Jennifer Wiggs

Artist Statement

I enjoy exploring a variety of media, but regularly work in painting, drawing, and fiber arts. Making art for me is often about channeling the things that intrigue me into something physical. Often, my pieces start as rough concepts that bounce around in my mind until they gain enough momentum to be released into something physical.

Artist Bio

Ashlynn Stocks is currently based in her hometown of Kirksville, Missouri. Ashlynn focuses on painting and drawing, as well as fiber arts. Coming from a rural community, a lot of things, people, and places she sees and experiences in her day-to-day life find their way into her work. Many of her pieces are inspired by her fascination with Americana and interest in cultural history. Ashlynn plans to continue her explorations of these interests in her future work.

Mario Gomez, *Ojos Tristes* - 35 mm film photography - NFS

Mario Gomez - Battle High School

Mentor - Brianna Thoenen

Artist Statement

Mario Gomez is a photographer who specializes in dreamy cinematic imagery, blending emotion, atmosphere, and storytelling into every frame. Inspired by the visual language of film and the soft edges of memory, their work transforms ordinary moments into scenes that feel timeless and poetic. They chose this style to explore the emotional depth of photography, capturing not just what is seen, but what is felt. Through careful use of light, color, and composition, Mario invites viewers into a world that blurs the line between reality and dream, evoking a sense of nostalgia, beauty, and quiet reflection.

Artist Bio

Mario Gomez is an eighteen-year-old, small-town photographer born and raised in the good old heart of Columbia, Missouri. He loves to make art out of things people find ordinary and makes them abstract. He also tends to have a special eye for this photography. Mario plans on taking a gap year before applying to his dream college, KCAI. Mario has played with digital and film cameras and hopes to continue exploring more with both. On top of the photography classes he took, he also decided to join his yearbook team as a photographer to explore the medium in a way he hadn’t before. Even though Mario has a soft spot for film photos, he also enjoys a good digital photo here and there!

Vesper Chevalier, *Vernum* - Colored pencils - NFS

Vesper Chevalier - Rock Bridge High School

Mentor - Sarah Arriagada

Artist Statement

My motivation to make art is to ensure I have multiple ways to satisfy my deepest need as a human being- that is to feel understood. The most challenging thing for me to get people to understand using words is my religion: a slow-growing and deeply personal belief system that I have been nurturing and exploring for years. So instead of writing down the tenants, I am creating the visual artifacts that would exist in a time when such things have already been recorded. The works displayed here include scenes that I imagine would decorate the walls of a place of worship, and an altar that can be taken anywhere as a comforting and portable connection to faith. They are just three small pieces of a culture yet to be, one that understands me as well as I understand it.

Artist Bio

Based in Columbia, Missouri, I utilize a variety of mediums, but especially colored pencils, sewing, and weaving. Taking inspiration from historical religious art and iconography, and the inner world of the human body and the outer world of nature, I use my art to explore my religion and place in the world. Someday, I hope my work will decorate the walls of my own commune.

Ziqi Zhang, *The Gate’s Always Open for You* - Acrylic - $154.78

Ziqi Zhang - Rock Bridge High School

Mentor - Tyler Pierson

Artist Statement

I create art to give form to my thoughts and emotions, translating abstract ideas into something tangible. My work is intentionally unsettling, meant to evoke a sense of discomfort or reflection. Rooted in themes of the natural world, it is inspired by a combination of my personal experiences and love for the surreal. It conveys the descent into the wilderness, juxtaposing the wild nature of human beings and the meaning behind a well-kept garden. I was influenced by the Garden of Eden and the initial purity of Adam and Eve. Their nudity becomes an allegory of human vulnerability. Exposing the complex, often uncomfortable truths of who we are beneath our cultivated appearance.

Artist Bio

I am based in Columbia, Missouri, working primarily with paint and mixed media. Inspired by the surreal and bizarre, I explore how it interacts with reality. I want to major in Art History and study how past works and themes are reflected in the present art scene. I plan to continue creating as much as I can and to explore new mediums and techniques.