Art bridges school rivalry with show of solidarity
Image elicits strong responses across social media platforms
“We’re in this together, no matter what.”
Abby Maisel
Lake Orion senior
Assistant Principal Rosa Everitt opened an email on her computer at Lake Orion High School to see an image of a giant dragon with tears cradling an exhausted wildcat.
“I cried as soon as I saw it,” she said.
The digital artwork, drawn on an iPad by Abby Maisel, 17, a Lake Orion High School senior, is meant to show how children feel about their crosstown rivals at Oxford High School, she said.
The image of the Lake Orion mascot cradling the Oxford High mascot, in the wake of the tragedy of violence on Nov. 30 at Oxford, has triggered a strong response on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Abby shared the image with her Art Club adviser, who then received permission from Abby to share it on social media.
“Students create artwork as a sense of therapy, just letting out their thoughts,” said Sam Rimi, who has taught art at Lake Orion High for 10 years.
Staff members first saw the picture after virtual parent-teacher conferences ended Thursday.
“It just brought us to tears, it was so beautiful,” said Heather Hammerl, who has worked for the district 22 years and is secretary to the Lake Orion principal. “We’re rivals and we’re wrapping our arms around Oxford. We feel for them. They’re not far down the road and a lot of our people here know people there. I know some staff members that were involved. It’s just been a very difficult, hard time.”
The words above the drawing: Oxford Strong.
Homemade sympathy cards
On Wednesday, Abby went to Art Club, where the students were creating homemade sympathy cards for families affected by the Oxford shooting that left four students dead and seven gunshot victims who survived, including a teacher.
It’s that time together with other artists that inspired Abby to create her original art, she said.
“Art really develops the whole mind applying criti
cal thinking skills, using visual language, evoking emotion and applying knowledge from researching a topic,” Rimi said. “That piece of art Abby shared with me, it was a powerful piece.”
For Everitt, whose two boys attend Oxford Elementary, the image cut to her core.
“I’m a Dragon. But I live in Oxford and my children are Wildcats,” she said.
“So it’s how I felt as a mother who wants to hold her babies, how I felt about how I want to hold my friends who are teachers in Oxford,” Everitt said. “It’s just how I felt about holding all the people at Oxford High School, Middle School and Elementary school personally.”
Everyone at the school knows someone directly affected, it seems. And this simple art piece said everything with no extra words at all, she said.
“Art, it is such a beautiful way to express how one feels. It has a meaning for the creator but, at the same time, can have 1,000 different meanings, 1,000 different people,” Everitt said. “I’m just very blessed that Abby shared that with me and allowed me to share it with our community. It just shows how we all feel. Oxford is our sister school. We might be rivals when it comes to competition but we are one community. We are one family.”
She is in her fourth year with the district, first as an assistant principal.
In times like this, Everitt said, “that picture was a reminder of how we have to be there for each other. We just have to be there.”
Why she made it
Abby dreams of being a professional artist. She has been accepted to The Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia and the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.
She was astonished by the response to her drawing.
“I was immediately surprised by the love and support and the impact it was making on the community,” Abby told the Free Press while traveling on a school trip for thespians.
“I really wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “I made it because I go to school almost 10 minutes away from Oxford. I wanted to emulate the idea that nobody is alone during this rough period. We’re in this together, no matter what.”
Jennifer Maisel, Abby’s mother, said parents always have fear when their children leave, but recent days have brought terror closer to home.
“It drew up emotions we never want to face,” she said.
John Maisel, a vice president of sales for an auto supplier, said his daughter’s artwork “captured a lot of her raw emotion” while also helping outsiders feel more deeply what Oxford is experiencing.
“It is critical,” he said.
‘Rough time’
The trauma on the community is still fresh, Abby said.
“What happened at Oxford was beyond terrifying,” she said. “Especially as a student, the idea of a group of people your age getting killed near you just makes things so much more real. I know a lot of people have had a really rough time processing it. I just wanted to give that comfort, I guess.”
After Art Club, it all came together for Abby. “I drew it in our living room as we were just having some downtime. I think it took about 21⁄2 hours. I got in my head and started thinking and drawing on my iPad and getting my ideas out,” she said. “The idea is that nobody’s alone. We’re all here for each other.”