Maggie Katafiasz and Nadia Hill recently won top awards at the Medina County Art Show, standing out from dozens of talented young artists with their creative and bold work. For most high school students, a portfolio is just a collection of class projects. But for the two Wadsworth High School seniors, it was a ticket to the top.

For Katafiasz, art is a way to make people feel what can’t always be seen. Her portfolio explores mental health struggles through vivid and emotional illustrations. Instead of showing how disorders look, she focused on how they feel.

“I wanted to express the emotions behind mental health, not just the surface,” Katafiasz said.

One of her favorite pieces, Sloth, shows a girl slowly rotting away

“It basically means that you have a lack of motivation to do nearly anything,” Katafiasz said. 

Another piece, inspired by schizophrenia, uses jagged, broken shapes to represent a fractured reality.

“I worked with aquarelle, acrylic, gouache, pencil and charcoal,” Katafiasz said.

Katafiasz often used photos of herself as references, then distorted them to show emotional turmoil.

For Katafiasz, it was a really cool experience that people could look at and experience her artwork.

“Someone made a comment on one of my pieces and described it as touching,” Katafiasz said.

Winning an award was a surprise, but it made her months of work feel worth it. 

“I didn’t expect to win,” Katafiasz said. “It was shocking but really rewarding.”

Next, Katafiasz plans to attend college in Akron for art and photography. She hopes to keep exploring her creative voice.

“Draw what you love,” Katafiasz said. “Don’t worry about perfection—it’s about passion.” 

Katafiasz thinks that art is a way to express emotions that words can’t capture.

For Hill, art is about pushing herself with new techniques. Her award-winning portfolio focused on the human figure, which she used to experiment with as many styles and materials as possible.

“I wanted to see how many different techniques I could apply to one subject,” Hill said.

When putting her portfolio together, she asked others for feedback and chose the pieces that stood out the most. Her favorite, Burntsister, is an intricate embroidery piece that took the longest and felt the most rewarding.

Throughout her portfolio, Hill used acrylic paint the most, but she experimented with nearly every material she could. 

“Some of my pieces go back to junior year,” Hill said. 

Hill’s entire portfolio took about three months to complete. Winning a top award came as a shock to Hill. 

“My mind couldn’t get it,” Hill said. “I thought I might get a participation award—never first place.”

Seeing her work displayed at the show was a proud moment, and she was grateful for the positive feedback she received.

“I got a lot of praise. People really liked it,” Hill said.

Hill’s interest in art started out of spite. 

“Someone said they were better than me,” Hill said. “So, I wanted to prove them wrong.”  

Over time, her passion grew stronger. Her biggest artistic influence is Scott Christian Sava, whose creative and unique style she admires. 

“I love him a lot,” Hill said. “His work is so interesting.”

After graduation, Hill plans to study studio art at the University of Akron.

“If it’s fulfilling, just do it,” Hill said.

Though she doesn’t use art to process emotions, Hill enjoys the creative process itself. If she could collaborate with any artist, she would choose Sava.

The Medina County Art Show is held annually each year and students can participate in it to share their portfolio and get feedback on their artwork.