A dull room sketched in pencil appears to slowly burn down to reveal a cascade of colors in a sky stretching over an evergreen forest.

Like the COVID-19 pandemic, the burn is slow going, but like the human spirit, the burn is steadfast.

Athens High School art student Emmy Addison’s creation is among a collection of art pieces on display in Athens City Hall’s Art Corner in the front foyer. The theme is “hope.”

Members of the Athens Mayor’s Youth Commission asked local students to create art pieces to reflect the hope they hold on to during the pandemic, the challenges the pandemic causes, the creativity they express to meet those challenges and the way they support each other.

Addison’s piece won first place in the high-school category. Juan Ramos, a third grader at HEART Academy at Julian Newman Elementary, won first place in the elementary category. He drew Earth wearing a mask with people standing on top saying, “Hope that we are all safe.”

Youth Commissioners voted to determine the winners and which pictures would be on display in the Art Corner. The Youth Commissioners will send Addison and Ramos $15 each for winning first place. Funding from TVA CARES and Athens Utilities is supporting this season’s Art Corner.

Forty-six students in grades 10–12 from Athens public and private schools comprise the Youth Commission. The Youth Commissioners learn about local government’s role and their role to be engaged and informed citizens. The group has overseen the Art Corner for about four years.

“I love that we have students overseeing an ongoing art project for City Hall because they are supporting other students and encouraging students to express their ideas and emotions through art,” Mayor Ronnie Marks said.

For the theme, students expressed an array of emotions. One elementary student expressed anxiety over not being able to visit a sick relative. A high school student drew a girl with her head down and her arms hugging her knees, sitting at the bottom of a vase filled with flowers.

Others included messages such as:

• “I hope you love. I love.”

• “Hope is our key to happiness.”

• “Free the people.”

• “Hope. Use it.”

Youth Commissioner Ava Whitmire said one of the pieces that spoke to her was the third-place winner in the high school division. It shows Earth outlined with people of all races, with light shining through the darkness.

“I love the sense of unity this picture brings amidst the struggles that we are facing,” she said.

The public can view these expressions of hope from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at City Hall.