Bryan Community artists share hopeful mental health messages

November 14, 2025

Bryan Community art students turned the invisible world of mental health into visible displays of perseverance, inspiration and triumph this fall.
 
Students like Bella, Ivanah, Jurny, Lola and Manuel created powerful artworks that were displayed in the school’s main hallway. They offered messages of hope and support for people who either have been or currently are experiencing mental health situations.
 
Bella, Lola and Manuel said the project gave them an outlet to share mental health experiences that they have lived through. They said they wanted to express their feelings to help classmates who may be going through similar struggles.
 
“As hard as it is to talk about, it’s important to share your past experiences and the things you’re going through in the present,” Bella said.
 
“No one should ever be afraid to be able to explain how they feel or ever to hide how they feel about certain things or anything like that, because it’s not really fair for them or their mental health,” Lola said.
 
“I think about my mental health often,” Manuel said. “I just don’t think about a way to portray it to people often.”

 
Parker Chollet was proud of his Art 1 and 2D Art students who participated in the project. The Bryan teacher said they had impacted many people in positive ways.
 
“These students are awesome and they truly rose to the occasion, so for the most part, I just had to sit back, have some great conversations and watch it all happen,” Chollet said. “As with all projects, some students were quick to find their inspiration. Others needed more time to process and digest. However, in all classes I saw students having honest conversations about mental health, pushing and encouraging each other, which was all very empowering.”

 
Chollet first heard about the proposed project from Melissa Sellon, who is Bryan’s school counselor. Local Kiwanis Club members wanted to sponsor a student art show dedicated to mental health awareness during parent-teacher conferences earlier this semester. They also wanted to invite local agencies to set up booths at Bryan so families could learn about Lincoln-based mental health resources.
 
Chollet began the artistic venture by discussing how mental health diagnoses such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can affect an artist’s motivation and creativity. He then asked students to generate artwork that either expressed personal experiences or conveyed uplifting messages for friends, classmates or relatives.
 
Jurny lost someone close to her from suicide last year. She created a purple and blue butterfly with a semicolon-shaped body for her picture. The semicolon represents the choice of living while struggling with the trauma of suicide or self-harm. There are two scars on both of the butterfly’s wings, which represent wounds that are healing.
 
“I started with the body because I wanted it to be a semicolon, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do around it, but then I was thinking, ‘Well, people need to know that they can overcome it and help it, so I looked up what’s a symbol for recovery?’” Jurny said. “And it was butterfly wings. And I was like, ‘Okay, this is perfect. The body will be the semicolon, and we’ll do the butterfly wings around it.’”

 
Ivanah drew a woman holding several flowers over her eyes with her right hand. Her left hand is holding a watering can that is sprinkling water on the flowers. Her shoulder contains the phrase, “Always do your best. What you plant now will harvest later.”
 
Ivanah said she wanted her drawing to inspire people who are experiencing depression. She said the flowers are symbols of regrowth that can happen after periods of personal drought.
 
“I hope my project is a reminder that when you feel down or feel out of your body that it is okay, because at the end of the day, you’ll always be able to water yourself into the beauty that you’ve always had,” Ivanah said.

 
Chollet said the artwork had already made lasting impressions on everyone at Bryan. He said it had prompted many students to share their own experiences with mental health, which began healing processes for themselves, friends and family.
 
“It’s these connections that build community, support systems and feelings of self-acceptance, all the hallmarks of a show dedicated to mental health awareness,” Chollet said. “I hope this experience made them all feel proud, acknowledged and validated.”
 
Bella’s painting summarized the powerful feelings that Bryan Community students showcased. The artwork’s sky features a large yellow sun, an orange and yellow sunset and three rain clouds. The rain is falling on a field of flowers that have red, pink and yellow bulbs. She included a quote that she said is dear to her heart: “Let the flowers remind us why the rain is so necessary.”

 
“The flowers show the beauty even in the dark, stormy days, and the rain shows the bad,” Bella said. “But despite the rain being bad, you need it to grow, just like the flowers need the rain to grow.”

“I think the exhibition was a good reminder that our students’ interior worlds are much bigger than we often get to see, and that school is often only a portion of the day they are trying to navigate,” Chollet said. “Many students bravely opened themselves up, and I am truly proud and humbled by their efforts.”
 
LPS school counselors and social workers provide caring expertise and professionalism to help many students every day. Visit home.lps.org/counseling and home.lps.org/socialworkers for more information about mental health resources and support systems available throughout the school district.
 
Do you have a story idea? Share it with the LPS Communications Team by filling out this form!

---