Coming of Age: Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipients represents the vast
diversity of artistic styles in Ohio and reflects the active and vital arts
community in the state. The exhibition, curated by Betty Talbott of Ohio
Designer Craftsmen and Kay Koeninger from the Dayton Visual Arts Center,
features 12 Ohio artists who have received one or more Ohio Arts Council
Individual Artist Fellowships and have been making art for at least 25
years.
Coming of Age will be on display October 25, 2001 through January 6,
2002. The exhibition is the second in a series of four Riffe Gallery
exhibitions that celebrates Ohio's diverse and talented artists as part of
the YEAR OF THE ARTIST, July 2001-July 2002. In the Riffe Center, across
from the Statehouse on High Street in downtown Columbus. Admission is free.
Call 614/644-9624 for more information.
Opening Reception October 25 from 5-7 p.m.
Since 1979, the Ohio Arts Council's Individual Artist Fellowship Program has
provided Ohio artists with funding opportunities that enable them to create
work in a wide variety of mediums and styles. Coming of Age: Ohio Arts
Council Fellowship Recipients celebrates the longevity of the Individual
Artists Program and the valuable contributions these artists have made to
Ohio.
Artists in the exhibition include:
A three-time OAC Individual Artist Fellowship recipient, Dorothy Gill
Barnes, of Worthington, is also a past recipient of the Ohio Governor's
Award for the Arts. Barnes' large-scale natural sculptures represent a long
journey from her beginnings in traditional woven baskets.
Barbara Chavous, of Columbus, participates in the OAC's Arts in Education
Artist in Residence program, enriching the lives of many Ohio school
children. Chavous combines sculpture and painting to create decorative,
two-dimensional work that echoes African art.
Clara Crockett, of Columbus, is a well-known performance artist who began
exhibiting her drawings only four years ago. Crockett creates small and
intimate pencil drawings of mysterious figures. The resulting work is both
fragile and unsettling.
Bing Davis, of Dayton, is a former OAC Board member and one of the first
recipients of an Artists Projects grant. Inspired by his many trips to
Africa, Davis creates masks using urban and industrial found objects.
A recipient of an Ohio Designer Craftsmen Award for Outstanding Achievement,
Jack Earl, of Lakeview, is a four-time recipient of an OAC Individual Artist
Fellowship Award. He is a ceramic artist with a rich and varied body of
work. Earl creates figurative sculptures with a narrative, emotional
quality.
Gerry Fogarty, of Yellow Springs, was a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council
award for fiber at the 2000 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. Fogarty
combines the media of fabric and sculpture to create a compelling voice for
child endangerment and abuse.
The large scale of Ron Kroutel's paintings recalls 19th century landscape
art, but his work is firmly rooted in the 21st century, with images of
suburban tracts, industrial buildings, and freeways stretching to the
horizon. Kroutel is from Athens.
Tom McLauchlin, of Toledo, was the recipient of the Ohio Designer Craftsmen
Best of 1997 and Best of 1999 awards, and recipient of three OAC Individual
Artist Fellowships. His work has evolved from functional ceramic forms to
sculptural portrait busts. Recently, McLauchlin has transferred the surface
treatment and colors of his signature pieces to the medium of cast paper.
Sharon Mohler, of Yellow Springs, creates colorful sculptures using polymer
wire and clay. Drawn from her life experiences, each narrative sculpture
incorporates social commentary and Mohler's ironic humor.
For this exhibition, Brinsley Tyrrell, of Ravenna, has recreated his Percent
for Art installation at the Health Technologies Building at Lakeland
Community College in Kirtland. Using colored fiberglass, Tyrrell created a
large wall sculpture with scientifically correct renditions of the cells
that make up blood.
Doug Unger, of Peninsula, is a long time artist in the OAC's Traditional
Arts Apprenticeship Program and participated in the 2000 OAC residency at
the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A painter and
accomplished old-time banjo player, Unger makes unique musical instruments.
Jon Wahling, of Columbus, has received a National Merit Award from the
Museum of Contemporary Crafts and an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist
Fellowship. He uses fiber to create three-dimensional canvas haystacks,
which are a result of his interest in natural landscapes.
The Ohio Arts Council's Individual Artists Program provides opportunities to
practicing professional artists who are residents of Ohio. Artists in any
stage of their career, from emerging to mature, may apply. Applicants are
judged on their artistic accomplishment and promise, based on work they have
previously created. The program gives awards in 12 discipline areas. Panels
of distinguished artists and arts professionals review applications.
Panelists choose works with strong artistic vision that demonstrate
expertise and craftsmanship, and expand upon the medium in which the artist
works.
IMAGE:
Barbara Chavous
Blue Totem # 1, ca. 1987
paint on board, 84” x 27” x 3”
collection of Lanning Gallery, Columbus
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