With portraiture and original articles of period clothing, Fashion on the Ohio Frontier: 1790-1840 provides a unique and surprising view into early Ohio culture. The great migration westward during the early 19th century coincided with major changes in the history of fashion, textiles and communications. Through the study of fashion on the Ohio frontier, visitors gain new insights to the history of Ohio and the U.S. 

Join us for a free opening reception at the Riffe Gallery, Thursday November 9. There will be a guided exhibition tour at 5 p.m. with curator Anne Bissonnette, Ph.D., Kent State University Museum. Following the tour at 6 p.m. enjoy light hors d' oeuvres and a cash bar.

The Riffe Gallery is supported by Ohio Building Authority. Media sponsors for this exhibition include Alive, CityScene, Ohio Magazine and Time Warner. The Riffe Gallery is located in the Vern Riffe Center for the Government and the Arts, across from the Statehouse on High Street in Downtown Columbus. For more information visit http://www.riffegallery.org/.

Printmakers Stephanie Sypsa of Columbus and Michael Loderstedt of Cleveland will be in residence at the Dresden Graphic Workshop in Dresden, Germany from November 1 through December 2, 2006 as part of the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program. Two artists from Germany currently are in residence in Cleveland at Zygote Press. The Dresden residency exchange is supported by the Ohio Arts Council’s International and Individual Creativity Programs. While in Dresden, both artists will enhance their skills in the graphic printing field. Working alongside other experienced printmakers they will explore the possibilities that may result while using equipment for etching, photography, letterpress, printing and bookbinding. For more information, visit the Ohio Arts Council Web site. 

Celebrating its debut season, Opera Cleveland is built on the foundation of the city’s two leading professional opera companies, Cleveland Opera and Lyric Opera Cleveland. Opera Cleveland appointed Jeff Sodowsky as the first executive director of the new company. Sodowsky brings more than 20 years of arts experience to Opera Cleveland both in front of and behind the curtain. He most recently served as Director of Development for Kentucky Opera. He held positions at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music, Louisville Ballet and the Oklahoma Arts Institute. He holds a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma and an M.A. and M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music’s acclaimed international graduate program in arts management and business. For more information call 216/575-0903 or visit http://www.operacleveland.org/.

David Hassler’s book of poems, Red Kimono, Yellow Barn, transports readers to Northeast Ohio then to Japan and back to Ohio again. This poetic journey between cultures and feelings has won Hassler the Ohio Poet of the Year 2006 Award, sponsored by the Ohio Poetry Day Association. Hassler, who has been with the Wick Poetry Center and Kent State University for six years, says he feels honored to receive this award from the state of Ohio and to know that his poems are appreciated by others. In Red Kimono, Yellow Barn (published by Cloudbank Books), Hassler lyrically links Japanese and American culture, as well as linking his childhood and adult experiences. For more information visit the Wick Poetry Center Web site.

Ohio native Bryan W. Knicely was named president of the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Knicely, currently Assistant Director and Accessibility Coordinator of the Maine Arts Commission, will begin his work at GCAC in December. Knicely served as a panelist on the NEA's 2006 State Arts Agencies Partnership Agreement peer-review process and presented at two of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies national conferences, as well as playing an active role with Americans for the Arts as an Arts Action Fund Member. Knicely graduated from Otterbein College with a Bachelor of Science in management and marketing. In 1996, he received his M.A. in arts policy and administration from The Ohio State University.

The Ohio Arts Council presented ten $300 awards to professional artists in crafts, visual arts and photography, two $250 amateur awards and one Purchase Award at the opening of the Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair. The Fine Arts Exhibition presents works by amateur and professional Ohio artists in the Cox Building at the Ohio Expo Center each year. Each of the winners was presented a check at a public ceremony. Jeff Regensburger of Columbus received the Purchase Award for his work Palm Sunday #1 and Palm Sunday #3.

Winners of the $300 Ohio Arts Council Awards in the Professional Artist category are:
• Juliellen Byrne, Groveport, for the ceramic work Pavis the Clown
• Stephen Aman, Westerville, for his drawing Isle of the Dead 3
• Andrea Stern, Chauncey, for her fiber piece Red & White #1
• Kelly Malek-Kosak, Columbus, for her metal work Cluster Feedings
• Arthur Wang, Columbus, for his painting Sower
• Dan Gerdeman, Grove City, for the painting Daddy’s List
• Joseph Macklin, Columbus, for his painting Mens Shelter
• Leah Stahl, Dayton, for the photograph Ambivalent Moment
• Nicholas Hill, Granville, for the print work Posa
• Kristin Nortz, for the sculpture More Than A Mouthful

Winners of the $250 award in the Amateur Artist category are:
• Kathleen Houston-Stokes, Columbus, for her sculpture Dama Vertebrae
• Larry Scurlock, Westerville, for the photograph Winter

Deborah Ver Hulst of Powell was the winner of the 2006 People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award debuted at the 2001 State Fair and includes a $500 cash award from the Ohio Arts Council.

Of the 880 entries submitted for the Fine Arts Exhibition, 313 works were chosen and 40 received awards, including the 13 Ohio Arts Council Awards. The exhibition was juried by Katherine Veneman, Curator of Education, Blaffer Gallery; Brian Alloway, Glass Access; and Michael McEwan, landscape artist.

The exhibition enables viewers to explore many facets of Ohio art. It demonstrates each artist’s sense of originality and inventiveness, ability to convey subject matter and technical mastery of the chosen media. Selected pieces reflect the diversity and high quality of contemporary art in Ohio.

The Ohio Arts Council's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program keeps traditional and folk arts alive by supporting apprenticeships between master artists and dedicated apprentices. Master artists preserve ethnic, occupational, regional group, community or family traditions that have been passed down for generations.

The Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program provides support for a master artist and one or more apprentices to work together in an intensive individual study program that preserves traditional art forms of Ohio residents.

The deadline for this program is January 15. The Ohio Arts Council’s Office of Individual Creativity is eager to talk with you now about this wonderful program. There are many wonderful master artists that are local treasures and the OAC wants to support these artists and apprentices who share their traditions.

For more information contact Irene Finck at 614/466-2613 or irene.finck@oac.state.oh.us. Information is also available on the Ohio Arts Council Web site.

OHIO ARTS COUNCIL REGIONAL MEETINGS A SUCCESS!

The Ohio Arts Council held a series of regional meetings accompanied by evening receptions in October. The events allowed nearly 700 constituents to meet the OAC’s new Executive Director Julie Henahan, and offered presentations on the Ohio Arts Council’s 2006-2009 Strategic Plan, Ohio Arts Council Guidelines updates and an arts advocacy briefing. Thanks to all who attended!

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