Central Ohio Artist to Create Awards for 2005 Governor’s Awards for the Arts
by Jami Goldstein

Ohio Artist Nicholas Hill has been chosen to create the 2005 Governor’s Awards for the Arts. The awards will be presented at a free public ceremony April 6, 3:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theatre in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, 77 S. High Street, Downtown Columbus. Hill is a painter and printmaker living in Granville, Ohio. The awards are intaglio prints on hand-made papers inspired by an Ohio Arts Council sponsored residency in Dresden, Germany.

For the past six years Hill has served as chairperson of the Department of Art at Otterbein College, where he also teaches drawing and printmaking. He earned his B.F.A. from Michigan State University and his M.A. & M.F.A. degrees from the University of Iowa where he studied printmaking. Widely exhibited, Hill is represented by Printworks Gallery in Chicago, which presented a solo exhibition of his Dresden work in July. He has shown his paintings and prints in more than one hundred juried and invitational exhibitions in the United States and abroad. His work is represented in such public collections as the Library of Congress, the New York Historical Society and the United States Department of the State.

Jon Hendricks, recipient of the Special Recognition award, will bring his passion and vocal jazz music to the stage as the featured performer of the Governor’s Awards ceremony. Hendricks will be joined by Peter Mihelich on piano, Neal Miner on bass and Andy Watson on drums. For his work as a lyricist, jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called Hendricks the “Poet Laureate of jazz” while Time dubbed him the “James Joyce of jive.” In February 2005 Hendricks received a lifetime Grammy award for his accomplishments as a vocal jazz musician.

Following the ceremony, attendees will enjoy the taiko drumming of students from Davis Middle School in Dublin, Ohio. These 20 students have participated in a year-long residency with Japanese master taiko drummer Eitetsu Hayashi as part of a project sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council, Arts Midwest and the Dublin Arts Council.

The Governor’s Awards for the Arts are given annually to Ohio individuals and organizations in recognition of outstanding contributions to the arts statewide, regionally and nationally. This year’s ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 6, 3:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theatre in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, 77 S. High Street, Downtown Columbus. The awards ceremony is free and open to the public. There will be a free reception immediately following in the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery.

2005 award categories and recipients are: Arts Administration, Barbara Nicholson (Columbus); Arts in Education, Nils Riess (Ada); Arts Patron, Ann Amer Brennan (Akron); Business Support of the Arts, The Logan Clay Products Company (Logan); Community Development and Participation, James R. Tarbell (Cincinnati); Individual Artist, Ann Hamilton (Columbus); and Special Recognition, Jon Hendricks (Toledo). The Irma Lazarus Award will be given to former Ohio Senate President Senator Stanley Aronoff (Cincinnati).

The awards ceremony, hosted by the Ohio Arts Council and Ohio Citizens for the Arts Foundation, honors award recipients and members of the Ohio Legislature for their support of public funding for the arts.

For more information contact Jami Goldstein at the Ohio Arts Council, 727 E. Main Street, Columbus, OH 43205-1796, 614/466-2613 or e-mail jami.goldstein@oac.state.oh.us. For TTY/TDD use Ohio Relay Service 1-800-750-0750.

The 2005 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Ohio Arts Day are made possible by Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Cinergy Foundation and Ohio Government Telecommunications. Media sponsors include the Akron Beacon Journal, The Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News OCTA, Ohio Magazine, The Plain Dealer and Time Warner Cable.

More information about the Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio, including a full list of winners, past and present, is available on the Ohio Arts Council website at www.oac.state.oh.us. The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.

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