Riffe Gallery Exhibition Shows the Rewards of the Ohio Arts Council’s Domestic Residencies
by Lacey Luce
The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery presents New Horizons: Rewards of Time and Place, November 8, 2007 – January 6, 2008.
New Horizons features work by 11 Ohio artists who participated in the Ohio Arts Council’s domestic residencies program within the last 10 years. The result is artwork that reflects the tangible rewards artists gain from experiencing a new horizon.
The OAC domestic residencies program sends artists outside of the state and provides them with a place to sleep, studio space and a stipend for three months. The artists in New Horizons studied and worked in at least one of three locations — the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA and the Arts Center / South Florida in Miami. Each of these locales is on a coast, giving artists a new setting from which to draw inspiration.
“But the settings aren’t the only reward and the residencies aren’t vacations,” said curator Sara Johnson. “To a person, the artists identify time as the luxury. Long, unbroken stretches of time, without their day-to-day routine, allows the artists to truly focus and analyze their work in a new way.”
New Horizons brings together a range of work—from painting to sculpture to fiber arts—that was either created at the residency or grew out of the residency experience.
Curated by Sara Johnson, director of the Southern Ohio Museum, New Horizons includes work by the following Ohio artists: Mary Jo Bole (Columbus), Paul Emory (Zanesville), Gerry Fogarty (Yellow Springs), Julie Friedman (Medina), Linda Gall (Zanesville), Laura Lisbon (Columbus), Tony Luensman (Cincinnati), Laura Sanders (Columbus), Thom Shaw (Cincinnati), Todd Slaughter (Columbus) and Douglas Unger (Peninsula)
New Horizons opens November 8 at 5 p.m. with a reception from 5-7 p.m. Gallery hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday noon – 8 p.m., and Sunday noon – 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Monday and state holidays. Admission is free.
The curator will give a free guided tour of the exhibition to the public on Friday, November 16 from noon – 1 p.m.
The Riffe Gallery will host a free family workshop on Sunday, December 2 from 2 – 4 p.m. Children 6 to 17 will work with Dorenda Crager Watson from Columbus College of Art & Design's Saturday Morning Art Classes program and Riffe Gallery staff to learn how to use water-based markers to create a picture that looks like a painting. Students will work closely with Watson to create a painting that symbolizes their personal horizon, or path—where they have been and where they are going. Registration ends November 21. For more information contact the Riffe Gallery at riffegallery@oac.state.oh.us or 614/644-9624.
The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery is located in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, 77 S. High St., Columbus, Ohio.
Visit www.riffegallery.org or call 614/644-9624 for more information.
Image seen here is Writers Series, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center by Douglas Unger, 2000-7, oil (one of eight) 8 x 10" each, High resolution images, for use by media, are available upon request. Contact Lacey Luce at lacey.luce@oac.state.oh.us or 614/387-5670.
Free group tours are available Tuesday through Friday throughout the run of each exhibition. To schedule a group tour contact Riffe Gallery Director Mary Gray at mary.gray@oac.state.oh.us or 614/728-2239.
The Riffe Gallery is supported by the Ohio Building Authority, media sponsors include Alive, City Scene, Ohio Magazine and Time Warner Cable.
The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery showcases the work of Ohio's artists and curators, exhibitions produced by the Ohio Arts Council’s International Program and the collections of the region’s museums and galleries. The Riffe Gallery’s Education Program seeks to increase public appreciation and understanding of those exhibitions. Admission is free. For information, call the Riffe Gallery at 614/644-9624.
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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