Columbus Artist Creates 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts
by Jaclyn Reynolds
Columbus painter Betsy DeFusco has been chosen to create the Ohio Arts Council’s 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts. The awards are from her Light Crossing series of paintings.
Betsy DeFusco, a native of Jamestown, New York, received a degree in Art Education from the University of Dayton. In her earlier career as an artist, she worked as an illustrator, completing house portrait commissions, designing and illustrating a calendar of Columbus landmarks and designing notecards. She also designed and reproduced pen and ink drawings that were then hand colored and marketed widely under the company name Attic Arts. In 1992, she returned to school and completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing from The Ohio State University.
Since then she has made painting her focus, working on paper, canvas and wood. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings magazine, and her work has been exhibited widely locally and nationally. Recent solo or two person shows include Keny Galleries in 2005 and 2008. The Ohio State University Faculty Club in 2004, and the Dayton Visual Arts Center in 2001. In 2007 she received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her work is included in the public collections of Alliance Capital in New York, Huntington National Bank in Cleveland, and Microcom Corporation in Columbus. Currently DeFusco is represented by Keny Galleries and Art Exchange Ltd. in Columbus, and Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in New York.
Governor Ted Strickland will present the keynote address at the 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day Luncheon on Wednesday, April 16 at 12 p.m. The event will be held at the Columbus Athenaeum at 32 N. Fourth St. in downtown Columbus. Senate President Bill Harris and Speaker of the House Jon Husted will present the awards to each of the 2008 Governor’s Award recipients.
Reservations for the 2008 Governor's Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day Luncheon will be accepted only online at www.oac.state.oh.us. Tickets are $50 and include lunch and a dessert reception. All proceeds go to the Ohio Citizens for the Arts Foundation. Deadline for registration is Monday, March 31, 2008. Seating is limited.
Award categories and recipients for the 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts include: Arts Administration, Marcie Goodman, Cleveland International Film Festival (Cleveland); Arts in Education, Michael Huffman, Lima City Schools (Lima); Arts Patron, Susan Reams (Perrysburg); Business Support of the Arts, Limited Brands (Columbus); Community Development & Participation, Dr. Catherine Roma, MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir, Umoja Men’s Chorus and Voices of Freedom Choir (Cincinnati); Individual Artist, Dr. Burton Beerman, composer/musician (Bowling Green) and Steve Free, singer/songwriter (McDermott).
The 2008 Governor’s Awards ceremony and luncheon will be held in conjunction with Arts Day, Wednesday, April 16. This daylong event demonstrating public value and support for the arts is sponsored by Ohio Citizens for the Arts Foundation. Arts Day will include an arts advocacy briefing, legislative visits and student exhibitions.
The 2008 Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day Luncheon are made possible by The National Endowment for the Arts and Ohio Government Telecommunications. Media sponsors include Cincinnati Enquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, Dayton Daily News, Ohio Magazine, Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association, The Plain Dealer, The Blade and Time Warner Cable.
More information about the Governor’s Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day Luncheon, including a full list of past winners, is available on the Ohio Arts Council Web site at www.oac.state.oh.us.
Ohio Citizens for the Arts Foundation provides education about the arts in Ohio and educates citizens about ways to participate effectively in their government. The OCA Foundation partners with the Ohio Arts Council in the annual presentation of Arts Day and the Governor Arts Awards for the Arts in Ohio ceremony.
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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