May 2001 ArtsOhio Page 2

State Representative Tom Raga.

State Representative
Tom Raga
Republican

Office
Ohio House of Representatives, 2nd District

Legislative Committees
Finance and Appropriations, Health and Family Services, Public Utilities, Rules & Reference

Years in OFFICE
1

Personal
35; hometown, Deerfield Township, Cincinnati; Moeller High School, Cincinnati; married, 2 children

Recent honors
Recognized by the Cincinnati Enquirer's 21 to Watch for the next century

Favorite Artists
Impressionist painters

Last good book read
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Creative Achievement
Home restoration and improvement projects

The Seed Sounds of the Vegetative Nervous System at the Hydroponic Nectar-Lake is on view at The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati through June 10. Swiss artists Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger transformed the Center¹s largest gallery into a giant garden filled with crystal flowers, artificial arrangements and live vegetation. The brilliant colors of the crystal blossoms are formed with fertilizer and salt. For more information call 513/345-8415 or visit www.spiral.org.

Drawing on Language, an exhibition of 18 local, national and international artists who investigate language through drawing, will be on display May 4-June 15 at SPACES in Cleveland. For more information call 216/621-2314 or visit www.spacesgallery.org.

Fitton Center for Creative Arts has announced the finalists in the eighth annual Playwright Competition. The winners are Turn by Jefferson Arca, Brooklyn, New York; It¹s a Duck¹s Life by Rebecca Howard, Oxford; The Millionaire by Maggie Lutz, Hamilton; Tea for Three by Lisa Marshall, Toledo; and Flights by Marion di Falco, Cincinnati. For more information call 513/863-8873.

The Riverbend Art Center in Dayton will hold its fourth annual Artists Marketing and Skills Development Conference June 6-9. Conference topics will include publicity & promotion, art and the Internet, accounting and taxes, creative marketing and corporate sales. For more information call DeEarnest McLemore at 937/333-7000.

The 2001 Blossom Festival Chorus will hold auditions May 9-11 at the Fairmount Temple in Beachwood. Afternoon and evening audition times are available. Auditions are by appointment only. For an appointment call The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus office at 216/231-7372 or 216/231-7374.

Glimmer Train Press is accepting entries for its Fiction Open competition. Entries must be postmarked by June 30. Open to all writers, themes and lengths. $15 entry fee per story. For more information call 503/221-0836 or visit www.glimmertrain.com.