Coming of Age: Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipients will be on display October 25, 2001 through January 6, 2002. Coming of Age represents the vast diversity of artistic styles in Ohio and reflects the active and vital arts community in the state.  The exhibition, curated by Betty Talbott of Ohio Designer Craftsmen and Kay Koeninger from the Dayton Visual Arts Center, features 12 Ohio artists who have received one or more Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships and have been making art for at least 25 years. This exhibition is second in a series of four Riffe Gallery exhibitions that celebrate Ohio’s diverse and talented artists as part of the YEAR OF THE ARTIST, July 2001-July 2002.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, October 25, from 5-7 p.m.  The event is free and open to the public.

Since 1979, the Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship Program has provided Ohio artists with funding opportunities that enable them to create work in a wide variety of mediums and styles. Coming of Age: Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipients celebrates the longevity of the Individual Artists Program and the valuable contributions these artists have made to Ohio. 

Two events will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, both are free and open to the public:

On Thursday, October 25, at 3:30 p.m. join us prior to the opening reception for the Coming of Age Round Table Discussion. This lively discussion of life and art will feature the Coming of Age artists, and will be facilitated by curators Betty Talbott and Kay Koeninger.

On Sunday, November 4, from 2-4 p.m. the Riffe Gallery will present Family Day with Bing Davis Adornment as Art and Culture.  Children of all ages and their adult companions are invited to join Coming of Age artists Bing Davis for an afternoon of creative and cultural exploration.  Make wearable art and learn how diverse cultures tell their stories through clothing.

Artists in the exhibition include:

A three-time OAC Individual Artist Fellowship recipient, Dorothy Gill Barnes, of Worthington, is also a past recipient of the Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts.  Barnes’ large-scale natural sculptures represent a long journey from her beginnings in traditional woven baskets.

Barbara Chavous, of Columbus, participates in the OAC’s Arts in Education Artist in Residence program, enriching the lives of many Ohio school children.  Chavous combines sculpture and painting to create decorative, two-dimensional work that echoes African art.

Clara Crockett, of Columbus, is a well-known performance artist who began exhibiting her   drawings only four years ago. Crockett creates small and intimate pencil drawings of mysterious figures.  The resulting work is both fragile and unsettling. 

Bing Davis, of Dayton, is a former OAC Board member and one of the first recipients of an Artists Projects grant. Inspired by his many trips to Africa, Davis creates masks using urban and industrial found objects.

A recipient of an Ohio Designer Craftsmen Award for Outstanding Achievement, Jack Earl, of Lakeview, is a four-time recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship Award.  He is a ceramic artist with a rich and varied body of work. Earl creates figurative sculptures with a narrative, emotional quality.

Gerry Fogarty, of Yellow Springs, was a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council award for fiber at the 2000 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition.  Fogarty combines the media of fabric and sculpture to create a compelling voice for child endangerment and abuse. 

The large scale of Ron Kroutel’s paintings recalls 19^th century landscape art, but his work is firmly rooted in the 21^st century, with images of suburban tracts, industrial buildings, and freeways stretching to the horizon.  Kroutel is from Athens.

Tom McLauchlin, of Toledo, was the recipient of the Ohio Designer Craftsmen Best of 1997 and Best of 1999 awards, and recipient of three OAC Individual Artist Fellowships.  His work has evolved from functional ceramic forms to sculptural portrait busts.  Recently, McLauchlin has transferred the surface treatment and colors of his signature pieces to the medium of cast paper.

Sharon Mohler, of Yellow Springs, creates colorful sculptures using polymer wire and clay.  Drawn from her life experiences, each narrative sculpture incorporates social commentary and Mohler’s ironic humor. 

For this exhibition, Brinsley Tyrrell, of Ravenna, has recreated his Percent for Art installation at the Health Technologies Building at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland. Using colored fiberglass, Tyrrell created a large wall sculpture with scientifically correct renditions of the cells that make up blood.

Doug Unger, of Peninsula, is a long time artist in the OAC’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and participated in the 2000 OAC residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A painter and accomplished old-time banjo player, Unger makes unique musical instruments.

Jon Wahling, of Columbus, has received a National Merit Award from the Museum of  Contemporary Crafts and an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship.  He uses fiber to create three-dimensional canvas haystacks, which are a result of his interest in natural landscapes.

The Ohio Arts Council’s Individual Artists Program provides opportunities to practicing professional artists who are residents of Ohio.  Artists in any stage of their career, from emerging to mature, may apply.  Applicants are judged on their artistic accomplishment and promise, based on work they have previously created. The program gives awards in 12 discipline areas. Panels of distinguished artists and arts professionals review applications. Panelists choose works with strong artistic vision that demonstrate expertise and craftsmanship, and expand upon the medium in which the artist works.

Coming of Age: Ohio Arts Council Fellowship Recipients is supported by the Ohio Building Authority.  Media sponsors include Columbus Alive, Ohio Magazine and Time Warner Communications.

The Riffe Gallery, operated by the Ohio Arts Council, 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. The gallery is in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, State and High Streets, Columbus, OH. Hours are Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 12-8 p.m. and Sunday 12-4 p.m.  Admission is free.  For information or to schedule a tour call the Riffe Gallery at 614/644-9624.

The Ohio Arts Council, a state agency established in 1965, builds the state through the arts—economically, educationally and culturally—preserving the past, enhancing the present and enriching the future for all Ohioans. The Council believes the people of Ohio should share the arts.  The arts arise from public, individual and organizational efforts.  The OAC supports and encourages those efforts.

#              #                #