Art Wire
Three Voices
Through August 13 • Decorative Arts Center
Three women artists from three Ohio cities, three mediums, and three visions—each artist tackling a similar subject matter while keeping to their unique, individual form. Running through August 13, “Three Voices” will feature works from three women from Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus.
“Together, Judy Brandon’s emotional weather-inspired watercolors, Leslie Shiels’ maximalist, place-based paintings, and the orderly balance of Carol Snyder’s white porcelain vessels, create a rhythm and a voice that patrons cannot help but engage with,” says Elizabeth Brown, acting co-director at the Decorative Arts Center.
“All three of us have separate yet synergistic voices; we just choose different vehicles to translate what we have to say,” says Shiels. “Our work is portraying an experience or emotion—that’s what artists do,” says Snyder. “And it speaks to the viewer more than anything.”
Originally displayed in a traditional gallery setting, Three Voices will take on exciting new context among the Greek Revival decor of the historic Reese-Peters House. In conjunction with the exhibition, July 8-9, the Decorative Arts Center will be hosting art historian and sculptor Carol Boram-Hayes, Ph.D as a keynote speaker for the limited space event, encouraging patrons to express their own voice through poetry, painting, and other creative means. For more information, visit decartsohio.org.
Out of the Blue
Through July 31 • Angela Meleca Gallery
Melancholy is a complex emotion. On the surface, it is a brand of sadness tethered to the unknown, a lingering feeling of gloom and despondency for no tangible reason. But, beneath the sad, there is that heavy-hearted quality to the feeling—a burst of troubled beauty that connects us to ideas and themes greater than ourselves, be it from the calculated stroke of a paintbrush to watching the stars fall from the sky.
Though multifaceted in nature, Sean Foley’s solo exhibition “Melancholia” scrupulously conveys this complex emotion with imaginatively mingled hues of blues and purples, an abstract whoosh of sorrow and splendor in watercolor form.
Foley’s interest in melancholy arose while he was researching wonder, and arguing that the two sensations are simultaneously related and conflicting—an oxymoron that he felt needed to be explored. Starting June 3 and running until the end of July, the Angela Meleca Gallery will be hosting the nationally acclaimed artist’s work in Columbus for the first time in 20 years.
Shades of Gray
Through July 30 • Wexner Center
Sometimes it is what we choose to exclude that becomes the most significant. Monochromatic colors are a symbol of this carefully selected omission—the shades of gray found nestled between black and white. Running through July 30, The Wexner Center will be hosting a gallery of gray, thoughtfully titled “Gray Matters,” where 37 contemporary female artists have mastered the tradition of grisaille—a French expression for working exclusively in shades of gray, revealing the variegated spectrum of monochromatic colors and their multifaceted simplicities. Working across all mediums ranging from glass sculptures to graphite drawings to acrylic paintings, “Gray Matters” is a thoughtful, challenging, and important look at how we sometimes only view the world through a colored lens.
Puppy Paintings
July 14 • 400 West Rich
Ever since humans were able to express themselves creatively, whether that be engraving crude etchings onto cave walls, or fashioning Bronze Age marble statues, we have used doggos as our inspirational subjects—a creative homage to our furry best friends. Not surprisingly, not much has changed. Hosted by Tona Pearson at 400 West Rich, The Amazing Dog Show! is a gallery of dog themed art set to take place July 14. Don’t be afraid to take home your favorite dog painting, as the proceeds go directly to PetPromise, a non-profit dedicated to rescuing and sheltering homeless pets through education, sterilization, and adoption.
Mobile Chrome
June 9-11 • Bicentennial Park
Since 1962, The Columbus Arts Festival has provided a space for creatives to showcase their year’s handiwork. Starting June 9, The CAF will feature over 150 performances on six stages, making it one of the largest arts festivals in the Midwest. One of the featured installations, “Structural Circumstances,” comes from Christabel and Samuel Wagner—a power couple with masters of fine arts from CCAD who have created a 24’ x 8’ replica of a mobile home made entirely from multicolored, transparent plexiglass—a vivaciously brilliant structure that won them a cool $25,000 from American Electric Power (pictured). At night, the mobile home will glow outward, lit from within, while during the day the sunshine will project off the structure vibrantly, creating a stained glass-like outcome. Samuel hails from the small town of Marietta, Ohio, so the mobile home is a type of building he holds dearly as it is representative of his childhood—a structure he argues is unfairly stigmatized in our culture.
“Bringing cultural symbols of a neglected people in contact with the highbrow art world enables us to have a conversation about beauty, faith, and principles with a wider audience,” said Samuel in an interview with the Greater Arts Council. “We hope that this mobile home, as a symbol of rural poverty lets those from small communities see their culture through new eyes, as potentially beautiful, even spiritual.”
Neighborly Love
Through July 8 • Ohio History Center
Tariq Tarey has a way with people—not only in his interactions but in the way he memorializes them with his pictures. Using a subject base exclusively of immigrants, Tarey has a way of revealing beauty, pain, or jubilation in his portraits, a quality that made him one of the most prolific and creative minds of Columbus. This time, he is showcasing photographs taken of the Bhutanese-Nepali community in Columbus on July 8 at 12:30 p.m. at the Ohio History Center in a gallery entitled “Bhutanese-Nepali Neighbors.” This powerful exhibit shares stories of refugees and their daring voyages from Bhutan and Nepal all the way to central Ohio. In a period of tumultuous political discourse concerning immigration, now is a better time than ever to show our new neighbors some love.
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