Bill Franz

Elsass Art Sale This Thursday To Benefit 4 Local Charities

May 8, 2018 By Bill Franz

Mike Elsass has started his outdoor painting season in a lot next to The Front Street Building Co., but when I caught up with him all he wanted to talk about was last year’s outdoor painting.

“Last year I painted once a week in the parking lot of the Life Enrichment Center,” Mike told me. “They are a faith-based organization that helps all kinds of people in this area. The building is at 425 Findlay Street, next to a large metal recycling center, which seemed like the right place for an artist like me who paints on weathered steel.”

“A group going through a sobriety program painted with me. They were working to reclaim their lives, so I tried to use as many reclaimed materials in the art as possible – like used sandpaper and steel shavings. Then I invited others to join us. We had civic leaders, other artists, and even my grandchildren grab a brush and make art that now hangs in the LEC conference room.”

“Some of that art will be on display, and for sale on May 10 at Infiniti of Dayton (299 Loop Road) from 5 to 8 pm. The money raised goes to LEC and three other great local organizations – Good Shepherd Ministries, United Rehabilitation Services and the Therapeutic Riding Institute.”

Mike told me he’s planning a larger effort at LEC this year. If you have any paint you don’t need, he’d love to have it. You could drop it off at the Life Enrichment Center parking lot any week day between 9 and 5. Just leave it by the yellow truck behind the building. If that doesn’t work, just message Mike’s facebook page and he’ll arrange a way to get it.

Artist of the Week: Jeremy Long

May 4, 2018 By Bill Franz

I visited Jeremy Long in his studio in the Creative Arts Center at Wright State University.

As I entered, I saw that Jeremy was working on a small painting of his wife, artist Colleen Kelsey.

I asked about two photos placed on the wall to the left of his painting of Colleen, where Jeremy could see them as he painted. “Those photos show details of a piece by the 18th century painter Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin,” Jeremy told me. “He was able to create remarkably life-like textures in his paintings. I like to look at his work as I paint just to remind myself of what is possible if I get everything right.”

I noticed another painting of Jeremy’s wife on the floor.

“That painting is how I managed to first get to know my wife,” Jeremy explained. “We were both at the Chautauqua School of Art that summer. I asked her to pose for me, and after a few sittings we started to date. I never did finish that piece, but Colleen and our children appear in most of my large works.”

I knew that Jeremy was best known for his large paintings (typically 6 foot by 8 foot) which include members of his family. I asked how long these works take. In place of a direct answer Jeremy suggested I look at the painting below as he walked me through some of the steps.

Jeremy told me he started painting on a smaller canvas, possibly 3 feet by 4 feet like this one. First he paints something abstract, in this case just three bands of color. Then he adds complexity to the abstract work. Next he tries adding figures in various configurations in ways that fit his original abstract design. He also tries out various ways of getting the viewer to look intently at the piece, like the way one of the arms he has drawn on the left might belong to either of two figures. He changes all or part of the composition many times, until this small canvas has numerous layers of paint and Jeremy has a design to use on the large canvas.

Painting the large canvas is also time consuming because Jeremy does indirect painting. That is, he builds the final image by painting several layers of paint, one over another. The upper layers modify, but don’t completely conceal, the lower layers.

A poster I saw in Jeremy’s office came from a show he recently had at the Bowery Gallery in New York. The poster featured one of Jeremy’s large paintings.

I told Jeremy that I thought he had only one son, but the painting showed two young boys. “I added a son for compositional purposes,” he explained.

Jeremy said a retired gentleman came to the Bowery Gallery show because he was drawn (as I was) to the painting on the poster. The man had never purchased any art before, but he bought Jeremy’s painting and found a space to hang the 6 foot by 8 foot piece in his small New York apartment. The man lives alone, but now he shares his small space with a wonderful work of art and with an image of Jeremy’s family. Somehow that makes all of the time Jeremy put into that painting worthwhile.

I asked Jeremy to pose for a quick portrait.

Then I left and Jeremy returned to the painting of his wife.

More Mural Art in Progress

April 27, 2018 By Bill Franz

A group of volunteers from Synchrony Financial work on a new downtown mural under the supervision of Brittini Brill Long. Brittini is the Community Engagement Coordinator for Montgomery County Juvenile Court who facilitates the HAALO program. The mural is on Stone Street, near the Neon Movies. HAALO people will be doing the bulk of the painting this summer, with help from artists from K12 Gallery and TEJAS. HAALO stands for Helping Adolescents Achieve Long-Term Objectives.

Brittini showed me the design for this block long mural. The original idea, from artist Morris T. Howard, would have used only two panels on this long concrete wall. But that original idea has grown, and the mural will now fill all of the block’s 21 panels. The mural is called The Land of Funk, and will incorporate designs from several Dayton artists. I’ll be sure to share more photos as the project continues.

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Shelly Massey

April 19, 2018 By Bill Franz

Shelly Massey Art in her Front Street studio.

Dayton at Work and Play:

Before moving to Dayton, Shelly taught at large art retreats around the country including Art is You in California and Connecticut, Artfest in Washington, Art Unraveled in Arizona and Art & Soul in Nevada. She said she was a little surprised by the popularity of her teaching but also a little worn out from the travel. For now she’s not teaching anywhere, only painting in her new Front Street studio (door BC, 2nd floor).

A great side effect of Shelly’s teaching has been the connections she’s made with people all over the country who love art. She recently visited one of those friends in Milwaukee and took a lot of art with her. Shelly’s friend arranged an exhibition where people could see and buy Shelly’s art.

As I visited Shelly she painted several pieces at once, sometimes with a brush but mostly with her fingers. Her hands got more and more colorful as time passed. I’ve got to return to her studio late in the day sometime to photograph her hands with all of the day’s colors.

You can see Shelly’s work at May’s First Friday celebration, or message her on her facebook page and arrange another time to visit her studio.

Almost Time To Hit The Water

March 14, 2018 By Bill Franz

Yesterday was cold and dreary. But I know that spring is almost here because Whitewater Warehouse (104 Valley Street) has opened for the season. I stopped by and talked with owners Jeryl Yantis and Bernie Farley (in photo).

Dayton owes these two people a lot. They were the original champions, way back in 1996, for Dayton’s river run features downtown. They sold the idea to Five Rivers MetroParks, who then got Montgomery County. the city of Dayton, the RTA and the Miami Conservancy District on board. I asked Bernie what he thought about the river run that came about 20 years after he first had the idea.

“I think it’s great” he told me. “It took a long time, but at least I’m still around and still healthy enough to enjoy it. They did a great job on it, and it’s drawn a lot of people to this area.”

“We try to promote all of Dayton’s outdoor activities. The various activities all work together. The area has a wonderful network of bike paths, a lot of which are next to the water. Bikers enjoy seeing people using the water and some of them get into those water sports.”

Bernie told me he plans to rent kayaks downtown during some of the festivals this summer.

Meet Artist Francis Schanberger

February 27, 2018 By Bill Franz

ARTIST OF THE WEEK Francis Schanberger at his home in the South Park Historic District.

Francis teaches photography at UD and he has an exhibition at the Dutoit Gallery (Front Street Warehouse, Building 100, Door BC) opening Friday. The exhibition, titled “Nothing Can Go Wrong,” also features his wife Bridgette Bogle.

Francis has an interest in historic photographic processes. When I asked if his pieces for his upcoming show would be made using historic processes he walked to a shelf with several older cameras and picked one up.

“This is a replica of a Diana camera (a camera developed in the 1960’s with a plastic lens) that I used for most of my photos in this show. I had a problem with film being scratched so I had to make some modifications to the camera. I also added an extension tube so I could take close-up photos.”

“The photos I took with this camera are close-ups of parts of my skin. I took the photos here in my dining room when my twins were napping. They were taken using only natural light, with long exposures. Then in the dark room I used a solarisation technique that was popular in the 1970’s.”

The photo above shows Francis with an anthotype, a photographic process that dates back to the 1800’s. Dyes made from some plants are sensitive to light, and an anthotype uses that sensitivity to create an image. Here Francis has coated paper with two different dyes, one made from the petals of a neighbor’s red tulips and another from a neighbor’s purple irises.

“This piece of clothing attached to the paper was worn by my daughter when she was 3 months old” Francis told me. “The finished anthotype will show the outline of her clothing. I have exhibited many of my anthotypes, and I may show this one, but because of the sentimental value it will probably be marked Not For Sale.”

Flash Fiction- Novelist Challenged to Create Story From Photo

February 20, 2018 By Bill Franz

I told novelist Molly Duncan Campbell about one of my favorite books.

In 1953 photographer Roy DeCarava took amazing photos of the people of Harlem, but he couldn’t get them published. He gave some of the photos to Langston Hughes, without telling him anything about the people in his photographs. Hughes wrote a story to go with the photos, and got “The Sweet Flypaper of Life” published.

Inspired, Molly asked me to send her a photo, and tell her nothing about the person. Then she wrote the following:

My name is Juniper Mary May. I am called Junie. I am the only person in the world who gets called by my whole name all the time. Junie May. When I started kindergarten, they kept saying, “Junie May who?” Like I didn’t remember my last name. I am in First grade now, and Mrs. Hapner did it again! I felt like telling her what the hell ask Miss Franklin it took her all last year to figure this out. I have asked my mom why on earth she named me this. I would prefer to be named a normal thing, like Kathleen. Then everyone would know to stop after just the Kathleen part.

I got this hula hoop for my fifth birthday. I could only jump rope before. Here is what you do: you grab it hard and lift it over your head and lean it against your belly button, and then you wiggle like hell. My mom said I shouldn’t say that. So I wiggle like the devil is after me, which is what Nana says, and that isn’t swearing. I got the dress with the goofy swan on it from Nana. She lives in the past. Mom said it reminds her of a poodle skirt, which makes absolutely no sense, because who has ever heard of a poodle skirt?

I have gotten really good on the hula hooping. I can go for exactly one minute and seventeen seconds. That is my record. I can also roller skate, but you can’t do that inside. So I hula all the time in my room, and I made a playlist. I put Stevie Wonder on it. All the songs from Cars. Yellow Submarine. And my most favorite of all, but my mom says it’s an ear worm: Mahna Mahna by the Muppets.

You might think that I am a girly-girl. That is because we took this picture to send to Nana in Cleveland. We put it in the cloud so she could look at it on her phone. Usually I wear jeans and my favorite tee shirts. I have two favorites: one has Bill Nye, the Science Guy on it. The other one has a wolf. And guess what? I have a pussy hat!

Meet Artisit Mikee Huber

February 10, 2018 By Bill Franz

Mikee Huber of Mikee.arts.photography in her showroom / studio at Crane Studios Market (221 Crane Street).

Mikee’s abstracts have these beautiful swirling colors and are different than anything else I have seen. I asked her how long she’s been making these unique pieces.

“I am a graphic designer at Wright-Patt Air Force Base, and in my free time I am an avid hiker. About one and a half years ago I broke my foot. I couldn’t hike, so I poured my energy into painting. I worked with lots of different types of paint and lots of different techniques for about a year until I came up with this.”

I asked where people could see her work.

“Well I sell quite a bit right here in this studio. I also have pieces at The Blue Note Bistro and Lounge in Miamisburg, at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in downtown Dayton, at a special members’ show at Springfield Museum of Art (Ohio) and at King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison, Indiana. Online, I was just invited to apply to be in the most recent exhibition of Apero Gallery.”

Super Bowl Footballs Made in Ohio

January 22, 2018 By Bill Franz

The footballs used in the Super Bowl have the names of the two competing teams, so they couldn’t be made until late yesterday. A work crew showed up at the Wilson factory in Ada, Ohio during halftime of the second game. They had some pizza and made a little TV party out of it. Then when the game was over and they knew who would be in the Super Bowl they started making footballs.

They worked all night, until five or six this morning when a new crew came in. By the end of today they will overnight 100 footballs to the Philadelphia Eagles and another 100 to the New England Patriots.

The N.F.L. is the only major sports league whose balls are manufactured in the United States. World Series baseballs come from a factory in Costa Rica. Basketballs in the N.B.A. finals first bounced on the floors of factories in China.

Wilson football factory, Ada, Ohio

Tours conducted by factory employees, ready to answer your football manufacturing questions can be booked in advance by calling 419-634-9901 for $5/adult.

217 N. Liberty St., Ada, OH
Directions:: From Hwy 235/N. Main St., turn east at the stoplight onto E. Highland Ave. Drive three blocks. You’ll see the parking lot for the little factory on the right.

The Merry Makover For The Rikes Holiday Windows

December 27, 2017 By Bill Franz

The Rike’s Department Store displays are in the Schuster Center’s Wintergarden through Jan 4.

The windows date back to 1943 when NCR put five scenes from “A Christmas Carol” in the windows of its New York offices. They were moved to Rike’s Department store in Dayton at Second and Main in 1945. That site is now home to the Schuster Center.

Now, every year from the day after Thanksgiving until the turn of the new year, you can visit them in the Schuster Center Wintergarden. After January 4, the windows need to be refurbished

The setup, teardown, and visits by more than 8,000 people every year have taken their toll.

The goal is to raise $63,000 to replace the current boxes, purchase an additional one for recently donated elves, and refresh the holiday décor.

If you’d like to contribute to keeping these windows a part of Dayton’s holiday celebration go to https://victoriatheatre.com/support/how-to-give/ read about “The Merry Makeover.”

Meet The 2017 American Humane Service Dog of the Year

November 30, 2017 By Bill Franz

I met a celebrity this week – Centerville’s Atlas the Wonderdog. He was named the 2017 American Humane Service Dog of the Year in an awards ceremony in New York several weeks ago.

Atlas’s owner, Marine veteran Kenny Bass, served in Iraq and suffers from PTSD. For years, doctors tried to treat his condition with lots of drugs. He was eventually taking 8 different prescriptions totaling 33 pills a day, and still felt lost. Then he was rescued by Atlas.

When Kenny got a prescription for a service dog from his doctor at the VA he was told that the VA didn’t supply dogs. Kenny needed to find one on his own. He was surprised to learn that he either needed to pay between $10,000 and $60,000 for a dog or get on a 2 year waiting list. He spent $15,000 to buy Atlas and then was given just three days of training before he took the dog home. The first few months were difficult, but he and Atlas eventually learned how to work together.

As Kenny saw the benefits that Atlas brought to his life he decided to do what he could to help other vets get service dogs. He founded Battle Buddy, a nonprofit organization that gives service dogs to veterans. The dogs are also trained by veterans with the specific needs of their future owner in mind. Then the new owners are given a lot more support than Kenny had as he learned how to work with Atlas.

I’ve offered to take photos at some of the organization’s fundraisers, so you’ll probably be seeing more photos of Atlas the Wonderdog.

Rebecca Sargent – Artist and Educator

October 2, 2017 By Bill Franz

Rebecca Sargent spends her days at K12 Gallery & TEJAS, Dayton’s leading arts education organization, which is in Dayton’s most colorful building.

“I started volunteering at K12 eighteen years ago” Rebecca told me. “Then I went to college at Wright State and taught art part-time at K12. I left to go to grad school in Philadelphia and came back to Dayton at the perfect time. K12 had just doubled their space and was adding TEJAS (Teen Educational Adult Studio). I was hired to coordinate TEJAS on a part- time basis and I also did the “adjunct shuffle” – teaching at Wright State, Sinclair Community College and Stivers School for the Arts. Then eight years ago I started working at K12 full time. Recently I was promoted to Program Director.”

“Working for a non-profit can be challenging. There’s so much work to do and the financial rewards aren’t great. But I love it. I feel very fortunate to be here.”

“Anytime I feel low, I can just walk around the building and see young artists like these, and then I cheer right up.”

Rebecca makes her own art in a studio at her home. She and her husband live in this home on a quiet side street in Dayton.

Rebecca paints in a converted garage at the rear of her home. It’s an ideal space, with lots of light from skylights she’s added. With the windows and the roses, it reminded me of a rustic cottage.

When I entered, I looked for Rebecca’s work bench. I make a habit of photographing work benches whenever I get the chance. No two are ever alike. Rebecca’s work bench didn’t disappoint, with its pens, pencils, brushes, papers for her collages, some paints, and a pile of garlic bulbs from her garden.

Her painting work table was less individualistic, but more colorful.

Before she starts a painting, Rebecca creates a collage that guides her as she paints. This collage was taped to the wall to the right of her easel.

When I visit some artists, they pretend to paint while I take photos. But Rebecca didn’t want to waste time. She had a few free days and she was going to make them count.

When I started watching her work, this canvas only had a background color. But in a relatively short amount of time Rebecca brought it to life, loosely guided by the collage.

This painting was for an exhibition that Rebecca and Ann B. Kim were having at Dutoit Gallery called “Same Same but Different.”

I asked Rebecca how long it takes her to complete a painting. “Once I’ve made the collages and worked out ideas as a starting point, I typically finish an individual painting in a few weeks. I’m a pretty fast painter and tend work in bursts. However, an entire series of 12-14 paintings will take me an entire year to complete.”

“I create work in a series, working on several paintings at one time. I tend to stop working on a painting before I totally finish it. Sometimes I fear that I’ll “over-work” the piece, or need to work out a few more ideas before I feel like I can finish it.”

“My work typically involves structures and architectural spaces. This series is different for me because I have added figures into these spaces. This presents a new challenge so far as paint handling. But I like this addition because it provides me the opportunity to further explore a narrative in my work.

Before leaving, I asked Rebecca to lay down her brush and pose for me.

A month or two after this visit I went to Rebecca’s show at Dutoit Gallery. I loved her work, especially the piece I watched her work on. The title of the piece was great: “Is Bill Still Watching?”

More of her work can be found at: rebeccasargent.com

Meet Ann B. Kim – Mixed Media Artist

September 27, 2017 By Bill Franz

Ann B. Kim is an accomplished artist and an active member of the Dayton arts community, but I didn’t reach out to meet her until I learned she was participating in a two-person exhibition in the Dutoit Gallery this September with my friend Rebecca Sargent.

Ann’s studio is in one of Dayton’s Front Street buildings.

These Front Street buildings are filled with artists and interesting small businesses, but they were originally built for manufacturing. They were part of an early factory development project based on water power. A company called Dayton Hydraulic Company bought the land in the 1840s and built a water channel from the Mad River that eventually emptied into Dayton’s canal. They sold the lots to all kinds of manufacturers and leased the use of the water to power the plants.

I climbed the industrial staircase and then entered Ann’s large studio.

I asked Ann how she came to Dayton.

“I went to school in the San Francisco area, first at UC Berkeley and then at Mills College. I came to this area to teach at Indiana University East in Richmond. My husband is from Dayton and we decided to live here and for me to keep my studio practice here, and drive to Richmond to teach.”

“I was a bit reluctant to leave San Francisco but it’s worked out well. I love my teaching job, and there is an active arts scene here with a lot of great artists. Plus the low cost of living is great.”

As we talked Ann was busy cutting and pasting bits of paper to an issue of the New Yorker.

I asked Ann how much time she gets to spend working in her studio.

“I’m pretty busy teaching during the week, but I try to spend most of the weekend here in the studio in a typical week. But this year isn’t going to have too many typical weeks because I have so much scheduled. I have the show with Rebecca Sargent in September, plus I’m vice president of the Dayton Society of Artists. In addition I will be circling the globe.”

“My travels will start in Vladivostok Russia. That’s the closest place I can visit to where my grandfather was born. Then I will travel to the end of the Trans Siberian Railroad, stopping at two places. In preparation for this trip I plan to learn something new – paper making. I want to learn both Eastern style paper making and Western style. This paper in front of me is Korean style paper sent to me by my mother.”

“I also plan to gather newspapers on my travels and use them in my art, along with the New York Times for those exact dates.”

“This year I will also have two residencies – one in Southern Spain for 2 months and one in New Zealand for a month. Those two places are antipodes. They are completely opposite points on the globe and the art I make at these places will reflect that.”

I know that Ann has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, and I recognized some of the pieces in the studio from exhibition brochures I had seen. I asked Ann to tell me something about her mixed media work.

” You can see that I’m creating work that is layered with symbols of all kinds – past, present, future, fragmentation, artifacts, imagination all looped together so that various cultures and moments in time seem to coexist. ”

Before leaving, I asked Kim to help me create my own works of art. We moved a pink studio chair in front of one of her art works and she posed for me.

Artist Morris T. Howard

September 19, 2017 By Bill Franz

Morris returned to his home town of Dayton a few years ago when his mother became ill. “I thought I would stay in Dayton for only a few weeks,” he told me. “That was a couple of years ago, and I’m still here.”

Since returning to Dayton, Morris has been welcomed into the area’s art community. He designed the mural that was installed at the Transportation Center Garage, across the street from The Neon Movie, last fall. Then he was chosen to paint a mural at Dayton Visual Arts Center called “Back in the Day When We Used to Dance.” Morris also teaches art for K12 Gallery and TEJAS at JCARE, one of the Montgomery County Juvenile Courts facilities where K12 coordinates art classes for court involved teens.

I saw that Morris was a perfectionist as he showed me some of his paintings. With each one, he told me what he could have done differently to make it better. The painting in this photo has already been shown in one exhibition, but Morris decided to change one small detail to improve the work.

This year his paintings have appeared in two Dayton exhibitions. The first, Dayton Skyscrapers, was shown at the Schuster Center, at the DP&L Headquarters, and at the Ebonia Gallery. The second, Breathing Deeply, Pushing Back, is currently at the Dayton Visual Arts Center.

I asked Morris if he planned to stay in Dayton. “I’m not sure if I will be staying here” he said “but it seems like people want me to stay. That’s a good feeling.”

FOA’s Rally 4 Recovery Shows Support For Those Dealing With Opioid Addiction

August 28, 2017 By Bill Franz

Lori Erion, Founder of FOA

Dayton has been a good place for me to live and raise a family, but our area has more than its share of problems. Fortunately, Dayton is filled with good people working to address those problems. The opioid epidemic is one of Dayton’s worst problems and Lori Erion and her organization FOA Familes of Addicts is doing something about it.

“I started FOA when I learned that my daughter was using drugs,” Lori told me. “The goal was to bridge the gulf between addicts and their families. Sharing our experiences gives us strength and hope. We started with a small weekly meeting in Dayton and now it’s grown into a large weekly meeting in Dayton plus weekly meetings in cities in four other counties.”

“The purpose of our grass-roots organization is to reduce the stigma of addiction, to ensure availability of adequate recovery support services and to influence public opinion regarding the value of recovery. Money is always a problem. But the need is so great that we must find ways to continue to build FOA.”

FOA had their annual Rally 4 Recovery Sunday at Courthouse Square, and I volunteered to be one of the event’s photographers. This photo only shows part of the crowd. Another photographer went up on a lift so that he could get a photo of everyone.

The rally also had speakers, including Ohio’s Attorney General Mike DeWine. And there was music, information booths, face painting for the kids and a balloon launch. The balloons came in four colors – YELLOW to represent those in long-term recovery, RED for those still struggling, WHITE for those who are gone but not forgotten and GREEN for anyone touched with mental illness. There was also a big media presence. I saw several people from local TV stations, one person from the NBC Nightly News, and two people working on a documentary film.

This is the kind of organization that I love to support. All of the workers are volunteers – no one gets a salary. When you donate money it goes directly to programs. You can support FOA by donating at http://www.foafamilies.org/donations.

Courthouse Square was packed for the Rally.

Dayton At Work and Play: Connie Hanselman

June 25, 2017 By Bill Franz

ARTIST OF THE WEEK Connie Hanselman in her home studio.

When I first met Connie she had an easel set up in front of a friend’s house. She was doing a painting of the house, but when it was done it somehow showed more than just the house. In Connie’s words, “My paintings of real objects give solid form to spiritual ideas – like the struggles of life and the gifts that emerge from those struggles.”

Connie received her art training at Wright State, and then worked for nearly two decades illustrating at WPAFB. Some of her art can be found at Gallery 510 Fine Art (508 E 5th St in the Oregon District).

Connie is in a group called “Lady Painters of Dayton” that had an exhibition at the Dayton Society of Artists last year. I asked her about that group.

“We get together once a month. We show a painting we’re working on and get ideas from the group about that painting. Members include Bridgette Bogle Tina Eisenhart Michele BonDurant Mychaelyn Michalec Sabrina Pryor Jennifer Bristol and Rebecca Sargent.”