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Brian Mathus has a solo exhibition at Kettering’s Rosewood Gallery (2655 Olson Drive) March 14 through April 22. The show is called “The expectation of being seen.” An artist’s reception Saturday from 1-3 pm is open to the public.
To read more about Brian, check out this interview from Dayton Artists United:
DAU: OK, Brian Mathus, tell me about yourself.
BM—Well, let’s see. Fun fact. I’ve lived on both sides of the country. I lived in Virginia from the time I was 2 until I was 17, then I moved to Portland.
DAU–Portland Oregon?
BM: Yep. And it’s just like you imagine it. It’s where I found my peeps, people like me. It’s so creative there, and everybody is doing their own thing. They have this guy out there that rides a unicycle in a Darth Vader mask.
DAU—I’ve seen the video!
BM-I lived in Portland until I was 30, and then moved to Dayton.
DAU: Where you became an artist?
BM–I think I was always an artist. I just didn’t know how to be one. I made my first work when I was 17. It was a large-scale work called “crabs in a barrel.” I didn’t know how to stretch a canvas, so I just stapled it to the wall. I gessoed it and got gesso all over the floor. When it came time to take it down it was gessoed to the wall. It actually came off with pieces of the wall on the back.
Years later I worked a frame shop and this woman who worked there help me stretch it into a frame. She complained the whole time about how “this wasn’t how you were supposed to do this.”
DAU—where is it now?
BM—I think it might be at my parents.
DAU—And you’ve been painting ever since? How many works do you think you’ve created?
BM—I don’t know. Over a 1000? I’ve started taking pictures of my work. I’ve sold some, maybe 70 pieces, that I never made a record of.
More of the interview here.
Artist of the Week Katie Clark Gabbard at the inviting entrance to her studio at Front Street.
Like many people, Katie’s life was changed by the pandemic. When large weddings and other events were cancelled in 2020 the floral shop she had owned for 15 years was forced to close. She decided to reinvent herself as an artist. She got a studio at Front Street and started painting. She also got a side job (like most artists) as the Exhibitions Director at the Dayton Society of Artists.
“The transition from florist to painter was easier than you might think” she told me. “As a florist I needed to think about color, scale and texture. Also, I had been doing some painting over the years to decorate my shop.”
You need to contact Katie on facebook and set a time to visit her studio. In addition to smaller pieces like you see in this photo she has some work on display that is 14 feet high. “I wanted some large pieces that would really make a statement” she told me “but shipping large pieces to shows across the country costs a lot of money. I decided to try painting on large pieces of canvas that hang loosely on walls. They are pretty unique and have been getting into shows, and I can just roll them up and mail them at a reasonable rate.”
Katie’s career shift from florist to artist seems to be working out. She’s had art on display at Roy G Biv gallery in Columbus and at Shrine Gallery in New York, and she has a solo show at the Neon Heater Gallery in Findlay.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK Samantha Farkas of Art by Samantha Farkas making one of her delightful bird paintings. When I visited her work space recently I watched her create some work and then I became the proud owner of one of her bird paintings. When my wife saw the piece she quickly put it up in her office, but she says I have visitation privileges.
After art school, Samantha told me she worked in preschool for fifteen years before deciding to do something new. She says she enjoyed doing art projects with the kids, but found she wasn’t doing much of her own art. Now she’s making a lot of work and also teaching at Raise Your Brush in Centerville.
You can see Samantha’s bird paintings and more at https://www.samanthafarkasart.com/
When I retired I picked up a camera, learned how to use it, and became a volunteer photographer. My first project was taking photos of animals for the Humane Society. I enjoyed that so much that I started doing projects for other nonprofits. As I was doing these volunteer projects, and finding other places of interest with my camera, I felt like I was finally getting to know the area where I had lived all these years. I decided to share photos of what I was discovering on a facebook page called “Dayton at Work and Play.”
Greek Festival in Grafton Hill
At the start of 2019 I made a New Year’s Resolution to take and post at least one photo on my facebook page from each of Dayton’s 66 neighborhoods.
After fifteen tornadoes hit Old North Dayton I photographed volunteers from all over the area helping in the cleanup efforts. A few months later, I again photographed people from all over the region as they gathered together in reaction to the mass shooting in the Oregon District. Then I started to rethink this project. I decided I didn’t want to go into a new neighborhood and take photos of buildings or some interesting landscape. I just wanted to take photos of people from all 66 neighborhoods, people from every corner of Dayton.
Volunteers working in Old North Dayton
The reaction to this project idea was wonderful. Mayor Whaley and her husband Sam posed for me one Saturday morning and then introduced me to the leaders of some of the Neighborhood Associations. Bryan Taulbee and others on the city’s staff helped me understand when and where all of the city recreation activities were happening. City planning division manager Tony Kroeger helped me understand the exact boundaries of the neighborhoods. People invited me to block parties, to neighborhood events, and into their homes and their businesses. It was great.
Playtime Nursery School in Residence Park
I remember driving around Dayton’s Pineview neighborhood and seeing a man watering his lawn. I stopped and told him about my project. He said he’d grown up on this block and then left to go to college. After college he lived in Chicago and then New York. He had recently moved back to Dayton.
Shoes for the Shoeless Event at Mt Enon Church
“I like being around the people I grew up with, and I like the size of Dayton” he told me. “In Chicago or New York you couldn’t get the whole community to come together the way Dayton did after the two tragedies we had this summer. This project of yours seems timely, Bill. Having an exhibition of photos of people from all corners of Dayton is a good thing for us to do now. I would be glad to have my photo up in your exhibition.”
Choir rehearsal at College Hill Community Church
The exhibition was being organized by Rebecca Sargent, then the Program Director at K12 Gallery. The photos were printed, the promotional materials were prepared and everything was ready for an opening April 2, 2020. Like many things that were planned in 2020, it never happened. I’m glad the Dayton Metro Library has decided to exhibit these photos now.
Those 66 photos are now on display through September 25 in the Dayton room of the Dayton Metro Library.
Bridget Walker at Sweets Boutique Bakery & Cafe in Xenia. When I first visited the shop Bridget told me a bit abut how she came to be in business.
“I started baking cakes for people when we were stationed in England. The families of some of the airmen on base didn’t like English baked goods, so I started baking and selling birthday cakes. Personally, I liked some of the English baked goods, and I often sell hot cross buns here.”
“When we returned to the U.S. I baked cakes out of my home. The business grew, and I needed more space, so I opened Sweets Boutique (28 East Second Street in Xenia).”
Operating during the pandemic has been tough, but I understand that her sale of boxed lunches has boomed. People get a cookie and some fresh baked bread with each lunch
Sweets Boutique