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Bill Franz

Dayton at Work and Play: Brian Mathus

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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.

 

Dayton at Work and Play: The Sunflower

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The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine, and it’s become a symbol of solidarity during the Russian invasion. Sunflowers can self pollinate, but bee pollination is helpful to sunflowers – especially in times of stress. My image of bees on a sunflower symbolizes helping the people of Ukraine.
My friend Julie Riley of Julie Riley Art found a way to help the people of Ukraine during this time of stress. She auctioned off a painting called “Sunflowers of Hope” and sent the $1,000 she raised to a nonprofit in Moldova that is helping women and children who are fleeing from Ukraine. If you’d like to give money to support that nonprofit go to https://stellasvoice.org/ukraine
Yesterday my wife and I donated money to the Lutheran World Relief effort to support refugees from Ukraine with food, shelter and medical care. You can donate at https://lwr.org/
Catholic Relief Services, UNICEF, Amnesty International and many other nonprofits have also rushed in to help. If you donate any amount of money to any of these groups, I’d like to send you a signed 8X10 print of this image at no charge.
I’ll print up to 50 copies of the photo and send them to those who have donated. Just email me at billfranz17@gmail.com and tell me you’ve given money to help Ukraine and tell me your address so I can send you a print.

Dayton at Work and Play: Abiona Venee Pleasant

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I heard that my friend Abi, of Art Glass by Abiona had a new studio, so I paid her a visit.
“I’ve wanted my own glass shop for quite a while” she told me. “I had planned to buy a building in the city with a partner who is a great glass artist. But when the pandemic hit we decided against it. I started renting space all over – in Springfield, Cincinnati, even up to Toledo.”
“Then I decided to build my own glass shop here in the garage of my home. I put in new electrical service and got the ovens set up and everything was operational in September. It’s been great.”
“Lately I’ve been doing a lot of blown glass ornaments. I’ll be selling them at Front Street Saturday 4 to 9 and Sunday 11 to 4 with my friends at Yahweh & Sons Art Studio: (Building 100 Door A: first floor suite 1160). It’s part of Front Street’s Christkindl Market on Small Business Saturday.”

Dayton at Work and Play Artist of the Week: Katie Clark Gabbard

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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.

Dayton at Work and Play Artist of the Week: Samanta Farkas

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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/

 

Dayton at Work and Play: Yetunde Taiwo Rodriguez

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Artist of the Week Yetunde Taiwo Rodriguez of Yetunde Rodriguez Design in her downtown studio.
Yetunde is a graphic artist who will be featured at Rosewood Art Center (2655 Olson Drive) September 27-October 2 as part of this year’s Art on the Commons festival.
Yetunde was born in Nigeria and moved to the U.S. as a teen. She and her family have lived in the Dayton area since 2007. Much of Yetunde’s work is made by block printing using patterns she has carved herself.
She told me that one reason she likes block printing is that each impression is a little different than the one made before. These slight differences add interest and soul to a hand printed piece of fabric. These fabrics then become beautiful bags, pillow cases and other items.

Dayton at Work and Play: The National Park Service

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The National Park Service is restoring the world’s first airplane factory and you can help.
The Wright Brothers built these buildings just off West Third Street to make planes. Eventually the buildings were bought by General Motors and converted to making auto parts. This plant grew to cover 54 acres.
Fortunately, the original Wright buildings were not torn down during this period. They were just surrounded by larger, newer buildings. Manufacturing stopped here in 2008. Since then everything has been torn down except for the buildings connected to the original Wright Brothers Factory.
On October 2nd from 10 to 2 the National Park Service is looking for 15 – 20 volunteers to help remove weeds, put down a weed barrier and then cover it with mulch. Rain date for the event is Saturday, October 9th.
For more information, please contact Robert Petersen at 937-225-7705.

Dayton at Work and Play: Dana L. Wiley

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The Dana L. Wiley GALLERY is beautiful. It looks like a place you’d find as you wander around the streets of San Francisco or New York.
I sat down with Dana at the conference table in the gallery’s office and asked about her journey from working artist to gallery owner.
“I still do make my own art” she told me “but I haven’t exhibited in the gallery yet. A few years ago I agreed to curate a show and I loved it. I loved meeting with the artists, I loved deciding how to put the various art pieces together and I loved being around the art all day.”
“I talked with artist Gary Hinsche about the idea and the two of us decided to open up this gallery. This space here is great. We have room for Gary’s studio and this office and lots of room to show art.”
Our last exhibition featured four artists from across the country. Now we’re showing a local artist, Mike Elsass, but we’re showing him in a way that’s different from the way Dayton people have seen his work before. People should stop by tonight during First Friday and have a look.”

Dana L. Wiley GALLERY

1001 E. 2nd St., Suite 2405,
Dayton, OH 45402.

(937) 475-3794

Dayton 66 Neighborhoods Photography Exhibit Now On Display

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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.

Dayton at Work and Play: Ed Dixon

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I’ve been visiting some of my favorite businesses to see how they weathered the pandemic. This is Ed Dixon at Edward A. Dixon Gallery (133 North Ludlow, Suite 11).
“I started this gallery to bring to Dayton the experience I had when I would visit galleries in New York or other large cities. I wanted it to offer a diverse collection of art in comfortable surroundings, and I wanted it to be welcoming to people no matter what their art or personal background.”
“Initially the gallery was in a large space near the Arcade but because of the pandemic I had to give that space up and move to this smaller space.”
“Because my current space is too small for a show, I rent space in the building on a short term basis for those kinds of special events. That’s what I’m doing now for my show called “We’re Doing it ALL Wrong.” The nationwide response to this show has been amazing. We had entries from all 50 states, and the pieces that were selected by the jurors are very strong. The show is open Fridays 4pm-8pm and Saturdays 1pm – 7pm until July 31.”

Dayton at Work and Play: Artist Patty Brown

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Patty Brown of P.Brown Art with three of her “colorfield florals.”

I first met Patty Brown years ago when I visited her husband, artist Daniel Brown, at his home in Troy. Recently a friend suggested I might like art that Patty was posting online. I loved her work and was glad that Patty agreed to invite me over and be my first post-pandemic ARTIST OF THE WEEK.
“I teach art at Tippecanoe Middle School” she told me. “We spend a lot of time in class on aspects of color theory. I have the students make different colors and then experiment with how a color changes as tit is placed next to other colors. One day the students were enjoying their work with colors so much that they inspired me to do some similar things myself when I got home.”
“I’ve always made art, but this is the first time I’ve created a body of work with a common theme. I feel like I can push this in a lot of directions, trying different ways of combining a geometric color design with my freehand floral drawings. The response to these pieces has been great. I am doing quite a few commissions and I sell on facebook and instagram. Some pieces are also available at a wonderful flower shop in Tipp City called Always Blooming .”

Dayton at Work and Play: Russian Spy George Koval

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A Russian spy once lived on this block in the Dayton View Historic District. I read about it in the new book “Hidden History of Dayton Ohio” by Tony Kroeger.
George Koval was born in Iowa but moved to Russia for several years. He was trained in the 1930’s by the GRU, the Russian Military Intelligence Agency. This group has a long history of spying in the U.S. and ran illegal operations here in both the 2016 and the 2020 presidential elections.
Koval moved back to the U.S. in 1940 and was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was eventually assigned to the Manhattan Project and moved to this block in Dayton in 1945. In Dayton he worked in a top secret lab that eventually learned how to make polonium and how to use it to detonate an atomic bomb.
The U. S. thought Russia was far behind America in atom bomb technology, but thanks to Koval and a few other spies they quickly caught up. The Russians surprised the world when they had their first atom bomb test in 1949.
After the war, Koval told friends he was leaving on a European vacation. He never returned to America and died in Russia in 2006. His Dayton spy project became public knowledge in 2007 when Putin awarded him a posthumous title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

Dayton at Work and Play: Couple of Quinns

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Laurie and Brian Quinn, known on facebook as Couple Of Quinns

The Quinns are renovating this home in Dayton’s Grafton Hill neighborhood. They’ve also been investigating the house’s history and learned that it was once the home of a French teacher who had a beloved dog named Iris. When the dog passed away the teacher planted irises in the back yard that still bloom every year. The couple are sharing video of their project on a youtube channel called Couple of Quinns. Every Friday they issue a new episode where they show viewers the week’s progress.
Check it out:

The house will be open for a tour soon. Follow their facebook page to make sure you don’t miss it.

Dayton at Work and Play: Bridget Walker

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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
Bakery & Cafe

28 E 2nd St Xenia, OH 45385
937- 372-2224
Tues 11am – 5pm
Wed – Sat 11am -2pm 

Dayton at Work and Play: Foremost Seafood

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This colorful store is Foremost Seafood LTD (1904 Woodman Center Drive). It’s a locally owned business that was started 35 years ago by Tom and Pam Patterson. Tom is a marine biologist who grew up in Dayton.
Their main business has always been supplying fresh seafood to Dayton’s better restaurants. They also sell a small amount to consumers, and we’ve bought our seafood there for years. Their restaurant business probably dropped sharply during Covid, but sales to consumers must be up because the store’s been busy whenever I stop by.
When you walk up to the front desk, they have a list of fresh fish with prices, and there’s a chalk board that shows what fish have already sold out. Then you order exactly what you want. You can choose skin-on or skin-off, and maybe a thick center cut. Only then do they pull the fish out of its refrigerated dark space and cut it for you.
I like the sign over their door that reads “May the World be Your Oyster.”

Dayton at Work and Play: St. Paul United Methodist Church of Dayton Pantry

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Two of my neighbors volunteer each week at the pantry at St. Paul United Methodist Church of Dayton in the Huffman Historic District. Since this is Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, I thought I’d tag along and take some photos.

The pantry is in the church basement. After I helped this customer get her food up the stairs, she posed for me and told me about the pantry.


“I used to walk into the pantry and “shop” for my own food. Now, because of Covid, I stand in the doorway and call for Cora. Then she brings bags of food for me. The first time you come you need to bring an ID and proof of address, because this pantry is only for people who live in the 45403 zip code. I guess the Food Bank has other pantries that are for other zip codes.”

“The amount of food you get is according to the size of your family. Our family is three people – me and my husband and our son. We get 6 cans of vegetables, 4 cans of fruit, 3 cans of meat, a box of cereal, a loaf of bread and some other things. I can come here once a month. It’s been a big help.”