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Shon Walters

Shon Walters – “reduced to nothing”

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Stivers School for the Arts along with the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District
proudly presents, “reduced to nothing,” a Solo Exhibition and Book Release by Shon
Walters.


Shon Walters is a local Dayton, Ohio artist that has been working with various mediums
with a concentration in wood for almost thirty years. Exhibiting and selling his work
nationwide for many years, Walters is a celebrated and awarded sculptor. His latest
local commissions can be viewed at Toxic Brew Company in Dayton, Ohio’s Oregon
District as well as a largest-scaled commission at the New Lebanon Library also in
Ohio.

Focused primarily on his national clientele and private commissions, Shon’s work has
been but somewhat unseen locally. He has not shown any work publicly in Dayton for
over five years and not had a solo show for fifteen.  With an inherent feeling of the
missing connection with his local community, he was awarded with an individual grant
given by Culture Works via Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District.

Placing a year of commissions on hold to focus, the solo exhibition will be showcasing
his newest body of personal work including some pieces from a series in progress for 7
years. The artist has conceptualized an immersive reality for guests to truly be a part of
his larger-than-life works and series works along with video and sound installations
aiming to deliver a sensory experience.

Between the 2003 and 2015 Shon created 9 different drawer-box series. He has
compiled a book of images with a story and philosophy behind the work. The book,
“The birth, evolution and extinction of the drawer box,” will be released and copies will
be for sale.

Please join us for the opening reception on November 9 th  from 6-9pm.
Closing reception -December 14th from 6-9pm.

The Fifth Street Gallery at Stivers School for the Arts
1313 E. 5 th  Street.
www.stivers.org
(937)542-7380
This event is free and open to the public.

Toxic Taps Local Artist Shon Walters To Create Bar Installation

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Functional Beauty

Toxic Brew Company, in the heart of the Oregon District, has a reputation for supporting local artists—from the murals that flank its outer walls to the revolving exhibits that line its taproom. This Wednesday, November 22nd, Toxic is hosting a pre-Thanksgiving event to unveil its latest permanent piece, a functional yet skillfully crafted tap box that will serve up the brewery’s beers.

 

The new bar sculpture is the creation of local woodworker Shon Walters. Patrons of Toxic will recognize Walters’ work—he created the extensive wooden tap sculpture out of which the bar’s craft cocktails currently pour. Dubbed Vonquola, the existing piece is smooth and exotic looking—almost humanoid, almost molecular. Walters explains that the bar sculpture is “the drunken mother alien who offers her teats of nourishment. She is an ancient female from another world who used to be a nurturing mother to fallen soldiers of the galactic war.”

 

Walters works often blend the fantastic with finely honed craftsmanship. He is a master woodworker with an eye for eclectic materials and an ability to coax seemingly impossible shapes from wood. The artist, who started woodworking in 1992 and turned it into his profession eight years later with the opening of his business, Eccentric Wood, has designed several pieces around town. In just the last year, he has constructed the bar back for Meadowlark, the donor’s plaque for the Neon Movies, and a massive sculpture in Lebanon’s library consisting of more than a dozen intricate yet larger-than-life undulating flowers (a piece that Walters describes as “the flowers’ ultimate devouring of the sun.”)

Walters’ second bar installation at Toxic represents further growth for the bar and a deepening partnership between the artist and the brewer. When it opened four years ago, Toxic Brew Company started with ten taps, installed by owner Shane Juhl. Six months later, Juhl added ten more. After obtaining the extra license to serve guest beers, wine, and liquor, Juhl explains that he was at capacity again: “Twenty taps just weren’t enough and our small walk-in cooler was over capacity.” Juhl turned to the local art community to help him expand his bar.

 

“It just makes sense to support local artists,” Juhl explains. “Their art brings a freshness and character to the walls and space and even better when they are functional. The art is a conversion piece.”

 

It was through Juhl’s existing relationship with local artists that he found Walters. Tiffany Clark and etch, cofounders of the street art project The Mural Machine and regular exhibitors at Toxic, were renting studio space from Walters. They were taken by his delicate forms and the unique fluidity of his wooden pieces, so when they learned that Juhl wanted to update his bar, they introduced him to the sculptor.

 

Juhl was drawn in, too. Shortly after touring Walters’ showroom, Juhl commissioned the Walters to create the tap housing for his craft cocktails. Several months later, Vonquola was christened and put into use, bringing an artistic touch to an area of the bar that is often more functional than creative. “I thought my tap enclosure was respectable until Shon’s gorgeous tap goddess was placed next to my humble wood boxes,” Juhl jokes.

The reception to Vonquola has been overwhelmingly positive, so when it came time for Juhl to update the bar again, Walters was his first pick. The pair have been quietly working for months to prepare the newest addition to Juhl’s bar. Kept secret until now, Walters and Juhl describe the new piece as “Vonquola’s life partner.”

 

Ready now to be hung and to join with its mate, the sculpture’s unveiling takes place at 3:30
on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. The brewery is hosting a party for the unveiling: Toxic’s doors will open at 3, with door prizes for those who arrive before the reveal, special tappings every 30 minutes until 5 pm, and $2 off Toxic pints during the same timeframe.

 

For more information about Walters’ work, see his website  http://www.shonwalters.com. To learn more about Toxic Brew Company, as well as to get directions to the unveiling, visit http://toxicbrewcompany.com. The brewery is located at 431 E 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402.