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Visual Arts

The Icons of UD Basketball Call for Art

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The University of Dayton and the Dayton Society of Artists are excited to announce The Icons of UD Basketball Call for Art.

The Icons of UD Basketball Call will commission six artists to create original artwork of six iconic figures known within the UD Basketball organization.

The panel will choose six finalists based on their submissions. Posters and high-end prints will be printed from selected original artwork. Posters and prints will be available for purchase during the 2018-19 Basketball Season. Proceeds from sales support the UD Champions and Scholars Fund, a fund that provides and enhances opportunities for more than 400 University of Dayton student-athletes on 17 athletic teams.

This project provides original artwork to the large and passionate UD basketball fan base while supporting artists and introducing their work to a new collectors’ market.  The artwork depicts the breadth of the community’s interests in subjects from the UD bandleader, to game announcers and basketball players.

The Six Icons of UD Basketball- Phase 1

“The Legend” Arlen Bucky Bockhorn                     Nate Green
Brooks Hall                                                                  Dr. Willie Morris
Keith Waleskowski                                                     TBD

Eligibility
This call is open to emerging and established artists who are 18 years or older and live in the USA.

Budget
Selected artists will receive $1000 each after final approval of the commissioned artwork.

Q & A at the DSA:  Saturday, June 2, 2 – 3 p.m.

Deadline for submission: Sunday, July 15 (midnight)

HOW TO APPLY Submit through DSA’s Submittable page at: https://daytonsocietyofartists.submittable.com/submit

1. Format proposal/ submission as a PDF or DOC, DOCX. Files should not exceed 10MB.
2. Label file with full name. Example: JaneSmith.PDF or JaneSmith.DOC or JaneSmith.DOCX
3. Include contact information: Name, Address, Phone Number, and Email.
4. If available please include Artist Website, Artist Instagram Page, Artist Facebook Page
5. Insert into the document 5 -10 Images.
6. Only one submission per artist is accepted.

Questions: Pease call or email the Dayton Society of Artists at 937-228-4532 [email protected]

Elsass Art Sale This Thursday To Benefit 4 Local Charities

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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

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

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

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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More Mural Art in Progress

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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

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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.

Last Call For Artists To Create Wine Label

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2017 Winner Ari Azzopardi

Les Vins Georges Duboeuf is a family-owned winery in the heart of the Beaujolais region of France with a rich history of collaborating with artists to create iconic labels for Beaujolais Nouveau, a young fresh wine released every year on the third Thursday of November (November 15, 2018).

For many years, the wine was released every year with a different artist-designed label and the annual reveal of the label and design was almost as exciting as the wine itself. The different label designs reflected the fact that every year, Beaujolais Nouveau is a new and different wine – each bottling a unique expression of that vintage and a preview of what is to come.

It is in this spirit that in 2017, Les Vins Georges Duboeuf held the first annual Nouveau Artist Label Contest. They have decided to continue the tradition and are again inviting artists from all over the U.S. to submit their own design that captures the joyous and exuberant qualities of Beaujolais Nouveau – all of the things that make it the perfect wine to share with friends, family, and loved ones – and a celebration unto itself.

This year, they are inviting professional artists to submit label designs that reflect the fresh, youthful, and vibrant qualities of Beaujolais Nouveau. The wine itself is bright, juicy, and fruit-forward. With more than a million bottles sold every year, Beaujolais Nouveau is a wine for and about celebrating. It is the first wine of the harvest, a harbinger of the holiday season and a reason to get together with friends and family.

Submission Details:

All submissions must be either uploaded via the submission form on our website or emailed to [email protected] with the subject line “Nouveau Label Contest”.

Submissions should be submitted along with a high-res head shot and must be submitted in one of the following formats: PDF, JPG, EPS, AI, TIFF, PSD, PNG

Artists must carefully review and agree to the terms and conditions on our website before submitting. Please note that the winning piece of artwork will become property of Les Vins Georges Duboeuf and the artist submitting the work must have it in their possession; it cannot be a piece of artwork that has been previously sold or is otherwise unavailable.

Submissions must be original pieces of artwork that reflect the qualities of Beaujolais Nouveau – bright, celebratory, fresh. All submissions must have elements that relate to the themes of celebration, harvest, festivity, and vibrancy

Submission finalist from 2017

Submissions do not have to contain any text or label information – these will be added by our designer.

Multiple submissions are allowed as long as they are all received by March 30th, 11:59 PM EST.

 

Visitors to the site can vote and comment on the submissions they like best and a final selection of 10 will be chosen by a panel, with consideration of input from visitors to the website.

The final 10 will be posted to the Georges Duboeuf social media pages (Facebook and Instagram) for voting from consumers April 16-27, 2018.

A vote is considered a like, a comment, or a share across Facebook and/or Instagram and artists are encouraged to post to their social media channels as well to maximize votes!

The artist who created the label that receives the most votes within this period will receive a $3,500 grant and will have their artwork turned into a label that will be printed on more than a million bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau along with a credit on the back label. To see last year’s winning lable, please click here.

Runners-up will have the opportunity to have their label designs presented for additional Nouveau Label opportunities, and if selected, will receive a grant ranging from $500-$1,500.

Visual Voices On Display Through March 30th at Schuster Center

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Each year Victoria Theatre Association partners with Shango: Center for the Study of African American Art and Culture and Willis Bing Davis exhibit curator and director of EbonNia Gallery to display an exhibit of art by local African-American artists inside the Schuster Center. This year as the city of Dayton joins the nation in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the KING/DUNBAR PROJECT was designed to celebrate the life and work of Dr. King through the literary voice of Dayton poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Downtown Gallery Increasing Local Artwork Offerings

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The Fall 2017 grand opening of the 1,400 square foot Edward A. Dixon Gallery located in Downtown Dayton featured very few artists from the Dayton area and consisted mainly of national and international artwork collected by the gallery’s owner. Since the opening, Dixon has worked to increase his representation of Miami Valley artists and there have been as many as four different local artists with artwork exhibiting in the gallery at the same time.

 

One of the latest local additions to the gallery comes from artist Janet Garlikov who’s beautiful, large scale LACE ON STEEL pieces can even be viewed by downtown pedestrians through the gallery’s large front windows.

Janet Garlikov – LACE ON STEEL – ($2,500.00 for each piece of 40″ x 40″ original Fine Art)

Other artwork exhibiting at the gallery include pieces from multi-talented artist Marilynn Page whose beautiful watercolor portraits and geometric paintings adorn its own section of the gallery, a steel sculpture piece by Jay Favorite, abstract oil-based paintings from Mikee Huber and acrylic and oil portraits from Marcellus Art.

Detail from Marilynn Page artwork inspired by Austrailian Aborigines. Several paintings in the series available now at the gallery.

Upcoming area art coming to the gallery will include a multi-artist exhibition from the African-American Visual Arts Guild (AAVAG) in April 2018 who’s 75 member group currently has work featured across the Dayton area at the Northwest Dayton Metro Library, the Paul Laurence Dunbar House, Dayton RTA and Cultural Center and several other locations.

Marcellus Art.

Owner, Ed Dixon, says “I am also working on a program to feature more emerging artists on a short term basis to give as many area artists an opportunity for exposure and recognition as possible.” Mr. Dixon also indicated there will be a Call For Art announcement in the Spring which local artists will be encouraged to participate.

 

The Edward A. Dixon Gallery is located at 12 South Ludlow Street, Dayton, OH 45402. Current hours are 4pm-8pm on Friday and 12pm-4pm on Saturday. Appointments can be scheduled throughout the week. The gallery’s website  features updates on hours of operations, new art, exhibitions and contact information.

Call for Artisan Applications for 2018 Oktoberfest

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Applications are now being accepted for artisans interested in participating in the 2018 Oktoberfest, September 21-23.

All artisan applications are done online, via ZAPPlication. The deadline for applications is April 20, 2017.

LinkClick Here for more information and to apply

If you have questions about the application process, please contact Artisans Committee Chairs Adam and Jessica Blimbaum, at [email protected].

Celebrating its 47th year in 2018, Oktoberfest is the museum’s largest fundraising event. Organized by the museum’s Associate Board, it brings nearly 30,000 people to the museum grounds.

Flash Fiction- Novelist Challenged to Create Story From Photo

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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!

 

Stratum: New Work by Amy Kollar Anderson & Kate Huser Santucci

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The Dayton Visual Arts Center (DVAC) presents Stratum, an exhibition featuring new, collaborative works by Dayton artists Amy Kollar Anderson and Kate Huser Santucci. This show opens February 22nd, and runs through March 24th. An Opening Reception will be held on February 22nd from 6 to 8pm.
A Gallery Talk is scheduled for March 2nd from 6 to 8pm. All events are free and open to the public.

Stratum is a project about collaboration and communication. Anderson and Stantucci each began with 20 birch wood panels that they traded back and forth, layering materials and documenting the progress. Santucci worked with oil-based mediums, focusing on encaustic, pigment and bone to create lush, natural-toned imagery. Anderson used acrylic-based materials such as pouring medium, mica and glitter resulting in slick and other-worldly surfaces. During sessions, panels would be worked until the artists felt resolved.The artists will be installing the final panels, along with their corresponding materials “log”, throughout the entire gallery in a free-form map reminiscent of the cryptographic mathematical formula-covered chalkboards by Nobel Laureate in Economics, John Nash, as depicted in the 2001 American biographical drama film A Beautiful Mind.

“Part of this process involved letting go of ego, and becoming comfortable with altering, covering, or sometimes even removing the others’ work,” stated Anderson and Santucci in a joint artists statement. “It built deep connections between us as artists. As the artworks evolved and moved towards completion, we became more comfortable with the process, allowing ourselves to become immersed in the visual dialogue that was taking place.

“A new, original collaboration, Stratum is at once a stunning deconstruction of the detritus of the layers of our natural world and, as each panel is displayed with a record of its process, is a seldom seen peek into the creative process,” stated Eva Buttacavoli, DVAC Executive Director.

 

ABOUT AMY KOLLER ANDERSON
Amy Kollar Anderson creates surreal narrative paintings inspired by natural forms and decorative arts. Her work has been exhibited throughout the region and internationally and she recently was awarded three commissions for the Dayton Public Library. Amy received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and went on to receive a Master of Humanities, with a focus in Fine Arts, at Wright State University. She lives with her husband in Dayton and until recently, was the Gallery Coordinator for Rosewood Gallery, Kettering before she left that position to pursue her art career full-time. She refers to her painting style as “Nouveaudelia,” incorporating Psychedelic Art and Art Nouveau aesthetics.

ABOUT KATE HUSER SANTUCCI
Kate Huser Santucci was born in 1971, and lives and works in Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Wright State University in 1994 with a BFA in visual art with a concentration in sculpture and participated in an encaustic painting workshop with Susan Mulder at the Krasl Art Center in Michigan.  She has taught classes at the Dayton Art Institute and Rosewood Arts Centre, as well as private lessons for children. Her work has most recently been shown at the Rosewood Arts Centre in Kettering and Lily’s Bistro in Dayton. Public work includes a mural in downtown Dayton on E. 3rd St., and a series of three pieces for the new Southeast Branch of the Dayton Metro Library, opening in September 2018.  Her works are part of private collections in Dayton, Cincinnati, and St. Joseph, Michigan. Kate started her career as a sculptor and is now working in encaustic and mixed media.  The work combines wax painting with three dimensional techniques, found objects, and drawings. They focus on our place in nature, and our interconnectedness to the world outside and within our physical selves.

ABOUT DVAC
The Dayton Visual Arts Center (DVAC) helps sustain the arts community by providing a place to show, market, and sell work and helps satisfy the needs and wants of art-lovers who have a place to see artists’ work and, often, meet the artists. At its core, DVAC advances art for the community and a community for artists.

Meet Artisit Mikee Huber

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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.”

Local Art Gallery Now Accepting Bitcoin

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The newest art gallery in Downtown Dayton is breaking new ground again by now accepting the hot cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin. The Edward A. Dixon Gallery is no doubt among the first area businesses to accept Bitcoin, especially in the art market.

Bitcoin is a new currency that was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks! Bitcoin can be used to book hotels on Expedia, shop for furniture on Overstock and buy Xbox games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it. The price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017. (source money.cnn.com)

The Edward A. Gallery is also accepting Ethereum and Ripple as part of its payment method expansion. In a very rapidly changing market, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple represented the top 3 digital currencies by market capitalization at the time of this press release.

About Edward A. Dixon Gallery

The gallery is located at 12 South Ludlow Street, Dayton, OH 45402. Current hours are Friday 4pm-8pm, Saturday 12pm-4pm and open by appointment.

The gallery’s website is eadgallery.com and features updates on hours of operations and new art & exhibitions. The gallery is also on Instagram and Twitter @eadgallery.

Call For Artists

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Call for proposal for the East End Community Mural Project is now OPEN! This project will create five neighborhood murals to welcome visitors to the Twin Towers Neighborhood. The public art is meant to change negative perceptions of the area and re-imagine it as ‘Green, Creative and Diverse’, with images depicting urban farms, artistic assets, and rich cultural diversity.

Download the Request For Proposals Here:  EEC Mural RFP

Informative Meeting/ Q& A with Danielle Weickert and Colleen Kelsey:
When: Saturday, January 13, 2 PM
Where: Dayton Society of Artists, 48 High St. Dayton, OH 45419

 

PROJECT CALENDAR:

 Saturday, January 13, 2 PM
Q & A Meeting with  Danielle Weickert and Colleen Kelsey
with the public at the Dayton Society of Artists:

 Sunday, February 4, 2018
Deadline for Submission: Sunday, February 4, 2018

Monday, February 26, 2018
Notification of selected artists

Friday, March 2, 2018
Notification to public

Friday, March 9, 2018
Finalists present community engagement and mural proposals

Artist and Teams are asked to engage in a spirit of collaboration with the community by reflecting on community responses during this meeting.

 March 1 – May 31
Production Phase

May 31
Deadline for Mural Completion:

TBD
Dedication of public murals:

ELIGIBILITY
This call is open to established and emerging artists, or artists team, living in the Miami Valley area and who are 18 years or older. Priority is given to artists who have demonstrated experience in managing similar projects.

Top Ten Visual Arts Events in 2017

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It was a vibrant year for the visual arts in Dayton. Choosing only ten exhibitions and events is not an easy feat, and regrettably there were many that didn’t make this list. The ten here inspired me, and in my opinion were remarkable for the many reasons listed below! Enjoy!

Robert Blackstone
Crystal City
Courthouse Square, Downtown Dayton
Ongoing, opened in September 2017

Robert Blackstone’s imagination, memories and stories infuse his monumental Crystal City with a wide range of emotion and wonder. Created in several versions over the past 25 years, Blackstone’s large-scale installation is dense with materials from thrift shops, garage sales, the garbage and off the street. Crystal City is a memorial to family, to Dayton, a testament to love and an ongoing passion for creating something meaningful. Check in at the Collaboratory to learn when Crystal City is open to the public at http://www.daytoncollaboratory.org.

Susan Byrnes
Motion Capture
Dayton Art Institute Experiencenter
December 2017 – April 2018

Inspired by movement, painting and technology, Susan Byrnes’ Motion Capture is a series of photo stills, animations, and clothing with imbedded light technology. Created with students at Dayton’s Cleveland Elementary School and in collaboration with artist Tess Cortes, Motion Capture demonstrates “light drawing,” and the ever-present technological tools that influence our daily lives. Download the Pablo app, put on the light-up jacket and shimmy on the exhibition dance floor to create your own light drawing! More information at http://www.daytonartinstitute.org.

The Secrets We Keep
New Works by Zoe Hawk, Ashley Jonas & Stephanie McGuinness
Dayton Visual Arts Centre
January 13-February 24, 2017

 

The Secrets We Keep featured paintings, prints and installations referencing domesticity and relationships. The intimate worlds created by artists Zoe Hawk (Doha, Qatar), Ashley Jonas and Stephanie McGuinness (Dayton, Ohio) reveal many ideas of the home and of the familiar, but also inner anxieties and the unexpected. Learn more at daytonvisualarts.org.

Michelle Stitzlein
Industrial Nature
Springfield Museum of Art
January 21 – May 28, 2017

Texturally dense, found object tapestries made Michelle Stitzlein’s Industrial Nature a knockout exhibition. Stitzlein’s transformation of garden hoses, wires, hub caps, and other household items were pushed to a grand scale, giving the audience an opportunity to reckon with the environment, waste and nature, all while being drawn into beautiful abstract worlds. Learn more at http://www.springfieldart.net.

Beth Cavener Demonstration
Rosewood Arts Centre
April 27 – 30, 2017

It is not often that a three-day artist demonstration can impact people’s lives, but it happened with ceramic artist Beth Cavener. In conjunction with the Hi Fructose exhibition at the Akron Art Museum, Cavener spent three days at Rosewood explaining her ceramic sculpture process to a captivated audience while creating a 500-pound clay hare. Her tenacity as an artist, innovation with material and generosity in sharing her story was truly inspiring. Learn more at http://www.playkettering.org/rosewood.

Colette Fu
Structure Unbound: Interdisciplinary Book Art
The Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries, Wright State University
January 17 – February 26, 2017

Structure Unbound examined how pop-up books and paper structures can create narratives and stories in three-dimensional space. Colette Fu was the featured artist, whose artwork demonstrated the mastery of documenting ideas, people and moments of rural Chinese traditions in the form of a pop-up book. Her artworks are remarkably constructed, visually compelling, fresh, and transform what could be traditional documentary images into contemporary times. Learn more at liberal-arts.wright.edu/art-galleries.

Reimagining Works
Dayton Metro Library

Terry Welker, “Fractal Rain,” 2017, stainless steel, acrylic prisms.

The Dayton Metro Libraries, through the conceptual direction of local art hero Jane Black, launched Reimagining Works in conjunction with the renovation and rebuild of their dozen-plus facilities. Reimagining Works asked artists to find inspiration in the Dayton Art Institute collection and propose a new piece to add to Dayton’s legacy. This year, the Main Branch in downtown Dayton opened to much celebration and included significant works by Terry Welker, Susan Byrnes, Paula Wilmot Kraus, Katherine Kadish, Andrea Myers and Gretchen Durst Jacobs. Learn more at daytonmetrolibrary.org.

Rosewood Gallery’s Year of Paper
Cynthia Gregory, The Poet’s Desk, March 6 – April 7, 2017
Heather Lea Reid, Intersubjective Indulgence, March 6 – April 7, 2017
Emily Moores, Cathedral, April 17 – May 19, 2017
Nicholaus Arnold, No One Was Having a Very Good Time, July 17 – August 18
Frank Travers, What Remains, July 17 – August 18
Andrew F. Dailey, Drawn Through, October 16 – November 17

Nicholaus Arnold, “No One Was Having a Very Good Time,” 2016, paper bag installation.

Mid-career artists working with paper stood out in Rosewood Gallery’s 2017 solo exhibitions. The material was pushed in different directions by each artist, including Heather Lea Reid’s colorful depictions of her daughter, Emily Moores reimagined architectural space in cut paper, Cynthia Gregory’s re-creation of objects in paper, Andy Dailey’s intimate graphite drawings, Nicholaus Arnold’s ominous environment of paper bags, and Frank Travers anthropomorphic prints. Through these many exhibitions, these artists reinforced the material as a versatile vehicle for art. Learn more at www.playkettering.org/gallery.

James Luckett, The View Behind the Café, and Leah Stahl, Artifacts
Dutoit Gallery
June 2017

Leah Stahl, “Unknown Backseat Specimen 23” from “Artifacts” series

Both James Luckett and Leah Stahl find the invisible in the world they inhabit, and create images that recognize the beauty, oddities and unexpected things most would not even think to notice. Luckett’s The View Behind the Café manages to find still lifes in a strip mall parking lot by his place of employment. Stahl’s children unintentionally helped inform her project Artifacts creating the evidence that Stahl documents of things they touched, lost and discarded in the nooks and crannies of their lives. Learn more at www.dutoitgallery.com.

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence
Dayton Art Institute
June 24 2017 – September 10 2017

Ntombephi “Induna” Ntobela, “Tribute to My Sister Bongiswa,” 2010. Glass beads sewn onto fabric. Anacostia Community Museum/Smithsonian Institution

The DAI’s summer exhibition was colorful, intricate and awe-inspiring. Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence showcased the labor-intensive artworks created by a group of South African women. The subjects depicted range from AIDS awareness to the natural world to religious icons. An exhibition sure to cause anxiety for the impatient artist! Learn more at daytonartinstitute.org.

BONUS PICKS

Beth Holyoke
The Refugee Series
Yellow Springs Brewery
March 6 – April 2
Affected by the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis, artist Beth Holyoke has spent months volunteering in Greek refugee camps and translating the crisis into her artwork. Drawn onto ceramic pieces, Holyoke captures stories, feelings and the effects of transience and displacement. Learn more at yellowspringsbrewery.com.

Breathing Deeply, Pushing Back
Dayton Visual Arts Center
August 25 – September 22
A remarkable exhibition that hinged on so-called controversial artwork created by teenagers, Breathing Deeply, Pushing Back was an investigation of the artist as activist. The exhibition featured students from the Dayton Regional STEM School and guest artists Michael Casselli, Carris Adams, Juan-Si Gonzalez and Christina Springer.

Tyler Peffley
Diction
Blue House Gallery
June 2017
Tyler Peffley exhibition Diction explored moments of technology, place and popular culture in over 70 drawings. Often representing the figure in decades past, Peffley utilizes the intimate and immediate media of watercolors and graphite to capture each scene. Learn more at http://thebluehousearts.com/.

A Breath of International Air In a Local Dayton Art Gallery

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Where do you go for a taste of the international art world right here within the Dayton community? 

12 S Ludlow, next to the Fifth Third garage, there is an art gallery. Edward A. Dixon Gallery, to give it a name. It opened recently, the ribbon was cut just a few months ago on September 22nd, and like most Dayton art galleries you may find, it’s run by an art-loving long-time member of the Dayton community: Ed Dixon.

Ed’s been working in Dayton for years now, but it was more than love of art and Dayton that made him decide to open the Ludlow gallery; the Edward A. Dixon Gallery was opened with a purpose.

Any reader of DMM is more than likely familiar with Dayton’s unique community. It’s friendly, it’s collaborative, it’s deep, so on and so on — I’m sure you all can fill in your own adjectives. At Edward A. Dixon’s Gallery, it’s global.

It’s a pretty small shop, but the art within speaks to places far beyond its Dayton home, which is what makes Edward A. Dixon’s gallery a Dayton one of a kind; an entrance to Ed’s gallery is an entrance to a deeply diverse art experience. The gallery features a mix of paintings, sculptures, etchings, and more from a wide variety of eras in art. Ed hopes to freshen the Dayton art landscape with a breath of high-end local, regional, and international artwork. You may find oil paintings from France, abstract etchings from Germany, you may even find an acrylic-oil rendition of one of your favorite albums.

Or, if you come now, you may find the work of the Cuban painter Julio Antonio Pino Varens. Pino Varens is an abstract Colorist whose work often blends Afro-Cuban legends with Varens’ personal experiences.

Pino Varens continues to paint from home amidst both harsh creative and importation restrictions enforced upon artists by the Communist Party of Cuba. Pino Varens’ struggle for artistic freedom means less access to essential supplies as well, making it all the more difficult for Julio’s art to reach beyond Cuba.

The works ties in nicely with the featured “What Is Art” exhibit hanging on a wall nearby. The project addresses the boundaries and definitions debated over for ages when discussing the quality of an artist. Ed is proud to add the perspective of Pino Varens’ work which bursts with character and color

that warrants a trip to Ludlow St. in its own right.

The Edward A. Dixon Gallery is currently featuring four of Pino Varens’ works, each of which are currently for sale. The collection at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery is meant to build excitement for Pino Varens’ coming summer exhibit in the Fifth Third office , which will be showcasing Pino Varens’ most recent, on-going work.

If you don’t want to wait till then, or want a piece of the international community here in Dayton, stop by the Edward A. Dixon Gallery on Friday between 4-8p, Saturdays 12-4p, or by appointment.