By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
A portrait of Northwest Ohio is now on display in the galleries in the Bowling Green State University Fine Arts Center.
Friday the 9th Northwest Ohio Community Art Exhibition exhibit opened featuring work by 56 area artists. Entry into NowOH is open to all artists who live in 12 Northwest Ohio counties. “Everything that got sent in got included in the show,” said the Detroit artist Sarah Rose Sharp, who served as the exhibit juror. “Something that’s really beautiful about that is it paints kind of a collective picture of a community which is great to see.”
Art, she said, is “subjective” and when so many works are brought together “you can get kind of an aggregate of a community’s experience.”
Roxanne Shea’s “Ariel View,” which Sharp selected for Best of Show honors, reflected that vision. Sharp praised the work for its blend of an archaic printing technique with references to geo mapping.
Shea’s portrayals of the trailer park where her grandfather lived are rooted in the Rust Belt experience.
Roxanne Shea with her Best of Show winning print “Ariel View.”
Shea, who received her Master of Fine Arts in 2-D Studies this spring from BGSU, said her grandfather died right before she started these prints. Shea, who grew up in a low-income family in Grand Rapids, Michigan said: “I was trying to understand where I came from, where I’m at now and how I feel a little distance from my family because I’ve gone through college.”
The winning work is an overview of the park, while another print shows a few trailers. She used the collagraph technique that involves employing found materials. In her case that was wood and 24-inch masking tape. She build up the surface and then cut away material to create the images.
“Growing up I didn’t have much, so I had to use what I had around me,” Shea said. “The collagraph process involves grabbing what you can and applying it to the plate. Finding the materials is a big part of the process for me, bringing it back and showing its beauty.”
Using salvaged materials, Sharp said, is becoming a common practice among Rust Belt artists. “Finding use for discarded objects… has become a metaphor for redemption.”
At Friday’s awards reception, Sharp took viewers through the collection and commented on those pieces she chose as award winners.
George Clemans’ ceramic piece “When Irish Wedding Bells Chime” was given the first place in three-dimensional work. Sharp said it reminded her of the way objects can serve as “place holders” for experience.
Support Local Media!The objects crafted by Clemans serve as a representation of the place God fits into the Irish tradition.
Aaron Pickens’ small painting “Existential Planking” was given the first place award for two-dimensional work.
“It’s really funny,” Sharp said of the miniature painting. In that small frame, Pickens makes reference to the history of art, toys and the contemporary fad of planking. “It’s a nice piece that wove together so many different elements, and some mad painting skills,” she said. “Well played, Aaron.”
Clara Gabriela Delgado’s black-and-white photograph “Lucky” won the Bowling Green Noon Kiwanis Youth Award.
Delgado, who just completed her first year as a BGSU art student, took the photograph in a Bowling Green neighborhood. It shows a dog in a ramshackled enclosure with a sign saying “Lucky” in the background.
Maybe this wasn’t the luckiest dog, Sharp speculated. She said Delgado’s work was “really clever and really sophisticated.”
“As an artist you have an ability to observe your situation then have a perspective on it,” she said.
Delgado said her interest in photography began as a student at Start High School in Toledo. She started with and continues to use a film camera. She said digital tends to remove her too much from the reality before her.
Delgado credited her BGSU teacher Chris Ridgway with helping her refine her approach to photography.
Other NowOH winners are:
- Melanie Isenogle, “The Secret Meeting,” second place 2-D.
- Kalia Johnson, “Vessels of Language: 3D Typographics”
- Rob Snyder, “Sparrows,” Toledo Federation of Art Societies Award.
- Matthew Donahue, “Celebration Bowl,” Bowling Green Arts Council Award.
- Cory Thompson, “Mindful Absence,” Ellen Smith, “Armchair,” Lee Michael Herpy “Chameleon,” and Chelsea Regelski, “Nesting Jars,” all honorable mention.
Winners received cash prizes with honorable mentions getting gift certificates. All received one-year memberships in the Bowling Green Arts Council and the Toledo Federation of Art Societies.
Visitors can continue to vote on the Bowling Green Arts Council’s Popular Choice Awards through the show’s run. The show continues through July 30. Gallery hours are Thursday evenings, 6 -8 p.m. and Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1-4 p.m.
