By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
There’s a new foundation in town: The Transcendence Artist Coalition (TAC). Its roots started as a group of queer artists helping each other within the art realm.
Whether they were meeting common needs, finding event information or sharing art supplies, they were there as a supportive, though somewhat informal, community.
The group formed because of a noticeable gap in the local arts ecosystem, particularly for queer and low-income artists who lacked access to venues, resources and a supportive community.
“We were just friends trying to help each other out. There were a lot of queer artists in town and as artists you organically meet each other at events and everything, and we noticed that we had a lot of common needs and a lot of us had access to ways to meet those needs. So we just kind of ended up banding together,” said Jax Foster, also known as Thistle and Berry.
Beyond establishing an artists’ community, one of the first art events the group hosted was the 2024 Transcendence Art Show.
“The Transcendence Art Show originally was formed because I had art that was trans-body based that I couldn’t get into any shows due to content,” they explained. “I formed the show to give us a space where we could put stuff out despite content, and it actually gets seen and goes on an artist’s resume.”
For three years, the show grew, and the outreach expanded. As more and more people were welcomed into the fold, the need became necessary to access more funding and provide grant opportunities for artists to expand their work.
They created an art closet for lending supplies and adopted Foster’s idea of the BG Tiny Gallery.
In April of this year, the group formally organized and formed the nonprofit foundation under the TAC umbrella. The primary mission expanded to be a resource and community for queer artists in northwest Ohio —not just to help one another but “to encourage and facilitate opportunities and spaces for us and by us in the Great Lakes Region,” said Foster, who as the founder and organizer of the Transcendence art movement in Bowling Green, is president of the nonprofit foundation.
The TAC officer team includes Vice President Axel Crimmins, Secretary Maeve Georgeson, Accessibility Advocate Roux Wells-Jenson (and artists’ closet lead), and at-large members Jules Reith (and Tiny Gallery lead), Annahita Koogan and GM Ohare.
Among the priorities of TAC is to offer sponsored, no-fee slots for artists at their shows to remove financial barriers to participation.
Grant opportunities in the name of James Coleman Howes
The newest initiative of the foundation is the creation of the Coleman Grant, named in honor of James Coleman Howes, who died in May 2025. He was a dearly loved local artist and close friend of Foster. “They were over 1,950 days sober,” Foster said.
In a partnership with the Wood County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, TAC secured $1,000 in annual funding for the Coleman Grant to provide an artist with funds for supplies and a featured spot in the WCADAMHS “Resilience Through Art” show.
The grant honors Howes and supports an artist struggling with mental health and sobriety, Foster said.
Personal loss and the memory of a friend turned into a powerful catalyst for establishing the grant and creating a positive, community-focused action.
“They are truly what I am doing everything that I am doing,” Foster said about the lasting impact Howes had on their artistic journey. “It’s their voice in my head telling me how insane I am and what a monster I am that I made that. I like hearing their voice in my head all the time.”
As funds are available, the foundation will continue to sponsor artists’ participation in art shows. Fees to enter art shows can be a real barrier, especially when you’re living paycheck to paycheck,” Reith said. “So I have full or part-time jobs. This is not how I make money. This is how I make joy.”
The fees often make art shows inaccessible for new and young artists. “That’s what we are trying to do,” Reith said.
“I think accessibility is our main focus,” Foster said.
Support from local companies like Ben’s has been instrumental to the foundation’s budget. Private donors have also helped support the foundation. For more information about the nonprofit foundation, visit the Facebook page.
Transcendence Art Coalition is about connecting. “If you don’t have a network, you don’t have anything,” Reith said. “We need to understand the impact of not caring for the people in our community. This matters.”
“It’s an all-encompassing call for all of us, and I think that’s what brought all of us together specifically because we all have a similar call,” Foster said. “It’s like a light that we’re just kind of passing around. If somebody can’t and it goes out and you can’t stomach it that day, don’t worry. There’s somebody else that has it, and they’ll pass it back to you when they’re ready.”
