Wondrous works Ohioans offer an abundance at state fair’s fine arts show
The numbers are impressive and a bit overwhelming: More than 600 Ohio artists entered a combined 2,056 works for the 2019 Fine Arts Exhibition at the Ohio State Fair. Of the artists, 242 were selected, and 357 works are on display.
That adds up to a rich, if formidable, viewing experience, continuing until the fair ends on Aug. 4. Repeat visits may be in order to fully absorb and appreciate the largest annual exhibit of Ohio-made artwork. Last year, more than 35,000 people strolled through the exhibit, located at the south end of the fairgrounds in the Cox Fine Arts Building.
The 2019 jurors in the professional division were Kelly and Kyle Phelps — twin brothers, sculpture artists and professors — and Jodi Rose Gonzales, an environmental artist, art therapist and author. Painter, printmaker and Otterbein University art professor Nicholas Hill handled the amateur division. They selected works with this year’s theme in mind: “a perspective from nature.”
Many pieces use found objects from nature or pay tribute to the environment in their subject matter. But pieces that reflect urban or man-made environments are not excluded.
The piece that won best of show in the professional division, for example, does not specifically refer to nature: It is a remarkable pastel of a beautiful African American woman. The realistic portrait “I See the Other in Myself” by Lindsay Rodgers is a fooler; it looks like a photograph of the solemn, confident young woman.
Second best of show among the professionals went to Andi Wolfe for her stunning wood and glass sculpture “Beloved.” The work, created from wood and in honor of a felled maple tree on a Tennessee homestead dating to 1800, places a circle of carved wooden maple leaves on a pedestal of black glass.
Mark Sullivan took third
best of show in the division — as well as three other awards — for his surreal oil painting “Floodland.” The thought-provoking scene shows three old trailers on stilts overlooking a barren landscape while, overhead, stylized letters swirl in the air.
The many other exemplary works in the professional division include Julie Woodrow’s “Toca Madera,” a textured and whimsical sculpture of a woman’s head topped by a chicken; Liz Hunt’s “Naturalist’s Writing Chair” built of willow and walnut and carrying a variety of quotations including William Blake’s “Nature is imagination itself;” Forge Garrabrant’s installation “Choose Your Weapon” that combines plastic toy guns with sticks mimicking their forms; and Jose Luis Quinones’ “Marbles” in which the brightly colored spheres are painted larger
than life and collected in a circular frame.
In the amateur division, the best of show award went to Michelle Geissbuhler for her four-panel installation “B is for Bullet.” This dark faux primer for children offers “B” nouns including “bedlam, bodies, Beelzebub and burial” framed by a border of bullet shells.
Davis Burnside took second best of show in the division for “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” an oil painting of a balloon dog that has either conquered or has been conquered by a stern-faced blue balloon tied to an open safety pin.
Third best of show among amateurs went to Linda Clutter for her photo “Sinking Feeling,” a scene of a dilapidated sink hung on the wall of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield that was used as the setting for the film “The Shawshank Redemption.”
In addition to these best of show awards, more than 30 additional awards — totaling more than $20,000 in prize money — will be distributed to the artists.
Of this year’s participating artists, 65 are newcomers, accepted for the first time in the enormous juried exhibition. Thirty-four of Ohio’s 88 counties are represented.
Central Ohio visitors will recognize the work of many local artists, and just about everyone — no matter where they are from — will marvel at the talent, ingenuity and craftsmanship of Ohio artists on display.
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