The opening reception for the multi-arts exhibition/experience If You Say So, featuring the paintings of Glen Holland, will begin at 6:00 PM with a performance of a new contemporary dance piece, “If U Say So,” created in relation and response to Michelle Herman’s new book, If You Say So, in which reproductions of one of Holland’s recent series of paintings are included. A reading from the book will follow, and copies (which both author and artist will be happy to sign) will be available for sale.
“If U Say So” was created and directed by Mallory Rowell and Michelle Herman in collaboration with the dancers: Tracey Adams, Jennifer Johnson, Lindsey Johnston, Natalia Nekrasova, Dena Pierog, Danielle Schoon, Tawny Sit, Lindsay Weaver, Lizzie Williams, and Mia Wu.
If You Say So is a multidisciplinary show of art, literature, and dance about heightened experience: love and loss, grief and fear, and “everyday” struggles and challenges and the way we seek solutions for them. It is anchored by an exhibition of recent work by the painter Glen Holland as well as novelist and essayist Michelle Herman’s latest book, If You Say So, in which a series of Holland’s paintings are reproduced.
The exhibition includes Holland’s most recent comic book painting series, “Scenes from Life (in the Near Future),” in addition to the comic book/still life painting series “Nature/Nurture and Other Old/Odd Debates,” a set of devotional paintings (“Retablos of Lamentation from the Future”), and other new work in egg tempera, India ink, shellac inks, acrylic, and water-miscible oil on glue/chalk gesso ground on panel.
Herman’s new book—a collection of essays—tells true stories about loss and reinvention, longing and loneliness, friendship and community, family and home—and dance, the dedicated practice of which has led her on an unexpected new path through her life. If You Say So is a book about grief and the way it lives in the body—and joy, and the way it lives in the body too.
Both Holland’s paintings and Herman’s book are in conversation with two dance works. One is the award-winning dance film “Spatula” (the making of which is chronicled in the book’s first essay), choreographed by Russell Lepley, with music by Counterfeit Madison. In the film, armies of ragtag, masked, and poorly armored “soldiers,” fitted with spatula swords and pot lid shields, confront each other in a scene that might have come directly out of one of Holland’s comic book panels. The second is a new, live-danced piece, “If U Say So,” co-created by Herman and Mallory Rowell and performed by a multigenerational, multinational group of dancers.
Workshops, classes, talks, panel discussions, Q&As, talkbacks, and performances will occur throughout the run of the exhibition. A reading room in the gallery, stocked with copies of If You Say So and comfortable chairs, offers visitors a space to read, relax, and talk. On July 11, visitors can also participate in a book discussion facilitated by Christopher Purdy, host of WOSU/NPR Affiliate Radio’s “All Sides Books.”
Every aspect of this interdisciplinary show explores and interrogates the making of art, the way art transforms experience, the way our experience of art transforms us—and the way art makes the unbearable bearable.
The Reading Room will be stocked with copies of Michelle Herman’s new book, the memoir/essay collection If You Say So, and comfortable chairs for reading in. Come by on your lunch hour, after work, or any other time the gallery is open during the run of the show. We encourage visitors to read If You Say So throughout the month and to join the author at the culminating book discussion on July 11 at 6:00 PM in the gallery.
Exhibition Run: Tuesday, June 17–Saturday, July 12, 2025
Club Urban Arts: A Dance Party:
Tuesday, June 17, 1–2 PM
Tuesday, June 24, 1–2 PM
Saturday, June 28, 2–3 PM
Absolute Beginner, No-Experience-Whatsoever-Needed Ballet Class for Adults:
Tuesday, June 17, 2–3 PM
Tuesday, June 24, 2–3 PM
Saturday, June 28, 3–4 PM
Opening Reception & Performance: Friday, June 20, 6–8 PM
Complete Exposure: A Panel Discussion/Q&A on Writing About Yourself . . . & Others: Thursday, June 26, 6–7:30 PM
Rhythm and Release – A Dance Experience with Cherelle Brown: Thursday, July 10, 6:30–8 PM
Community Dance Education and theMaking of "Spatula": A Conversation: Thursday, July 10, 8–9 PM
If You Say So Book Club Discussion with WOSU's Christopher Purdy: Friday, July 11, 6–7 PM
Artist Talks with Glen Holland and Michelle Herman: Friday, July 11, 7–8:30 PM
Belly Dance Class with Danielle Schoon: Saturday, July 12, 2–3 PM
Dance Performance with Talkback & Rock 'n Roll Show: Saturday, July 12, 5–7 PM
To read more about each event, go to the If You Say So page.
Visiting Urban Arts Space
50 W. Town St., Ste. 130
Columbus, OH 43215
Located in the historic Lazarus Building in downtown Columbus.
Hours
Tuesday–Saturday | 11 a.m.–6 p.m., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Admission to our exhibitions and programs is free!
View this map for parking garage options, with street parking on Rich, Front, and Wall Street, or go to our Accessibility page for bike or bus directions.
