Reception
Thursday | July 28 | 5-7pm
The unique spirit of Appalachian Ohio—as shaped by its geography, history, and people—emanates from this exhibition, which features the work of contemporary artists living and working within the Southeastern Ohio region. Juried and brought to the OSU Urban Arts Space by Majestic Galleries of Nelsonville, Ohio, the exhibition apprehends instances of daily life in an area where mental and physical states are markedly linked with the natural landscape.
Spirit of an Appalachian Region features 56 works by 35 contemporary artists representing Athens, Hocking, Muskingum, Ross, Washington, Scioto, and Fairfield counties. Ohio University's Kennedy Museum of Art also brings from its collections the work of James Karales and Lloyd E. Moore, two photographers whose work is of both national and historical significance. Karales, a graduate of Ohio University, is known best for his documentation of the Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965. This (same-titled) photograph and prints recording life in Rendville, Ohio, provide both an historical background and counterpoint to the area and the work of the contemporary Appalachian artists. Accompanying Karales' works are the faces of Southeast Ohioans as captured by Moore, a Lawrence County, Ohio prosecutor (and alumnus of The Ohio State University) who came to understand his clients during the 1960s through 90s from behind the lens.
Jurors for This Show:
Carol Griffith:
Carol Griffith is a Chair of Painting and Professor of Fine Art at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally in such galleries as Artemisia in Chicago, IL, The Pittsburgh Plan for Art and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Alabama, and are included in a number of corporate and private collections. She is a recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship. She earned her BFA in painting from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. PA and an MFA in painting from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
Frank Hobbs:
Mr. Hobbs is a professor of Art at Ohio Wesleyan University where he teaches painting, drawing, figure drawing and 2D design. Before coming to OWU, Hobbs taught at Colby College in Maine, and Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He has shown work internationally, is represented in numerous private and public collections, and is the recipient of grants from the NEA and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Mr. Hoobs earned a B.A. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and an MFA from American University.
Petra Kralickova:
Ms. Kralickova (MFA University of Massachusetts) is a practicing artist and curator. She has been director of exhibitions at Ohio University Galleries since 2004 and head curator of the Kennedy Museum of Art since 2009. Her most recent curatorial projects were a collaborative exhibition with Mark Dion entitled Collections Collected: The University Collects and Athens Collects Miniatures (2009), catalogue publications and exhibition of ceramic artist Sunkoo Yuh titled Cultural Order, Natural Chaos (2010) and organization of an outdoor large-scale, site specific installation of Buttress by DeWitt Dodfrey. She has exhibited sculptural installation work at Black and White Gallery and at Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NYC), Tacoma Contemporary (Tacoma, WA), and Sculpture Center (Cleveland, OH). She is originally from the Czech Republic.
Majestic Galleries is an artists' cooperative located on the Historic Public Square in Nelsonville, Ohio.
