| The Ohio State University (OSU) Urban Arts Space is an opportunity for the university and the community to challenge ways of thinking about the performing and visual arts and their role in everyday life through conversation and making. Located in the heart of downtown Columbus, the space bridges the university and the community. It is an arts laboratory for faculty and community artists, and serves as a professional launching pad for Ohio State students. This past fall the space showcased its most valuable resource—the people of OSU—with two exhibitions honoring the faculty from the Department of Art. Because of the location and size of the OSU Urban Art Space, we are able, for the first time since 1990, to present the current work of the OSU Department of Art Faculty, in one space, at one time. |
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Kelly Stevelt Kaser
Mary Jo Bole, You Remember, 2008. Enamel on steel, iron, 14 x 56 x 56 inches. Photo credit: Dan Younger. Courtesy of the Urban Art Space.
The Ohio State University (OSU) Urban Arts Space is an opportunity for the university and the community to challenge ways of thinking about the performing and visual arts and their role in everyday life through conversation and making. Located in the heart of downtown Columbus, the space bridges the university and the community. It is an arts laboratory for faculty and community artists, and serves as a professional launching pad for Ohio State students. This past fall the space showcased its most valuable resource—the people of OSU—with two exhibitions honoring the faculty from the Department of Art.
Because of the location and size of the OSU Urban Art Space, we are able, for the first time since 1990, to present the current work of the OSU Department of Art Faculty, in one space, at one time. With a creative community of faculty members that are internationally recognized and award-winning leaders in their disciplines, the OSU Department of Art is a premier, nationally ranked program in the studio arts.
The Columbus Museum of Art Associate Curator for Contemporary Art, Joe Houston, organized this ambitious group exhibition, which includes work from Mary Jo Bole, Carmel Buckley, Malcolm Cochran, Alison Crocetta, Robert Ladislas Derr, Ann Hamilton, Richard Harned, Rebecca Harvey, Scot Kaplan, Laura Lisbon, Charles Massey, Jr., Tony Mendoza, Michael Mercil, Ardine Nelson, Ken Rinaldo, Suzanne Silver, Sergio Soave, Todd Slaughter, John Thrasher, Steve Thurston, Ed Valentine, Pheoris West, and Amy Youngs. We are pleased to be presenting the faculty work simultaneously with the Columbus Museum of Art’s exhibition Object of Wonders, offering another bridging opportunity between the museum and the university.
From his earliest figurative narrations to his suggestive pre-figurations of bountiful color, Alan Crockett has always been a painter’s painter: dedicated to the canvas, to the brush, to the gesture. His retirement this year forms the occasion for this mini-retrospective of a life in the studio, and a life dedicated to art, teaching, and family. Alan Crockett: Mark Making is on display from November 6, 2008 to January 24, 2009.
The OSU Urban Arts Space programming ties the community and the university together by serving as a laboratory for local and regional artists. Two highlights of this season’s programs include The Marotta Hour and The ReadAloud. Every third Thursday of the month we invite people to stay downtown a little later to check out new sounds curated by local musician and international composer Larry Marotta. The Marotta Hour is an electro-acoustic music series featuring unexpected sounds from free jazz to electronic to free-form improvisation. It’s a great place to hear some of the most cutting-edge musicians and composers from Columbus and beyond. The ReadAloud program is a celebration of the Ohioana Library Award program. Each year, the Ohioana Library presents Ohio authors with an acknowledgement of their accomplishments. As a means of celebrating this honor Ohioana Library staff come in and read selections for the winners. The ReadAloud is part of the OSU Urban Arts Space weekly brown bag series offered every Tuesday around noon. Community members are invited to bring their lunch and enjoy locally hand-roasted coffee provided by Café Brioso.
