Variety of materials, moods on display at Ohio Craft Museum exhibit
The world of craft is big and broad. A perfect demonstration of the medium’s scope can be found in “The Best of 2023” exhibit, continuing through July 8 at the Ohio Craft Museum.
Seventy-eight works in clay, glass, fiber, metal, wood and mixed media show the range of subjects, materials, techniques and moods that the artists – mostly but not all Ohioans – use and express in their works.
Material mastery
In her dazzling, big fiber work “Button Jar Car,” Elyria artist Mary Ann Tipple has applied hundreds of buttons in shades of aqua to a family photo: Her mother at the wheel of a 1963 Oldsmobile.
James Mellick, of Milford Center, used cherry, walnut and sycamore wood to build his animated sculpture “The Guardians,” in which two ferocious dogs, fangs bared, lunge at each other.
Simplicity and clean lines are the mark of Granville artist Michael Rozell’s walnut and leather chair, “Deconstruction.”
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Moods and emotions
Susan Shie, a well-known fabric artist from Wooster, commemorates two 21st century women – former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and the lesser-known Ohio arts proponent Guenveur Burnell – in her quilt “Guenveur and Madeleine.” Included in the intricate and voluminous text that accompanies images is the information that the women died four days apart from each other in 2022. “They didn’t know each other, but they should have,” Shie’s script reads.
Columbus artist Sandra Aska goes to a dark and political side with her sculpture, “I’m Fine,” built of clay, railroad spikes, glazes and more. A woman with her shirt open clutches her abdomen, which is punctured by the black railroad spikes.
“Reliquary for a Good Boy,” by Peggy Quinn, of East Springfield, Pennsylvania, is a Medieval-style receptacle adorned with images of a saint-like dog, a humorous satire on art history.
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Sheer elegance
In her simple porcelain bowl, “Early Morning Bamboo with Fireflies,” Columbus artist Brook Slobodien achieves remarkable effects. The interior of her small white bowl includes several tiny dots. On the exterior, those dots transform into pinpricks of light, the fireflies of the title.
“Steel Kimono,” is a masterpiece of simplicity. With minimal but effective lines, Russell Stephanchick of Cleveland Heights has created the three-dimensional Japanese garment.
The elegant “Persephone’s Necklace” is an asymmetrically designed piece of jewelry made of sterling silver and sunstones, with the latter resembling the pomegranates from the Greek myth. Jessica Mohl of Crawfordsville, Indiana, is the artist.
Many of the above-described pieces are award-winners in the exhibit. Steve Smith, former art professor at Defiance College, selected the 78 works from more than 300 entries. The award-winners, he said, produced the “wow factor.”
After it closes at the Ohio Craft Museum, “Best of 2023” will travel to the Wassenberg Art Center in Van Wert, Ohio, opening there on Aug. 31.
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At a glance
“The Best of 2023” continues through July 8 at the Ohio Craft Museum, 1665 W. Fifth Ave. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free. Call 614-486-4402 or visit ohiocraft.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'The Best of 2023' exhibit is open through July 8 at Ohio Craft Museum
