Corners Constrict the Mind

Multidisciplinary artist Nate Ricciuto’s recent work embraces the restlessness and irreverence of tinkering, an activity that eschews the wisdom of established systems and favors playful intervention and disruption. These projects reconsider narratives of progress and resistance and seek to build experiences that conjure idealistic, radical, and flawed visions of the future. He is curious about the practicality and optimism of craft, exploring the possibility that the way we make things is an extension of our beliefs, desires, and doubts. Perhaps imagination is not only a reflection of the things we hope to control, but also those things that control us. Combining carefully crafted objects, homespun ingenuity, and intuitive approaches, Ricciuto creates situations and spaces that entertain paranoid sentiments and invite myopic fantasies of self-reliance and escape.

Inspired by affinities between fringe beliefs, handmade structures, and alternative worldviews, Ricciuto’s projects probe material relationships and perceptual slippages in reflecting and amplifying an atmosphere of uncertainty, distortion, and everyday absurdity. These objects and environments hope to evoke the potential of both isolation and hyper-connectivity in cultivating delusional and speculative attitudes, casting sideways glances toward the growing prevalence of competing and contradictory versions of reality.

Corners Constrict the Mind includes:

Two Points on a Curved Surface, a collection of household items and repurposed objects that is loosely based on amateur experiments to measure the divergence of beams of sunlight in hopes of proving aspects of Flat Earth theory.

Solar Still, a durational project made of wood, mirrors, glass, acrylic, PVC tubing, bottles, pond water, a bucket, and sunlight that focused on a simple contraption using solar energy to distill water from a nearby pond into a purified, drinkable substance. Each day’s distillate was collected, bottled and consumed, allowing participants to consider their engagement with time, environment, and resources.

Bellwether, a project that grew out of a collaboration with a manufacturer of architectural and automotive specialty glass. This work makes use of conductive glass panels to create a Faraday enclosure to shield the interior from radio and wireless signal interference.

Featuring:

Nate Ricciuto

Humming of the Strings

The title of the exhibition, Humming of the Strings, is drawn from the Pythagoras quote, “There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the sphere.” The spheres in the case of Pythagoras were the planets of the solar system, and his assertion was that their movement would literally make a sound and by their order in concert those sounds would make pleasant music. Back on Earth, a poetic embrace of geometry is the motivation to bring these six artists together in one space, and to allow the work of each artist to interact and resonate—much like the music of the spheres.

Humming of the Strings features the work of Stefan Chinov, Heather Jones, Jeffrey Courtland Jones, Kristina Paabus, Marc Ross, Richard Roth, and Mathew Mohr. Each artist was chosen for their nonobjective approach and unique correlation with the history of geometric abstraction. Heather Jones and Roth explore how we look at and into an image by amplifying both the physical and graphic presence in their work; Jeffrey Courtland Jones, Paabus, and Ross create a similar relationship between the surface and the atmospheric potential of mark-making; and Chinov explores the complex relationship of sculpture and pedestal as the pedestal becomes sculpture and Mohr activates his sculpture with motion.

Featuring:

Heather Jones | Jeffrey Cortland Jones | Kristina Paabus | Stefan Chinov | Richard Roth | Marc Ross | Mathew Mohr |

Closer—Still 

Steeped in the histories of abstraction and protest, Closer—Still is a collection of small works by an international group of artists who question the current state of the world. The exhibition is curated by Jeffrey Courtland Jones, one of the artists with work in the Beeler Gallery exhibition Humming of the Strings.

Featuring:

Dave Ackels | Matthew Allen | Nicolo Baraggioli | Arvid Boecker | Ron Buffington | Marc Cheetham | Thomas Condon | Michael Conlan | William Cunningham | Corey Allen Davis | Matthew Deleget | Daniel DeLuna | Tom Duimstra | Stuart Fineman | Russell Floersch | Adam Reid Fox | Alan Greenberg | Nick Grindrod | Billy Gruner | Patrick Morrissey & Hanz Hancock | Gretel Helm | Frank Herrmann | Gary Hinsche | Peter Holm | Andre Hyland | Chris Jackson | Celia Johnson | Heather Jones | Olivia Jones | Cayman K. | Matthew Langley | Geno Luketic | Alex McClurg | Dennis Meier | Edmund J. Merricle II | David T. Miller | Marc Mitchell | Toby Mott | Claire Murphy | Brooke Nixon | Catie Orban | Roland Orepuk | Jacqueline Patton | Jon Poblador | Marc Ross | Tim Schwartz | Dorian Smith | Winston Smith | Benjamin Lee Sperry | Clary Stolte | Richard van der Aa | Don Voisine | Seth Wade | Dan Wells | Paige Williams | Douglas Witmer | Stephen Wright | Mark Zimmermann | Tamar Zinn |

Tracing Echoes

Works by Julie Abijanac and Kelly Malec-Kosak featuring their NYC Residency inspired work.

Opening Reception October 3rd, 5:00 to 6:30 pm

About the Exhibition

Responding to their summer 2023 residency in New York City, artists and CCAD faculty members Julie Abijanac and Kelly Malec-Kosak have created a series of artworks that integrate drawing, fiber, painting, jewelry, and found objects, capturing the essence of their experiences while reflecting on the personal and collective histories shaping our understanding of place. The residency, which saw the duo visit a number of galleries and museums, also inspired them to embrace the repurposing of everyday materials, and to experiment with vibrant hues, unexpected textures, and playful mark-making to convey the emotional impact of the gallery experiences. With Tracing Echoes, Abijanac and Malec-Kosak strive to share the sense of discovery and connection they experienced in New York, inviting viewers to interact with their art and explore their own perspectives within the artists’ ongoing exploration.

Featuring:

Professor Julie Abijanac (Fine Arts, 1992) chairs both the Master of Fine Arts degree and the undergraduate Fine Arts program at CCAD. Follow Abijanac—and learn more about her work—on Instagram and Facebook.

Professor Kelly Malec-Kosak is Associate Dean of Visual Arts at CCAD and a member of the college’s Fine Arts faculty. Follow Malec-Kosak—and learn more about her work—on Instagram and on her website.

Spitball X

About the exhibition

Spitball X: Ten Years of the Spitball Anthology at CCAD celebrates ten years of the successful CCAD comics anthology Spitball, the student-designed publication that pairs CCAD's emerging artists with professional writers to create a graphic anthology. This exhibition at Columbus College of Art & Design’s Beeler Gallery Project Space, 60 Cleveland Ave. is on view Thursday, Sept. 5–Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. The exhibition will culminate with a closing reception at 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, immediately following an artist talk from Bryan Lee O’Malley (creator of the Scott Pilgrim comic book series) that comes as part of the annual Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival.

Spitball X features both current work from CCAD alumni that showcases their post-college achievements, as well as selected pages from past Spitball anthologies.

Featuring:

Lexi Ramos | Alec Valerius | Freddie Crocheron | Vince Mugavero | Khaila Carr | Alan Alanis | Allison Hess | Bonnie Gumser | Sara Guzman | Stasha |

The 2024 FotoFocus Biennial activates over 100 projects at museums, galleries, universities, and public spaces throughout Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio in September 2024. Each Biennial is structured around a unifying theme; for 2024 that theme, backstories, focuses on stories that are not evident at first glance. These stories offer context for what happened previously or out of view, providing narratives not yet told or presented from a new perspective. Yet once told, they shed light on current circumstances and events.

FotoFocus welcomes global artists, curators, critics, educators, and regional visitors to Cincinnati with exhibitions, talks, performances, screenings, and panel discussions during an expanded week of programming. Featuring keynote lecture, talks and panel discussions with artists, curators, and collaborators, receptions and tours, the Biennial Program is designed to inspire conversations about the world through photography, film, and lens-based art.

A catalog of works and artist statements can be accessed here.

I Was Here

Curated by April Sunami and Marcus Morris

Artist Panel: Black Women Imagemakers September 5th, 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm

A panel Discussion featuring the exhibitions Curators, April Sunami and Marcus Morris in conversation with Janet George, Nina (Nine) Wells, Marissa Stewart and Alexis McCrimmon.

Opening Reception September 5th, 6:00 to 8:00 pm

About the exhibition

I Was Here is an exhibition of work by emerging and underrepresented lens-based artists, curated by April Sunami and Marcus Morris (Photography, 2011). This exhibition at Columbus College of Art & Design’s Beeler Gallery, 60 Cleveland Ave. is on view Thursday, Sept. 5–Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 as part of the FotoFocus Biennial: backstories. I Was Here brings together the diverse mediums of photography, video, performance, collage and mixed media to explore the essential act of image-making and storytelling.

“I—(or a specific name)—was here” is a familiar declaration inscribed on the walls of shared spaces, from bathroom stalls to park benches to, yes, even gallery walls, marking a person’s time and presence in a specific place. In 2024, in a social and political climate in which complicated histories revolving around Black people face the threat of erasure, we find that sharing stories through the lens of Black creators and cultural producers is especially critical. In I Was Here, declare their presence as they delve into the myriad ways of being and of existing in our ever-complicated society. Through this perspective, artists in I Was Here offer insights on disability, gender and sexual identity, survival, imagination, aging, ancestry, community, and more. Much of the Columbus-based artists’ work in I Was Here was created for the exhibition.

Several of the Columbus-based FotoFocus presentations, including that at CCAD, are influenced by the life and work of the Harlem-based, Detroit-born artist Ming Smith. In I Was Here, curators Sunami and Morris aim for the art in the exhibition to evoke her perspective of “celebrating the struggle, the survival and finding grace in it.”

Featuring:

Dejiah Archie-Davis | Asa Featherstone | Janet George | Ira Graham | Terrence Hammonds | Iyana Hill | Asha Imani | Magnus Juliano | Alexis McCrimmon | Ky Smiley | Marissa Nicole Stewart | Tariq Tarey | Akeylah Wellington | Nina Wells | Lyn Logan Grimes |

Children of War

Organized by: Nataliia Pavliuk & Yustyna Pavliuk

About the exhibition
The origins of Children of War, on view Thursday, Sept. 5–Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024 at Columbus College of Art & Design, 60 Cleveland Ave., can be traced back to a morning in early 2022, when the people of Ukraine awoke to the news that a full-scale invasion of their country by Russia had begun. This event divided Ukrainians’ lives into a clear distinction between “before” and “after,” with many feeling compelled to contribute in any way possible to support the country’s struggle. Some immediately enlisted in Ukraine’s armed forces; others found ways to volunteer in various capacities. 

Nataliia and Yustyna Pavliuk, the Ukrainian mother and daughter who co-curated Children of War, decided to help children and their parents through art. Say the Pavliuks:

“From the very outset of the conflict, we dedicated ourselves to aiding children who arrived in Lviv seeking refuge. We met with them in hospitals, shelters, and orphanages, marking the inception of our Art that Saves initiative. Throughout the last two-and-a-half years, children from all corners of Ukraine have passed through our art classes. These young souls used their artwork to express their dreams, fears, thoughts about the war, and their aspirations for what life would be like after victory.”

With Children of War, a multimedia exhibition of work created by young people during this time of war, the Pavliuks intend to provide visitors insight into the experiences of these children and their families and to remind them of how crucial it is to support Ukraine on diplomatic and other fronts. “Only through our combined efforts can we hope to emerge victorious in this war,” say the exhibition’s co-creators, continuing, “We don’t know what story this child has behind him.” 

“Even a seemingly simple question like, ‘Where are your parents?’ or ‘Do you have a brother or sister?’ can be very sensitive for them to hear.  These children saw what they should not have seen in life… And this will forever remain in their memory and be reflected throughout their lives, decisions, fears and choices.  But fortunately, the fire in children’s eyes did not go out, and this war has not broken them.”

“This art brings back their wings! And we, the adults, simply do everything to support that spark and kindle it into a thirst for life.”

Children of War and the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio
The exhibition Children of War was made possible by the collaboration of the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio, a grassroots nonprofit with a mission of promoting Ukrainian culture and providing humanitarian aid. For more information, visit ucao.us.

. . . the occurrence of a word is the occurrence of an object whose placement always has a point, and whose point always lies before and beyond it.                      

Stanley Cavell, The Senses of Walden, 1972

Michael Mercil’s exhibition at the Beeler Gallery highlights a selection of his new drawings, enameled metal panels and needlepoint works of single words formed from simple, block letters. Like the other objects in the show, the artist considers these two-dimensional pieces to be things—and not stand-ins for or images of other things. Some thing(s) also includes one gallery designed as an “open classroom” for scheduled and impromptu CCAD and community programs and conversations. Each Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Mercil will use the space for free public performances of his “Reading the Daily News” from the print edition of the day’s Columbus Dispatch.

Mercil wishes to dedicate this exhibit to former CCAD Provost, Anedith Nash (1943-2020) and to his art school mentor, artist Siah Armajani (1939-2020).

Link to Columbus Dispatch’s article on Michael’s performance.

Images provided by Jake Holler.

Mirko Ilić was inspired to launch the Tolerance Project following the “House of Tolerance” film festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2017. He asked 28 artists to create a poster about tolerance, the only requirement being that they write “tolerance” in their native language. After a successful 10-day show in Ljubljana, Mirko decided to tour the posters globally. Now, whenever Tolerance Project appears in a new city, local designers contribute to the show’s ever-expanding catalogue of artworks.

Images provided by: Jake Holler and Jonathan Riles