Exhibitions

Come celebrate our talented students with original artworks in all media created by KHAC youth and adult students, as well as selected students from local elementary schools including: Pleasant Ridge Montessori, Woodford Paideia, Nativity Elementary, The New School Montessori, and Academy of World Languages.

This show is sure to inspire artists of all ages!

All are invited to a free Opening Reception on Saturday, March 3rd from 6:00 to 8:00 pm with light refreshments.

The show runs from March 3, 2018 to April 7, 2018. Gallery hours are: Tuesday – Friday 10 AM to 5 PM, Saturday 11 AM to 4 PM.

Image credit: The Cow by Stan Ladrick, acrylic painting, 2017.

Second Glances invites conversation and thought about how we express and define gender, both individually and in society. More than twenty local artists and fashion designers share their perspectives on how we use clothing and accessories to visually convey our own unique mixes of masculinity, femininity and neutrality.

In the expression of gender, clothing is both intensely personal and woven full of social and cultural meaning. Our apparel choices are never “just clothes,” but signal complex and nuanced messages about self- and gender-identity, as well as our interpretations of societal norms and roles. The participating artists’ works encompass diverse topics in gender, including boundaries, icons, neutrality, ambiguity, cross dressing, transgender aesthetics, and sexual harassment.

The concept for the exhibit was developed by Nancy Gamon, a local textile artist with a design studio at the KHAC Lindner Annex. Participating artists include: Brandon Andre Bowers, Ashley Marie Bowman, Emily Buddendeck, Da’Mon Butler, Susan Byrnes, Sara Caswell-Pearce, Isabella Cowgill, Nancy Gamon, Tina Gutierrez, Leah Hartmann, Robin Kusten Hartmann, Theresa Kramer, Pam Kravetz, Carla Lamb, Kaley Madden, Karen McGarry, Kim Pickard, Jenny Roesel Ustick, Karen Saunders, Sea Dax, Jenifer Sult, Stacey Vest, and Matthew Zory. Curated by Nancy Gamon, this exhibit will include a companion gift shop and boutique area featuring a large selection of additional clothing, accessories, jewelry, and small framed works.

Image credit: Dave from the series The Other Side of Music Hall by Matthew Zory. Scanned color negative made with 1957 Rolleicord TLR, Chromogenic print, 2013.

Three local artists inspired by the atmosphere of land, sky and waterscapes, present Atmosphera, featuring watercolor paintings by Angela Mascolino, pastels by William Linthicum and photographs by John Weller.

These three artists explore the idea of atmosphere as subject matter of air, sky and environment as well as atmosphere as ambiance, mood, and feeling; creating finished works that convey their deep personal relationship to nature.

William Linthicum, recently returned to the U.S. after living in Geneva, Switzerland uses his fingers, palms and forearms as brushes.  He builds color in layers by crushing the pigment into the paper.  William says, “The tactile process connects me with elements I depict.”  While his works are technically drawings the results are painterly.

Angela Mascolino, an art teacher at a local grade school, enjoys the luminous, fluid characteristics of watercolors.  She starts by taking photographs on location.  “My ideal location is one where I can appreciate the sensuous lines of tree branches and the vastness of a blue-gray sky – a place where I can wonder, wander and breathe.” states Angela.  Back in her studio she draws her composition and paints with a limited color palette to create her impressions of the environment.

John Weller is frequently found at water’s edge on foggy mornings.  According to John, “Fog is rich in mood; it is atmosphere that creates atmosphere.”  John is not interested in documenting how a moment looked but rather in how the moment felt.  He uses his camera to paint a scene and his computer to set the tone, color, contrast and mood of his art.

At the conclusion of the exhibition, the artists will host an informal artist talk. Guests will be welcome to ask questions and learn more about the artists’ creative process. This will take place at the Kennedy Heights Art Center on Saturday, July 28th at one o’clock. 

KHAC summer gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday from 3 to 5pm and Saturday from 11am to 4pm.

Image credit: Dark Horizon by John Weller, photograph. Provided by the artist.

In the world of book arts, there are few rules.  It invites every medium, every form, every size. The artist’s intent may be expressed in words, in image, in texture. The one element that connects artist books is time; we are drawn to the form of the book because we want to take the journey, to discover, slowly, what is contained between the covers. And often, the artist creates a box for the book to hold, protect, or to further enhance the narrative.

More than fifteen artists share artist books, contained in boxes and other vessels, in a Cincinnati Book Arts Society (CBAS) exhibition Contents Unknown: Magnifying the mystery of the unfolding narrative in the Kennedy Gallery.

The public is invited to a free Opening Reception on Saturday, August 18, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

The juried exhibit showcases works of a wide range of artists, including  papermakers, painters, printmakers, fiber artists, calligraphers and photographers, who used a container to highlight the mystery of content.

“The challenge for me was how to contain the narrative to intensify the journey”, says Judith Serling-Sturm of her interactive piece The Wall.  “The type of boxes are as essential as the text and the structure”.

The intimate nature of a book is one of its many joys.  That will not be lost in this show, as visitors will be able to handle many of the artist books on display.

Contents Unknown continues through September 15. Galley hours are Tuesday – Friday, 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm.

Image credit: Judith Serling-Sturm

Kennedy Heights Arts Center presents We are the Other, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Wing Young Huie, as part of the 2018 FotoFocus Biennial. The exhibition runs from September 29 – November 10, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, September 29 from 6 to 9 pm.

Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 am to 5pm, and Saturday, 11am to 4pm.

Support for this exhibition was provided by FotoFocus and The George and Margaret McLane Foundation.

For over 30 years, acclaimed photographer Wing Young Huie, recently named The McKnight Foundation’s 2018 Distinguished Artist, has captured the complex cultural realities of American society. His work has been shown in international museums and in Minnesota storefront windows. Wing uses photography as a societal mirror and window, seeking to reveal not only what is hidden, but also what is plainly visible and seldom noticed, providing a collective portrait of the “them” who are really us.

When Wing started as a documentary photographer, the goal was to make what he thought was a good photograph—the photograph as an aesthetic object. Then he started to think that the interactive process was as important, if not more important, than the resulting photograph. A photograph, no matter how good, is still just a surface description.

How then to create an image that goes below the surface to reveal the relational aspects of photographing strangers? He has employed a variety of concepts, expanding his documentary instincts: having people write revealing statements on chalkboards; introducing neighbors who don’t know each other to each other and photographing them collectively in each other’s places; and wearing the clothes of Chinese men whose lives he could’ve had, blurring the boundary between photographer and subject.

His most well-known projects, Lake Street USA (2000), and The University Avenue Project (2010), transformed Minneapolis and Saint Paul thoroughfares into six-mile photo galleries—exhibiting photographs in store windows, on bus stops and the sides of buildings—reflecting the everyday lives of thousands of citizens in the midst of some of the most diverse concentrations of international immigrants in the country.

Though much of his work centers on his homeland of Minnesota, in his recent series Chinese-ness, Wing focused his camera on his own background — an exploration of Chinese identity that for him has long been distant, as the child of immigrant parents who grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota. Wing explores experiences of identity in the United States and the Motherland of China, employing documentary and conceptual conceits, and occasionally a chalkboard.

In his recent I Am the Other series, Wing enters the lives of his subjects, Chinese men of his approximate age, living lives he might have lived. The resulting photographs produce a hypothetical memoir, a record of an alternate reality in which the contingencies of history have run a different course.

In this retrospective show at Kennedy Heights Arts Center, his first exhibition in Ohio, Wing Young Huie will exhibit pieces from his Lake Street USA, University Avenue Project, Chinese-ness, and I Am the Other series, as well as some of his most current work.

Wing Young Huie will present a free public lecture on “What Do You See?” in Kennedy Heights Arts Center’s Lindner Annex, 6620 Montgomery Road, on Sunday, September 30 at 2:00 pm. While sharing anecdotes and insights into his creative process—and experiences interacting with thousands of strangers—this dynamic, interactive slide show confronts many divisive social issues, such as cultural bias, immigration, religion, and social disconnection.

More information about the artist can be found here.

Image credit: Man and Boy, Saint Paul, Minnesota by Wing Young Huie. Digital C-Print, 1997.

Members of the Kennedy Artist Collective are proud to present their annual exhibition, Emerge 2018. The show features new and previously unseen work in all media by local artists.

Get your holiday shopping done early by browsing our Holiday Art Market with local artist-made goods, and our “Off the Walls” section of the exhibit, with all works priced at $50, half of which goes directly to the Arts Center.  Give the gift of ARTWORK this season!

We are pleased to host a special exhibition of paintings by Mary Barr Rhodes as a part of our Jazz in the Heights concert on July 22.

Mary Barr Rhodes has won numerous awards and is represented in private and corporate collections in North America, Europe and South America. She was voted Abstract Artist of the year in 2014, at the international, juried Art Comes Alive exhibition. She is represented locally by Veronique Gallery in Montgomery, Ohio. She is also represented by Art Fusion Galleries in Miami, Florida; and Scher Galleries in Hallendale, Florida. During Miami Art Basel in 2015 and 2017, she exhibited with Art Design Consultants in Art Spectrum and at Art Fusion Galleries. Rhodes works and lives in Cincinnati, OH.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love jazz. I first love jazz because it moves me deeply . . . soulfully. You can find me quite often in a jazz club tapping my toes to the rhythms. Like jazz, my work is from the heart, it is to be felt, not defined. I am an abstract expressionist and have been influenced by the art and music of that time.

So, when I paint I listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. And, recently I have been listening to the more contemporary sounds of Al Jarred, Diana Krall or Chris Botti. No matter how often I listen to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, I never tire of his unique rhythmic patterns. I love finding a new series of notes that stick in my head and my heart.

Jazz is improvisational and expressive. I hope that my work integrates the lyricism and spontaneity of jazz. I always remember a quote from Willem de Kooning, one of my greatest inspirations, “Miles Davis bends the notes, He doesn’t play them, he bends them, I bend the paint.” So, I allow my marks, my colors, and my shapes to bend, float or take on a space all of their own.

I consider myself a process artist and allow the materials and process to guide the development of a painting. I allow the formal elements to play off of one another until there is an overall harmony. Dissonance is often found in my work as well, similar to that of jazz, I like an unexpected surprise and a shift from the classical to a more unique, overall tonal stance. This show explores a new technique in glass and a soak and stain technique first discovered by Helen Frankenthaler.

Image: YEMAYA, 36″ X 60″, Acrylic, silver metallic bronzing powders, mylar and epoxy resin.

Kennedy Heights Arts Center will host an international art exhibit with works of art created by students in Cincinnati and in our sister city, Kharkiv, Ukraine. The theme of the exhibit is Winter Holidays seen through the eyes of students in Grade 1 through high school.

Students from the Municipal Art School in Kharkiv and from Mercy Montessori, Nativity, and Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati contributed to the exhibit that will open on December 7 from 7 to 9 pm at the annual Winterfest Celebration in KHAC’s Lindner Gallery. There will be a brief presentation and recognition of student artists at 7:15 pm.

The exhibit was arranged by the Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City Partnership in collaboration with the Kennedy Heights Arts Center. In late December, the 120 works of art will be shipped to Kharkiv for display during the Ukrainian celebration of Christmas in January. Sergiy Grichanok is the curator of the exhibit in Kharkiv.

Each generation wants to believe that the battle for equality and justice will finally be won.

Robert Lee Harris began his fight for inclusion in the 1960’s. Ricci Michaels picked up her tools of battle with a paint brush and pen 20 years later. A forever “unfinished revolution,” these artist activists continue to dream of more just future.

For Robert Lee Harris, this exhibition serves as a retrospective of all that he has sought to accomplish in creating an inclusive community as an artist and advocate for persons with disabilities. Robert contracted meningitis at the early age of 8 months old, resulting in the permanent paralysis of both legs and his left hand; he has always used a wheelchair for mobility. This did not deter him from becoming an accomplished artist with more than 20 years of video production experience and almost 40 years of experience as a visual artist.

Robert describes himself as an artist for social change. He is very active in the community and has served in staff, board and committee member positions with many organizations including BRIDGES for a Just Community, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, Ohio Arts Council’s Artist with Disabilities Advisory Council, the Contemporary Art Center, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, American Red Cross, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, United Way and more. Robert is an Ohio winner of the “Victory Award” which he received from former First Lady Barbara Bush at a ceremony at the White House. In 1994, he received the “Ohio Humanitarian Award – Employment Equality” from Governor George Voinovich. In 2002, Robert received the “Maurice McCracken Award for Peace and Justice” and in 2003 was included in Fifth Third Bank’s “Profile in Courage.”

Currently addressing the inequity of health care for cancer patients, Robert’s artwork in The Unfinished Revolution reflects his concern about the direction that medical care has taken in our country. The lack of healing therapies available for lower income citizens, even though they are in existence, reveals the need to make known and overcome such class differences.

Identifiably powerful, Ricci Michaels is a visual artist, poet, muralist and proud disabled American Navy veteran. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ricci is a self-taught artist who is legally blind. She has been painting for over 30 years and her work has been featured in numerous galleries throughout the region, including the Robert S. Marx Law Library/University of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Art Museum, Art Beyond Boundaries and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Ricci is a teaching artist who has found inner healing by sharing her love for visual art expression. Her work is often textured and interactive as it reflects the social and political issues of the day.

“I would assert that me most significant growth as an artist occurred after the loss of my sight,” Ricci said. “Art, whether it is writing, painting or sculpting, has become a more meaningful way to express myself and process the complexities of everyday life.”

Ricci is currently embarking on her crown collection which will shine a light on the highly sensitive topic of the debilitating effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) in women.

Even as these two prolific artists come together to speak to and about injustices within our country through their art, they dare to hope that, although unfinished, the revolution will continue.

Presented in partnership with Ten Talents Network, LLC.

The Unfinished Revolution will continue through September 29, 2018. Gallery hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 – 5:00 pm, and by appointment.

Photo by Tina Gutierrez