By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The 17th Annual Northwest Ohio Community Art Exhibition, which opened this week in the Bryan Gallery on campus and is on view through Aug. 4, spotlights the work of artists living in the region.
This year two of the top Now OH awards went to metal work from artists whose roots are in Ghana.
Best in Show award went to Adwowa Obeng-Osei for “with time you will see what they feel.”
The judge, David Ross, creative placemaking coordinator for The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, praised the work’s creativity and craftsmanship. He imagined it as a kind of time capsule.
Obeng-Osei came to BGSU to attend graduate school from Ghana. She attended the same college there as Precious Gyeke who won first place for 3D work for her metal work “Deprivation.”
First place for 2D work went to Leslie Dietsch’s oil painting “Closing.”
“This piece what inspired by my dad who was diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s,” Obeng-Osei said of the best of show winner. “It was tough for me to accept that he had it. The best way to accept it was to make a piece to remind us what we’ve gone through.”
Faced with the knowledge that her father’ condition was incurable, she created “with time you will see what they feel” to reflect what he was experiencing. “It started with my dad jumbling words and letters,” she said. So she created a circle that looks like a clock face from copper and glass. The surface has a jumble of numbers and letters, both upper and lower case.
“I tried to keep the memories we have even though they don’t make sense,” the artist said. These figures “mimic the brain of a dementia or Alzheimer’s patient.”
Obeng-Osei, who is now pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership, said her dream is to make art that gives solace to caregivers “to look at what we go through because it’s not easy.”
Gyeke’s “Deprivation” expresses her dismay at the state of Ghana. Her country, she said, has wealth in its cocoa production and gold, and yet Ghanians do not benefit from those resources.
She depicts this by a gold colored basket woven of wire with a limp, grizzled hand hanging from it on a chain. The basket is full of red, yellow, and green M&M candies representing the colors of the Ghanian flag.
Gyeke said she started working with metals when she arrived at BGSU to earn her Masters of Fine Arts. In Ghana she focused on fiber art, but BGSU no longer offers a major in fibers. Now she uses wire as her fabric.
Gyeke also served as curator for the Now OH show. She said she was impressed with the high quality of the work. Each piece, she said, had its place. She worked to arrange the show in the Bryan Gallery so it presents a unified appearance.
Dietsch’s “Closing” is a homage to people who work in bars and restaurants. It depicts a single glass on a bar in an empty space. Now a nurse, she worked as a bartender and server while in school.
“There are so many times that I’ve been on that side, being the last one in the bar … closing the establishment.”
Ross said he felt like he’s been in that moment of time. He appreciated the blend of colors, and clear sense of design.
Dietsch said she is inspired by Richard Diebenkorn and the color field painters.
“I have been a creative all my life,” she said. “I started painting again about six years ago. My kids were of an age where they were starting to drive on their own, and I knew that I was going to need an opportunity to get my own life occupied with my stuff again.”
She focused on oil painting.
“When I was a kid, oil painting was the grown up painting, maybe because in school you could only afford acrylics,” she said.
Now she realized she could buy oils.
Other Now OH honorees are:
- Gabrielle Davis, “Take a stand,” second place 3D.
- Tim Powell, “Psycho Birdhouse,” third place 3D.
- Jennifer McCary, “Moral Compass,” second place 2D.
- Hope Harper, “Aunt Eesa,” third place 2D.
- Debra Buchanan, “Screaming Eagles 101st,” honorable mention.
- Sofia Bartley, “Flowers,” People’s Choice.
Ross said selecting the winners of the show was “one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.”
All demonstrated hard work and craftsmanship.
The winners were those, he said, that “most hit home for me.”
Gallery hours Tuesday-Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 1-4 p.m.
