May 12, 2006

Show brings Gallery Hop visitors into center

by Anthony Glassman

Columbus--Central Ohio?s LGBT community center proved itself to be a cultural center as well with its latest participation in the Short North Gallery Hop on May 6.

Stonewall Columbus? ?SpringOut? art show, complete with a wine and cheese reception, brought in people who might, in the course of a regular jaunt through the neighborhood, pass by the center but never actually go in.

?We?re really happy with how the shows are going,? said Michelle Morgan, an organizer of the event and one of the artists featured in the exhibit.

The other artists were Jan Solari, Paul Richmond, Babar Ahmad, Kelly Jaeger, Kimberley Kenyon, Henry Tan, Steven Grabner and Becky Johnson.

The art exhibits coinciding with Gallery Hops began last fall with the FallOut event.

?FallOut was put on as a way to get some people?s art out there that had been mistakenly overlooked,? Morgan said. ?It went so well that decided to do it quarterly to get people to come into the center that would normally never be there.?

?Having our doors open really fulfills the function of a community center where people can meet,? she continued. ?We?re really happy with how the shows have been going.?

While the formation of art shows is a fascinating topic in itself, the questions people most often want to ask an artist is how the piece of work came about and what it?s saying.

?I don?t know really how it came about,? Morgan laughed. ?Usually what I do with collages, it?s all original work.?

This time, however, she decided to take a ?traditional image signifying beauty in our society and fracturing it.?

Instead of painting Venus and then cutting the image into pieces and separating them, she drew each tile individually and then put them together, getting the fractured, compartmentalized image, a cross between Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso.

?I just kind of sketched it out and then picked out what papers and what paints I wanted to use to make it cohesive as a whole,? she said.

According to Morgan, one of the things they wanted to do was do a joint show with Kaleidoscope Youth Coalition to bring art by young LGBT people to audiences they would not normally reach. However, due to the busy schedules of both organizations, that joint show never materialized.

However, Stonewall Columbus is still interested in displaying youth art. Those interested in participating in the next show should contact interim executive director Kellye Pinkleton at 614-2997764.

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