creative research gallery and drawing center
a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization

 


SEASON 20
EXHIBITIONS



September 2023 - August 2024


This exhibition season is financially assisted by a grant from the Josephine S. Russell 
Charitable Trust, PNC Bank Trustee, and many individual donations, large and small, from across 40 states and three countries.
You can donate here to help keep our nonprofit programming growing!


Download to save or print the entire
season 20 calendar here.

See Grand Jury Award finalists and winners here.

Submit work to open projects here.

Find your way to the gallery, (map) here.


 
November 10 - December 8, 2023

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit (GET TICKETS HERE):
Thursday, Nov. 9, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, Nov. 10, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

 

SELF
Works of Self-Portraiture & Self-Image

Making a self-portrait requires you to have a sense of self, a sense of identity, a sense of what you look like—both how you are perceived by others and how you perceive yourself. That sense of self needn’t be fixed (and it may not even be accurate) but it is the starting point for both reflection and communication. More importantly, making a self-portrait requires that you examine your self-perception.

What are the things that make you, You? How do you look at yourself? How do you imagine yourself? How much of your identity is flattery, how much is overly-critical? What expression of you comes from your actions, and what comes from your appearance? How well do you understand the ways your body shapes and is shaped by the world? 

SELF is an exhibit works of self-reflection, and about self-image.

For this exhibit, 157 artists submitted 545 works from 32 states and 3 countries, Iran, Japan, and the United States. Twenty-three works by the following 20 artists from 11 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

 

We are pleased to present works by:

Penny Cagney
Santa Cruz, California

Marge Cameron
Beloit, Ohio

Sally Clegg
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Isabella Covert
Savannah, Georgia

Daniel Dallmann
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dara Engler
Trumansburg, New York

Shannon Fody
Royal Oak, Michigan

Ollie Froelich
Crown Point, Indiana

Cyrus Glance
Asheville, North Carolina

Marcella Hackbardt
Mount Vernon, Ohio

Ethan Humrichouser
Cincinnati, Ohio

Todd Kunkler
Cincinnati, Ohio

Julio Labra
Atlanta, Georgia

Ellen Starr Lyon
Bloomington, Indiana

Amelia Morris
Indianapolis, Indiana

Shaena Neal
Paris, Kentucky

Anna Pellicone
Cohoes, New York

Kirk Prudenciano
Rosedale, Maryland

Hez Sumner
Highland Heights, Kentucky

Kerra Taylor
Springfield, Missouri

 

 

 

 

 

 


     Sally Clegg

 

     Shannon Fody

 

     Kirk Prudenciano


     Daniel Dallmann



 


parallel space

 

HORIZON
Prints and Drawings by Kasey Ramirez

Born in New Brunswick, NJ, Kasey Ramirez received an MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University and a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. She currently lives and works in West Hartford, Connecticut, where she serves as Assistant Professor and Head of Printmaking at the Hartford Art School. Her work has been exhibited at the International Print Center New York, The Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, OH, 21C Museum in Bentonville, AR, Rosewood Arts Centre Gallery in Kettering, OH, and the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ. She is a recipient of an Artists 360 Grant from the Mid America Art Alliance, for which she is pursuing research on climate change and hazard mitigation efforts to inform her work. She has participated in artist residencies at Arquetopia in Urubamba, Peru, Collar Works Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency in Granville, New York, Vermont Studio Center, as well as Guanlan Printmaking Base in Shenzhen, China.

Of her work the artist states:

"My work explores the tension between stability and impermanence by placing architectural structures in consuming environments. In the wake of increasingly frequent severe storms, and having direct experience with Superstorm Sandy, my personal sense of vulnerability connects with the impending tipping point of climate change. In my drawings and prints, buildings become a stand-in for human efforts for protection that are ultimately vulnerable to environmental extremes.

I enjoy the alchemical properties of printmaking—how the surface of wood can become air, to be at once an assertively flat surface and a spatial, breathing image. I find the processes of physical erosion or destruction resonate with the features of these disasters. Drawing also allows me to explore this sense of devastation and looming atmosphere. By using charcoal, soot, ink, and other organic residue in these works, the drawings reference their subjects—oppressive air, water, or destructive fire. I seek to create a sense of time and turmoil through repeated gestures of accumulation and removal.

This exhibition was selected from among 166 proposals submitted in consideration for Manifest’s 20th season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


central gallery + north gallery

 

MOMENTUM
Works of Art About, Depicting, Mapping, Describing, or Using Movement

Imagine that you are on a bus.  

There is a bomb on that bus.  

Once the bus reaches 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. 

In this situation, what do you do?

Momentum raises the stakes. Travel, the process of being in one place and then next in another, is change — things happening. Everything is always in motion, from electrons to planets, all barreling through vastness. 

Things spin, whirl, and tick in circles like clockwork. They move in waves, gently ebbing and flowing, or blasting buildings and eardrums, and with intense percussive force. Time moves somewhat reliably in one direction. People move, and carry things with them. The myriad of ways in which matter, energy, ideas, and creatures move is the stuff that shapes the entirety of our physical world.

Stillness is just the illusion that we believe in long enough to catch our breath. 

Nothing is still, and everything is changing. 

MOMENTUM is an exhibit of works about, depicting, mapping, describing, or using movement—a show about the one universal constant, change.

For this exhibit, 72 artists submitted 251 works from 25 states and 5 countries, Australia, Canada, Israel, Spain, and the United States. Fifteen works by the following 11 artists from 9 states and Spain were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Bob Bruch
Oberlin, Ohio

Gabe Drueke
Smithton, Illinois

John Francis
Boise, Idaho

Steven Gray
Park City, Utah

Gretchen Durst Jacobs
Dayton, Ohio

Patti Jordan
Montclair, New Jersey

M. Lohrum
Tacoronte, Spain

Randolph Melick
Traverse City, Michigan

Jodi O'Hara
Black Mountian, North Carolina

Amy Salomone
Warwick, Rhode Island

Rohini Sen
Indianapolis, Indiana

 

 

 

 

 

 

     M. Lohrum

 

     Randolph Melick


     Gabe Drueke

 

    

 

 


December 15, 2023 - January 12, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit (GET TICKETS HERE):
Thursday, Dec. 14, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, Dec. 15, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

 

DISQUIET
Art that Unsettles

What are the signs that something is wrong? 

There is a moment before we react to danger where we register, subconsciously, that something is off. That we have reason to be afraid. The source of our disquiet can be obvious: teeth, viscera, a body open in unnatural ways. 

When the image lacks obvious violence but instead depicts something familiar made unfamiliar/untrustworthy, or vice versa, our horror simmers before exploding because the fear is harder to name—a room where the edges don't come together correctly, a face held in an expression incongruous to the moment, a chemical sheen glistening on the surface of a comforting meal.

When unsettled, our sense of being “okay”, our certitude of continued cleanliness or wholeness, is challenged, and we experience the frisson, the arousal, the fascination that comes with being under threat. We are primed for a reaction in this moment. We can run, fight, reject, or else succumb to the disquieting thing and be changed by it. 

What do we see at the border between life as we know it, and the unknown?

DISQUIET is an exhibit about the strange, the uncanny, the abject, the revolting, the unsettling, and the things that frighten us.

For this exhibit, 111 artists submitted 397 works from 30 states, Washington D.C., and 3 countries, Canada, Germany, and the United States. Twenty-eight works by the following 16 artists from 12 states and Canada were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.


Presenting works by:

Chelsea Bonham
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cole Carothers
Milford, Ohio

Dara Engler
Trumansburg, New York

Misty Findley
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Tanja Gant
Hawkins, Texas

Michel Guy
La Prairie, Canada

Ann Harwell
Wendell, North Carolina

Kent Krugh
Fairfield, Ohio

Amelia Morris
Indianapolis, Indiana

Steve Novick
Somerville, Massachusetts

Molly Otremba
Louisville, Kentucky

Michela Roman
Hoboken, New Jersey

Amy Salomone
Warwick, Rhode Island

Joseph Skinner
Corpus Christi, Texas

Ericka Sobrack
Orlando, Florida

Erik Waterkotte
Charlotte, North Carolina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Steve Novick

 

 

     Cole Carothers


     Ericka Sobrack


 


parallel space

 

ILLUSTRATED

How much do you want to be understood?

Clarity of meaning is a question, rather than an essential quality of art. We can explore ideas while holding space for uncertainty and mystery, leaving some questions open-ended.

But when is there no room for ambiguity? Visual work is sometimes tasked with answering questions rather than raising them, with conveying information rather than emotion—think of technical manuals explaining which-part-goes-where, books full of images that work in union with text to tell a story (or tell a story without any text at all), advertisements where images are calibrated, targeted, to market products to you, courtroom drawings, maps, and so much more. Before the advent of photography, visual art and design were practically synonymous with 'illustration'. Before the advent of movable type, visual illustration was the primary means of education and non-audible communication.

When communication is the goal, the artist looks beyond their own self expression or self-satisfaction, considering more carefully the audience and the message they are conveying—and when words, even direct words, result in confusion or delay, an image shows us the way.

ILLUSTRATED is an exhibit works of art (including fine art, design, and illustration) that depict, represent, explain, clarify, relate, illuminate, detail, or communicate. 

For this exhibit, 20 artists submitted 70 works from 14 states and 2 countries, Germany and the United States. Ten works by the following 7 artists from 6 states and Germany were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.


Presenting works by:

Matthew Bailey
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Sharon Dundee
Lyndhurst, Ohio

Fuko Ito
Lexington, Kentucky

Clayton Lewis
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Andrei Mocanu
Darmstadt, Germany

Hyunjee Clara Ryu
Beverly Hills, California

Christopher Troutman
Beaumont, Texas

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Matthew Bailey

 

 

     Fuko Ito

 

 

     Hyunjee Clara Ryu


 

 


central gallery

 

ONE 14
The 14th Annual Manifest Prize Winner


The winning work will be revealed at the opening preview of the exhibition on December 14th, 7-9pm!

 

ABOUT THE $5,000 MANIFEST PRIZE

Seven seasons ago our board of directors increased the Manifest Prize award to $5,000. This underscored our non-profit organization's desire to reward, showcase, celebrate, and document exceptional artwork being made today by working artists, and to do this in a tasteful non-commercial public context. Manifest's mission is centered on championing the importance of quality in visual art, supporting and encouraging artists at all levels from all backgrounds. This project is one aspect of the realization of that mission.

We respect the creative principle of reduction (the blind jury process) as it is employed to achieve an essential conclusive statement for each exhibit we produce. This is what has led to the high caliber of each Manifest exhibit, and to the gallery's notable following. We believe competition inspires excellence. Therefore we determined over a decade ago to launch the Manifest Prize in order to push the process to the ultimate limit—from among many to select just ONE work.

Manifest's jury process for the 14th Annual Manifest Prize included multiple levels of jury review of 856 works of all shapes, sizes, and media made by 200 artists from around the world. The jury consisted of a total of 18 different volunteer jurors from across the U.S. Each level of the process resulted in fewer works passing on to the next, until a winner was reached. The size and physical nature of the works considered was not a factor in the jury scoring and selection.

It should be noted that the one winner and four finalists, 5 works, represent roughly the top scoring .5% of the jury pool. The winner represents the top one-tenth of 1% of the jury pool.

The winning work will be presented in Manifest's Central Gallery from December 15, 2023 through January 12, 2024. It will be accompanied by excerpts from juror statements and the artist's statement.

The artists of the four finalist works will be listed here once the prize has been announced, and their work will also be publised in the Season 20 Manifest Exhibition Annual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 


north gallery

 

14th Annual TAPPED
Artists and their Professors

The relationship between artists and their current or former instructors can be a powerful one. Even when this bond is left unstated, we carry our professors' voices forward in time as we mature as artists and people. We eventually realize that the instruction given by our teachers during our relatively brief careers as students continues to expand within us. We realize that the learning they inspired (or insisted upon) is a chain-reaction process that develops across our lifetime. All of us who have been students carry forward our teachers' legacy in one form or another. And those who are, or have been teachers, bear witness to the potency of studenthood.

Out of respect for this artist-teacher bond, and in honor of teachers working hard to help artists tap into a higher mind relative to art and life, Manifest is proud to  present TAPPED, an annual exhibit that presents paired works of art by current or former artist/teacher pairs.

For this exhibit, 57 artists submitted 197 works from 24 states. Twelve works by the following 12 artists from 8 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

The artists are listed in pairings to illustrate their teacher/student relationship (past or present). Works on view will include paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs. The exhibition layout is planned so that each pair of artists' works will be shown side-by-side or in close proximity. Visitors will be able to enjoy the variety of types of works while also considering the nature of influence between professor and student.

It is worth noting also that at least one of the artists in the 'former student' category are now themselves working as a professor.

 

 

 Professor  Student

Deidre Argyle
Springfield, Missouri

Shauna Smith
Springfield, Missouri
Jason Lanegan
Spanish Fork, Utah
Jessica Booth*
Spanish Fork, Utah
Dana Saulnier
Oxford, Ohio

Brooke Owens*
Covington, Kentucky

Angela Wells
Tarboro, North Carolina
Brian Culbertson
Greenville, North Carolina

Nathan Heuer
Indiana, Pennsylvania

Lauren Scavo-Fulk
Jeannette, Pennsylvania

Kristen Tordella-Williams
Opelika, Alabama

Lily Dorian*
South Bend, Indiana
   
* current student  

 


 

 

 

 



 


Deidre Argyle

Shauna Smith

Jason Lanegan

Jessica Booth

Dana Saulnier

Brooke Owens

Angela Wells

Brian Culbertson

Nathan Heuer


Lauren Scavo-Fulk


Kristen Tordella-Williams

Lily Dorian

 

 

 

January 26 - February 23, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, Jan. 25, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, Jan. 26, 6-9pm





March 8 - April 5, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, March 7, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, March 8, 6-9pm



April 19 - May 17, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, April 18, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, April 19, 6-9pm




May 31 - June 28, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, May 30, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, May 31, 6-9pm





July 12 - August 9, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, July 11, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, July 12, 6-9pm





August 16 - September 13, 2024

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit:
Thursday, Aug. 15, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, Aug. 16, 6-9pm





 

PREVIOUS SEASON 20 EXHIBITS:

Season 20 Launch!
September 29 - October 27, 2023

Ticketed Preview - Annual Fund Benefit
Thursday, Sept. 28, 7-9pm
—————–
Public Opening: Friday, Sept. 29, 6-9pm

main gallery + central gallery + north gallery

 

PAINTED 2023
Manifest Gallery's 6th Biennial Survey of Contemporary Painting

At some point many generations ago society reached a level where ordinary people could spend a lifetime perfecting their ability to mix and apply paint in extraordinary ways. Manifest established this exhibit as a permanent biennial project ten years ago in 2013 to inaugurate our expanded gallery. PAINTED 2023 is the sixth biennial presentation of this survey of contemporary painting.

PAINTED joins Drawn as a recurring gallery exhibition designed to complement our recurring INDA and INPA (drawing and painting) publications. Every two years it launches our exhibition season by presenting a competitive group exhibition focused exclusively on painting.

For this exhibit, 174 artists submitted 702 works from 35 states and 9 countries, including Austria, Canada, China, England, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. Thirty works by the following 23 artists from 14 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

We are pleased to present works by:

Edgar Cano-Lopez
Natchitoches, Louisiana

Yulia Gasio
Huntington Beach, California

Glen Hansen
South Jamesport, New York

David Heshmatpour
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Susan Hoffer
Lake Placid, New York

Lynne Jones
Evanston, Illinois

Rob Kolomyski
Woodbury, Minnesota

Paul Loehle
Cincinnati, Ohio

Perin Mahler
Laguna Beach, California

Monika Malewska
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

Andrew Martin
Lubbock, Texas

Michael McCaffrey
Lawrence, Kansas

Justin McIntosh
Camby, Indiana

Marcus Michels
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Kenneth Millington
Beacon, New York

RD Mitchell
Plano, Texas

Joe Morzuch
Starkville, Mississippi

Mihee Nahm
Euless, Texas

Lucy Kay Plowe
Bedford, New Hampshire

Sandy Rice
Canton, Michigan

Marc Ross
Columbus, Ohio

Benjamin Shamback
Mobile, Alabama

Gabriel Zea
Brooklyn, New York

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Edgar Cano-Lopez

 

     Lynne Jones

 

     Rob Kolomyski


     Lucy Kay Plowe

 


drawing room + parallel space

 

AQUACHROME
Biennial Exhibit of Contemporary Watercolor*

Quite possibly the oldest form of painting, watercolor persists today, defying narrow categorization and broad stereotype. Practiced for centuries in concept development preliminary to 'finished' paintings made in oil or other scale-worthy durable media, watercolor also found favor with botanists, illustrators, and portraitists, and was applied to varied and countless surfaces.

The nature of the media itself represents a delicate and dictatorial transparency, fluidity, and a potential for expressive spontaneity. This not only makes it an ideal vehicle for contemporary art, but also one of training, intensity, philosophy, and play for any who practice it. Where an artist can easily dominate other painting media, forcing a will through viscous layers into a work of art like taming a wild horse, with watercolor there is dialog, compromise, and undeniable forthrightness. In this way the artist practicing watercolor works with a tiger in the room.

*Along with watercolor, works in gouache, ink wash, and other similar media were accepted for consideration as a subset of the broader Manifest painting biennial.

For this exhibit 53 artists submitted 193 works from 22 states and 4 countries, Belgium, Canada, France, and the United States. Nineteen works by the following 13 artists from 12 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Gary Barton
Provo, Utah

Shawn Edrington
Pocatello, Idaho

Ed Ferszt
Kingston, Rhode Island

Antonio Gonzalez-Garcia
Columbus, Ohio

Janet Gorzegno
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Melissa Gwyn
San Francisco, California

Mikey Hernandez
Irving, Texas

Olga Kosheleva
Downers Grove, Illinois

Sophie McVicar
Birmingham, Alabama

Tanya Pirasteh
Columbus, Ohio

Scott Teplin
Brooklyn, New York

Ripley Whiteside
Madison, Tennessee

Dalton Zheng
Henrico, Virginia

 

 

 

     Gary Barton

 

     Tanya Pirasteh


     Ed Ferszt

 

    

 

 



 

——— END OF SEASON 20  ———

THANK YOU!


See all open calls here.



 Josephine S. Russell
Charitable Trust, PNC Bank Trustee

Manifest is supported by sustainability funding from the Ohio Arts Council, and through the generous direct contributions of individual supporters and private foundations who care deeply about Manifest's mission for the visual arts.


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tues-fri 12-7pm, sat noon-5pm
closed on sun-mon

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2727 woodburn avenue
cincinnati, ohio 45206


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cincinnati, ohio 45223


   

 


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