Paint Without Restraint

Columbus Arts Festival newcomers looking to break out

By Lisa Aurand

The Columbus Arts Festival is whole new world for Brandon Moon and Jurate Phillips – and a handful of other artists.

Moon and Phillips are just two artists selected to participate in the Columbus Arts Festival’s Emerging Artists program, which is in its second year. The program’s group of 11 artists, who work in various media, was chosen by a panel of professionals. In addition to providing the artists space to showcase their work, the program provides the training necessary for them to go on to display at other festivals.

Brandon Moon, a 33-year-old Jackson, Miss. native, describes the Emerging Artists program as a boot camp of sorts.

“It’s a really nice program,” Moon says. “They do some … mentoring, which is really cool.”

Moon graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Delta State University in Mississippi and went on to get a master’s degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where he met his girlfriend, Ness. They’ve lived in Columbus for three years.

“(She) got a job as a designer up here (in Columbus), actually, and I followed her,” Moon says.

Though his interest in art has been lifelong, this will be Moon’s first time exhibiting his work at a large festival. His only previous experience in the area has been the German Village Art Crawl.

Moon does some sculpture, but his preferred medium is paint, and he works in his small studio in the couple’s German Village home.

“Right now, I’m trying to get a lot of work ready for the festival,” Moon says. “I have some abstract pieces on canvas, and I’m also doing some reverse painting and shadow boxes on old window frames.”

Moon hopes the festival will be a jumping-off point for him, eventually leading him to a full-time career in art. Currently, he is working in the production kitchen for Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams – his latest job in the food world, where he’s been working for more than a decade.

“I got into cooking in high school. I had a part-time job in fast food, and I started to explore that as an art form,” says Moon, who worked his way through graduate school as a chef. “I think food can be just as artistic (as other media).”

For Moon, art is an escape and an extension of childhood imagination.

“You kind of create your own environment instead of being stuck in one,” he says. “I don’t really sketch anything out on paper beforehand. Mostly I just have an idea or image in my head, and then I try to work toward that image.”

Jurate Phillips is also a transplant who has flourished in Columbus. Phillips visited central Ohio as a Lithuanian exchange student 15 years ago, met her husband, fell in love and has lived here ever since.

“It was fate,” Phillips says.

She is excited for the opportunities that may open up to her through exposure from the Columbus Arts Festival.

“I have been attending the art festival for 15 years to look and talk to the artists. For me, it’s interesting what they do and what their inspiration is,” she says. “Now I’m in it, and it just feels good. I’m just thrilled to talk to people and see locals, and with that comes opportunities. I work on commission sometimes, so businesswise, it’s exciting.”

Phillips began painting 30 years ago, at age 10, when her mother signed her up for classes at a children’s art studio. She went on to attend art school. After her relocation to Columbus, she studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated with a degree in interior design, but her passion has always been painting.

Intimidated by the logistics of setting up a display at a festival, Phillips has never exhibited her work. It was her husband, John’s, idea to apply for the Emerging Artists program.

“(He) pushed me and said, ‘You have to do something with those paintings because our attic will not hold any more,’” Phillips says. “I was nervous about all of the logistics, but he said, ‘I will help you.’”

She has a small studio at home in Merion Village, where she lives with John and their 4-year-old daughter, Isabella, but she also works in the artist space at 400 West Rich in Franklinton.

“(Painting) is everything to me. I can’t live without it, and if I don’t touch a canvas for a few days, there’s something inside that I feel the need to paint,” Phillips says.

Columbus Arts Festival

June 1-3

Downtown riverfront www.columbusartsfestival.org

“It’s therapy. It’s joy; it’s pure joy. … I am at peace when I am painting.”

Her work ranges from abstract to floral and landscape, and she even dabbles in mixed media work. When she’s not painting, she’s designing jewelry or doing freelance graphic design such as letterheads and logos.

“Art is my work now. It’s the best job ever,” Phillips says. “The Columbus Arts Festival is pretty large and famous. It’s an honor to be (featured) at home. I’m just a regular, ordinary girl who thought the opportunity to come to America was (an opportunity for) a great new life.” cs

Lisa Aurand is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@pubgroup ltd.com.

Above: Childhood Memories

Below: Tulips Make Me Feel Like Painting

Right: Contemplation