Cultural Arts Annual Report 2020

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CITY OF KETTERING CULTURAL ARTS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Introduction While 2020 was a year unlike any other in our recent history, Kettering remained a steadfast presence in the lives of its residents in creative experiences for all people. From activities to do at home during lockdown, to creating modified in-person and virtual events in arts education and appreciation, the Cultural Arts continued to be a vital part of the health and well-being of our community.

The City’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts values the impact the arts have on our community, and the keystone of experiences take place at Rosewood Arts Centre, a former elementary school building, programmed year-round with arts education and gallery exhibitions. In a normal year, several seasonal theatre performances and special events also take place, however the impact of COVID-19 resulted in either the cancelation or modification of these programs.

Although the challenges of 2020 were tremendous, the year continued to be a milestone year of preparing for a facility renovation of the Rosewood Arts Centre, the first in its 55+ year history.

Construction documents were drafted, and 2021 brings the promise of “breaking ground” so to speak on the three-phase renovation.

Within our public spaces, the CitySites percent for art program completed the five year project of integrating artwork on the Schantz Avenue bridge. Created by Vicki Scuri SiteWorks, the artwork was a monumental collaboration between the artist, the CitySites program, the City’s Engineering Department, the construction team and the bridge design consultants.

Arts Education Arts education is the core of Rosewood Arts Centre, with hundreds of class offerings in ceramics, dance, theatre, music, the humanities, photography, painting, printmaking, drawing, jewelry, glass and more.

During the spring season, Rosewood Arts Centre staff created a robust collection of “Art From Home” projects in partnership with the Dayton Daily News, including a homemade kite, a zoetrope and many more activities. Almost 200 in-person and virtual classes were offered, all taking place with modifications for participant safety and for a high quality experience.

The 2020 Artist in Residence Nicki Strouss felt the impact of the pandemic on her practice; access to her studio was limited during the spring lockdown, and her exhibition, originally scheduled for July 2020, was rescheduled for spring 2021.

One of our most robust youth programs - Camp Rosewood - was cancelled for the summer of 2020, with arts education pivoting to include several one-day and short program summer experiences in arts education. Class sizes were reduced to comply with state and county guidelines, and classrooms were outfitted to ensure social distancing and thorough deep cleaning practices following each activity.

Drop-in studio usage became one of the most popular components of the Rosewood reopening. Allowing one or two participants at a time, independent work could continue in our darkroom, ceramics studios, 2

dance studio, and open classrooms for those in need of specialized spaces and/or equipment to fulfill their creative goals. Over 1,000 drop-in visits were recorded in 2020, and in addition to those, no contact firing for clay works was also implemented in case anyone felt unsafe entering the building.

Exhibitions Rosewood Gallery featured regional and national artists in a wide range of media. In 2020, the gallery was scheduled to host nine solo exhibitions and three juried exhibitions, including 112 artists from the Dayton region, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Due to complications due to the COVID-19 restrictions, some changes to the exhibition calendar and how exhibitions were staged were made to reflect these unusual times. Still, over 1,000 people attended exhibitions in-person and over 3,000 people engaging with online exhibitions and digital content.

Solo exhibitions by Samantha Simpson, Deana Bana Maloney, and Nicki Strouss were rescheduled for 2021, and Chris Maddox was canceled due to the pandemic shutdown.

30th Annual Dayton Area Works on Paper January 14 – February 22 Works on Paper is a juried exhibition for artists living within a 40-mile radius of Dayton, Ohio. In 2020, 55 artists from Dayton and the surrounding areas submitted 148 pieces, from which the juror, Jason Shaiman, chose 50 artworks, representing 37 artists. Participating artists included Allie Ellis, Chloe Beaman, Keith Bowers, Siobhan Calnan, Bruce Campbell, Annica Damico, Douglas Fiely, Lloyd Greene, Shawna Hatton, Rosie Huart, Laura James, Richard Jurus, Ashlee Kilgore, Bonnie Kuntz, Elizabeth Martin, Kevin McNeeley, Gavin Mead, Glenda Miles, Kathy More, Melanie Morrett, Rosemary Nick, Anna Orf, Jaime Pacheco, Don Patty, Linda Phillips, Tameria Haley Rigsby, Francis Schanberger, Rose Schultz, Andy Snow, Sharon Stolzenberger, Nicki Strouss, Doug Taylor, Joey Thiele, Phil Wagar, Stu Wheeler, Mary Beth Whitley, Leonard Williams, Kelly D. Wilson, and Margaret Wittmer.

1st Place: Kevin McNeeley, Dressing Room 2nd Place: Deborah Dixon, Passion Feesh 3rd Place: Pat Robinow, Parker People's Choice: Emily von Stuckrad-Smolinski, Missing Eggs People's Choice: Barb Weinert-McBee, Simpler Times People's Choice: Tameria Rigsby, Vinnie 3

Mark Flake, Monsters and Cars Arthur Kettner, Projection of Power March 1 – April 3 With a theme based on Americana, Mark Flake’s exhibition Monsters and Cars “celebrates empowerment through nostalgic images of pop culture.” Influenced by the German Expressionists and Surrealists, Flake’s large scale paintings can be characterized as having “a rich impasto of muted colors, particularly black and white mixed with earth tones.” The paintings will be paired with digital prints and sculptures. Flake currently lives in Statesville, NC. Rosewood Arts Centre’s inaugural Artist in Residence, Arthur Kettner, showcased work created during his residency. Kettner’s ceramic work references his days spent aboard a Navy ship and his fascination with how “humans influence, and in turn become influenced by technology.” The sculptures use a unique method of “casting paper infused clay into compressed cornmeal, much like traditional sand casting.” Kettner is an artist living in Kettering, OH. Due to the pandemic lockdown both Mark Flake’s and Arthur Kettner’s exhibitions were extended in the gallery and supplemented with virtual exhibitions through the summer of 2020.

26th Annual The View Juried Landscape Exhibition May 26 - August 7 For the first time in its 26 year history, the exhibition was exclusively online with images and an exhibition video, accompanied by a downloadable exhibition catalogue with an essay by the exhibition juror, Cathy Mayhugh. The View continued in this new presentation format as a juried exhibition for artists living in Ohio and working in all media. This year, 51 artists submitted 143 pieces, from which Cathy Mayhugh chose 42 artworks representing 30 artists.

Participating artists included Shirlee Bauer, John Benvenuto, Carol Blum, Patricia Boone, Claudia Buchmann, Mary Callaway, Bruce Campbell, Edward Charney, Billie Dickson, Carol Edsall, Bruce Erikson, Connie Gifford, Brendan Higgins, Nicholas Hill, Mike Huffman, Gina Judy, Tammy Kessen, LaDonna Lowe, Kevin McNeeley, Kathy A. Moore, Robert Mullenix, Linda Phillips, Rose Schultz, Jeff Smith, David Stichweh, Ginny Stocker, Sharon Stolzenberger, Barb Weinert-McBee, Ian Welch and Clinton Wood.

Artist awards were presented by the Joan W. McCoy Memorial Art Fund, including a split purse of $600 award monies and a $150 People’s Choice Award presented by the Joan W. McCoy Memorial Art Fund.

Awards presented by the juror included: 1st Place: Cathy A Moore, Winter Laundry Day with Backyard Shed and Corner Street at 2 a.m.

2nd Place: Ian Welch, No Safe Harbor, Infestation, and Invasive Species 3rd Place: Clinton Wood, Signs of Progress and Development People's Choice: Barb Weinert-McBee, House on the Lane HWD Invitational Sculpture Exhibition August 16 – September 25 Twenty-four Dayton-area artists that have participated in the past ten-years in Rosewood Gallery and the CitySites public art program were selected. Artwork was featured on view in-person at Rosewood Gallery, as well as in a virtual gallery at www.playkettering.org/gallery and as a printable exhibition catalogue viewable on the gallery website.

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Installation view of HWD Invitational Sculpture Exhibition

HWD participating artists include: Nicholaus Arnold, Patricia Boone, Cynthia Bornhorst Winslow, Matthew Burgy, Connie Campbell, Jim Champion, Stefan Chinov, Bob Coates, Landon Crowell, Willis Bing Davis, John Dickinson, Deborah Dixon, Doug Harlow, Jon Barlow Hudson, Ron Hundt, Sarah Hydell, Ashley Jude Jonas, David Kenworthy, Jes McMillan, Glenda Miles, Peter Mitas, Emily Trick, Terry Welker and Donald Williams.

People's Choice Award Artist awards are presented by the Joan W. McCoy Memorial Art Fund, including $600 award monies for the Virginia Krause Hess Award for Excellence in Sculpture and a $150 People’s Choice Award.

1st Place: Landon Crowell, You shimmed us up to remain true. Without you level has become very elusive 2nd Place: Jon Barlow Hudson, As Above So Below 3rd Place: Donald Williams, The Earth, The Sky, The Fish of the Sea, The Birds of the Air Totem People's Choice: David Kenworthy, Separated and Confined Lori Kella, Erie: Lost and Found October 5 – November 13 As an exhibition originally planned with the 2020 FotoFocus Biennial, Lori Kella’s exhibition Erie: Lost and Found explores historical, environmental, and personal connections to her home on the Great Lakes. Kella reimagines the shoreline of Lake Erie by examining the fragility and resilience of this complex ecosystem through constructing tabletop dioramas out of everyday materials. The artificial landscapes, created from paper, painted plastic, and translucent glycerin, record observations of different species nestled into the landscape. Once constructed, Kella uses lighting to dramatically transform these tableaus, bringing to the surface an amalgamation of familiar places, unexplored wilderness, and pure fiction. The resulting images, presented as large-scale photographs, hint at the ephemeral nature of these environments while preserving them as an imperfect record that ponders both absence and rediscovery.

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Lori Kella, Euclid's Mirror, 2019, archival pigment print

Coupled with the dioramic photographs, Kella also catalogues native species of the Great Lakes that are endangered or experiencing habitat shifts. Created from vellum and translucent papers, “Ghost Species” represents a variety of fish, plant life and other lake creatures, which are then photographed and presented as prints. Kella offers contemplation on what may be, or is already lost, suggesting that paper replicas may eventually be the only lasting reference to the once grand Great Lakes. Lori Kella, Erie: Lost and Found was supported in part by a grant from FotoFocus.

Erin Holscher Almazan, The Only Way We’re Going to Get Through This is Together Kate Snow, Density: The Presence and the Silence of It November 22, 2020 – January 3, 2021 Erin Holscher Almazan (Oakwood, OH) is an Associate Professor, Printmaking and Drawing at the University of Dayton. In her exhibition The Only Way We’re Going to Get Through This is Together, she presented a series of prints that “explores the complexities and dualities that exist within our female identities; that we are complex and multi-dimensional creatures capable of good and bad, built from light and dark and shaped by nature, nurture, influence, and self-awareness.”

Cleveland artist Kate Snow used a subdued palette to express her vision in Density: The Presence and the Silence of It. She stated: “My need to create a place of safety within a world decidedly untidy is the impetus for all of my work. The employment of self-imposed boundaries – an extremely limited palette, excessively repetitive mark making, reliance on shape and pattern, hard graphite lines delineating definitive borders – is fundamental to the process: I create rules to find freedom.” Snow’s results are images made of either gouache & ink on panels or gouache and graphite on handmade paper.

Special Events While many beloved events were canceled in 2020, several were modified in order to still create new experiences for all people, regularly organizing special events in the community, as well as specialized arts learning experiences.

Art on the Commons 6

August 6 – 9 With a large-scale festival no longer possible, the Art on the Commons pivoted to become a four day virtual event in August, featuring 83 artists, a robust schedule of art activities, interviews, and music. Over the course of the four days, the festival website had over 16,000 page views (we average about 350 page views daily). Our Facebook Live events reached over 1,800 people and over 200 people voted for the People’s Choice Award.

Noteworthy activities included offering new content daily on the event website, including family art education activities; interviews and demonstrations with practicing artists; and live stream events such as a raku firing; audience voting for three cash People’s Choice Awards through the event website; new audience potential through a partnership with 91.3 WYSO Excursions emcee Niki Dakota, who asked musical artists around the Miami Valley to share music they created during the COVID lockdown. Songs were released on the event website daily; and in-kind sponsorship which supported over $1,000 in print advertising in the Dayton Daily News.

Virtual artist workshop with Lori Kella November 7 Lori Kella demonstrated how to create her ghost species from her photographic works.

State of the Arts 2020 Presented by the Kettering Arts Council Tuesday, October 27 In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month in October, The Kettering Arts Council shared their annual State of the Arts address in a video at the October 27 City Council meeting. Mayor Patterson presented a Proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month.

Visual AIDS presented Day With(out) Art: TRANSMISSIONS Sunday, December 1 Rosewood Arts Centre Rosewood Arts Centre is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for the For Day With(out) Art 2020, TRANSMISSIONS, a program of six newly commissioned videos considering the impact of HIV and AIDS beyond the United States. The video program brings together artists working across the world: Jorge Bordello (Mexico), Gevi Dimitrakopoulou (Greece), Lucía Egaña Rojas (Chile/Spain), Las Indetectables (Chile), Charan Singh (India/U.K.), and George Stanley Nsamba (Uganda).The six short videos range in subject, highlighting pioneering AIDS activism and staging intergenerational conversations.

Rosewood Photo Club 7

The group met once a month prior to the March lockdown to share work, share techniques, have critiques and discuss all things photographic. A photo field trip to the Dayton Arcade was attended by eight club members in June 2020.

Rosewood Gallery Art Book Club with the Dayton Metro Library Rosewood Gallery and Dayton Metro Library present lively discussions about various books featuring art and/or artists as central elements. January 2020’s book was The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton; subsequent book club dates were canceled for the remainder of 2020.

Art Start Preschool Storytime with Rosewood and the Dayton Metro Library Art Start is a program designed to foster an early love of art with storytime at Rosewood Gallery. Parents and children ages 3-6 enjoy one to four stories followed by a hands-on craft led by a Rosewood instructor.

Dayton Metro Library Book Nook The Book Nook at Rosewood Gallery provides materials on art methods and movements that coordinate with the Gallery's current exhibits. Visitors to the Book Nook can explore artistic inspirations and discover new treasures in the books provided by Dayton Metro Library.

Yoga In The Gallery Through March and in partnership with the Kettering Recreation Center, Yoga in the Gallery brings gentle yoga practice into a new context – an art gallery.

Art Lunch, 2nd and 4th Thursdays Artists and community members gather twice a month (virtually beginning in March 2020) to enjoy a meal, conversation and share art with each other. This program is in partnership with The Contemporary Dayton.

2nd Annual Portfolio Exchange For the second time Rosewood coordinated a portfolio exchange. Artists of all levels were invited to submit an edition of ten original prints in exchange for an assortment of eight different original prints by other participants plus one commemorative print made by artists at Rosewood Arts Centre. Of the two remaining prints one became part of Rosewood’s permanent collection and one is being used in a fundraising sale to benefit Rosewood programs. Thirty artists participated including Brooke Griffin who created the 2020 Rosewood print.

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Community Outreach and Partnerships The Rosewood team is dedicated to making creative experiences possible beyond the walls of the arts center, and believes in sharing resources with different organizations and partners. Below are some of the activities and initiatives that included our community friends.

Rosewood Art Centre's 2nd Annual Portfolio Exchange was a popular community project, and over twenty artists that submitted an edition of ten original prints in exchange for an assortment of eight different original prints by other participants plus one commemorative print made by artists at Rosewood Arts Centre. Participants included students and faculty from Kettering City Schools, Wright State University and Stivers School for the Arts.

The Kettering Civic Band and the Kettering Children’s Choir, of which the City is a financial sponsor, both continued as representatives on the Kettering Arts Council, but ended in-person rehearsals and performances for the majority of 2020.

The Kettering Arts Council The Kettering Arts Council (KAC) is a 15-member advisory committee appointed by Kettering City Council and overseen by the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department. KAC, in partnership and collaboration with the community, strives to provide access to the arts for all ages, encourage a passion for the arts, and promote art appreciation and education. The committee includes individuals with a strong desire to promote and advocate fine arts experiences in our region. The Arts Council meets once per month at Rosewood Arts Centre to discuss issues pertaining to the Rosewood Arts Centre’s current and future programming.

2020 Kettering Arts Council Members: Laura Arber (Vice President), Susan Bennett, Sue Ellen Boesch, Christian Davell, Meghan Dillon (Secretary/Treasurer), Sandra Doninger, Elom Dossa, Gine Elliot, Pat Higgins (President), Tracy McElfresh, Thom Meyer, Pene Miller, Terry Schalnat, Meghan Thomas and Shane Weber. Ad Hoc Community Members include Larry Roberts from the Kettering Civic Band, and a representative from the Kettering Children’s Choir.

The Kettering Arts Council initiated a social media campaign to keep the arts in the forefront of the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Facebook and Instagram accounts during COVID-19. Over the summer, members created weekly “Kettering Collects” stories, sharing their favorite visual art, mementos and music that personally inspires them during the shutdown. One of these posts was the highest performing in audience engagement for the department in 2020, with over 43% engagement. In the fall, weekly content by members focused on what the arts in Kettering mean to them, and the posts were compiled into a short “State of the City” video presented to City Council during Arts and Humanities Month.

CitySites and Public Art Work CitySites is a percent for art program recognizing artistic excellence, accessibility to the arts for all people, and the positive impact creativity has on our community and quality of life in the City of Kettering.

CitySites is overseen by Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts and advised by the Art in Public Places Committee.

The Art in Public Places Committee is comprised of eleven residents, artists and art advocates including Susan Byrnes, Gerald Busch, Connie Campbell, Stefan Chinov, Tess Cortés, Meghan Dillon (Kettering Arts Council), Bruce Duke (City Council), Matt Dunn, Peter Horan, Michael Roediger and Terry Welker, and is overseen by Shayna McConville, Division Manager for Cultural Arts, City of Kettering.

Schantz Avenue Bridge In 2019, the City of Kettering replaced the Schantz Avenue Bridge over South Dixie Highway. In spring of 2020, the art component designed by Vicki Scuri of Vicki Scuri SiteWorks (Lake Forest Park, WA) was installed, with the final elements of the bridge project completed in July 2020.

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Ridgeway Road Bridge In 2020, the Kettering design team, including Shayna V. McConville (Cultural Arts), Steve Bergstresser (Engineering), and Craig Schraider (EMH&T Bridge Design Consultant), met virtually with Cliff Garten Studios to finalize the design of the art component of the Ridgeway Road Bridge. Demolition of the bridge began in December 2020, and the projected completion date for the bridge construction and artwork installation projected for late summer 2021.

With a focus on creating a place for the community, the new artwork for the Ridgeway Road Bridge, Foliage by Cliff Garten Studios, reflects the surrounding landscape of Hills and Dale Metro Park and the flowing hills of Kettering, particularly of the view west from the bridge. The fluid movement of the fence lines and the sculptures mimic leaves caught in a gentle breeze. With the addition of plazas on the north and south side of the bridge, pedestrians and vehicles will experience a unique crossing and gathering place.

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Acknowledgements Support Rosewood Arts Centre is grateful to the donors, partners, volunteers and sponsoring organizations that make creative opportunities possible.

91.3 WYSO Community Fund for Kettering The Dayton Foundation Kettering City Schools Kettering Parks Foundation Joan W. McCoy Art Memorial Fund Miami Valley Communications Council The Ohio Arts Council The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission Thomas Schiff Foundation Town and Country Shopping Center People We couldn’t do what we do without the amazing talents of so many individuals who contribute their time to making Kettering the place to call home. Thank you to the following: Interns: Libby Slauenwhite, Wright State University; Symone Laws, Fairmont High School Volunteers: Laura Arber, Susan Bennett, Sue Ellen Boesch, Gerald Busch, Susan Byrnes, Connie Campbell, Stefan Chinov, Gine Elliott, Patricia Higgins, Sarah Hydell, Linda Lombard, Tracy McElfresh, Thom Meyer, Pene Miller, Terry Schalnat, Terry Welker, Lynn Wheeler.

Instructors and Program Production: Kelley Booze, Cynthia Bornhorst-Winslow, Nancy Lynn Boss, Jason Boyer, Jane Brennan, Shelly Burden, Teresa Connair, Mickie Cowan, Sammie Sue Edmondson, Shannon Fent, Nicole Fiely, Brooke Griffin, Svitlana Gurieva, Trish Jeffers-Zeh, Arthur Kettner, H. David Kirchner, Katy Kreitzer, Donna Kuszpa, April Lemaster, The Light Fantastic, Brandon Lowery, Tracy McElfresh, Amanda Miller, Mary Patterson, Loretta Puncer, Heather Lea Reid, David Rose, Judith Rose, Kate Santucci, Diane Schaff, Linda Sellers, Mary Snapp, Michael Stockstill, Nicki Strouss, Amanda Wheatley, Leonard Williams, Kathy Woodruff, Micah Zavacky and Claire Zook.

Rosewood Arts Centre Staff Mary Crockett, Assistant Facility Coordinator Andrew Dailey, Cultural Arts Program Supervisor Tiffany Derosier, Assistant Facility Coordinator (through April 2020) Justin Ingram, Assistant Facility Coordinator / Program Coordinator Paula Wilmott Kraus, Gallery Coordinator Brandon Lowery, Ceramic Studio Coordinator Shayna V. McConville, Division Manager of Cultural Arts Heather Lea Reid, Facility Coordinator Amanda Wheatley, Assistant Facility Coordinator Claire Hinde Zook, Facility Coordinator

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