7 minute read
Hannah Israel
Building Community Through Art
By Natalie Downey
Art needs community like community needs art, and Hannah Israel puts her creative energy into finding ways to bring the two together.
When Hannah moved to Columbus from New York City almost two decades ago, she felt as if time slowed down. She was accustomed to the fast pace of the Big Apple, and as she
settled into this sleepy southern town, she looked around and wondered what there was for her to do here.
It didn’t take long for Hannah to put her creative mind to action, and in 2007 she was hired as gallery director for CSU’s Ilges Gallery. In her position, Hannah began planning and managing up to six art exhibitions per year, helping CSU art students organize their work for display to the world.
Hannah saw the opportunity in Columbus to use art as a bridge. “I believe art is a powerful tool for bridging community connection through collaboration, dialogue, and shared experiences,” she says. “Arts-based community engagement provides opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to come together, build meaningful social networks, and work collectively toward positive change.” One of the first projects she conceptualized and completed was a short film festival in a parking lot. “That was the first time I felt engaged in the community,” Hannah recalls, as she met other creatives and realized, “This is a place for me to grow.”
Hannah recognizes that not everyone who supports art in the community is an artist, but that art is for them too,
a gift over which all can value and enjoy. It’s also a means for the community to reckon with the complexities and struggles of living together.
“Columbus is a vibrant and diverse city, full of talent, culture, and energy. At the same time, it faces challenges such as crime and poverty,” she says. “I firmly believe that art can serve as a unifying force—creating awareness, inspiring dialogue, and helping us build a stronger, more connected community.”
Hannah arrived in Columbus right around the time that some big changes were taking place. The downtown area
had been neglected and forgotten for years, but a wind of change was blowing across the Chattahoochee, and Hannah believes art helped our sleepy city wake back up.
As the city’s revitalization took shape, Hannah helped lead sculpture walks in 2007 and 2012, and recognized the firsthand impact of presenting approachable art pieces within the city. For the first time in a long time, people started walking around downtown.
“The growth of the CSU art department and the revitalization of Columbus have mirrored one another,” Hannah observes. “To see the transformation has been incredible.”
Art isn’t just a vehicle for community change for Hannah – it’s personal. With a BA in Art History and an MFA in sculpture, Hannah’s intuitive and curious nature pairs with her compassionate support for diversity and inclusion in the world of art. Her reflective pieces explore the fragility of language and its correlation to the human experience.
Having spent eighteen years working at CSU, Hannah has found her passion in curating exhibitions. She loves building a sense of community and support for local artists and helping them present their work to the public. For her, exhibitions are a way to bring something new, something
never before experienced, to the community.
And, it’s a way to reflect back to the community the depth of creative inspiration that has come out of it.
As a teacher, Hannah loves inspiring and encouraging her students, and gets excited about collaboration. A project she says “Holds my heart the most,” is a collaboration she did with Becca Zajac, director of Dragonfly Trails, and Sherricka Day, director of Minor in Business Inc., in creating the Hope, Healing, and Community mural on the retaining wall on Talbotton and 5th Avenue. The process of gaining city approval for the mural led to the city’s first Art Ordinance, which will help streamline city approval for
future projects. Hannah hopes this, in turn, will mean more art projects across the city for all to access and enjoy.
But beyond navigating and streamlining the city art approval process, Hannah is proud of the message of the mural that faces the windows of the cancer treatment center across the street - where cancer patients can look at the mural while receiving chemo treatments. Several patients have told Hannah that being able to look at the mural brings them hope while they’re waiting. For Hannah, this is what the work is about.
Hannah’s heart for community and art has led her to
address issues like diversity, inclusion, equality, and food insecurity in her work. Through her teaching, Hannah provides CSU students a way to take action in these areas and connect their art with practical needs within our city.
An upcoming exhibition Hannah is curating, called “Earth Fire,” will celebrate the power of nature while also presenting the fragility of the current state of the environment, and inspire viewers to consider how they can take action to
From The Collection Of The Do-Good Fund That Explores The Intimate Moments Of Coming Of Age
protect the future of our planet. The exhibition will take place at the Ilges Gallery from March 4 - April 12.
Hannah is also anticipating the return of the Art Crawl on March 28, a fun-filled experience that will take participants throughout the art scene in local neighborhoods to explore how they’re contributing to the energy of our community.
For Hannah, the boom of art in Columbus has “created another vibration” in our community. She interacts with artists from all over the world on a regular basis, and says that they can’t believe the energy behind the micro art-culture in Columbus. “It’s a great feeling,” Hannah says. “Everyone supports each other, and we have all kinds of artists living among us, from local artists to international ones.”
Hannah’s impact on our city has inspired a camaraderie of community, a collaboration of creativity, and a message of the hope that is stirred to action when we use our talents to support one another.
