Ross Art Museum Displays Works by Ohio Wesleyan Fine Arts Faculty
Justin Kronewetter, director of Ohio Wesleyan University’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum, works to install ‘FA8,’ the biennial faculty art exhibit. The show will run from Dec. 3, 2013, to Feb. 2, 2014, with an artist reception on Dec. 5, 2013. (Photo by Matt Wasserman ’14)
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ditch the Dynamic Duo. Forget the Fantastic Four. Ohio Wesleyan University has its own Awesome Eight.
And these fine arts front-runners – also known as Ohio Wesleyan’s studio professors – will display their latest creations in clay, metal, photography, printmaking, sculpture, painting and drawing, and graphic design from Dec. 3, 2013, through Feb. 2, 2014, at the university’s Richard M. Ross Art Museum, 60 S. Sandusky St., Delaware.
The exhibit, appropriately titled “FA8,” represents the faculty’s biennial art showcase. It will include an opening reception from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 5, 2013, during which the OWU artists will be on hand to discuss their creations.
Ohio Wesleyan fine arts faculty participating in “FA8” are:
Kristina Bogdanov, earthenware vases with a ‘Fairies’ theme.
Kristina Bogdanov, Ph.D., who teaches ceramics, drawing, figure drawing and 3-D design. “My art ideas dwell within the complex system of synthesized values deposited in the philosophical, historical, and cultural interpretations of human condition and experience,” said Bogdanov, who joined Ohio Wesleyan in 2007. “For that reason, in every art piece I seek for layers.”
Cynthia Cetlin, ‘Kaernefeltia’
Cynthia Cetlin, M.F.A., who teaches metals, 3-D design, art education, and art history. Cetlin’s current work involves creating and dyeing textiles. “Color affects me powerfully,” said Cetlin, a member of the OWU faculty since 1987. “In my art practice, form and color merge. … With each textile that I make, I anticipate the transformation that occurs when wool, fabric, threads, yarns, dyes, water and soap are worked together. Each piece is a surprise, each one leads to another experiment and a new transformation.”
Frank Hobbs, ‘Rustbelt Elegy’
Frank Hobbs, M.F.A., who teaches painting, drawing, figure drawing, and 2-D design. “Painting and drawing are for me the soliloquy through which I work out my fascinations with the contemporary landscape,” said Hobbs, who joined the university in 2007. “I paint frequently on location, executing small, quick studies in which I attempt to respond to the transient experience of light and weather. The difficulty of distilling the essential color, form, and space from the ‘blooming, buzzing confusion’ of nature with only my eyes and a few strokes of paint is an engaging problem that I never tire of.”
Jim Krehbiel, ‘Sunlight and Shadow at the Green Mask’
James Krehbiel, M.F.A., who teaches in the 2-D media of printmaking, computer imaging, and drawing. Krehbiel’s work represents his 18-year study in the Four Corners region of the United States. “When in the field I spend a great deal of time looking and thinking about the lives of the Ancestral Puebloan people, considering all aspects of what bits of evidence are left,” said Krehbiel, a member of the OWU faculty since 1986. “I spend hours and days at sites pondering and looking for markers, contemplating architectural forms and contextual relationships in a site and within a landscape setting. … To date, I have completed survey work at 117 sites and have discovered 93 markers and 23 structural alignments at sites with 213 astronomical alignments.”
Justin Kronewetter, ‘Red Mountains with Blue Sky and Blue Lake’
Justin Kronewetter, M.F.A., director of the Ross Art Museum, who teaches art gallery management. Kronewetter’s digital photographs often provide uncommon views of common subjects. “At a point when photographic technology permits, if not encourages, the production of complex imagery on a larger and larger scale, I take more satisfaction in creating carefully crafted images on a more intimate scale,” said Kronewetter, who joined Ohio Wesleyan in 1972. “Rather than forcing the viewer to back away to see the entire image, I prefer for the viewer to be drawn in and encouraged to see details otherwise unnoticed.”
Jeff Nilan, from the ‘Limina’ series
Jeff Nilan, M.F.A., who teaches photography, computer imaging, bookmaking, and 2-D design. “My work in the faculty exhibition stems from two separate but concurrent projects,” said Nilan, who joined the OWU faculty in 2008. “Included are paper weavings and historic photo process pieces from an ongoing series, ‘2000 Pounds of Soil,’ centered on rural Iowa. Also included are photographs from an ongoing series, ‘Limina,’ centering on the space in between spaces, the thresholds in our experiences.”
Jonathon Quick, M.F.A., who teaches sculpture and 3-D design. “I knew from an early age that I wanted to work physically (hands on) with materials,” said Quick, who joined the university in 1988. “My life’s journey is one of unbounded adventure and discovery. In my work I investigate various themes of the human condition with a sense of humor and empathy in an attempt to expose the true nature of our shared experience.”
Crit Warren, ‘Rhizome2’
Crit Warren, B.F.A, who teaches all aspects of graphic design. Warren’s work has been influenced by the Rhizome, a concept developed by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and clinical psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. “The concept of the Rhizome has been highly relevant in conceptualizing and creating of signs and their scrambling or mixing up in graphic design,” said Warren, who joined Ohio Wesleyan in 2006. “The rhizome is in opposition to arborescence – a tree-like growth with yes/no binary forking passageways, with vertical and linear connections suggesting dualism and totalizing concepts used in traditional narrative structures. Rather than narrative history and culture, the rhizome presents history and culture as a map or wide array of attractions and influences with no specific origin or genesis.”
The Ross Art Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It will be closed for Thanksgiving break from Nov. 23 to Dec. 2, 2013, and for winter break from Dec. 20, 2013, to Jan. 14, 2014.
The museum is handicap-accessible and admission is always free. Call (740) 368-3606 or visit https://www.owu.edu/about/offices-services/richard-m-ross-art-museum/ for more information. To learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s Department of Fine Arts, including its faculty, visit https://www.owu.edu/academics/departments-programs/department-of-fine-arts/.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private, coed university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world practice. OWU’s 1,850 students represent 42 states and 37 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.