PRE-ORDER the season-documenting retrospective hardcover Manifest Exhibition Annual (MEA s15). The massive volume will feature every work shown in our galleries across this season.

Download to save or print the entire season 15 calendar here.

Submit work to open projects here.

See the finalists and the winner of the season 15 Grand Jury Prize here.

main gallery

ARCHIVE [photo]
Photo & Lens-based Art About Archives

A FotoFocus Biennial 2018 Participating Venue Exhibition

Manifest is proud to launch its 15th season with this FotoFocus sponsored exhibition marking the gallery's fourth Biennial participation.

Commonly defined as an accumulation of records or the place they are located archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of a particular span of time, and are kept (or presented) to show the function or history of a particular person, idea, or phenomena. This competitive exhibit called for photo and lens-based works which addressed this theme in some way based on this definition.

Manifest’s own mission as a nonprofit entity is to function as an organizational archive of the artwork and artists’ histories it presents, publishes, and interacts with. This is one aspect of our 'Creative Research'. This exhibition brings together works of photographic and lens-based visual art which in one way or another, literally, formally, or figuratively, represents the concept of archive.

It provides, through its concurrent presentation with four other exhibitions, a comparison between photo and non-photo approaches, and inspires consideration of the role of visual art in the process of housing, presenting, and preserving primary source information, and of the artist’s part in the process of interpreting or feeding into the archive.

This exhibition, along with its companion exhibits, serves as the grand opening of Manifest's 15th season.

For this exhibit 47 artists from 19 states and 3 countries submitted 160 works for consideration. Sixteen works by the following 11 artists from 7 states, and Canada were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Mike Callaghan
Toronto, Canada

Alyse Delaney
Brooklyn, New York

Karen Hillier
Bryan, Texas

Jieun Beth Kim
Austin, Texas

David Knox
New Orleans, Louisiana

Kent Krugh
Fairfield, Ohio

Isabella La Rocca
Danville, Kentucky

William Nourse
Amesbury, Massachusetts

Vesna Pavlovic
Nashville, Tennessee

Crystal Tursich
Columbus, Ohio

Jenny Zeller
Louisville, Kentucky

** BONUS!

Also part of the FotoFocus Biennial and sponsored by FotoFocus is the ARCHIVE [negative] project and exhibition at the Manifest Drawing Center in Madisonville.

Over the summer, Manifest Drawing Center's Resident Instructor of Photography Michael Wilson invited fourteen nationally renowned photographers to participate in ARCHIVE [negative]. For the project, each artist provided one of their original black and white negatives which then were printed in collaboration with Michael in the Manifest Darkroom. The resulting archive of photographs, some of which have never been seen beyond film, stand as both an analog record of the late 20th century and an exciting survey of the rich character of black and white film photography. Join us at Manifest Drawing Center for the opening of this two-week exhibition!

Opening and Benefit Auction: October 13, 2018, 6-9pm


PLEASE NOTE: The Exhibition will be at our our Drawing Center location in Madisonville: 4905 Whetsel Avenue. Cincinnati, Ohio 45227.

Learn more about this event including the list of participating artists, and RSVP for the opening and benefit auction here.

     Isabella La Rocca

     Vesna Pavlovic

     Karen Hillier

drawing room

CHRONICLE
Photographic Collages by Greg Sand

Greg Sand is an artist and photographer who explores the issues of existence, time and death. He works primarily with digital photography to produce work that addresses the nature of photography and its role in defining reality. Sand received his BFA in Photography from Austin Peay State University in 2008. He has won the acclaim of both jurors and audiences, winning numerous awards and honors. In 2009, Sand was selected by critic Catherine Edelman and the Griffin Museum of Photography as one of "the most exciting new artists emerging in the world of photography." Sand currently lives and works in Clarksville, Tennessee. He is represented by the Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, and exhibits across the United States.

Of his work the artist states:

"In ‘Chronicle’ I combine 1/2” and 1” square pieces that I have cut from found photographs to examine the fragmentation of memories. When recalling our childhood, we may remember the shoes our father always wore or the way our mother held her hands: a part represents the whole. Photographs function in a similar manner. They do not show a whole person or an entire life, but instead capture a single moment. These keepsakes help determine some of the pieces of memory that stick with us.       

This series started as an exploration of the overwhelming scope of humanity and human history versus the insignificance of the individual. I wanted to find a visual representation of the 6,393 deaths that occur every hour in the world. I made the piece ‘Chronicle: Passing (6,393 Per Hour)’ to try to comprehend this staggering figure. I moved on to other subjects that became more about the nature of memory. The themes of death and loss are still present throughout the series—most blatantly in the images of funerary flowers and disembodied shadows—as the source photos I use often have a built-in sense of history and sadness.”

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

parallel space

Stories We Tell Ourselves
Constructed Photographs by Dominic Lippillo

Dominic Lippillo's work questions the role of photography by making digitally constructed images that address notions of space versus place, memory, and experience. His work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Photographic Art; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; and the University of North Dakota. Publications where his work is featured include Don't Take Pictures, Mono Chroma, Exposure, Daily Serving, and The Eye of Photography. He is a recipient of a South Arts Fellowship (2018), a Mississippi Arts Commission Visual Artist Fellowship (2016), and the Mississippi State University Faculty Research Award for the College of Architecture, Art and Design (2013). He earned his MFA in Photography from Ohio University (2009) and a BFA in Photography from Youngstown State University (2005). Lippillo is an Associate Professor of Photography at Mississippi State University. 

Of his work the artist states:

"Throughout the series, “Stories We Tell Ourselves”, memory, landscape, vernacular images, and narrative coalesce in a series of constructed photographs. Drawing influence from my experiences, American Scene painting, and the settings found in Raymond Carver’s short stories where melancholy is balanced by curiosity, I seek out non-specific American landscapes to photograph and embellish by adding atmospheric conditions and appropriated figures that are alien to the landscapes.

I begin the process for this series by photographing unoccupied suburban and rural areas to serve as backdrops of the everyday. I then search through my collection of anonymous vernacular images—photographs with unknown internal and external contexts—that have been purchased in secondhand shops to find figures to inhabit the minimalistic scenes. In doing so, a pensive human presence appears as an rückenfigur contemplating the landscape for the viewer to identify with, or as a visual device to direct the viewer’s gaze in or out of the frame. I approach finding the locations to photograph, and choose the figures to appropriate, with an eye for ambiguity and an irrational attraction and fascination to unassuming details, thus allowing my mind to wander outside of the confines of my eye’s visual field.

In these re-contextualized photographic realities the landscapes and figures share a symbiotic relationship, which allows them to transcend time, space, and experience due to their juxtaposition. By creating composite photographs I am inviting the viewer to impose new meanings and create their own re-telling’s of the stories intertwining the anonymous figures and unspecified locations.”

Listen in on a podcast interview with Dominic:


This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

central gallery

WHITEWASHED
Photographs by Wes Battoclette

Wes Battoclette is a Cincinnati-based artist using photography as his primary medium. He was educated in Fine Art earning his BFA at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning in 2008. A focus of his work is centered around redefining perceptions of architecture and the landscape through photography, often utilizing new technologies and techniques to transform the final image.

Of his work the artist states:

"The Whitewashed Series explores ways in which the absence of color can erase assumptions of a space and let your mind transform its past and present into something fresh and desirable.

I was first drawn to these buildings while driving through a busy area full of color one overcast day. Right in the middle of all this was an abandoned whitewashed building trying its best to conceal itself.  To me however it stood out like a blinding light.

The atmosphere around these buildings plays a vital part in the series. Finding that magic moment of overcast adds a very personal connection as if the building is pulling me into its void.”

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

north gallery

ARCHIVES
Non-Photo-Based Art About Archives

ARCHIVES invited artists to consider the meaning of the concepts 'primary source, preservation, collective data, accumulation, time, history, reflection, etc.' as they considered the potential for works fitting into or addressing the over arching theme of this show. We were eager to see just how artists make work in any non-photo-based media or genre (painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and non-traditional art, etc.) which in some way addresses the theme of ARCHIVES. As Manifest has done before, this exhibit sets out to provide a counterpoint to the FotoFocus Biennial themed photo-specific exhibition in our Main Gallery, thereby providing the viewer a valuable opportunity to compare and contrast the role of media and creative processes in the resulting work which is, nevertheless, united by theme.

For this exhibit 37 artists from 14 states, Washington D.C., and 3 countries submitted 79 works for consideration. Nine works by the following 5 artists from 4 states, and Ireland were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Amy Dean
Clarksville, Tennessee

Ashly Griffith
New Orleans, Louisiana

Curt Lund
St Paul, Minnesota

Seamus O’Rourke
Dublin, Ireland

Jonathan Ware
Lexington, Kentucky

     Amy Dean

    Curt Lund

Preview Reception: Thursday, November 8, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, November 9, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

ANIMALIS
The Animal in Contemporary Art

Images of animals in art have existed parallel to those of humans for as long as images (and objects) have been made by people. Our social, creative, and psychological evolution is inextricably tied to our relationships with animals. Whether it be the taming of the wolf, resulting in 'man's best friend', the tethering of the horse which magnified the power and geographic reach of humans, or the domestication of herd animals which contributed to the establishment of cities and large concentrations of people (and the growth of culture), they are all part of the trajectory of humanity to this point in time. All have been documented, explored, and deified throughout the long process by images and objects featuring animals.

But this isn't just history (and pre-history). The animal remains a powerful subject in current art. So Manifest has chosen once again* to coordinate an exhibit that reveals the state of the animal in art. For this purpose we called for artists working in any media to submit works that in some way feature or address animals, real or imagined.

For the resulting exhibit 144 artists from 31 states and 9 countries submitted 434 works for consideration. Thirty works by the following 24 artists from 16 states, and England were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Brandin Baron
San Francisco, California

Cara DeAngelis
Brookfield, Connecticut

Virmarie DePoyster
North Little Rock, Arkansas

Mitch Eckert
Louisville, Kentucky

Felicia Forte
Hamtramck, Michigan

Sarah Fox
San Antonio, Texas

Jenny Freestone
Takoma Park, Maryland

Mark Hosford
Nashville, Tennessee

Brian Kreydatus
Williamsburg, Virginia

Kristen Leonard
Brooklyn, New York

Beauvais Lyons
Knoxville, Tennessee

Laura Mathews
Nottingham, England

Leighton McWilliams
Arlington, Texas

Ally Morgan
Gaithersburg, Maryland

Daniella Napolitano
Little Rock, Arkansas

Rhea O’Neill
Scotts Valley, California

Jessica Orfe
Honolulu, Hawaii

Nathan Perry
Clyde, North Carolina

Bill Price
Memphis, Tennessee

Masako Roberts
Newark, New Jersey

Matthew Schenk
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Nikki Vahle-Schneider
Isanti, Minnesota

Paula Willmot Kraus
Dayton, Ohio

Gretchen Woodman
Nottingham, New Hampshire

*previously Manifest produced KINGDOM (2014) and BESTIARY (2010), two exhibits exploring the same theme.

     Mitch Eckert

     Sarah Fox

     Laura Mathews

     Gretchen Woodman

parallel space

SOIL & DIRT
Art Exploring Two Fundamental Aspects

While they may seem beneath us, these two elements—one full of life and nourishment, the other devoid of organic value and spent of energy—soil and dirt are nevertheless the things we're made of, and live upon. We at Manifest believe the concepts of Soil and Dirt represent an interesting lens through which to filter an exhibition of visual art, whether by primarily metaphoric means, or literal examination. We encouraged artists working in all media to consider their relationship, and that of their work, to these two worldly aspects, and invited them to share what they found relevant.

For this exhibit 51 artists from 24 states and 2 countries submitted 153 works for consideration. Nine works by the following 8 artists from 7 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Megan Curran
Geneva, Illinois

Tracy Danet
Mokena, Illinois

Jeanne Dodd
Sanford, Michigan

Ed Erdmann
Menomonie, Wisconsin

Sarah Jantzi
Valparaiso, Indiana

Judith Kruger
Litchfield, Connecticut

Kaitlyn Jo Smith
Tucson, Arizona

Kathleen Taylor
Santa Fe, New Mexico

    Kaitlyn Jo Smith

     Kathleen Taylor

    Judith Kruger

central Gallery + north Gallery

PLEIN AIR
Art Made Outdoors

The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place.

— Rachel Carson

It may be only most recent history, due to convenience and the susceptibility of media to the elements, that finds art making happening primarily indoors—often, for some artists, in the same space year after year. Despite our modern comfort, the process of making art has a long lineage in the outdoors. At Manifest we wonder what the context of creation does to the content of the creation. Obviously plein air can be interpreted in a traditional way as 'painting outdoors', ostensibly painting the outdoors. But we are also interested in what else it could mean, in today's world. What other processes and results may be occurring in current art that qualify as plein air, regardless of whether or not they appear related to the traditional images we might conjure from art history? And what does the process of making art outdoors do for the art itself?

The collection of work that resulted from our query includes a dominant proportion of the former—exceptional examples that echo the traditional. These are accented neatly by a handful of works that defy ordinary expectations for such a theme. We believe the dialogue between the two makes the whole all the more interesting in the gallery.

For this exhibit 57 artists from 23 states and 3 countries submitted 185 works for consideration. Twenty-seven works by the following 15 artists from 12 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

David Andree
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Martin Geiger
Staunton, Virginia

Brittany Gilbert
Greensboro, North Carolina

John Lasater
Siloam Springs, Arkansas

Clayton Lewis
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Michael McCaffrey
Lawrence, Kansas

Oliver Meinerding
Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky

Joe Morzuch
Mississippi State, Mississippi

Claudia O'Steen (with Aly Ogasian) 
Rock Hill, South Carolina

Nathan Perry
Clyde, North Carolina

Scott Ramming
Cincinnati, Ohio

Christopher Ryan
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Mimi Sheiner
El Cerrito, California

Abigail Smithson
Redwood City, California

Jesse Thomas
Portland, Oregon

     David Andree

     Scott Ramming

     Nathan Perry

Preview Reception: Thursday, December 13, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, December 14, 6-9pm

main gallery

9th Annual TAPPED
Artists and their Professors

The relationship between art students and their professors 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 is a chain-reaction process that develops across our lifetime. All of us who have been students carry forward our professors' 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 student-teacher bond, and in honor of professors working hard to help their students tap into a higher mind relative to art and life, we offer TAPPED, an annual exhibit that presents paired works by artists and their current or former teachers.

For this exhibit 92 artists from 27 states and Canada submitted 256 works for consideration. Fourteen works by the following 14 artists from 9 states (California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas) were selected for presentation in the gallery and Manifest Exhibition Annual publication. The artists are listed in pairings to illustrate their teacher/student relationship. Works on view will include paintings, printmaking, drawings, 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 a number of the artists in the 'former student' category are now themselves working as professors.

drawing room

NEW ENGLAND
Regional Showcase

In our first fourteen seasons Manifest's projects included works by artists in 50 states and 40 countries. Starting with our 10th season Manifest launched a new ongoing series of exhibits focusing on works by artists living in our own three-state region. Four years ago we added projects that also focused on other definable regions outside our own. These Regional Showcases were offered to complement the ordinarily very wide geographical makeup of most of our exhibits with a closer look at what's being done here in our own backyard, as well as provide a platform from which we can examine the trends, qualities, and idiosyncrasies of contemporary art within specific geographical areas and compare them to our own.

For our sixth year of exhibits showcasing works from other regions we decided to feature regions which, like with state-based comparisons we've done before, represent distinctly different geographical areas of our country. NEW ENGLAND and the GULF SOUTH each offer large populations and art-rich metropolitan cultures, as well as broad rural areas, which provides a starting point for conversation about the resulting simultaneous exhibitions. Representing six and five states respectively, these two regions are home to major international art centers and educational institutions which are involved in the global art scene. (Previously Illinois and Pennsylvania, Texas and Minnesota, Michigan and Florida, and New York and California showcases provided strong and visible contrasts in our gallery.)

Manifest's several-member blind jury process reviewed 248 works by 77 artists in New England and the Gulf South (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida) for this two-exhibit parallel regional survey. Nine works by the following 5 artists from New England were selected for exhibition and will also be featured in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication (MEA) at the close of the season.

Presenting works by:

Beverly Barber
Brookline, Massachusetts

Donald Beal
Provincetown, Massachusetts

Alayna Coverly
Arlington, Massachusetts

Laura Sanda
Kingston, Massachusetts

Patricia Schappler
Bedford, New Hampshire

    Alayna Coverly

    Donald Beal

parallel space

GULF SOUTH
Regional Showcase

In our first fourteen seasons Manifest's projects included works by artists in 50 states and 40 countries. Starting with our 10th season Manifest launched a new ongoing series of exhibits focusing on works by artists living in our own three-state region. Four years ago we added projects that also focused on other definable regions outside our own. These Regional Showcases were offered to complement the ordinarily very wide geographical makeup of most of our exhibits with a closer look at what's being done here in our own backyard, as well as provide a platform from which we can examine the trends, qualities, and idiosyncrasies of contemporary art within specific geographical areas and compare them to our own.

For our sixth year of exhibits showcasing works from other regions we decided to feature regions which, like with state-based comparisons we've done before, represent distinctly different geographical areas of our country. NEW ENGLAND and the GULF SOUTH each offer large populations and art-rich metropolitan cultures, as well as broad rural areas, which provides a starting point for conversation about the resulting simultaneous exhibitions. Representing six and five states respectively, these two regions are home to major international art centers and educational institutions which are involved in the global art scene. (Previously Illinois and Pennsylvania, Texas and Minnesota, Michigan and Florida, and New York and California showcases provided strong and visible contrasts in our gallery.)

Manifest's several-member blind jury process reviewed 248 works by 77 artists in New England and the Gulf South (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida) for this two-exhibit parallel regional survey. Eight works by the following 7 artists from Gulf South states were selected for exhibition and will also be featured in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication (MEA) at the close of the season.

Presenting works by:

Lyle Colombo
New Orleans, Louisiana

Christine Di Staola
Miami, Florida

Kurt Dyrhaug
Beaumont, Texas

Joseph Holsapple
Thibodaux, Louisiana

Ming Hong
Mississippi State, Mississippi

David Knox
New Orleans, Louisiana

Benjamin Shamback
Mobile, Alabama

     Kurt Dyrhaug

     Joseph Holsapple

     Ming Hong

central gallery

ONE 9
The 9th Annual Manifest Prize

Overview
charcoal on paper, 64" x 168" x 2", 2018

by Marina Fridman (Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada)

About the work the artist states:

My research in the astronomical led to a phenomenon called the Overview Effect, which is a term used to describe the profound awe and deep cognitive shift experienced by astronauts viewing Earth from space. The phenomenon has been described by astronauts as a profound sense of bliss and timelessness, a difference-dissolving unity, and an interconnected euphoria. Further research revealed that the Overview Effect is said to be a state similar to that achieved by meditating Buddhist monks. Not only is it the goal of my work to create such an experience, but I myself have had similar epiphanies during yoga and meditation. Many of these profound experiences have driven my artistic practice over the years. Wishing to create even a glimpse of the Overview Effect for my audience, I drew the Earth and Moon for us to view as though from space. These drawings also became a part of my immersive drawing installation, Omniscient Body.

Marina Fridman is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist. Engrossed in traditional drawing and painting in the early years of her education, Fridman now works in a wide range of materials and techniques. Through immersive drawing installations, sculptural works, photography and video, she highlights our overlooked relationships with the astronomical and the microscopic, causing the viewer to reconsider their own scale, and their place in time and space.

Fridman holds a BFA Degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture from Alfred University in New York. She is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, and in 2018 received an Honorable Mention in the International Sculpture Center's Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. Marina has been awarded Residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the League Residency at Vyt, the I-Park Foundation, and the Creative Practices Institute. She was one of two one-year Artists in Residence at Manifest in 2015/2016. This December she is attending the invitational Art BnB Jerusalem residency at Hamiffal Cultural Center in Jerusalem, Israel.

Marina’s work has been published by Hi-Fructose Magazine (online), Booooooom, Art in America, ACS Magazine, the Manifest International Drawing Annual, Foundations of Drawing (Random House), North Light Books' Art Journey, and Strokes of Genius, to name a few. Her works have been exhibited and collected in the US and Canada.

Aside from her creative practice, Marina is an educator of visual arts at Grande Prairie Regional College in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. In 2013 she founded and continues to run The Drawing Source, a website providing free, quality online education in representational drawing.

ABOUT THE $5000 MANIFEST PRIZE
Three seasons ago our board of directors increased the Manifest Prize to $5000. 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. 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 does inspire excellence. Therefore we determined eight years 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 9th Annual Manifest Prize included multiple levels of jury review of 927 works by 296 artists from 40 states, Washington D.C., and 14 countries including Brazil, Canada, China, England, India, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. 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 winner and finalists, 11 works, represent the top scoring 1% 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 13, 2018 through January 11, 2019. It will be accompanied by excerpts from juror statements and the artist's statement.

The Runners-up:

Ten finalist works (runners up to the winner) will also be featured in the season-documenting Manifest Exhibition Annual publication (MEAs15). These are works by Kim Anderson (Bradenton Florida), Lisa Bryson (Jamul, California), Christopher Burk (Columbus, Ohio), Scott Hazard (Raleigh, North Carolina), Aneka Ingold (Tampa Florida), Yongjae Kim (Brooklyn, New York), Damon Mohl (Crawfordsville, Indiana), Dora Natella (Granger, Indiana), Greg Sand (Clarksville, Tennessee), and Jaye Schlesinger (Ann Arbor, Michigan).

"Overview"

north gallery

GEOMETRIFICATION
Art Involving Geometry

Geometry in art is older than recorded history. One might suppose that pre-historic humanity derived a sense for the importance of considering shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space by observing the stars, planning and arranging shelters, decorating their own skin, creating vessels to carry food and water, and infusing their magical understanding of the order of the Universe into talismans that could carry it from person to person, and preserve it forward in time.

So it is that our civilization has been shaped by these primal relationships to formal order. Geometry in art is just one tip of a multifaceted iceberg. Whether it be the underlying compositional plan (or subliminal psychological program, if you will) of a narrative religious painting, an architectural motif of some vast Middle Eastern mosque, a scientist-artist's analysis of human proportions, or some optically tantalizing modern painting's pattern, geometry wends its way through our visual culture. Manifest set out to produce this exhibit to discover how geometry shows up in the art of today. So we offered an invitation to artists from around the world to submit for jury consideration work which is heavily influenced by, or is in some way about, geometry.

For this exhibit 107 artists submitted 331 works from 25 states, Washington D.C., and 7 countries including Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Scotland, and the United States. Eleven works by the following 11 artists from 8 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Helmut Amann
New York, New York

Margery Amdur
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Adrienne Dixon
Lexington, Kentucky

Corey Drieth
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Janet Gorzegno
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Jessica Hancock
Noblesville, Indiana

Jenniffer Omaitz
Kent, Ohio

Gibbs Rounsavall
Louisville, Kentucky

Leah Smith
Mebane, North Carolina

Gabriel Strader-Brown
Ridgewood, New York

Werner Sun
Ithaca, New York

     Jenniffer Omaitz

     Leah Smith

     Adrienne Dixon

Preview Reception: Thursday, January 24, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, January 25, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

SIMILITUDE
The Contemporary Portrait

As we stated four years ago when we last approached the theme of portraiture, technology exacerbates people’s retreat into the upper limb of their body, encouraging portraiture on a mass scale in the form of social networks such as Facebook and Instagram with their flood of 'selfies'. Facial recognition tools which help sort photos of friends and family based on images of their face, and 'facetime' calling also put the focus on the front of the human head, and puts a premium on visual identity. The center of our humanity has coalesced into the mind, behind the face. When we think of each other, we (usually) start with the face. 

Recognition matters. Throughout art history the ability of the artist to not only capture a likeness but also the character and spirit, if you will, of the subject has defined whole careers.

With this in mind we offered this call to artists for works that address the portrait. All manner of interpretations, explorations, and machinations involving the portrait were welcome, incluing traditional and non-traditional approaches in any media.

For this exhibit 209 artists submitted 609 works from 37 states and 7 countries including Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, and the United States. Twenty-nine works by the following 24 artists from 10 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Rob Anderson
Park Hills, Kentucky

Trudy Borenstein-Sugiura
Princeton, New Jersey

Alberto Carol
Miami, Florida

Roger Derrick
Long Branch, New Jersey

Matthew Durante
Santa Monica, California

Todd Fife
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Shannon Fody
Oceanside, California

Tina Gutierrez
Cincinnati, Ohio

Soyoung Jung
West Lafayette, Indiana

Travis Little
Indianapolis, Indiana

Paul Loehle
Glendale, Ohio

Steven Mastroianni
Cleveland, Ohio

Michael McCaffrey
Lawrence, Kansas

Jordan Morgan
Goshen, Kentucky

Jamie Mulac
Ravenel, South Carolina

Dora Natella
Granger, Indiana

Bruno Perillo
Brooklyn, New York

Carlton Pickett
Costa Mesa, California

Eva Redamonti
Brooklyn, New York

Julio Suarez
Jonesville, Michigan

Tana Tapson
Sarasota, Florida

Nina Ulett
Santa Clara, California

Derek Wilkinson
Emporia, Kansas

Katelyn Wolary
Cincinnati, Ohio

    Derek Wilkinson

    Paul Loehle

    Trudy Borenstein-Sugiura

    Dora Natella

parallel space

UTILITY
Art that Functions

Plying the gray areas between Art, Design and Craft, functional art can often appear to be more one, or the other. For this exhibit we are eager to share how artists have incorporated utility into their work, and how designers or craftspeople elevate the products of their labor with skill, sophisticated content, or a high degree of formal or creative refinement. Our goal was that this exhibit would result in a wide range of types of work, all aligning to the criteria that every piece must, in some way (including the ironic) be functional.

For this highly focused exhibit 24 artists submitted 58 works from 13 states and 3 countries, including Canada, France, and the United States. Eight works by the following 8 artists from 6 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Nadia Belalia
New York, New York

Laura Earle
Farmington Hills, Michigan

Blake Kennedy
San Antonio, Texas

Robert Levy
New York, New York

Gabriel Mo
Bloomington, Indiana

Dave Ryan & Josh Gumiela
North Mankato, Minnesota

Ahree Song
Long Island City, New York

Kathleen Studebaker
Portsmouth, New Hampshire

    Blake Kennedy

    Dave Ryan & Josh Gumiela

    Ahree Song

central gallery + north gallery

SINKS AND CHAIRS

Sinks and chairs are subjects artists often turn to throughout their careers. As everyday objects they are both plentiful, varying in shape and size, and challenging in different ways. As banal objects they nevertheless carry the residue of human life within their forms, and so artists have used them as subjects to convey rich human-centered content as well as compelling media and compositional mastery. The use of sinks and chairs as primary subjects has become a thread winding its way throughout centuries of artwork. In honor of their lineage in art we set out to create an exhibition of works featuring these humble subjects. 

For this exhibit 95 artists submitted 240 works from 27 states and 3 countries, including Canada, England, and the United States. Eighteen works by the following 15 artists from 10 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Lisa Bryson
Jamul, California

Cole Carothers
Milford, Ohio

Christine Di Staola
Miami, Florida

James Grubola
Louisville, Kentucky

Samantha Haring
Cincinnati, Ohio

Jennifer Hecker
Brockport, New York

Sean Hurley
Valdosta, Georgia

Ron Isaacs
Lexington, Kentucky

Judith Jia
Danville, Kentucky

William Kitchens
New Orleans, Louisiana

Alex T. Klein
St. Louis, Missouri

Dean Kube
Kansas City, Missouri

Cory Peeke
La Grande, Oregon

Nathan Stromberg
Saint Paul, Minnesota

KCJ Szwedzinski
Louisville, Kentucky

     Lisa Bryson

     Sean Hurley

     Cory Peeke

Preview Reception: Thursday, March 7, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, March 8, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

OHIO, KENTUCKY, INDIANA
Regional Showcase

In 15 seasons Manifest's projects have included works by artists in 50 states and 43 countries. Beginning in its tenth season, we launched an ongoing series of exhibits focusing on works by artists in our three-state region. Four years ago we added projects that also focused on other definable regions outside our own. These Regional Showcases were offered to complement the very wide geographical makeup of most Manifest exhibits with a closer look at art being made here in our own backyard, as well as provide a platform from which we can examine the trends, qualities, and idiosyncrasies of contemporary art within specific geographical areas and compare them to our own.

This exhibit had no specific requirement for type, media, or style of work to be submitted. This was an open call. Submissions ranged widely from traditional to very conceptual, abstract, and experimental work. Jury selections were made based on the overall quality of the works submitted.

Manifest's blind jury process reviewed 421 works by 132 artists from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Sixteen works by the following 13 artists from our three-state region (4 from Indiana, 6 from Ohio, and 3 from Kentucky) were selected for exhibition and will also be featured in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication (MEA) at the close of the season.

Presenting works by:

Edward Bernstein
Bloomington, Indiana

Charles Boggs
Hazard, Kentucky

Kristine Donnelly
Cincinnati, Ohio

Meg Lagodzki
Bloomington, Indiana

Sam Lowe
Newtown, Ohio

Gary Mesa-Gaido
Morehead, Kentucky

Melanie Pennington
Bloomington, Indiana

William Potter
Indianapolis, Indiana

Ethan Price
Lexington, Kentucky

Katy Richards
Chesterland, Ohio

Elizabeth Runyon
Oxford, Ohio

Kitty Schroeder
Cincinnati, Ohio

Jack St. John
Bedford, Ohio

     Sam Lowe

     Ethan Price

     Meg Lagodzki

parallel space

FRAGMENTS
Paintings by Mihee Nahm

Mihee Nahm creates oil and acrylic paintings that reflect the constant desire to retain, alter, or forget the past. Born and raised in South Korea until she was sixteen, Nahm’s sense of being a foreigner in the US for over a decade has led her to explore themes of memory, sense of place, and longing.  

Nahm holds a BFA degree from The Art Academy of Cincinnati, and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. She has exhibited work nationally and has been awarded an Artist Residency at the Vermont Studio Center, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She currently lives and works in Grapevine, Texas. 

Of her work the artist states:

"I create paintings and drawings addressing broad themes such as memory and time. The ideas I am interested in the most are the fragility of human memory and our constant desire to retain, alter, or forget the past. With these ideas in mind, I attempt to capture fleeting glimpses in my daily life that may or may not hold deeper meaning, like an unreturned key, or leaves found on my late grandmothers grave.”

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

central gallery

OTHER SELVES
Painted Trompe-l'oeil Constructions by Ron Isaacs

Artist's Talk: Saturday, March 16 at 6pm (free)
RSVP here.

Ron Isaacs was born in Cincinnati in 1941. His parents moved back to their home county in rural Eastern Kentucky when he was twelve; he graduated from Berea College with a major in art and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and from Indiana University with an MFA in painting. After teaching drawing and painting at the college level for thirty-six years he is currently Professor Emeritus, Eastern Kentucky University, and lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife Judy in a townhouse with his studio and workshop upstairs. He has exhibited nationally for a half-century, with a lengthy show record and has works included in a number of museum, institutional, corporate, and private collections. At seventy-seven, having never heard of a retired artist, he can hardly wait to see what he makes next.

Of his work the artist states:

"I combine imagery, often using paradoxical interruptions and metamorphoses to explore visual ideas and to suggest metaphors for the relationships of human life and nature, for memory, and the passage of time. I intend the content of the work to be as open-ended and evocative as possible, without being pretentious.

My works stand exactly halfway between painting and sculpture. They take the form of elaborate relief constructions of Finnish birch plywood painted in acrylics in a trompe l’oeil (‘fool the eye’) manner. Trompe l’oeil devices provide the authority of direct observation, and I enjoy the fusion and confusion of real and illusory form.”

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

north gallery

ONE SHOT
Works of Art Made in One Sitting

Whether it be an 'alla prima' approach to painting, a spontaneous drawing, an inspired collage, or some other form of artwork, one can only marvel at such works done with grace, precision, aggressive passion, and finality—ultimately all in one sitting. Regardless of whether it was the result of a brief moment, or a long day of labor, a work of art made in one sitting tells a truth often hidden by other more refined works. 

With this in mind, we were eager to see what this truth looks like, and how it may vary from artist to artist, work to work. For this competitive call to artists all types of work were welcome, including traditional and non-traditional approaches in any media, and any subject, non-objective, abstract, conceptual, etc. The only requirement for eligibility was that the works be made in just one sitting.

For this exhibit 115 artists submitted 351 works from 31 states, Washington D.C. and 8 countries including Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Seventeen works by the following 13 artists from 11 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Martin Beck
Lexington, Kentucky

Pirjo Berg
Grand Forks, North Dakota

Clayton Cusak
Seattle, Washington

John DenHouter
Edwardsville, Illinois

Samantha Haring
Cincinnati, Ohio

Rob Kolomyski 
Woodbury, Minnesota

Kevin Maginnis
Oak Park, Illinois

Perin Mahler
Laguna Beach, California

Marcus Michels
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Keith Haley Robitaille
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mimi Sheiner
El Cerrito, CA

Kim Thorpe
Bethesda, Maryland

Jeff Wigman
Troy, New York

     Rob Kolomyski

     Keith Haley Robitaille

     Perin Mahler

Preview Reception: Thursday, April 18, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, April 19, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room + parallel space

DRAWN
6th Annual International Exhibition of
Contemporary Drawing

Manifest was founded in-part to stand for the importance of drawing as a process, skill, and discipline, and as a continuing viable product of the creative fine art and design fields. Since its inception our nonprofit organization has continued to incorporate drawing-based programming, including education (Drawing Center), publications (INDA), and gallery exhibits into the broader spectrum of its projects. The artists who formed Manifest in 2004 knew that despite their diverging career paths (architecture, art history, painting, industrial design, photography) they were brought together by their connection to drawing and their mutually intense but multi-faceted pursuit of this fundamental discipline.

Five years ago, in honor of the original spirit of the founding ideals of Manifest, the gallery launched DRAWN as a new annual exhibition. DRAWN seeks to survey and present the broad scope of drawing being made today. This gallery exhibit is completely separate from but nevertheless complements, and sometimes shares work in common with, the INDA publication project.

DRAWN called for artists to submit works of drawing in any media relevant to the practice (including non-traditional approaches), any style, and any genre (fine art, illustration, design, conceptual, realism, etc.).

For this exhibit 177 artists from 41 states, Washington D.C., and 10 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Taiwan, Uruguay, and the United States submitted 542 works for consideration. Forty-three works by the following 33 artists from 22 states and the countries of Canada and Norway were selected by a panel of volunteer jurors for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

John Adelman
Houston, Texas

Cody Anderson
Honolulu, Hawaii

Geoffrey Beadle
Erie, Pennsylvania

Maria DiMauro
Fort Washington, Pennsylvania

Fred Draper
Los Angeles, California

Haley Farthing
Carbondale, Illinois

Susan Fraser-Hughes
Vancouver, Canada

Victoria Goro-Rapoport
Kearney, Nebraska

Hiroshi Hayakawa
Columbus, Ohio

Joon Hee Lee
Leonia, New Jersey

William Kitchens
New Orleans, Louisiana

Trevor Knapp
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Anastasia Komarova
New York, New York

Angela Livezey
Cincinnati, Ohio

Robert Long
Flagstaff, Arizona

Liz Meyer
Highland Park, Illinois

Joe Morzuch
Mississippi State, Mississippi

Bob Mosier
Conroe, Texas

Sarah Newton
San Francisco, California

Anthony Pessler
Phoenix, Arizona

Caroline Peters
Pueblo, Colorado

Adam Rake
Iowa City, Iowa

Evie Richner
Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Sarah Roberts
Converse, Texas

Vanessa Rosalia Larsen
Aalgaard, Norway

Lauren Scavo-Fulk
Delmont, Pennsylvania

Patricia Schappler
Bedford, New Hampshire

John Sproul
Salt Lake City, Utah

Tanzanight
Miami, Florida

Kathleen Thum
Central, South Carolina

Sherrie Tiderington
Saginaw, Michigan

Derek Wilkinson
Emporia, Kansas

Simeon Youngmann
Petersburg, New York

     John Adelman

     Fred Draper

     Evie Richner

     Liz Meyer

    Sarah Roberts

central gallery + north gallery

PACKAGED
Art Made Of or About Packing Materials

The stuff is all around us, to the point of becoming a global bio-crisis. Yet it seems at once also invisible, like cruft between the highpoints of each new gadget, food staple, art supply, household product... you name it. Cardboard, Styrofoam, bubble wrap, foamcore, tissue paper, plastic wrap, paper bags, plastic bags, paperboard, aluminum cans, glass containers, plastic bottles, plywood, and on and on, are all just easy examples of the myriad of materials used in packaging other things, and which are usually tossed into landfills, to the roadside, or, perchance recycled, but are also no longer seen as 'useful' in their original form. Yet at Manifest we have seen sublime and compelling works of art give new life and meaning to such materials from time to time. Whether through pure recycling of pre-used materials into new forms, by employing them 'virgin' to create art, or by making more traditional work about them, for this competitive exhibition we invited artists to share works of art focused on, created from, or made about packaging materials of any and all types.

For this exhibit 88 artists submitted 227 works from 25 states and 8 countries, including Canada, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, and the United States. Twenty-one works by the following 17 artists from 11 states and Germany were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Jozef Bajus
Snyder, New York

Glenn Church
Marlboro, Massachusetts

Craig Davidson
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mitch Eckert
Louisville, Kentucky

Daniel Fiorda
Miami, Florida

Isabel Gouveia
Lae Worth, Florida

Natasha Holmes
Albany, New York

Alex Lockwood
Nashville, Tennessee

Melanie Miller
Louisville, Kentucky

Emily Newman
Des Moines, Iowa

Joshua Newth
Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Darren Oberto
Chicago, Illinois

Cynthia Reynolds
New York, New York

Andrew Thompson
Detroit, Michigan

Jake Weigel
Modesto, California

Eva Wilcke
Paderborn, Germany

Zelda Zinn
Brooklyn, New York

     Daniel Fiorda

     Eva Wilcke

     Joshua Newth

Preview Reception: Thursday, May 30, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, May 31, 6-9pm

main gallery

RITES OF PASSAGE
15th Annual Emerging Artists Exhibit

An Exhibit of Works by Current or Recent Undergraduates.

Initiated in 2005, The Rites of Passage exhibits were developed to support student excellence by offering a public venue for the display of advanced creative research; to promote young artists as they transition into their professional careers; and to bring the positive creative energies national institutions together in one place. 

With this fifteenth annual installment of the Rites series, Manifest offers a $500 best of show prize to reward excellence at this early career level. 

The Rites call for submissions was open to students graduating or expecting to graduate in 2018, 2019, or 2020 (undergraduate juniors, seniors, and those who graduated last year). 

For this exhibit 75 artists representing 59 academic institutions in 29 states across the U.S. and China submitted 204 works for consideration. Fifteen works by the following 13 artists representing 12 different academic institutions in 9 states are featured in the 15th annual Rites of Passage exhibit. Artists are listed with their academic status as of the dates of their entry into this competition. 

The best of show award recipient will be designated during the May 31st opening reception.
 

Why is this important? 
Passing through an accredited college art program is one way among many to become an artist. While it does not guarantee success, it does serve as a measurable achievement, and if the degree granting institution is holding up its end of the deal, each artist who attains a degree through such a program has met or surpassed certain standards. For programs which are appropriately rigorous, passing a student is seriously meaningful business. Manifest's Rites of Passage is meant to serve as an external view into this process, across a broader scope than just one institution, and is offered as a bridge between academic pursuit and the general public. 

The nine previous exhibit catalogs for Rites, and now the Manifest Exhibition Annuals, have over time become a compelling document framing a view into the state of art in academia, and quite possibly the launching place for future notable artists of the world.

 

Featuring works by:

Rachel DiCioccio
Senior, Youngstown State University

Michael Fortenberry*
Junior, University of Puget Sound
(BEST OF SHOW AWARD)

Jon Hem
Junior, Rowan University

Devon Henlser
Junior, University of Cincinnati

Ileana Hernandez
Junior, Bowling Green State University

Anlan Huang
2018 Graduate, City University of Hong Kong

Ashley Julian
2018 Graduate, Bowling Green State University

Anya Kinsley
2018 Graduate, Southern Adventist University

Amanda Morgado
2018 Graduate, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Jason Rafferty
Senior, University of North Carolina Asheville

Kristan Schwartztrauber
2018 Graduate, Centre College

Nathan Taylor
Senior, Syracuse University

Shara Vilagi
2018 Graduate, Sonoma State University

     Michael Fortenbery *

     Anlan Huang

     Devon Hensler

     Anya Kinsley

drawing room + parallel space

MAGNITUDE SEVEN
15th Annual Small Works Exhibit

An exhibit of works from across the U.S. and Canada, each no larger than about 7" in size.

Back in 2005 we launched the Magnitude Seven project with the idea that small works would be easier and more practical for artists to send to Manifest in Cincinnati from anywhere in the world. This proved true, and right off it was this exhibit that lead to Manifest earning the tag line 'the neighborhood gallery for the world.' 

Inevitably MAG 7 is a wild and varied mix of works, including an extreme range of media, styles, and artist intents. The exhibit always gains unity from the common scale, so even disparate works seem to engage in playful and tolerant conversation across the gallery or side by side. We have found that having a couple galleries full of hand-sized works is a joyful experience of small things well made, a menagerie of creativity, and a poignant reminder that bigger is not always better. 

We are happy to offer this fifteenth annual exhibit of works no larger than seven inches in any dimension. For this year's project 130 artists from 30 states and 9 countries submitted 412 works for consideration by Manifest's intensely competitive jury process. Thirty-three works by the following 23 artists from 15 states and Canada were selected for presentation in the gallery and the season-documenting Manifest Exhibition Annual.

Presenting works by:

Dylan Bannister
Rock Hill, South Carolina

Pirjo Berg
Grand Forks, North Dakota

Edward Bernstein
Bloomington, Indiana

Matthew Brennan
Brooklyn, New York

Katlyn Brumfied
Syracuse, New York

Susan Bryant
Clarksville, Tennessee

Katherine Colborn
Greensboro, North Carolina

Frederick Fochtman
Columbus, Ohio

Veronique Gambier-Davis
Ghent, New York

Janet Gorzegno
Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Brandice Guerra
Arcata, California

Liliana Guzman
Bloomington, Indiana

Mary Clara Hutchison
Kansas City, Missouri

Carole Kunstadt
West Hurley, New York

Isabella La Rocca
Danville, Kentucky

Anne Manley
Lakewood, Ohio

Lara Mann
Chicago, Illinois

Atanas Mihaltchev
Deux-Montagnes, Canada

Josh Spector
Brooklyn, New York

Kevin Stanford
Eldorado, Texas

Lawrence Tarpey
Lexington, Kentucky

Leanna Urcinas
Ogdensburg, New Jersey

Josh Winegar
Ogden, Utah

     Dylan Bannister

     Janet Gorzegno

     Katlyn Brumfield

     Brandice Guerra

central gallery + north gallery

MAR 2018/19
Manifest Artist Residency Showcase Exhibitions

Residency Conclusion Talk by the Artists: May 30, 6-7pm

Artists' Gallery Talks: TBD

Both talks are free and open to the public!

The year-long Manifest Artist Residency was launched in 2012 with the goal to provide artists with a combination of free studio space, supportive resources such as teaching opportunities and free access to life drawing and other programs at the Manifest Drawing Center, the compelling creative culture that permeates all Manifest programs, and routine engagement with the visiting public during each of our nine exhibit periods each season. To cement their year of development each artist receives another benefit of the program–a MAR Showcase solo exhibition.

These two solo exhibits feature works made by our two 2018/19 Artists in Residence, Armin Mersmann and Katelyn Wolary. This marks the culmination of their residency at Manifest which concludes in June, and serves as a celebration of their achievements, learning, and adoption into the broad Manifest 'family'.

IMPERMANENCE
Drawings by Armin Mersmann
central gallery

"My interests have become exceedingly experimental with more attention placed on the surfaces of the work itself. Discovering and rediscovering my chosen medium is the everlasting stimulus that keeps me interested and excited. Accidental process and meticulous planning co-mingle in all my work.”"

Armin Mersmann was born in Remscheid, Germany, in 1955. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962. He grew up in an artistic environment and was greatly influenced and tutored by his father, Fritz, a successful oil painter. After six years of college, Mersmann began a successful stint as a portrait artist in Chicago. Although commission work was financially rewarding, he stopped doing it and soon found more interest in the fine art that at times is controversial but more satisfying conceptually.

Mersmann has taught drawing, the Creative Process, iPhoneography, and Advanced Critique at the American Academy of Art, Chicago, Illinois; the Colorado Academy of Art, Boulder Colorado; Northwood University, Midland, Michigan; the Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, Michigan; and many workshops within the United States.

MOMENTS
Paintings and Drawings by Katelyn Wolary
north gallery

"This ongoing body of work is an expression of the love and beauty I discover through the daily-ness of paying a particular kind of attention. These paintings and drawings from life are uninhibited by fear, hesitation, or doubt. Rather, they are a record of my place in time, a celebration of being physically and spiritually present, and a ritualistic opportunity to pause and translate the moment in a series of actions and reactions to value, color and shape.

In many ways, these works are an intentional rebellion to the expectations I have developed over time about art-making in the studio. Within the limited parameters of time and perception, the process of working quickly with my immediately available materials opens the door to freshness, play, and exploration. These efforts are vulnerable—, honest and unedited. I feel limitless in making them, where each moment is an inexhaustible chance to create something new."     

Katelyn Wolary (b. 1995) is a figurative representational artist from Wilmington, Ohio. She earned her BFA in Illustration from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2017, with a minor in Creative Writing. Coinciding with her undergraduate studies, she studied classical painting and drawing methods with local atelier-trained artist Richard Luschek from 2013-2015. In the summer of 2016, Katelyn attended the Illustration Academy workshop in Kansas City, Missouri, which emphasized the power of drawing above all else.

Her work has been featured in the December 2018 issue of the Artist’s Magazine, and will be included in the upcoming Manifest INPA 9. She has exhibited works locally and was included twice in the Student Scholarship Exhibit at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Katelyn currently lives and works in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she attends weekly open figure drawing at Manifest Drawing Center, enjoys employment as a sculptor and finishing artist for a fabrication shop, and continues to paint and travel (simultaneously) whenever the opportunity arises.       

     Armin Mersmann

    Armin Mersmann

     Katelyn Wolary

     Katelyn Wolary

Preview Reception: Thursday, July 11, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, July 12, 6-9pm

main gallery + drawing room

13th Annual
MASTER PIECES

An Exhibit of Works by Current & Recent Graduate Students

Building upon the philosophy of the Rites of Passage exhibits for undergrads, each year Manifest offers a similar opportunity to current and recent graduate students for exhibiting at Manifest.

This thirteenth installment of the Master Pieces project continues to reveal the intensity and professionalism of students working towards their terminal academic degree in the field of visual arts.

As do our annual Rites of Passage and TAPPED exhibits, Master Pieces reflects our organization's commitment to surveying, documenting, and presenting the state of arts in academia on an ongoing basis. We believe this is important to artists, the public, students, and teachers.

Often the most exceptional work comes out of graduate students' immersion in their culture of study and intellectual pursuit. Manifest’s goal, therefore, is to select and document works that in the truest sense of the word are contemporary masterpieces—works that represent the standard of quality that the artist is expected to maintain throughout his or her professional career as a Master. The exhibit catalogs for Master Pieces, and now the Manifest Exhibition Annual, will serve as a visual documentation of these artists’ own benchmarks for years to come.

For this 13th competition for the project 83 artists representing 61 different academic graduate programs in 24 states, Washington D.C., and Canada submitted 228 works for consideration by Manifest's rigorous jury process. Eighteen works by the following 12 artists from 6 states and Canada representing 10 different academic programs were selected for presentation in the gallery and MEA publication for season 15. 

Featuring works by:

Adrienne Dagg
Current Graduate Student
University of Alberta

Christine Di Staola
Current Graduate Student
University of Miami Florida

Isadora Frost
2018 Master
Parsons School of Design, New School

Sam Horowitz
Current Graduate Student
Alfred University

Joann Quinones
2019 Master
Indiana University-Bloomington

Joseph Santarpia
Current Graduate Student
SUNY Stony Brook

Leah Schretenthaler
Current Graduate Student
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Bill Sieber
Current Graduate Student
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Tracy Smoll
Current Graduate Student
Purdue University

Morgan Stephenson
Current Graduate Student
Indiana University-Bloomington

Thomas Ward
Current Graduate Student
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Denise Wellbrock
Current Graduate Student
Clemson University

     Joann Quinones

     Joseph Santarpia

     Adrienne Dagg

     Morgan Stephenson

parallel space

KINDRED
Works About Our Common Ground

For mostly obvious reasons a lot of attention is paid today to the differences between people. Is it possible, however, that this comes at great cost to the corresponding realization that we, people around the world, are far more alike than we are different? After all, everything that has ever transpired across the vast timeline of the Universe has led to us being here, together, now, at this leading edge of time where past meets future. We're all in this together. Perhaps the conversation would be enhanced by this acknowledgment, a recognition and celebration of our common ground. 

With this in mind, we invited visual artists and others to submit works that in some way represent, either through subject, form, or content, the concept or representation of Our Common Ground. All types of visual art in the broadest sense were welcome, including traditional and non-traditional approaches in any media, and any subject, realistic, non-objective, abstract, conceptual, etc.

The Common Ground in question may very well have been between people, but we were very much open to artists expanding this concept further (e.g. common ground of all species). Artists were encouraged to take a broadly creative view of the theme.

For this deliberately intimate exhibit 39 artists submitted 91 works from 18 states and Canada. Eleven works by the following 8 artists from 7 states and Canada were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Gabriel Geng
Jersey City, New Jersey

Lindsy Halleckson
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stuart Holland
Boise, Idaho

Kate Houlne
Bloomington, Indiana

Marian Howard
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Amanda Jones
Nashville, Tennessee

Eileen MacArthur
Arthur, Canada

Alix Anne Shaw
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

     Amanda Jones

     Alix Anne Shaw

     Stuart Holland

central gallery + north gallery

VOID
Art About Uncertainty & the Unknown

Uncertainty is inevitable. It is the dark matter making up the large portion of our perception and experience of being. Yet, perhaps in order to simply maintain daily function, people often neglect to acknowledge that they don't know that they don't know, leaving uncertainty to metastasize. However, the unknown remains as much the realm of learners as it is of the uneducated—it defines both, and us all, in ways we may often find uncomfortable, or revealing of a depth of humanity, (or humility)—our least common denominator—often left dormant in living a modern life.

With this in mind, we invited visual artists and designers to submit works that in some way represent, either through subject, form, or content, the concept, image, or feeling of the Unknown, Uncertainty, or 'Void'. 

For this exhibit 118 artists submitted 352 works from 38 states, Washington D.C., and Canada, England, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, and Taiwan.. Twenty-five works by the following 16 artists from 13 states and South Korea were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and inclusion in the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Dohgyoung Ahn
SungNam, South Korea

Jason Biehner
Spanaway, Washington

Per Bjesse
Portland, Oregon

Blake Brasher
Lowell, Massachusetts

Lauren Cardenas
Oxford, Mississippi

Jeffery Carl
DeKalb, Illinois

Megan Dammann
Alpharetta, Georgia

Avram Golden
Bay City, Michigan

Jess Holz
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Seth Marosok
Sumner, Washington

Kenneth Nicholson
Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Minna Philips
Inglewood, California

Kyla Rafert
Amanda, Ohio

A.E. Richardson
Cary, North Carolina

Marco Sbrocca
Detroit, Michigan

Kathleen Taylor
Santa Fe, New Mexico

     Dohgyoung Ahn

     Kathleen Taylor

     Kyla Rafert

     Avram Golden

Preview Reception: Thursday, August 15, 7-9pm
Public Opening: Friday, August 16, 6-9pm

main gallery

INHABIT
Art About Personal Domains

For this broad peer-juried exhibition we invited visual artists to submit works that in some way represent, either through subject, form, or content, the concept, image, or expression of Personal Domains. Deliberately very open to interpretation, all types of visual art in the broadest sense were welcome, including traditional and non-traditional approaches in any media, and any subject, realistic, non-objective, abstract, conceptual, and so on.

This exhibition helps close out Manifest's 15th exhibition season, and, we hope, will remind people that our humble gallery can also be considered a form of home away from home.

For this exhibit 81 artists from 29 states and Canada, submitted 227 works for consideration. Thirteen works by the following 11 artists from 9 states were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Michael Banning
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Neil Callander
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Ariana Foote
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Jessica Larva
Chicago, Illinois

Emily Mayo
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Charles Mintz
Cleveland, Ohio

Paul Sattler
Saratoga Springs, New York

Duat Vu
Springfield, Missouri

Julie Webb
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Margi Weir
Detroit, Michigan

Hannah Zimmerman
Cincinnati, Ohio

     Charles Mintz

     Paul Sattler

     Ariana Foote

drawing room + parallel space

11th Annual NUDE
Exploring the Uncovered Human Form

Manifest exhibits many kinds of works, from more conceptual and experimental art to the traditional. In fact we think it's important to have such a range in our repertoire. It is something that Manifest is known for. Every year our annual projects allow us to track how artists around the world address a consistent theme, subject, or media over time, or allow us to document the state of art in a particular strata of professional creative activity, and to study and preserve our findings in a meaningful way through our exhibit publications and website.

NUDE is one such project. The human body is a popular subject for many reasons, the most obvious being that it is us. Throughout history (and pre-history) the representation of the human form has been charged with tremendous energy. Whether it be a religious edict that one should not depict the human form—a taboo, or the glorious opposite—a revelation of mastery over form in the crafting of sensuous and life-like physical human beauty, the art of the body has nevertheless moved us through time.

Through all the permutations art has experienced across history, work of the body persists. We use the human nude to master skill, understand ourselves, and push social and psychological buttons for the sake of expression (sensual, delicate, political, aggressive, and so on). We intend for Manifest's ongoing annual NUDE project, now in its 11th year, to explore how our collective body is used today in art to achieve these goals and more.

This year we were happy to renew our invitation to artists to submit works in any media, of any style or genre (abstract, conceptual, realistic, etc.), and of any size and media, for consideration in Manifest's eleventh annual NUDE, an international competitive exhibit exploring the uncovered human form in current art.

For this exhibit 144 artists from 32 states, Washington D.C., and 7 countries, including China, England, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, and the United States, submitted 468 works for consideration. Nineteen works by the following 16 artists from 9 states were selected by several jurors for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.

Presenting works by:

Abe Abraham
New York, New York

Jason Andrescavage
Oakland, California

Jimmie Arroyo
Tenafly, New Jersey

Oxana Dallas
Canton, Ohio

Dana DiMuro
Montclair, New Jersey

McGarren Flack
Saint George, Utah

Ghislaine Fremaux
Lubbock, Texas

Dave Hanson
Wellington, Utah

Jason John
Jacksonville, Florida

Travis Little
Indianapolis, Indiana

Angela Livezey
Cincinnati, Ohio

Eve Mansdorf
Bloomington, Indiana

Michael Marling de Cuellar
Dahlonega, Georgia

James McKenna
Loveland, Ohio

Paul Mitchell
Milford, Ohio

Dora Natella
Granger, Indiana

     Jimmie Arroyo

     Eve Mansdorf

     Michael Marling de Cuellar

     Ghislaine Fremaux

central gallery

When Things Start By Never Ending
Sculpture by Cody VanderKaay

Manifest is proud to close out its 15th season of solo exhibitions with a show of sculpture by Cody VanderKaay. Cody's energized model-like assemblages actively populate our Central Gallery with an air of something happening in-progress. It is left up to we the viewers to decide just what that is.

Of his work the artist states:

"The sculptures in this exhibition are architectonic in their form and existential in their nature. In recent years, national news and press organizations have become obsessed with struggling cities such as Detroit, New Orleans and Atlanta (cities where I have lived), where from an outsider's perspective, blight is presented as the visible equivalent of failure, irrelevance and loss.

While there are countless factors influencing the physical condition of spaces, objects and people, some aspects can help disparate communities better understand one another. For example, the vacant neighborhood homes and inoperable factories of urban cities are not unlike the spare barns and weathered outbuildings scattered across the bygone farmlands of rural America. These two social demographics are not the same, yet the homes and buildings constituting these landscapes symbolize the impact of time and change in very comparable ways.

As a whole my work explores how objects, individuals and spaces interrelate through proximity and exchange, and how relationships between these entities build and collapse over time."

Cody J. VanderKaay (b. 1977) has exhibited at venues across the country such as Arena 1 Gallery (CA), Ann Arbor Art Center (MI), Atlanta Contemporary (GA), China Hutch Projects (MD), DC Arts Center (DC), Snug Harbor Cultural Center (NY), Soo Visual Arts Center (MN) and Twin Kittens Gallery (GA) among others. His artwork has appeared in publications such as Sculpture Magazine, Art Papers, Detroit Art Review, Detroit Sequential, New American Paintings, and There Magazine, as well as the Artists Space, Drawing Center and White Columns artist registries in New York. His work is in private collections such as the Francis J. Greenburger Collection (NY) and he has been an artist-in-residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (NE), Jentel (WY) and Joshua Tree Highland House (CA) residency programs. VanderKaay studied sculpture at Northern Michigan University (BFA), and earned his MFA from the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. VanderKaay lives and works in the Detroit tri-county area, where he is an Associate Professor of Art and Director of Studio Art at Oakland University.   

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

north gallery

Ways of Being
Paintings & Drawings by Sara Pedigo

Sara Pedigo's exhibition of paintings and drawings officially concludes Manifest's 15th exhibition season solo show lineup. Sara's works elevate the mundane, a topic which we will be devoting an entire group exhibition to in our coming season. While complementing the sculptures of Cody VanderKaay in the Central Gallery with their geometric formality, Sara's works add a haunting presence to the gallery, like ghosts looking on.

Of her work the artist states:

"My artistic practice focuses on a search for contentment and pleasure in undramatic everyday surroundings, emanating from a desire to generate gratitude for living.

Author Sir Hustvedt wrote, "I love painting because in its immutable stillness it seems to exist outside of time in a way no other art can.”

The longer I live the more I would like to put the world in suspension and grip the present before it’s eaten by the next second and becomes the past. Collectively, my artworks serve as a testament to being both mentally and physically present in the world; a direct consequence of recognizing the perplexing paradigm known as death. My revelation of life’s fragility has transformed my worldview and manifested in a practice of continually seeking gratification through the act of looking.

Author Alain de Botton succinctly says, “It is in a dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value.”

For me this value is often translated through perceiving and recording transitive states of light. Light mediates our perception of the world and is highly influential in my life and to each of my artworks. Light is the singular requirement for all life, and is the source of our perceived experience. Light is the arbiter of color, form, space, and ultimately visual memories. ”

Sara Pedigo grew up in the American South. She received her MFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2007. She is currently a Professor at Flagler College located in Saint Augustine, Florida, her undergraduate alma mater. Pedigo has exhibited nationally, with solo exhibitions at Western Illinois University, Furman University, College of Southern Nevada, Barton College and Arts on Douglas, New Smyrna Beach, Florida and Wynn Bone Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland. Group exhibitions include the Cue Foundation, First Street Gallery, and Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City, University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and the Naples Art Museum in Naples, Florida. In 2006, she was included in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, and received a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. Her artwork has been the cover art for the following publications: Ivory Tower: A journal of poetry published by the University of Delhi, Play Button: Poems by Liz Robbins published by Cider Press Review, and Minetta Review: a literary and arts publication at New York University.

This exhibition is one of 7 selected from among 145 solo proposals submitted for consideration for Manifest’s 15th season.

Listen in on a podcast interview with Sara from 2015: