main gallery and drawing room

HEAD FIRST
An International Competitive Exhibit of Works Featuring the Human Head

We consciously and unconsciously categorize identity based on the human head. It is, for most people, their social thumbprint, the ‘I’ in first person statements. 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, facial recognition tools which help sort photos of friends and family based on images of their face, and video conference calling. Some say even the soul has migrated from the central chest cavity all the way up to the head, as if altitude were really divine. While the body is still not expendable (yet), the center of humanity has nevertheless coalesced into the mind, behind the face. When we think of each other, we usually start with the head first.

So to launch Manifest’s seventh season we offered this call to artists for works that address the human head in some way. While portraiture is certainly welcome, this is not intended to be a show exclusively about that genre, nor just the front of the head. All manner of interpretations, explorations, and machinations involving the human head were invited and considered.

For this exhibit 262 artists from 35 states and 21 countries submitted 523 works for consideration. Twenty-four works by the following 16 artists from twelve states were selected by our two-part jury/curatorial process for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Ivan Albreht
(Palmetto Bay, Florida)

Nikki Arnell
(Jonesboro, Arkansas)

Thomas Butler
(Long Beach, California)

Valerie Escobedo
(Findlay, Ohio)

Carl Gombert
(Maryville, Tennessee)

Elana Hagler
(Englewood, Colorado)

Anna Kipervaser
(Chicago, Illinois)

Steven Labadessa
(Joplin, Missouri)

Paul Loehle
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Douglas Malone
(Royal Oak, Michigan)

Gwen Manfrin
(Orinda, California)

Francoise McAree
(Providence, Rhode Island)

Zina Mussmann
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Eric Penington
(West Lafayette, Indiana)

Elena Peteva
(Oak Park, Illinois)

Melissa Wilkinson
(Bono, Arkansas)

    Waif by Francoise McAree

      Melissa by Thomas Butler

    Head III by Eric Penington

SEASON 7
KICKOFF

Opening
Reception
Friday Sept. 24
6-9 p.m.

catalog

parallel space

FIRST CONTEXTS
Where Art Comes From

Where does a work of art begin?

Historically, the artist’s studio has served as the crucible of creation for works of art, a zone of creativity for the artist to test, fashion, produce, refine, and otherwise translate their visual ideas into concrete form. Ranging from spare rooms in the corner of a basement, to renovated barns and garages, to sun-bathed lofts with high-ceilings, the studio is the artist’s escape from the demands of life, a retreat from the fray, so that new artworks have a chance to be born. Artist Daniel Buren has called the studio “the first frame of the work,” and likened it to the filter artists put their work through before letting it loose into the world.

However, some artists have found the traditional studio, with its marginal position divorced from daily life, a disconnected and false context for creativity. Instead, they operate out-of-doors, literally, with their “studios” being fields upon which they plant their plein air easels, city streets where they walk and interact in dynamic give-and-take fashion, and site-specific spaces that serve as both context of origin and public display. As Robert Storr has noted, “The bottom line is that artists work where they can and how they can.”

Manifest invited artists and designers of any media to submit works that explore, depict, challenge and interpret this “first frame” of creativity: the context from which art is made. Whether that originating zone is a traditional studio, an open field, a social atmosphere, or a computer screen… we invited artists to show us where it all starts.

For this deliberately intimate exhibit 40 artists from 16 states and 6 countries submitted 83 works for consideration. Eleven works by the following 9 artists from across the United States, Canada, and England were selected by our two-part jury/curatorial process for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Brett Eberhardt
(Macomb, Illinois)

Robert Groh
(Ontario, Canada)

Rupert Hartley
(Surrey, England)

Alma Leiva
(Richmond, Virginia)

Lorrie McClanahan
(Fort Worth, Texas)

Daniel O’Connor
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Emil Robinson
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Jim Shirey
(Athens, Ohio)

Sean Stewart
(Ontario, Canada)

    Rainbow Network by Rupert Hartley

      Waste by Daniel O'Connor

    Bluepole by Robert Groh

main gallery, drawing room, parallel space

BESTIARY
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. And 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 contemporary art. So Manifest has set aside its entire exhibition space, three galleries, to feature an exhibit which will reveal the state of the animal in contemporary art.

For this exhibit 410 artists from 41 states and 23 countries submitted 985 works for consideration. Twenty-five works by the following 17 artists from eleven states and four countries were selected by our two-part jury/curatorial process for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Bethany Carlson
(Las Cruces, New Mexico)

Laara Cassells
(Alberta, Canada)

Justin  Gibbens
(Thorp, Washington)

Anna-Lena Gremme
(Paris, France)

Brian Hoover
(Enoch, Utah)

Larassa Kabel
(Des Moines, Iowa)

William Kitchens
(New Orleans, Louisiana)

Noriko Kuresumi
(Astoria, New York)

Jillian Ludwig
(Lafayette, Indiana)

William McMahan
(Martinsville, Indiana)

Leighton McWilliams
(Arlington, Texas)

Steven Snell
(Northampton, Massachusetts)

Susan Sterling
(Arlington, Texas)

Rosalind Tallmadge
(Bloomington, Indiana)

Jessica Teckemeyer
(Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Royden Watson
(Cleveland, Ohio)

Nicholas Wood
(London, England)

    Karma & Dogma Entering the gates of Zion by Brian Hoover

      Basilisk by Justin Gibbens

    Baboon by Rosalind Tallmadge

Opening Reception
Friday Nov. 5
6-9 p.m.

Cincinnati Zoo Animals On-site!
Friday Nov. 5,
6-7p.m.

(closed Thanksgiving Day)

catalog

main gallery

A HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN
Works by Arthur Brum with a pinecone

Through a playful variety of both subject matter and medium, Arthur Brum’s work alternates between text, image, and sculptural form in an attempt to provoke the viewer into a more complex viewing experience. Using an array of voices, ranging from sincere to sarcastic, Brum gathers the attention of both believers and skeptics. A constant within the work is a concern with motif, device and self-consciousness along with a love of unusual material.

Arthur Brum was educated at the University of Cincinnati and received his MFA from Yale University's School of Art. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is also a long distance collaborator with Cincinnati-based art gallery CS13 and other Cincinnati artists.

Opening Reception
Friday Dec. 10
6-9 p.m.

(closed Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan 1)

catalog

drawing room

LOOKING UPWARD
Paintings by Ivan Fortushniak

Responding to a pluralistic cultural mix of philosophies, religions, theories, and standards of morality, Ivan Fortushniak’s work blends a continuance of 19th century American painting with contemporary concerns about such weighty issues as the abuse of the environment and the embattled state of the human soul. Deeply informed by his personal faith, Fortushniak’s work navigates between paint, collage and text, revealing poetically tense narratives that evoke both nostalgia and critique, as well as a considered investigation of spiritual truth.

After receiving his BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design, Ivan Fortushniak earned his MFA from the University of Cincinnati. Currently he is an assistant professor of painting and drawing at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

parallel space

PLAN FOR A GARDEN
Recent Works by Billy Renkl

"The old, retired, images and documents that I use, many from antique grammar school texts, allow for the possibility of meaning and metaphor in their peculiar beauty and often accidental aesthetic. In these images, diagrams, and maps, the world is represented as both sensible and miraculous, systematic and astonishing. These images were originally made to be clear and objective, a rational distillation of a mechanical world. Instead and in addition, though, they are now rich in beauty and poetry."

Originally from Birmingham, Alabama Billy Renkl attended Auburn University (BFA, Visual Communications) and the University of South Carolina (MFA, Drawing). He has taught drawing and illustration at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee for nineteen years.

His work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions, including solo shows at The Cumberland Gallery (Nashville, TN), Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts (New Orleans), Vanderbilt University, The University of Kentucky, The Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Galerie Neue Raume (Berlin, Germany). He has work in several permanent collections, including The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Kiwanis Club International, The Tennessee State Museum, and The College of Notre Dame, Baltimore.

In addition to gallery exhibitions, he has worked with many clients on illustration projects, including SouthWest Airlines, How Magazine, Vanderbilt University, Klutz Inc., Strategy & Business, The River Styx, Poems and Plays, and Rigby Publishing.

This exhibit continues Manifest's ongoing commitment to explore the often ignored and under-appreciated gray areas between the ends of the spectrum of art and design.


artist's website: www.billyrenkl.com

main gallery

TAPPED
An exhibit of works by students
and their professors (past or present)

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 (or insisted upon) 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 professors, 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 exhibit that presents works of art by current or former professor/student pairs in our Main Gallery in Cincinnati.

For this exhibit 330 artists from 40 states and Canada submitted 755 works for consideration. Eighteen works by the following 18 artists from Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Texas were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog. The artists are listed in pairings to illustrate their past or present relationships.

Opening Reception
Friday Jan. 21
6-9 p.m.

catalog

drawing room

THE EMERGENT BODY
Paintings and Drawings
by Thomasin Dewhurst

Manifest is proud to present a solo exhibit of paintings and drawings by Thomasin Dewhurst. The exhibit continues Manifest's exploration of the human figure, including the nude in contemporary art.* It also provides a snapshot view into the near-side of the lineage of painting by women. Dewhurst's works are inevitably current, but also share a bond in time to those of Gentileschi, Cassatt, Morisot, Kollwitz, Nourse, Saville, and others.

Of her work Dewhurst states:

The human form, through its contours, texture and the stretch of skin over muscle and bone, conveys an emotional and philosophical aesthetic that is the driving force behind my painting and drawing practice. This aesthetic finds expression in the depiction of tactility: the painted or drawn body presented closely within the viewer’s personal space and giving the viewer a sense of being able to touch the rendered flesh.

The body thus becomes emotive. At this point in the development of a work there is a feeling, on my part, of commitment to the work and a fidelity to the story that is presenting itself... The figure is the central means of realizing the narrative,

Thomasin Dewhurst was born in Lancashire in the United Kingdom and moved to South Africa as a young child. She received her B.A.F.A. with distinction in Painting from Rhodes University and her M.A.F.A. with distinction in Painting and Theory of Art from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her work has been exhibited in various locations including the Everard Read Gallery and the iArt Gallery (Johannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa), Hodnett Fine Art (Vancouver, Canada), the Blackheath Gallery (London, United Kingdom) and at various galleries in the USA. Her work is part of a number of permanent collections including the Gauteng legislature in South Africa and Ericsson South Africa (with around 20 of her watercolors). Currently Thomasin works as an artist and art instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

Website: www.thomasindewhurst.com

* Manifest's studio curriculum is anchored by figure drawing, and the gallery presents an annual Nude exhibit each season.

parallel space

All of Manifest's calls for entry are competitive. The stiffness of the competition has increased in proportion to Manifest's growing reputation, powerful mission, and international reach. Our mission to stand for quality, to create a system whereby works are judged with objectivity as a primary aim, and assembled with as little subjective ego as possible has gained the respect of thousands of artists from all over the world, and a vast following of arts lovers, patrons, and supporters.

We maintain that a smaller gallery enables intensely refined exhibits to take place, and we respect the creative principle of reduction to 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 reputation.

With this principle of reduction in mind, we were inspired by the intensity of our jury process to whittle down a collection of entries to a suitable exhibit. With this we determined to push the process to the ultimate limit - from among hundreds to select ONE single work to be exhibited in a gallery all to itself.

Manifest's jury process for ONE included three levels of jury review of 400 works by 204 artists from 39 states and 17 countries by a total of 13 different jurors. Each level resulted in fewer works passing on to the next, until a winner was reached. The size and nature of the works considered was not a factor in the jury scoring and selection.

The winning work is a sculptural assemblage entitled "Episteme" by Yun Jeong Hong of Champaign, Illinois. It will be the recipient of the $400 MANIFEST PRIZE, and presented in the Parallel Space Gallery as the highlight of the process, an honor to the artist, and a poignant statement for gallery visitors.

The Manifest Prize is planned to be an annual or biennial offering. The cash award for the first ONE prize will be $400.

Five semi-finalists will also be featured in the full-color exhibit catalog. These are works by John Carrasco, Richard Gilles, Matt Klos, Noriko Kuresumi, and David Smith.

    Episteme by Yun Jeong Hong

main gallery and drawing room

ARCH.
Exploring Made Space

ARCH. invited artists, architects, designers, and others to submit works that in some way explore or feature made space. This included works in the form of models or sculptures exploring space as a medium; drawings, paintings, photography, or other media that depict human-made space as a primary subject; installation work that creates a new space within the pre-existing environment of the gallery; or video or other types of works which explore the concept of spaces altered by, or created by people as a primary theme.

Manifest’s goal for ARCH. was to assemble a diverse array of works for an exhibit that will be unified in its consideration of the concept of made space, but intriguing due to the surprising ways in which artists address the subject, and for what is revealed about how humans alter and address space as a medium of life.

For this exhibit 142 artists submitted 337 works for consideration. Twenty-four works by the following 20 artists from Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Canada, and Spain were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Allan Arp
(Piscataway, New Jersey)

Paul  Baron
(Canton, Massachusetts)

John Bendel
(Island Heights, New Jersey)

Nick Conbere
(Indiana, Pennsylvania)

Meghan  Duda
(Fargo, North Dakota)

Nicholas Germann
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Felice Grodin
(Miami Beach, Florida)

Delbert Jackson
(Coralville, Iowa)

Susan Klein
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Jean-Claude Lajeunie
(Ile Perrot, Québec, Canada)

Willard Lustenader
(New Haven, Connecticut)

Ana Martinez
(Madrid, Spain)

Armin Mühsam
(Maryville, Missouri)

James Rotz
(Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Dana Sink
(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

Jeff Slomba
(West Haven, Connecticut)

Greg  Stahly
(Mount Pleasant, Michigan)

Eric Standley
(Blacksburg, Virginia)

Danny Warner
(Manhattan, Kansas)

Naijun Zhang
(Morgantown, West Virginia)

    Vent by Paul Baron

      Landscape Machine by Greg Stahly

    Slit Gong 6 by Alan Arp

    Either/Or Arch for Ipswich by Eric Standley

Opening Reception
Friday March 4
6-9 p.m.

catalog

parallel space

SELECTIONS FROM THE INDA 6

Selections from the International Drawing Annual is the sixth annual presentation of this exhibit, featuring a sampling of artworks to be included in the forthcoming International Drawing Annual 6 exhibit-in-print publication.

The International Drawing Annual publication project was launched in 2005 as an extension of Manifest's Drawing Center mission to promote, feature, and explore drawing as a rich and culturally significant art form. The goal of the INDA is to support the recognition, documentation, and publication of excellent, current, and relevant works of drawing from around the world. More info. about this ongoing project can be found here.

All works included in each annual are made within three years leading up to its publication. Soft and hardcover versions of the INDA 6 book will be available by early 2012 (the INDA 5 books were just released in January). Previous volumes remain available at such places as Joseph-Beth Booksellers, The Cincinnati Art Museum bookstore, the TAFT Museum bookstore, Suder's, The Weston Gallery, Amazon.com, and of course at Manifest Gallery and the Manifest website.

The books serve as a valuable reflection on the diversity and vitality of drawing active in the world. They are used by artists, collectors, other galleries, fans of art, students, and even teachers in the classroom for reference about drawing, and to connect to the practice of drawing through a very open and considerate survey of the art form.

For the INDA 6 an eleven person jury reviewed 1308 entries by 490 artists from around the world. Nine exquisite works, by the following nine artists are presented at Manifest as a sampling of this very exciting and important ongoing project.

Kristina Estell
(Duluth, Minnesota)

Melanie Lowrance
(Prairie Village, Kansas)

Alexis Manheim
(Moss Beach, California)

Lance Moon
(Newaygo, Michigan)

Leslie Nichols
(Bowling Green, Kentucky)

Roberto Osti
(Bloomfield, New Jersey) 

Jennifer Purdum
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Shelby Shadwell
(Laramie, Wyoming)

Jennifer Ustick
(Grand Haven, Michigan)

    True Love Machine by Alexis Manheim

    Untitled (Child With Bull) by Lance Moon

   Wrap Study 6 by Kristina Estell

   Picking and Choosing by Melanie Lowrance

main gallery

Of her work MacLeish states:

"I work with both two and three-dimensional space, and am concerned with how to turn experience into gesture. I try to be attentive to all aspects of my experience: thoughts, feelings, memories, sensations, the visible and invisible alike. Of greatest interest are those aspects that raise questions and create tension. The spatial quirks and ambiguities that I find so compelling in painting become metaphors for this tension, and are isolated and reconsidered as sculptural forms. In turn, my use of three-dimensional space enriches my sense of what is possible in painting and drawing."

Bio

Martha MacLeish is an assistant professor and head of the Fundamentals Studio at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University, in Bloomington. She received her BFA in painting and her BA in art history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and her MFA in painting from the Yale School of Art. Prior to coming to I.U., MacLeish taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design and at Southern Utah University.

MacLeish has had solo exhibitions at the Prince Street Gallery in New York, The Artist Project in Chicago, Broad Street Gallery in Athens, Georgia, the Marsh Art Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and at Artemisia Gallery, Chicago. Recent group exhibitions that have included her work are “Gesture (inclusive)” at the Ohio State University, “Shaped” at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, and “At First Glance” at the Beaux-Arts des Amériques in Montréal, Quebec.

Recently, MacLeish has been an artist in residence at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Park, Illinois, the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences in Rabun Gap, Georgia, and at the Toos Neger Foundation in Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Opening Reception
Friday April 15
6-9 p.m.

catalog

drawing room and parallel space

FIRED
A View of Ceramics

For millennia people have made things out of burnt earth. From bowls and jars essential for preserving foods to ensure survival, to written documents and official seals, to talismans of devotion for various deities and other ritualistic purposes. Ancient kilns were one of humanity's earliest forms of factory-based mass-production. Today the role of fired earth persists in both old and new ways.

FIRED invited artists to submit works that in some way represent the use of the medium of ceramics. There was no other thematic restriction, and our jury fully expected to consider a range of types of work, from the very traditional to highly unexpected 'contemporary' interpretations of the medium.

Manifest’s goal was to assemble a diverse array of works of ceramics for an exhibit spanning our Drawing Room and Parallel Space galleries that is unified by virtue of its exploration of the medium, but intriguing and insightful due to the wide variety of approaches taken by artists working in ceramics today.

For this exhibit 157 artists submitted 372 works for consideration. Twenty-one works by the following 17 artists from California, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Brian Benfer
(Gig Harbor, Washington)

David Bogus
(Laredo, Texas)

Jim Bowling
(Columbus, Ohio)

Angelique Brickner
(Greenville, South Carolina)

Rachel Dawson
(Oakland, California)

Constantina Dendramis
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Scott  Dooley
(Springfield, Ohio)

Leanne Ellis
(Bloomington, Indiana)

Tiffany Geiger
(Indianapolis, Indiana)

Roger Lee
(Los Angeles, California)

John Oliver Lewis
(San Diego, California)

Andrew Molleur
(Coventry, Connecticut)

Lindsay Oesterritter
(Bowling Green, Kentucky)

Hunter Stamps
(Lexington, Kentucky)

Brenda Tarbell
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Christopher Weigold
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Stephen Wolochowicz
(South Bend, Indiana)

    untitled (IC-77) by Brian Benfer

      The Optimist Luggage 1 by David Bogus

    Arches and Gardens by John Oliver Lewis

    Shallow Basin by Brenda Tarbell

main gallery

RITES OF PASSAGE 7

Conceived and initiated in 2005, The Rites of Passage exhibits were developed in order 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 of regional institutions together in one place.

With this seventh annual installment of the Rites series, Manifest offers a $300 best of show award to encourage and support excellence at this career level. The Rites call for submissions was open to students graduating or expecting to graduate in 2010, 2011, or 2012.

For this exhibit 162 artists representing 88 different college and university art programs submitted 381 works for consideration. Thirteen works by the following 12 artists representing eleven different academic institutions will be featured in the 7th annual Rites of Passage exhibit at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati.

John Aquila
Senior - Maryland Institute College of Art

April Bachtel
Senior - Kent State University

Cindy Bernhard (BEST OF SHOW PRIZE)
Senior - The American Academy of Art

Emily Blocker
Junior - Kendall College of Art and Design of FSU

Ross  Caliendo
Senior - Columbus College of Art and Design

Lyndsey Fryman
2010 Graduate - Eastern Kentucky University

Nyla Hurley
2010 Graduate - University of Wyoming

Ryan Selby
Senior - Southern Illinois University

Michelle Silberberg
Senior - Towson University

Carol Whalen
Senior - New Hampshire Institute of Art

Tyler Wilkinson
Junior - Centre College

Taylor Woolwine
2010 Graduate - Columbus College of Art and Design

    Ridge Road by Cindy Bernhard

      House on The Hill by Ross Caliendo

    Behind Closed Doors by Michelle Silberberg

    Dirty Laundry 1 by Nyla Hurley

Opening Reception
Friday May 27
6-9 p.m.

catalog

drawing room and parallel space

MAGNITUDE 7.7


Small works are very portable and fit well into many spaces. They also evoke in the viewer a sense of one's own physicality, in a completely different way than average or large sized works. Small works are intimate; inviting approach and inspection. Like short poetry, they are a challenge to craft with the same presence of their larger counterparts.

We are delighted to offer this seventh annual exhibit of works no larger than seven inches in any dimension.

For this seventh incarnation of the project 349 artists submitted 801 works for consideration by Manifest's rigorous jury process. Forty works by the following 23 artists were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Michael Bennett
(DeKalb, Illinois)

Peter T. Bennett
(Buxton, Maine)

Peter Boyadjieff
(Montreal, Canada)

Michael Brodeur
(Greenville, South Carolina)

David Dorsey
(Pittsford, New York)

Jenny Freestone
(Takoma Park, Maryland)

Joshua Harker
(Chicago, Illinois)

Daniel Klewer
(Green Bay, Wisconsin)

Noriko Kuresumi
(Astoria, New York)

Thierry Lamare
(Nassau, Bahamas)

Mark Langeneckert
(Columbia, Missouri)

Carrie Longley
(Brookville, Ohio)

Cherith Lundin
(Rock Hill, South Carolina)

Richard Luschek
(Cincinnati, Ohio)

Ryan Peter Miller
(Tempe, Arizona)

Beth Parker
(Bloomington, Indiana)

James Pearson
(Lawrenceville, Illinois)

Ida Rödén
(San Francisco, California)

Donna Sinclair
(Falls Church, Virginia)

David Smith
(Hong Kong, China)

Doug Stapleton
(Chicago, Illinois)

Vaishali Wagh
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Jean Wetta
(Island Heights, New Jersey)

    Figs by Jean Wetta

      The Circular Ruins by Ida Rödén

    Core-LB1 by Peter Bennett

    Clay Scribbles by Vaishali Wagh

main gallery, drawing room, parallel space

MASTER PIECES 5


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

This fifth installment of the Master Pieces project will continue to reveal the intensity and professionalism of students working towards their terminal academic degree in the field of art or design.

Often the most exceptional work comes out of these artists’ immersion in their culture of study and intellectual pursuit. Manifest’s goal, therefore, is to select works that in the truest sense of the word are contemporary masterpieces – works that set the standard of quality that the artist is expected to maintain throughout his or her professional career. The exhibit catalog for this show will serve as a visual documentation of these artists’ own benchmarks for years to come.

This 5th annual Master Pieces was open to submissions by current graduate students, or those who received their MFA/MA degree in 2010 or 2011. One hundred and twelve artists submitted 300 works for consideration. Of these, twenty five works by the following sixteen artists were selected for exhibition and documentation in the full-color catalog.

Martin Arnold
Current Graduate Student
University of Mississippi

Curtis Cascagnette
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
Bowling Green State University

Ben Cowan
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
Indiana University

Caleb Dulock
Current Graduate Student
University of Texas at Arlington

Daniel George
Current Graduate Student
Savannah College of Art and Design

Terrence Heldreth
Current Graduate Student
Indiana University

Andrew Hendrixson
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
University of Florida

Williamm McMahan
2010 Master’s Degree Recipient
Indiana University

Payson McNett
Current Graduate Student
Indiana University

Joshua Ostraff
Current Graduate Student
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus

Ethan Pope
Current Graduate Student
University of Minnesota

Benjamin Rogers
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
Arizona State University

Ellen Siebers
Current GraduateStudent
University of Iowa

Jacquelynn Sullivan
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
Michigan State University

Tanner Young
2011 Master’s Degree Recipient
University of Nebraska

JenMarie Zeleznak
Current Graduate Student
Savannah College of Art and Design

Opening Reception
Friday July 8
6-9 p.m.

catalog

    Pull That End by Tanner Young

     Nicole by Martin Arnold

    Dead Ends by Ben Cowan

    Dunes by Payson McNett

main gallery and drawing room

3rd Annual
NUDE

An exhibit of works exploring
the uncovered human form

Manifest exhibits many kinds of works, from the most conceptual and experimental to more traditional. In fact we think it's important to have such a range in our repertoire. In our Drawing Center Studio we provide opportunities and instruction to professionals and students to study life-drawing. Although our studio is not limited to working just from the nude model, it is a core component in our curriculum, and our flagship studio offering.

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

For this exhibit 179 artists submitted 406 works for consideration. Twenty-three works by the following 19 artists from 13 states and Germany were selected by our two-part jury/curatorial process for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Jesse Berlin
Carbondale, Illinois

Bain Butcher
Knoxville, Tennessee

Christopher Day
Brighton, Illinois

Thomasin Dewhurst
Livermore, California

Lily Faget
Louisville, Kentucky

Malcolm Glass
Clarksville, Tennessee

Patrick Earl Hammie
Champaign, Illinois

Jessie Herndon
Tempe, Arizona

Tim Kennedy
Bloomington, Indiana

Susannah Martin
Frankfurt, Germany

Garry Mealor
Anchorage, Alaska

Scott Nichol
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Edmond Praybe
Brooklyn, New York

Diane Rappisi
Rochester, Massachusetts

Matthew Schenk
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Sarah Sedwick
Eugene, Oregon

Marlene Steele
Cincinnati, Ohio

Katrina Stolarski
Athens, Ohio

David Winge
Orange, California

    Afternoon Sunlight by Marlene Steele

     Zenith by David Winge

    Shower by Tim Kennedy

    The Bath by Edmond Praybe

Opening Reception
Friday August 12
6-9 p.m.

catalog

parallel space

GO AHEAD, TOUCH ME
Works of art you can touch

An International Exhibit Exploring
Works that Invite Physical Interaction

Curated by Tim Parsley

Thanks to museology and the inevitable fragility of things conserved, preserved, and stored for posterity, we are conditioned to revere the sanctity of artwork. We take for granted that we must not touch, respect the bullet proof glass, don't step over the line, and no flash photography please. This despite our instinctual nature to use all (or at least many) of our senses to experience new things.

Manifest ends its seventh season with a project intended to contradict this conditioning. By offering "Go Ahead... Touch Me" the gallery invited artists to submit work that is deliberately touchable.

For this exhibit 74 artists submitted 132 works for consideration. Six works by the following 5 artists from California, Massachusetts, Ohio, England, and Norway were selected by our two-part jury/curatorial process for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Adeline de Monseignat
London, England

Marisa Ferreira
Tjelta, Norway

Nat Martin
Sudbury, Massachusetts

Brad McCombs
Cincinnati, Ohio

Stephanie Robison
Oakland, California

    L'Origine des Sens by Adeline de Monseignat

     Durer's Four Horsemen Rubics Cube by Nat Martin

    Certainly, Constantly, Never by Nat Martin

    Mat by Stephanie Robison

Manifest is supported by sustainability funding from the Ohio Arts Council, and through the generous direct contributions of hundreds of individual supporters and private foundations who care deeply about Manifest's mission for the visual arts.

gallery map
2727 woodburn avenue
cincinnati, ohio 45206

drawing center map (m1)
3464 Central Parkway
cincinnati, ohio 45223