The Ohio State Fair Exhibition: An Update

On May 15 I posted about my submissions to this year's Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. I'm happy to report that I've had two painting accepted into the show. I previewed one already (A Pennsylvania Landscape (after Keiley)). The other accepted work was this one:

Moonlight (A Moonlight Poem) (after Becher)

Right now, both pieces are being lovingly framed by my friends at Hackman Frames. Hackman is a one of a kind custom framing and gilding operation right here in Columbus and they really do terrific work. We're lucky to have them in town.

Also, while I'm offering acknowledgments, Laura Alexander (who also got work accepted into the Fair!) has been kind enough to help deliver my work on drop-off day! I had some scheduling conflicts, but Laura has come through to help out.

...and just when I thought the Fair couldn't get any better, we got Weezer and DEVO tickets!

The Ohio Historical Center: A Defense

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Carrie Ghose at Business First to share my thoughts on architecture in central Ohio. The recent controversy surrounding the new Student Union at Ohio State had apparently sparked a number of conversations regarding what constitutes "good" building design.

Carrie was following that story, and developing a second piece to get feedback on other notable Columbus buildings. At the time I offered a staunch a defense of what I believe might be the most maligned and misunderstood building in central Ohio, the Ohio Historical Center. Business First wasn't able to run the whole piece, so I've decided to turn it into a blog post.

photo courtesy of OHS/www.ohiomemory.org

The refrain is a as old as the building itself, "It's ugly. It's just a giant brown box. It doesn't even look like a museum". Sadly, it's that exact line of thinking that poses the greatest threat to the building Architectural Record referred to as, “the most architecturally significant public structure built in Ohio since the State Capitol Building.” While many view it as something of a modernist cliche, The Ohio Historical Center's simplicity and raw presence belie what is in fact a unique and nuanced structure.

When it first opened in 1970 the Center was lauded by the American Institute of Architects as bold and imaginative. To this day, architecture aficionados recognize the building as one of the premier examples of Brutalism in the United States. Brutalism, as evidenced by the Center, favored the honesty of exposed concrete and modernist block forms over more decorative, bourgeois flourishes.

photo courtesy of OHS/www.ohiomemory.org

Even within the parameters of the Brutalist aesthetic, the building manages to convey a sense of Ohio's unique history. Designed by the Columbus firm W. Byron Ireland & Associates, the Center pays homage to our State's past through a number of clever expressions. The most striking is its shape, inspired by the tiered form of a typical Ohio frontier block house. The Center's rich, brown exterior is comprised of Ohio silo tile, while the structure itself sits on a gently sloping mound, a nod to the ancient earthworks built by the first Ohioans. On top of of all that, it's got cantilevers that would make Frank Lloyd Wright green with envy.


The word ugly gets tossed around a lot. It's been used to describe many of art's most iconic achievements (The Eiffel Tower, Jackson Pollock paintings, and punk rock come to mind). I expect there's a lesson in there. When you hear the word ugly, look a little closer and dig a little deeper. What you might find is something innovative, challenging, unexpected and unique.