On Summit

Various tornado paintings by Jeff Regensburger If you've been following my blog posts, you know that I currently have a selection of paintings on display at the Dayton Visual Arts Center . These are on view along with the work of Michael Bashaw as part of "Something This Way Comes" , a tornado themed exhibit held in conjunction with the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center . In support of this exhibition, I was invited to give a gallery talk last night. This is something I enjoy as it provides a chance to address many of the underlying ideas behind the work. While it's obvious what the paintings are (tornadoes), the way they're arrived at isn't. Tornado Installation (detail) by Michael Bashaw As I've developed this body of work, I've worked through questions about photography (and it's role in painting), art history, American landscape painting, and the role of painting as a form of documentation. In my mind at least, the works...

I live on Summit in the neighborhood south of Hudson (SoHu). If you're not familiar, it's an older neighborhood with its share of petty crime and vandalism. When I got home yesterday evening I parked behind our house in what was already about 5 inches of snow. Like many of our neighbors, I'm left with a shabby concrete pad where the garage used to be (It turns out it's cheaper to simply demolish old garages than build new ones). This morning, I went out back to clean off my car and clear out a path to the alley. Since it's likely to get much colder I figured I'd better do it early before all the slush and wet snow turned to ice. As I was shoveling noticed a young man walking up the alley in my direction. He looked to be about 13 or 14. When he got within conversational distance, he offered to help me finish the job for $4.00. I told him, "Thanks, but I'm just about done." As bad weather often brings out a sense of camaraderie that might not other...