The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Beth Prindle
Kent Ohio 44240 United StatesHome Ohio United States Home Phone: 541-388-8456 Website: http://bethprindleart.com
Bio
After obtaining a degree in Design from Kent State University, I worked in analog pre-press production for 15 years. On 9/11, I heard the call to serve and became a Registered Nurse. In 2018, I walked away from nursing and 30 years in the Pacific NW. I returned to family in NE Ohio to heal from widowhood and too many years of night shift. Covid struck in March 2020, only six months after moving into my new home. As I looked for second-hand items for my new home at garage sales and flea markets that were unaffected by the lockdown, I started collecting odd items that “spoke” to me. I had studio space for the first time and by early 2022, I had completed more than two dozen pieces. After two years of showing my work, I have been accepted into 18 juried exhibitions, including the Erie Museum of Art, the Zanesville Museum of Art, and the Butler Institute of American Art. What started as a form of self-therapy had evolved into something larger.
Artist Statement
My assemblage art explores birth and death, rites of passage, social issues, American history, and the personal histories of myself and others. I primarily create in wood and metal materials; old tools whose function is forgotten are a favorite starting point. Found photographs can also stimulate a story line or reference point in my imagination. I try not to be directly influenced by other artists for fear of imitating them; I prefer to be peripherally inspired. I chiefly draw my inspiration from the objects themselves during the process of creating: the components “tell me where they want to go” as the piece evolves: color themes, shapes, rhythms, and meaning emerge via the juxtapositions of symbolic objects.
My objective is that the viewer will feel mystified, pulled in, and inexplicably intrigued as they free-associate with these juxtapositions of objects and attach meaning and stories to them, based on the symbology of the collective unconscious or their own experiences. The viewer can understand my message and meaning or attach their own to it; or, they can NOT find or attach meaning but assign it to a particular object; or simply walk away unsettled. All four reactions are valid responses. If it makes the viewer stop and reflect, consider, or think “Hmmm,” then I have achieved a artistic connection with them on a subconscious, non-verbal level.