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
Frank Dobson
Beavercreek Ohio 45430 United StatesHome Ohio United States Cell Phone: 9372196464 Website: AuthorsDen
Bio
I was born into a working-class family in Buffalo, NY. Educated in the Buffalo Public Schools, I was received my higher education at the University at Buffalo (BA), UNLV (M.A.), and Bowling Green State University (Ph.D.) While at Bowling Green (BGSU), I was fortunate to have as an instructor, the famed writer, James Baldwin. I received a Ford Foundation fellowship to study at Penn in 1992. In 1996, I received the Hurston-Head Fiction Writer’s Award from Chicago State University, and in 1999, I received a CultureWorks Creative Writing Award. I am married, and we have three grown children. I have published the novels, Rendered Invisible (2010), and The Race Is Not Given (1999). Addtionally, I have written several plays, including Fridays Without Pay and Young Messiahs Fly, which have been presented in NY, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. My scholarly wqrks include autobiographical pieces on family, race, gender, and class. I have published essays on Black cultural phenomena, such as Kwanzaa, and literary discussions of Black writers, including Additionally, I have studied and written on various writers including James Baldwin, Al Young, John McCluskey, John Edgar Wideman, and Carlene Hatcher Polite. I am presently at work on several projects, including scholarly work on the Fast & Furious films, as well as a co-written memoir about an inner-city Black church, and a series of children’s book written to inspire Black and other children. I have been a tenured English professor, instructor, staff member, and an administrator, working at a number of instituion, including Vanderbilt, Fisk, Wright State, IUPUI, and Lafayette College. I presently teach and coach students at BGSU. As an Author, speaker and educator, it is my aim to enlighten and uplift with stories of transformation and hope. My faith and family are most important to me. I am married, with 3 children.
Artist Statement
My work as an artist is to shed light on those people and subjects that have been “rendered invisible” by society. I seek to be an artist whose work tells truth, but also gives hope to others. Because I am Black, I write from that experience, and my themes are universal and enduring. I hope that through my work one can see an acknowledgement of the human quest for recognition, something or someone to believe, and a sense of one’s place.