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
John Dixon
Assistant Professor University of CincinnatiIndustrial DesignBio
John Dixon is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati. (UC) He received his B.S. in industrial design from UC in 2008, and his M.F.A. in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design. (RISD) His research interests center around means of making, and the meaning in which things are made. While much of his work and research uses furniture as its vehicle, the objects he has created span a variety of disciplines.
He lives in the neighborhood of Northside, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is currently working on a variety of projects, including the researching for and generation of a collection of contemporary vernacular furniture titled, Big Box Vernacular.
Artist Statement
As an industrial designer by training and education, I learned to see solutions to problems via the means of industry…yet through time and experience I have come to see this way of thinking’s pitfalls, of which there are many. Industrial design and industry at large have played roles in bettering the average quality of life of humans. However, their ubiquity and blunt effectiveness have led to a flattening and sometimes erasure of culture, the brink of climate catastrophe, and a confusion amongst its audience over what they need, what they want, and why.
Endlessly curious and questioning, I focus on exploring both means of making, and the meaning in the way things are made. From researching 3D printing on fabrics for recyclable contemporary upholstery solutions, to recreating rush chair seats with paper bags, my points of departure within most all of my work start with technique and material. How can techniques and materials be uniquely leveraged, and what do they mean in process, implementation, and final realization?
Much of my work manifests itself in furniture, yet I pause at labelling myself a furniture designer or maker. I have simply found furniture to act as a spectacular vessel in which to explore my primary questions. My work has included the designing of inflatable protest signs, biochar creating ceramic kilns, 3D information design, etc., and a whole variety of chairs. While seemingly disparate areas of interest, the means of making being central to all of my work, tend to orbit furniture as an area of inquiry. I have discovered that furniture’s open endedness in construction, materiality, and cultural relevance lends itself to limitless opportunities to ask questions.
I take much pride in thinking of my work and research as crafted, curious, considered, and considerate.