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.
2025 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Mabi Ponce de León
PdL StudioColumbus Ohio 43215 United States Website: mabiponcedeleon.com
Bio
Mabi Ponce de León (Ph.D., History of Art, The Ohio State University, 2023; M.F.A., Studio Arts, Stony Brook University, 1992) is an independent scholar and artist. Born and raised in Argentina, she has lived and taught studio art at the Universidad de Monterrey in Nuevo León, Mexico, and currently teaches AP Art and Design and AP Art History at a top-rated Ohio school. Ponce de León’s decades-long involvement in Advanced Placement programs includes serving as moderator for the AP Art History Online Community, reader and table leader in the AP exam readings, and member of the AP Art History exam committee and the former College Board Arts Academic Advisory Committee. Ponce de León’s art historical research interests center on Latin American artists confronting and responding to national and local politics. Her current focus investigates Argentinian women artists associated with the DiTella Institute who question the centers of power in the 1960s. Ponce de León has presented academically at conferences such as the National Art Education Association, Advanced Placement, the Southeastern College Art Association, and the Latin American Studies Association.
Research plays an important part in Ponce de León’s artwork. Guided by a personal history of displacement, Ponce de León’s studio practice incorporates works with a variety of analog and digital media and is strongly influenced by cultural iconography, maps, location, and origins. Her installation work makes use of manipulated natural and manufactured materials whereas her two-dimensional work relies on the layering of found imagery within constructed environments. Ponce de León has shown in university and commercial galleries, art centers, museums, and non-profit exhibition spaces. Additionally, she has curated shows and has worked with various arts organizations, including serving on the board of the Ohio Art League. She is a member of Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, and her work was recently included in Mirror Mirror, an exhibition that traveled from the Springfield Museum of Art, the University of Mary Washington Galleries, the Art Museum at the College of Wooster, and the Allen County Museum.
Artist Statement
I explore what it feels like to ‘be’ from two places and belong to neither. Intellectually, one can understand moving long distances across the globe. The resulting disorientation is inexplicable and daunting. Through the layered juxtapositions of found and new images, I analyze symbols and meanings – interpretation and misinterpretation.
