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
Michelle Blackstone
Artist Statement
An obstruction is something that impedes passage or progress. Some are obvious while others are subconsciously overlooked. My work follows a thread of obstructions, investigating the ways in which historically gendered philosophies and traditionally gendered materials create obstructions in the way that art is viewed and received. Bringing together elements of craft and textiles such as patterning, dyeing, needlework, and quilting alongside landscape and oil painting, my work calls for a reconsideration of gendered categories. Blurring these lines, my work seeks to disencumber the lens through which we view certain types of work while honoring the contributions and labor of women throughout history whose thankless necessity-work we look to with admiration.