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
Suzanne Ondrus
Dr.Bio
Suzanne Ondrus’ work explores gender issues, racism, cultures, history, and women’s sexuality. Her first book, Passion Seeds, won the 2013 Vernice Quebodeaux Pathways Poetry Prize for Women. She was the 2013 Reed Magazine Markham Poetry Prize winner, a 2017 UNESCO World Book Capital featured poet in Guinea, Conakry, and a 2018-2019 Fulbright Scholar to Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Her poems are in New Square, Slab, Frigg, Colere, Long River Review, Nazar Look, JENDA, Route7, CV2, and Visitant, as well as in anthologies such as Dove Tales: One World, One People; Through a Distant Lens: Travel Poems; and La Llorona. See poems in S/tick from her next book, Death of an Unvirtuous Woman, due out Sept. 2022 with Finishing Line Press.
She has studied under: Ruth Stone, Larissa Szporluk, Amy Newman, Kristina Darling, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Penelope Pelizzon, Sharona Muir, Liz Rosenberg, and Christian Doumet
Her next poetry book, Death of an Unvirtuous Woman is about domestic violence in a real German immigrant couple in 1881 in Wood County, Ohio. Language and cultural immersion shape Suzanne’s artistic vision; she has worked in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Russia, Benin, Ghana, Uganda, Italy, and Germany. She speaks Spanish, French, German, Italian fairly fluently and speaks a bit of Slovenian, Russian, and More (language of the Mossi in Burkina Faso).
She has taught women’s studies, sexual harassment training, creative writing, grant writing, and edited poetry, film, and fiction manuscripts. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, an M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University (OH), and an M.A. from Binghamton University. She is available for public talks, manuscript consults, and creative writing instruction. She is an Ohio native of Geauga County (near Cleveland) whose background is third generation American- Slovenian, Slovak, and Lithuanian. Check out her YouTube channel Suzanne Ondrus, follow her on Twitter: SuzanneOndrus, and find updates on suzanneondrus.com.
Artist Statement
Suzanne aims for her poetry to be accessible, with images or similes that linger. She believes that reading is a transformative experience, and she wishes for her writing to serve as a vehicle for discussion about such taboo issues such as racism, domestic violence, and women’s sexuality.