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
Ruth Awad
Poet
Ruth Awad is a 2021 NEA Poetry fellow and the Lebanese-American author of Set to Music a Wildfire, winner of the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Alongside Rachel Mennies, she is the co-editor of The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry.
Nancy Azara is a sculptor who works in wood and whose scroll rubbings and tracings are collaged on mylar and paper.
Her work has been shown extensively, most recently in a solo show “Crow and Sandal Series and Other Works” at Kaaterskill Gallery, Hunter Village, NY (Aug 24–Oct 6, 2019), “Labyrinths of the Mind” at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild in Woodstock, NY (May 17-Jun 30, 2019), “Nancy Azara: Nature Prints” at Saint John’s University, Queens, NY, and “Crossing Boundaries: Material as Message” at (RoCA), West Nyack, NY. CURRENT: Solo show “High Chair and Other Works” at A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (Jul 2 – Aug 1, 2021). She is the author of Spirit Taking Form: Making a Spiritual Practice of Making Art available through Red Wheel/Weiser. She has taught many workshops and classes.
I am a Columbus, Ohio-based photographer and former librarian’s assistant, a musician, and a mom of two young adult creatives.
Laney Baby
Artist
I am tapped into the flow of creativity, constantly jotting down new ideas and having visions of future projects.
Jennifer Bachelder Spears
Artist & Graphic Designer
Jennifer Bachelder Spears is an artist and graphic designer from Mt. Gilead, Ohio. She earned her BFA in graphic design from Marietta College in 2009.
Spears was one of three featured artists in a collaborative show at the John Bryan Community Gallery (Yellow Springs, OH) in 2015. A mixed media sculpture she created with Ron Hundt for the exhibition is part of the Yellow Springs Arts Council’s permanent collection.…
Barbara Bachtell grew up in NE Ohio, Pittsburgh, and New Mexico. She has a BA in art from Wesleyan University (CT), and a BFA in painting from Cleveland Institute of Art. She has incorporated both text elements and organic forms into her work for many years, and is a published poet and writer as well as a visual artist. She has shown her drawings and small sculptures around Ohio and in Wisconsin, most recently in group shows at MOCA, Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, Waterloo Arts and YARDS Projects. Her work is in local individual and corporate collections, including The Cleveland Clinic, the Dalad Group, MetroHealth Medical Center, and Jones Day.
Gary Bagnato
Fine Artist
Gary Floyd Bagnato’s
Shorten Biography
Gary Bagnato is a New Age Gothic Van Gogh. That’s a mouthful but it reflects the broad spectrum of his art. Viewing some of his paintings puts you at the entrance of a feel good psychedelic church with medievil stain – glass windows. Where as some artists paint conventional still life or nature scenes, Bagnato amps the gender up to a whole new level. …
Tom holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Earth Science from the University of Massachusetts, and hs worked in such diverse areas as: mineral exploration around the world; preparing environmental impact studies for the U. S. Government; and leading the clean-up of retired nuclear facilities. As an undergraduate he also engaged in music performance, theater (stage management), was student manager of the University Bands (Marching, Concert, Symphonic), and participated in the University’s Concert Association which brought world-class musicians and groups to campus. In recent years he has become an award-winning visual artist, and has participated on the boards of the Ohio Art League, and the Clintonville Arts Guild. Currently, Tom works part-time as the Exhibitions Coordinator for the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.
Shelley Brenner Baird is an artist based in Columbus Ohio. She received an MA in Photography from The Ohio State University and a BFA in Printmaking from Indiana University. Shelley was a recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from The Ohio Arts Council in 2020.
Her work has appeared in numerous invitational and juried exhibitions.…
CAN Triennial Artists Archives of the Western Reserve Cleveland Ohio 2022
Solo Art Exhibitions Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland Ohio 2021
Tom Balbo
Artist
Tom’s earliest work was primarily in ceramics and printmaking. As his interest in papermaking grew, his work turned increasingly towards expressing his artistic creativity in this area. Over the past 40 years, Tom’s work has been exhibited and shown in a large number of shows and galleries and he has garnered numerous awards and critical attention for his work.
In 2008, Tom along with other local artists, founded The Morgan Art of Paper Conservatory and Educational Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. Presently, Tom continues to work in paper, printmaking, and ceramics. Dividing his time between creating in his studio/gallery and as the Artistic Director at the Morgan Conservatory.
Cristal Baldwin is an accomplished illustration artist living in central Ohio. She enjoys creating works in color pencil, graphite and watercolor. Her work ranges from children’s book illustration to fine color pencil fantasy portraits.
Brian Ballenger
Artist/Painter
I paint by building up oil paint on the surface of the canvas. The brushstrokes are the true subject of painting.; they extend fully across the canvas, collecting color from the brush and the surface, to blend and redistribute the material. Varied brush widths and pressures are utilized to come together as a new work. These are paintings whose depth changes with perspective and whose sense of light and shading and understanding adjust with examination.
Elaine is self-taught and has participated in several professional art shows and galleries, including the John Ruthven Gallery, Georgetown, OH, and had her own gallery in the Historic Oregon District, Dayton, OH. She has been represented by the Art Vault, Troy, OH; Studio 14 Fine Arts Gallery, Tipp City, OH, and is a member of the Appalachian Artisans Guild, and on-line “FineArtAmerica.com”. She enjoys several different media – acrylic, pastel, watercolor, graphite, collages, and more. Elaine is a member of the Pentagon based USAF Art Program Office and has donated many paintings to the AF.
Michael Bankhead
owner, songwriter, artist, podcaster
Dayton Ohio’s Mike Bankhead is an artist’s artist in every sense of the word. While most know him as a bass player and songwriter, Bankhead has unlimited reach and talent. All of this is wrapped up in a man whose raw passion for the art bleeds through everything Mike Bankhead does. Humble enough the Ohio artist has experience writing music for full band compositions, guitar rock, and multilingual accompaniments.…
Veena Bansal, a resident of Columbus, Ohio for 50 yesrs, is an experienced artist creating a blend of figurative, landscapes and floral paintings with abstract influences, her mixed media work is the result of her past experienc-she was an avid art student growing up in India. Exhibits her work in Marcia Evans gallery in short north district.…
miriam baranov
Realist Painter
I have two passions which are Mathematics and Art and I let them intertwine in my work. I have worked in two fields, a data engineer and an artist. When I create my work my vision and my end result is the art and the process of making that happen is me building the project as an engineer.…
Mary Barczak’s biological family hails from New York City and was heavily involved in mathematics and human rights. However at 16, she was put into foster care in Columbus, OH. Barczak’s earlier years were spent dissecting traditional fairytales and the story structures of character personality traits. She weaves philosophy, storytelling, and art together to create the Nones, blanked face creatures with emotive black bodies. Their scenes speak to those who find their own stories and emotions in them.
David Barnes
PaintLabs
From Fort Wayne, Indiana I moved to Columbus in 1993 to attend The Columbus College of Art and Design where I graduated in 1998. I My focus is on painting, drawing and ceramic sculpture of dogs, cats, landscapes and sometimes portraits of humans.
Danica Barreau
Artist
Danica Barreau, M.Artist,M.Photog.Cr., CPP, MAI is a digital artist and professional photographer based in Grove City, Ohio, where she runs Pouka Art & Photography—a studio devoted to creating portraits of pets and the people who love them.