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
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.
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.…
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.
Jeni Bate
Artist
Jeni Bate lives in the desert south west – a low place under a vast dome of sky. This is a constant reminder of how small we are in the face of all things, and when filled with clouds, an ever changing muse.
Cherie Kuhn Bauer attended Hollins University in 1973 and studied printmaking with Nancy Dahlstrom. After graduating with departmental honors in Studio Art she returned home to Cleveland and began working at the Cleveland Museum of Art, first in the Department of Prints and Drawings and then in the Library. She continued with her printmaking, exhibiting in juried and individual exhibitions including the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Virginia Museum in Richmond. …
I’ve spent my life devoted to creating, teaching, and learning about art. My inspiration comes my life as a woman, wife, mother, student, teacher and an inhabitant of this earth.
I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. I received a BFA from the University of Dayton and an MA in Art Education from OSU. I’ve been a teaching artist for over 20 years and freelance artist for over 25 years mostly in central Ohio. I’ve recently moved back home to the Dayton area and excited about the Dayton area arts scene.
My works are mixed of printing and other painting materials such as collage, acrylic and color pencil. The source of my inspiration is from Persian history and Iran the country that I was born and my family .
Doug Becht (b. 1985 in Cleveland, Ohio; lives and works near Wooster, Ohio) is a contemporary painter best known for his distinctive approach influenced by Pop Art, Neo Expressionism, and a hint of cubism. His artworks delve into life, the human experience, nostalgia, and modern society.
Biography
Gary Beeber is an award-winning American photographer and filmmaker who has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. He has had numerous solo photography exhibitions and his documentary films have been screened at over 150 film festivals. Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Goldman Sachs and Chase Bank are Fortune 500 companies who collect his work.
Diane Belfiglio (pronounced Bel FEE lee o) earned her B.F.A. in Drawing, Painting, and Graphics from The Ohio State University in 1978, and her M.F.A. in Painting from Syracuse University in 1980. Also in 1980, she was awarded a $6000 Aid-to-Individual- Artists Fellowship Grant from the Ohio Arts Council. Since that time, she has received numerous professional awards, including four Arts in Stark grants from 2011-2014.…
Kirsta Niemie Benedetti lives and works in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and two daughters. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at Columbus College of Art and Design and has worked as a freelance artist partnering with Minted and West Elm since 2015, and as a commissioned artist for patrons around the country.
Currently, Kirsta is launching The Whole Picture Project, an initiative to bring people together through art and storytelling.
Lauren Benjamin
Mixed Media Artist
Lauren Ashleigh is an artist of many mediums who earned her BFA in Studio Art in 2015. Known for adding sculptural and natural elements to paintings. She uses things like glass, joint compound, acrylic mediums, and found objects to build her pieces up. In 2016 Lauren had to begin navigating through new mental illness diagnoses that altered her entire life.…
Jaime Bennati is an artist whose practice is grounded in altering everyday materials and collections to create relief sculptures, collages and installations. Bennati is currently an upper school visual arts teacher at the Wellington School, and has previously served as an arts instructor at the Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus College of Art & Design, and as a residence artist at the Universidade de Federal de Goias in Goiânia, Brazil.…
Best known for her vibrant and expressive use of acrylic paint and mixed media, Robie Benve expresses her creativity by utilizing paper, ink, markers, and fibers to craft pieces that embody the essence of her inspiration. Her work is characterized by the incorporation of intricate patterns and unique marks, resulting in a distinctive visual language that captures the imagination.
Born and raised in the culturally rich landscape of Italy, Benve stands as a testament to the transformative power of art. The first of her family to graduate from college, she earned an MBA from the University of Venice, Italy. In 2010, her journey led her to Columbus, Ohio, where she found the opportunity to pursue her artistic calling.
Over the years, her award-winning work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions across Ohio. Her creations have found a home in private collections in the United States, Spain, and Italy.
In twenty-two years as an art teacher, stateside and overseas, I eventually taught grades Pre-K thru 12th. Meanwhile I established myself as an installation artist, exhibiting in the Midwest and East Coast, with architectural-referenced works. Included in my pursuits were a number of fellowships and residencies. Lately my focus and materials have shifted to those structures in the natural world and their relationship to the structures of the human brain and nervous system. The presentation and materials of my works reflect my investment in process (how we see and comprehend) and in the expressive elegance of the simple and the natural material.