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
Kelsey Anilee Smith stitches her way through the wildflowers that live where she lives. A love of history that inspires her use of vintage pieces and traditional sewing methods in unusual ways. She uses techniques like sashiko, embroidery, and needle-turn applique to create tapestries that incorporate varies beautiful textiles both old and new to bring a new perspective on plants native to the midwest and northeast.
Klaire Smith was born in the hills of Southern Ohio and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio; the region having always been a point of inspiration. She was certified as a Professional Printer at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico studying lithography and was trained professionally as a collaborator. Klaire’s current work utilizes woodblock printing, toucheing on regionalism, Appalachia, and all its complexities.
Madelaine is a ceramicist and painter finishing her BA in Studio Art at Cedarville University. She will graduate in the spring of 2024 with additional minors in History and Biblical Studies. Madelaine works as a Gallery Assistant and Barista at Cedarville University, even helping to redesign the logo of the campus coffee shop in 2023.…
Rachel Suzanne Smith is an artist, metalsmith, and educator. She is currently working as the Fabrication Lab Supervisor at Oberlin College. She received her undergraduate degree at Miami University in Art Education with minors in 3D Media Studies (jewelry/metals) and Spanish. She received her MFA in Crafts (Jewelry Metals Enameling) at Kent State University. Smith maintains a solo studio practice as well as one in collaboration with Jennifer Ramirez.
I grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and moved to Columbus to attend the
Columbus College of Art and Design where I earned my BFA in 1987. I earned my MFA in Printmaking
From Washington University in St. Louis in 1990. I returned to Columbus and have worked as a Graphic Artist
here ever since.…
Susan Snipes is a mixed media painter. She creates richly textured paintings about personal transformation using abstract organic forms. Susan’s paintings have won multiple awards and have been exhibited nationally. Her art is in private collections across the United States. Susan received a B.A. in Art History from Case Western Reserve University. She was born in Toledo, Ohio and lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Fia Soisson
Artist
Fia Soisson is a senior majoring in graphic design at the Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio. They will be graduating with a BFA in the spring of 2024. While Fia is majoring in graphic design, they enjoy experimenting with other mediums and styles of art outside of their major. Most of their works consist of acrylic paintings or digital art and they often include doodles as part of their artwork.…
Kelly Sollinger
Artist
Kelly Sollinger is a native of the Gulf Coast of Texas and a transplant to central Ohio.
As a child she would spend hours cloud watching in the fields or staring at the fish in the family pond. Back then, she drew and painted and wrote poetry but, like many, went on to something “safe” and “acceptable”: a career programming computers.…
Jeannette Sorrell
Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra
Named for the classical god of music, healing and the sun, Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY®-winning ensemble. The period-instrument orchestra was founded by award-winning harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell, and is dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners. Apollo’s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric.…
Benjamin Sostrom
Artist
Ben Sostrom is a woodworker and mixed-media sculptor based in Columbus, Ohio. His work focuses on blending his scientific background with the dramatic forms of the natural world. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University’s Departments of Theatre and Astronomy. His sculptural work was the subject of the shows “beingnonbeing” (2019), “These Are Not For You” (2021), and “Warehoused” (2023) at Studios on High Gallery.
Harmonic Soul Band is an eclectic soul band that has quickly become one of the fastest rising bands in the city of Columbus. Combining a mixture of R&B, hip hop, soul and funk, Harmonic Soul is known for curating a high vibrational atmosphere through music and showmanship. Their overall intent is to provide an uplifting and interactive experience with the audience.
Jennifer Sowders
Sowders
Jennifer is a nationally-winning, Northwest Ohio painter. She specializes in watercolor landscapes on Yupo or acrylic. She is a Signature member of the Ohio Watercolor and an Associate of the American and National Watercolor Societies; on the board of the Fostoria Area Arts Council, a member of the Ohio Art League as well as many local arts organizations. Jennifer is a 1994 BFA graduate from the Columbus College of Art and Design.
Shandray Spaulding
Owner
Shandray Spaulding, or Shay, is a local illustrator hailing from the heart of Ohio. She was born with a passion for artistic and authentic expression.
Born in 1988, Shay’s artistic journey began early on, as she immersed herself in the world of art and design throughout her primary and secondary education in Ohio.…
Teresa Speakman
Ceramist
My experience of creating pottery is a combination of experimentation and practice and formal education at Ohio University. I enjoy both wheel-throwing and hand-building methods, and although most of my pottery is functional, I am becoming interested in larger abstract scupltural forms. Find my pottery at Mud Gallery Ceramics & Fine Art in Lancaster, Ohio
Kate Spencer
owner
Having settled in Cincinnati 25 years ago after a lifetime of moving around the US from border to border and coast to coast, Kate is a retired college professor of English who has taken up a second career as a quilter, making miniature patchwork quilts for wall hangings and table runners. I have been inspired by the example of my maternal grandmother, Georgia, who also took up quilting in later life and who designed many of her own quilts, and by her mother, Pearle, who created many beautiful works in a variety of textile crafts-quilting, sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and lace-making.
The creative process is about instinct. I may walk to my easel with a basic idea of colors I want to use but I let my intuition fuel the engine. The elements and principles of design unintentionally adjust my intentions allowing me to create pattern, texture, balance and harmony. I never want to be limited in my expression. There are already so many boundaries in this world. I find art to be my refuge. I am most at peace when surrounded by paint and brushes.
In my previous life, I was a suit and tie audit supervisor with the Auditor of State of Ohio, having received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree with a major in accounting from The Ohio State University in 1987. What little writing ability I possess was developed writing audit reports to be released to the public by the state of Ohio upon completion of each audit. …
Connie Springer
Artist
Connie Springer is a watercolor artist with a penchant for storytelling. She is also a photographer, and in both media, painting and photography, she demonstrates a keen visual sense and a strong interest in people. Her style has been described as evocative and interpretive.
Anne Spurgeon is an interdisciplinary artist working between Columbus, Ohio and Brooklyn, New York. Questions about transformation reoccur in Spurgeon’s creative practice. Her involvement began through performance, from playing guitar on stage, to creating private video performances about identity and the sense of the public and private self. In the past few years her focus has moved away from the personal consciousness of the body, to the transformation of sculptural and drawing materials.