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
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.
Soutchay Soungpradith
Artist and Musician
Soutchay was born in Laos in 1978 and arrived in the US in 1981. He is a musician and professional artist that specializes in imaginative realism. Upon graduating from Coshocton High School in 1996, he was awarded a scholarship from the Columbus College of Art & Design where he went on to study illustration. After an abbreviated stay, he ventured off to pursue his love of music. …
John is a mixed-media artist whose long-term focus has been language, photography, and how we perceive and infer meaning. He believes in using style as well as the formal elements of art (line, shape, color, etc.) to explore his long-term interests more thoroughly. John has always been concerned with the formal qualities of art and is constantly pushing the bounds of the materials he uses.
I am a graduate of The American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois and have been combining my commercial art experience with traditional fine art to create popular modern compositions.
Much of my artwork depicts natural environments with an assortment of animal, bird and aquatic life portraits.…
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.
Brenden Spivey is an abstract artist known for his captivating and dynamic works that explore the intersection of color, texture, and shape. Born and raised in Newark, Ohio Spivey developed a deep appreciation for art later in life, inspired by the diverse and thriving art scene in Columbus. Spivey’s work is characterized by its bold, expressive use of color and its intricate, layered textures and shapes. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, including nature, music, his travels and mid-century modern design, Spivey creates works that are at once vibrant and nuanced, evocative and elusive. Over the course of his short career, Spivey has gained recognition for his distinctive approach to abstract art, which blends elements of the traditional with the contemporary. His works have been exhibited in many prestigious venues, galleries, and corporate collections domestically and internationally. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Spivey is also an active member of his community, donating his art and resources to support a variety of social and cultural causes. He is committed to using his art to promote greater understanding and empathy among people of all backgrounds, and to create a more just and equitable world.
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.
My new book is These Americans, a collection of short stories and a novella published by Minerva Rising Press. The novella in this collection, “Hawk,” was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize.
My novel And Laughter Fell From the Sky was published in 2012 by HarperCollins.
My short stories have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies.…
Christopher has work in the permanent collections of both the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Hawaii State Art Museum. He is always at home in a forest.
Brooke Stanley
Artist / Designer
Brooke Stanley is an artist and designer based in Columbus, Ohio. With a background in fine art and digital media, her work explores identity, emotional experience, and human connection. She holds a BFA in Art & Technology from The Ohio State University and an MA in Visual Communication from Ohio University. Her current work includes mirror-based acrylic paintings and website design for small businesses.
I love color. Color makes me happy. I love its ability to communicate emotion and mood. To transport people. How a dab of blue here or a smudge of yellow over there can suddenly give a painting life.
There is no agenda when I paint. Inspiration comes from a feeling or emotion that I try to convey on the of a canvas or paper. I want to see what happens when paint dribbles down the surface or when two colors come together and mix. I like to layer colors and play with space, I try to let the painting be what it wants to be.
I paint intuitively and adapt to the painting as it shifts and changes. I stay as flexible and as open as possible so that the painting can have its own life. I try not to interfere too much, because whenI do, the painting becomes overworked and unloved. Then I have to start over again.
I am drawn to more organic shapes when I paint-no straight or true lines just letting the paint and shapes flow from whatever mood or mode I am in at the time. I like art to say something to the viewer about the artist and maybe a little bit about themselves.
Tylur Starks
Vocalist
Tylur Starks is from Columbus, OH. Growing up Tylur loved listening to Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Janis Joplin and other, which reflects in her writing and vocal style. Listening to Etta James and other greats, one would say she is an old soul. Tylur has been singing her whole life and being a 90’s baby she loved Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and all the greats of that time.…
Craig Staufer grew up on a farm in Medina County and currently lives in a restored 1834 Western Reserve home near Lodi, Ohio. Art has been a pursuit of Craig’s his entire life. He studied at Kent State and the University of Akron as well as expanding his skills with many other artists over the years.…