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
Nita Sweeney is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving. A long-time meditator, three-time marathoner, and former assistant to writing practice originator Natalie Goldberg, Nita founded the Facebook group Mind, Mood, and Movement to support mental well-being through meditation, exercise, and writing practice. She also publishes the writing resource newsletter, Write Now Columbus. Nita lives in central Ohio with her husband, Ed, and their yellow Labrador retriever, Scarlet. Go to Nita’s website to download your free copy of Nita’s eBook Three Ways to Heal Your Mind.
Matt Swift is a Columbus based artist, filmmaker, educator and community organizer whose work combines multiple mediums and modes, including photography, painting, video, digital compositions, mixed media with a deep connection to historical avant-garde and experimental movements of all art forms.
Nikki Swift has been a practicing filmmaker and artist for most of her life. Recording day-to-day life since she was a teenager, she imagines herself a tinkerer of sorts exploring various image making devices to fit her creative whims.
I am a 1981 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art. I have exhibited locally in NE OH, nationally and internationally. My art has been published in two exhibition catalogs and have authored a book. Upon graduation from CIA I began a career in the graphic arts industry. Positions I have held include art director, gallery director, and production manager of Publications at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Shannon Tackett
Artist
Shannon Tackett was born in Frankfurt, Germany and raised in Fairborn, Ohio. He has always enjoyed the arts and being creative. He enjoys drawing, painting, and building things. Shannon has a passion for music and the creative arts and has painted stylized portraits of the like of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, KISS, and Chester Bennington to name a few. He has also been known to build websites, loves graphic design and woodworking, and also enjoys digital music production in his free time.
During the pandemic Shannon created a nonprofit organization called the Art is Love, LLC that provides artists with art supplies to keep them creating artwork and spur creativity during difficult times.
Saving the world one painting at a time, Judy Takács is best known for the painterly realism and message of female empowerment of her traveling portrait series, Chicks with Balls: Judy Takács paints unsung female heroes, which opened at the Zanesville Museum of Art as her first solo museum show in early 2020. Her current series, The Goddess Project re-imagines mythological characters from all religions via a contemporary feminist lens and takes on women’s rights in jeopardy here in the United States and in Ohio.
Stephen Takacs is an artist, educator and professional photographer based in Columbus, Ohio. Takacs holds a BFA from the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts and an MFA from The Ohio State University Department of Art. His artwork often combines an interest in history, portraiture and a fascination with the natural world with his passion for alternative photographic processes.
Talle Bamazi
Father of Flying Calabashes
Born in Kara, Togo, West Africa, Talle Bamazi can best be described as an artist who uses canvas as a site for activism. He began his artistic career as an apprentice to his uncle, a traditional Togolese artist. Although he went on to study architecture in Lomé, he favorably transitioned to painting.…
Simon Tam
Author/Musician/Speaker
Simon may best be known for winning a landmark case in 2017 that helped expand civil liberties for minorities, unanimously, at the Supreme Court of the United States (Matal v. Tam). He is the founder and bassist of The Slants, one of the first all-Asian American dance rock bands in the world, and also leads The Slants Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and mentorship for artists that incorporate activism into their work.
Em Tamulewicz (b. 2000) is a printmaker, illustrator, and writer originating from Phoenix, AZ. They received their BFA from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. They are currently the Artist Opportunities Manager at the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory (Cleveland, OH) and a Shop Artist/intern at Zygote Press (Cleveland, OH). Em’s work has been featured in shows across the United States, from Ohio to Colorado, internationally in Seoul, South Korea, and is featured in the permanent collection of Akron’s Children Hospital (Brecksville, OH).…
Barney Taxel
Photographer and Educator
I was born in Brooklyn, New York City. My parents were the children of immigrants.
I attended Case Western Reserve University, earning a BA, 1972, with studies in architecture and a concentration in fine art photography as a CWRU Undergraduate Scholar.
I’m married to Laura Faye Taxel, writer. We have three adult sons, three daughters in law and four grandchildren. …
Chris Taylor
Assisitant Professor of Teaching
Chris Taylor received his BFA from Purchase College SUNY in 1992, and his MFA from The Ohio State University in 1996. He lives in New Albany, OH, and teaches art at the OSU Newark campus.
Fatima Taylor
Artist, Educator
Fatima Taylor (formerly Azimova) was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and developed a passion for art early on, studying at the Benkov Art Academy. She immigrated to the U.S. in 2001 and later became an art instructor at Shawnee State University in 2009 while actively engaging in exhibitions and lectures. After relocating to Columbus, OH, in 2017, she worked from her private studio and actively participated in exhibitions within the US and internationally.…
As an untrained artist working in the folk tradition, I use recycled materials. I am grateful for the example set by people who are surviving and creating art through the use of local resources. Their inventiveness has challenged me to create works that contrast with our own “throwaway society”.
Regarded by international critics and audiences as an artist of extraordinary musicianship and rare sensibility since his acclaimed solo recital debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., American pianist Gerardo Teissonnière brings to the concert stage an exciting amalgam of the diverse and important musical traditions he represents.
I was born in Boston, Mass and moved to Brooklyn, NY to attend Pratt Institute and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design . I spent all my free time in the darkrooms developing and printing photographs. Since retiring a few years ago, I have time to pursue art photography and enter some competitions.…
Josette Theiss
Professional Wildlife Photographer
Professional wildlife and landscape photographer multi-published and awarded internationally. Based in Northeast, Ohio.
Demetrius Thomas
Hip-Hop Artist
The man known to the world as “Nova The Rebel” from the big stages to the classrooms, has become a powerfully positive force of knowledge and learning to his communities and beyond.