How to go
What: “Artistic Selection,” an exhibition of works by Donald Schuster
When: Exhibition runs through Jan. 19. Exhibition hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays. Special event hours only Fridays through Sundays. (MAC is closed for holiday break through Monday, Jan. 2, and will re-open on Tuesday, Jan. 3.)
Where: Middletown Arts Center, 130 N. Verity Parkway, Middletown
Admission: Free
More info: Contact the Middletown Arts Center at www.middletownartscenter.com or call (513) 424-2417. Donald Schuster is online at www.daschusterfineart.com.
Artist Donald Schuster of Liberty Twp. will have a collection of works on display at the Middletown Arts Center through Jan. 19. The exhibition, “Artistic Selection,” will feature oil paintings, drawings and stained glass.
There are about 82 pieces of his work featured in the show.
“The exhibition represents eight years of work,” said Donald Schuster. “It’s not all of my work from that period, but that’s the time period it covers. There are several series of paintings that are in it; they include the Beckett Ponds Series, the Fence Row Series and the Reserves Park Series. Most of the work is local scenes and landscapes.”
Schuster, a Liberty Twp. resident, said the thrust of his artwork is based on local scenes and people.
He says that through his work he likes to bring viewers’ attention to things that they may have overlooked or may not notice as they are going on their travels through southwestern Ohio.
“I feel like local scenery is overlooked a lot. When you see artwork in a lot of the national publications, it’s either East Coast or West Coast or the Southwest, and there isn’t a lot of representation of things from the Midwest. And, I think we have a lot of pretty scenery and interesting topics to do right here in the Midwest,” Schuster said.
Schuster’s work is one of the first individual artists that MAC has featured recently in a display of this scale in their large gallery.
“His work is stunning. When you walk in and see it, it is absolutely amazing,” said Executive Director Hilary Nauman, Middletown Arts Center.
Schuster, a Cincinnati area native, attended University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking. Upon graduation, he went into management and had a successful, 35-year career in the graphic arts/printing/prepress industries.
About eight years ago, he began seriously working full-time as a fine artist out of his home-based studio. Schuster is a member of the Cincinnati Art Club — Board of Directors, Oil Painters of America, Ohio Plein Air Society, Southwest Ohio Plein Air Painters, Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry and Arts Alliance Painters. He regularly displays his work at two-to-three outdoor exhibitions in the Cincinnati area per year as well as at several local group shows. Outside of Cincinnati, his work has been featured in national shows, such as Oil Painters of America.
Schuster was named as a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine 2014 Annual Art Competition for his painting “Fence Row 4.” Schuster has also been named in 2016 as a finalist in the same competition for “Ida Street Viaduct.”
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