The bar and restaurant community will give back to the art community with dine-to-donate.
Miami University professor Roscoe Wilson is the exhibit coordinator for Sculpture Week and said the displays benefit the artists and businesses.
“It’s unique to be putting together a kind of trail of sculptures for people to discover,” said Wilson. “This temporary exhibit showcases the artists while helping drive foot traffic to support our local brick and mortar businesses.”
The artists include:
Leah Hughes at Luke Custom Cakes
Hughes is a Hamilton-based artist who creates works of art in cardboard and other textile fibers. Her works often focus on the animal form, and past works include tigers, elk, and a cicada. Her cicada recently won the top prize from the Sustainable Box Contest, a creative cardboard reuse competition sponsored by Saica. Luke’s Custom Cakes is located at 221 High St.
Scott Hubbard at Municipal Brew Works
Hubbard is a Hamilton graffiti spray paint artist, sculptor, and deejay. His work has been on display at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Strauss Art Gallery, and other local venues. Hubbard also painted one of the panels on the McDulin Parking Garage along Market Street in downtown Hamilton. Municipal Brew Works is located at 20 High St.
Richard James at Tano Bistro
James is currently an assistant professor of ceramics at Miami University in Oxford. He is an accomplished artist, exhibiting his work regularly across the country, as well as past exhibits in China and Italy. James received several awards for his art and has been featured in various arts publications. Tano Bistro is located at 150 Riverfront Plaza.
Chrissy Collopy at Alexander’s Market & Deli
Collopy lives and works in Darrtown where she creates art in various mediums, including oils, acrylics, mixed media, and found objects. Collopy is an instructor at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts where she teaches classes, like Creative Aging Painting. Alexander’s Market & Deli is located at 160 High Street.
Billy Simms at Wings on Brookwood
Simms is an artist, educator, and curator who lives in Hamilton. Simms works in various mediums, from printmaking to woodworking to large-scale sculptures. Simms’ piece to be on display, Flower Puppet, is based on a dream after seeing a sea of flowers in bloom. The piece is from a larger body of work titled Craftowne: The 7th Hole. Wings on Brookwood is located at 147 N Brookwood Ave.
Matt Lynch at Hamilton Urban Backyard
Lynch is a professor of art at the University of Cincinnati. Lynch’s piece, Big Baby Swing, provides an adult-size version of the bucket swing design typically found at public parks. This enlarged version is made from a plastic barrel used to distribute soap, food, or other materials to various industries. Viewers are encouraged to interact with the swing. Hamilton Urban Backyard is located at 501 Main Street.
Sam Edwards at Basil1791
Edwards is a Cincinnati-based artist who specializes in salvaging materials from local scrap yards and construction sites, seeking to give forgotten or depleted materials new functions as art pieces. His work, Pallet Form, explores the concepts of blue-collar creativity and social interstice. Basil 1791 is located at 241 High St.
Karen Connolly at Healthy Hideout
Connolly is a Hamilton sculptor who works in fused glass and metal. While exploring materials, she began work in several facets of glass, including stained glass, mosaic, and fused glass. Connolly looks to break things down into simple elements with her mixed media work and to use those elements to bring order to chaos. Her work, Serenity, is featured at Healthy Hideout, 1020 Main St.
Roscoe Wilson at Casual Pint Hamilton
Wilson is a professor of art in the Department of Humanities & Creative Arts at Miami University. His work involves the dilemma of consumerism and waste in contemporary society. Many of Wilson’s works look to reuse discarded items and draw attention to the idea of consumption to live, but there is no need to live to consume. The Casual Pint is located at 130 Riverfront Plaza.
All works of art will remain on display until Oct. 3, the Monday after Sculpture Week.
In addition to the artists on display, a trio of visiting sculptors will create two 8-foot works of art out of limestone at Marcum Park throughout the entirety of Sculpture Week. The two creations will be given to the City of Sculpture and Pyramid Hill to be put on display.
WHY PUBLIC ART?
There will be a panel public discussion at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Municipal Brew Works, 20 Main St., addressing the question of “Why Public Art?” The discussion is to be streamed live on TVHamilton’s Facebook page.
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