ART Matters
Opening Reception February 7th, 7pm
“Art Matters” brings together a vibrant and eclectic group of artists whose works span a variety of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital media, and installation. This group exhibition explores the intrinsic value of art as a catalyst for reflection, connection, and change.
In a world where we often question what truly matters, art offers a profound response. It challenges perceptions, provokes conversations, and creates space for new ideas to emerge. Each artist in this exhibition has interpreted the theme “Art Matters” uniquely, drawing from personal experiences, societal issues, and the universal human condition. Their diverse approaches underscore art’s capacity to transcend boundaries and speak to a broad spectrum of audiences.
This exhibition is not just a celebration of artistic expression but a call to recognize the enduring importance of creativity in our lives. Whether through bold visuals, tactile forms, or immersive experiences, “Art Matters” invites you to engage deeply and consider why, indeed, art matters now more than ever.
Additional Events:
Panel Discussion -March 16th, 1pm
More information to follow
Closing Reception - March 16th 12pm-3pm
Gary Beeber
Artist Statement
The images I capture speak to me in a number of ways, fulfilling my curiosity about the world and everything in it. I gravitate to subjects that seem odd or out of place, and am often reminded of a long forgotten connection, or something that I consider humorous.
Biography
Gary Beeber is an award-winning American photographer and filmmaker who has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. He has had numerous solo photography exhibitions and his documentary films have been screened at over 150 film festivals. Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Goldman Sachs and Chase Bank are Fortune 500 companies who collect his work.
Jon Daugherty
Artist Statement
Through my art, I seek to uncover the untold stories of both nature and humanity, inviting viewers to look beyond the surface and find meaning in the forgotten, the quiet, and the small. My process is an exploration of connection—whether it's the bond between past and present or the way a single expression can reveal an entire world of emotion.
Biography
Jon Daugherty is a versatile and accomplished individual with a rich background in both product development and the arts. Hailing from Dayton, he has spent over three decades honing his skills in the world of product design and development. His expertise lies in identifying market needs, creating innovative solutions, and building strategic partnerships to bring products to life, all while maintaining a keen focus on growth and making a retail impact.
In addition to his professional achievements in product development, Jon is also an artist and a passionate advocate for the local arts scene. Together with his wife, Lori, he co-founded and operates Darty Art Studio & Gallery. Their mission is to create and share unique artistic expressions with the Dayton community, fostering a deeper love for art and creativity. Jon's artistic pursuits span multiple mediums, including Soft Pastel painting and his distinctive paper tube sculptures, which have garnered attention for their whimsical and inventive nature.
Lori Daugherty
Artist Statement
Guided by a vivid imagination and a deep connection to color, texture, and movement, my work captures fleeting moments that spark curiosity and inspiration. Best known for my bold, vibrant, and dynamic abstracts, I thrive on creating intricate layers of color using wax, pigment, ink, shellac, and and other mediums. Each piece reflects my passion for exploration and experimentation.
As an artist, my goal is to invite the viewer into the painting, immersing them in the wanderings of my imagination and uncovering new discoveries with every encounter.
Biography
Based in Dayton, abstract artist Lori Daugherty is passionate about exploring and experimenting with the versatile encaustic medium. Known for its depth, texture, and an inherent sense of mystery, encaustic art allows Lori to create dynamic works that captivate and intrigue. Her studio, Darty Art, is located in the historic Front Street Buildings in downtown Dayton.
Karen Fisher
Artist Statement
My collaged paintings on un-stretched canvas unravel the complexity of internal migrations. I live and work in two places, Colorado and Ohio, so my work challenges notions of stability and rootedness and evokes feelings of in-betweenness and fragmentation. They are selfscapes of ceaseless wanderings of the mind through interiors and landscapes of memory and belonging. Neither fully rooted nor entirely adrift, these ever-shifting, uncanny spaces take on the qualities of a new kind of surrealism—a disrupted realism that I experience in this contemporary moment.
Biography
Karen Fisher is an American interdisciplinary artist based in Dayton, Ohio and Boulder, Colorado, holds a Bachelor of Science in Education Secondary English from Wright State University, Dayton, OH; an MA in Humanities and Teaching from Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO; and an MFA from Lesley University College of Art and Design, Cambridge, MA. She is a member of the Art Students League in Denver, CO, the Denver Collage Club, the Dayton Society of Artists, and a Guild member of Silvermine Galleries in New Canaan, CT.
Denise Geier
Scott Gibbs
Artist Statement
Can the act of writing or reinterpreting images convey an image independent of its meaning? For me the answer is yes. These pieces are exercises in the random placement of letters and elements from meaningful words, texts and images which bring about a nontraditional grid; an aesthetic configuration of lines as elements, creating syntax which no longer conveys the written or visual information. This initial concept continues to evolve as each piece feeds the next through problem solving and the innovation of techniques, following in the spirit of my predecessors throughout the history of creating images.
Biography
A master painter and a Dayton, Ohio native, Scott Gibbs has been creating his works for many years. Scott is known for his “word” paintings in which he writes words all over the piece and works with paints until the words are no longer recognizable. These days, Scott has moved on to rely less on the linear quality of the letters, but in the forms of the negative spaces. Though the paintings look nothing like the earlier work, the initial concept is the foundation of all works.
Scott has had many exhibitions around Dayton and across the country, and won numerous awards, including two Montgomery County Art and Cultural District grants. Although primarily an artist, Scott has worked extensively with juveniles involved with the court system and many schools to bring the visual arts to children from a wide range of backgrounds. He has been an Artist in Residence at various Dayton public schools and at K12 Gallery & TEJAS.
Kevin Harris
Artist Statement
Songs with Birds grew out of a fascination with the nesting habits of birds, especially in urban settings, where nests might be interwoven with natural and human made items and where birds practice truly organic architecture in environments of mortar and steel. Years ago I saw a nest among the branches of a tree growing against a brick wall and rooted in a sidewalk grate in downtown Dayton. The nest was tiny in circumference but at least 3 feet in length as it was laced with dangling strings, shiny ribbons and sparkling plastics that danced in the breeze. Just this winter, after the trees had lost their leaves, I noticed in the branches of a tree that arcs over a well-travelled state route near my home, a nest constructed dead smack center above the westbound lane. Traffic generated air currents must make this avian domicile quite the bouncy house and I can only imagine the bravado of the chicks whose first flights departed from this precarious perch. My light and airy improvisational monotype and monoprint impressions are created by layering inked printing plates with organic shapes and found materials. Songs with Birds is playfully titled after Felix Mendelssohn’s musical compositions, Songs Without Words.
Biography
Kevin Harris works in a wide range of media and explores a variety of themes, but he views Printmaking as the foundation of his practice. As a printmaker, Kevin prefers to use printmaking techniques to create variations on images rather than editions of identical multiples. Spontaneity and playfulness is built into his process to take advantage of the seemingly magic transposition of ink on plate to impression on paper. Kevin earned a BA from Hampton University and an MFA from the University of Cincinnati. He has also studied at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and has frequently attended printmaking workshops at Making Art Safely in New Mexico. Kevin has taught courses in Drawing, Printmaking and Digital Media at Sinclair Community College since the year 2000. Kevin recently had a woodcut print included in the Human Rights. Portfolio/Carpeta Derechos Humanos, a group exhibition of woodcut prints at the Cincinnati Art Museum by artists from Ohio and Oaxaca, Mexico. Kevin also showed a digitally created composition at EbonNia Gallery in Visual Voices, a group exhibition of work inspired.
Gary Hinsche
Artist Statement
As a designer, I learned early on that the CONCEPT, the IDEA was the difference between good design and bad design. The question was always, what is the concept?
Now, I have refined that to…TELL THE STORY.
You’re not an artist. You’re not a designer…you’re a visual story teller. I am a conceptual artist, a minimalist that is driven by practicing the process of reduction. My art is Identity Art based on my authentic life experience. My art tells my story.
Biography
Gary studied at Santa Monica College, Art Center College of Design and California State University, long Beach before joining the legendary design frim, Robert Miles Runyan & Associates in 1968. His work, rooted in conceptual and minimalist design, was inspired by architect Craig Ellwood, who was mentored by Josef Albers at Yale. Frank Gehry, also had a profound impact on Hinsche’s approach to design and art. Hinsche’s work has earned gold medals from the New York and Los Angeles Art Directors Clubs, AIGA and the American Institute of Architects. He served as president of the Los Angeles Art Directors Club, sat on the AIGA/LA board and taught at Art Center College of Design. Hinsche’s work has been exhibited Nationally.
Gretchen Durst Jacobs
Artist Statement
If I could, I would detach my head and paint with my body. A good mark is more about the body than the mind—it’s the embodiment of everything I have to say in painting. A mark needs to be right. It has to be meaningful. The urgency that a gestural mark communicates when I eschew premeditation or a conscious methodology is significant.
My abstract paintings are informed by the scale of my body and centered around a carefully designed visual grid. The grid forms a hard and soft boundary for the work that creates a mutable tension between geometry and gestural marks.It’s a similar structure to that of a rib cage, where the organs are contained, protected, and integrated within the body. There is a tension and release; the grid consolidates the whole, snaps it together as a means of organization and rest, allowing my gestural mark to act as spontaneous response and movement.
The duality is the tension between the two; one beseeches the other. A way to organize and comprehend the chaos. The energy in my paintings is almost always in a state of conflict. That process of convergence is the closest to what it feels like to be alive.
Biography
Gretchen Durst Jacobs was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1959, and creates abstract paintings and prints that employ a geometric grid and bold gestural marks. She holds an MFA from the University of Cincinnati and a BFA from Wright State University. In 2000 and 2003, she attended the New York Studio School for Drawing and Painting Marathons and Summer Sessions. In 2024, she received the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District Individual Artist Grant.
Gretchen’s work has been featured in nine solo exhibitions. She has shown extensively throughout Ohio, the USA at-large, and Canada. Highlighted exhibitions in Ohio include Manifest Gallery, Dana Wiley Gallery, University of Cincinnati, Morgan Conservatory, Dayton/Kyoto Print Exchange, and Ohio Northern University. Top international exhibitions include the Lambton Heritage Museum in Ontario, Canada, the Alten Feuerwache Loschwitz, Grafikwerkstatt in Dresden, Germany, and The Dayton/Kyoto Print Exchange in Kyoto, Japan. Her permanent public art installations can be viewed at the Dayton Metro Library and the Kettering Government Center.
She is represented by The Dana Wiley Gallery, Dayton, Ohio. Gretchen works full time in her studio in Dayton, Ohio and maintains a studio in Ontario, Canada.
Since 2017, Gretchen has been the President of the Dayton Printmakers Cooperative in Dayton, Ohio.
Richard Johnson
In Indian culture, the color red is believed to have positive connotations and bring prosperity, protection, and good fortune, while the color blue has deep symbolism, often linked to calmness, divinity, and royalty. My photographic exploration of India in 2016 showcases these extraordinary colors in images representing identity, spirituality, perseverance, and tradition. Characteristics intertwined in the fabric of Indian society and fundamental to preserving a nation of diverse histories and customs.
Biography
Rich Johnson is proud to present his photographic works for the first time at the Dana L. Wiley Gallery. He is an artistic photographer and world traveler whose images are an invitation to immersive experiences with other cultures. Passionate about exploring global perspectives and themes, he enjoys capturing spontaneous and fleeting moments in pictures that bear witness to the exceptional lives of ordinary people in their authentic every day. With a keen eye for details and composition, his work illuminates powerful visual stories that evoke emotion and offer a deep connection to the subject matter. His photographs ask the viewer to simply pause, reflect, and appreciate the intersection of culture, tradition, and the universal threads that unite us all. Rich called New York City home for 24 years and is also an accomplished interior designer. Today he lives in the Dayton area and is president and creative director of RVJ Design & Décor.
Jean Koeller
My current body of work engages landscape. With views of my surroundings employed as a starting point, the paintings express ideas representing the self and the experience of the moment, rather than serving as a way to capture place.
Working from both life and memory, these ordinary, dense views redefine the boundaries of landscape and beauty. I move between experience and thought, representation and abstraction, distilling information by observation and recall. I explore, physically and psychologically, the essence of life of the interior – the “interior” of the landscape, and the interior self.
Art and nature draw me equally into their respective worlds. I find that my painting is seamlessly about both, since long ago I lost any ability or desire to separate the two or to regard one over the other. In the end, the painting tells me what I need to do. The process constantly presents new possibilities, both from and away from nature.
By exploring color; coming from many places, and often the starting point, space and time through paint, I engage in the real – the intractable variables and delights of the landscape, material and the body. As these meld in my day-to-day painting experiences, I invite the viewer into my world of art and nature.
Biography
Jean is a native Ohioan and has spent most of her adult life working as a painter.
Jean did her undergraduate in painting at Wright State University here in Ohio and her MFA in painting at Parsons School of Art and Design in New York City. Jean studied with Leland Bell, Paul Resika, and John Heliker. Jean also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture where she was most influenced by Milton Resnick.
Jean is a 1998 Ohio Arts Council Individual Arts Grant recipient, two Montgomery County Culture Awards recipient for Individual Artists and three-time Travel Grant recipient from the University of Dayton for Italy, France and New York City. She taught in Italy and France for the study abroad programs during her stay. Jean Koeller was commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council to create the 2009 Governor’s Awards for the state of Ohio. She was also awarded Outstanding Alumni in 2005 by Wright State University College of Humanities.
One person shows will include University of Memphis, Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio, Purdue University, Wittenburg University, Keny Galleries, Duveneck Gallery in KY, Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts in PA, University of Mass Lowell, MASS, Kirkland Fine Arts Center, IL, Doris Ulmann Galleries, Bera, KY, Lakeland College, WIS, Xavier University in Chicago, IL, Austin Peay University, Clarksville, TENN, Carnegie Arts Center in Covington KY and numerous group shows nationally and internationally such as France, Tokyo, Hungary and Russia. She has received many awards and her work is found in many collections such as the Evansville Museum of Art, Springfield Museum of Art, Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, Sinclair College, Stien Galleries, Wright State University, Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts in Columbus, OH, Deloitte & Touché, Mallincordt Corp, MO and Aileron Corporation.
Jean has also served on the Board for the Dayton Visual Arts center from 1999-2004 and was Chair from 2002-2004. Was a member of the Zeuxis Still Life Group, NY, NY and currently is represented by the Dana Wiley Gallery in Dayton, Ohio.
David Leach
Artist Statement
The work selected for this exhibition remains centered around the simple theme of drawn lines. Each drawing proceeds from one line to the next, and the lines vary in character, placement and expressiveness. The sub-themes or motifs for these works relate to memory, journey, maps, architecture and interior space. Looking at each work, Overview, as the title implies, signals the initial three motifs in that it alludes to a “plan” or birds-eye view. Studio draws more on the last two motifs – along with memory – and invites an “elevation” perspective; how we normally view the world. As with most artists, the studio represents both a physical and a personal sense of “interior,” and in that sense, memory and reflection is drawn into most of what I do.
Biography
David Leach was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1946. He received a B.A. from Bucknell University, and an M.F.A. from Ohio University. He is an Emeritus Professor at Wright State University, having taught studio art there – primarily printmaking and drawing – from 1973 to 2003. He served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History from 1985 to 1989. His drawings have been published in conjunction with poetry and prose on numerous occasions, including Wanderers and Other Poems by Gary Pacernick (Prasada Press, 1985.) His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Beinicke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, the Dayton Art Institute and the Cincinnati Museum of Art, among several other public and private collections.
Tess Little
Artist Statement/Biography
Tess Little is a sculptor who lives and works in Fairborn, Ohio. Making sculpture is Tess’s passion. Tess works in clay, bronze, welded steel, recycled and found metal and concrete.
She creates both large-scale sculpture for public places and smaller artwork for the private home. She has also facilitated several large permanent community art projects in the Dayton, Ohio area. She has exhibited her artwork in both one person and group shows in the Midwest region for many years, and has artwork in many private collections. She is a retired sculpture professor from Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio and is active in the local art community. Since retirement, Tess is actively working as an artist and celebrates being able to create and exhibit her sculpture full time. Tess received her Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Tracy Longley-Cook
Artist Statement
The evolution of the photographic medium and practices related to death and grieving has an interesting and linked history. As photography became popularized and accessible by the mid to late 19th century in Europe and America, the custom of post-mortem portraiture became a common observance for many families. Photographs offered a more convenient, inexpensive, and true-to-life depiction of the deceased than other media such as painting or sculpture. One of the most significant ways in which photography gained acceptance, popularity, and commercial value was through posthumous utilization. “Spirit photography” also emerged in the mid 19th century paralleling the societal interest in communicating with spirits through a medium. These fabricated images (through the use of multiple and long exposures) were convincing at the time as people did not have a general knowledge of how photographs were made and could be manipulated.
Whether created with the intention to fool the viewer, or as a lasting artifact of remembrance, photographs of the dead were meant to provide comfort as well as a tangible and precious connection to the deceased. As the medium of photography had become less expensive and more accessible to the layman in the early 20th century, its role had shifted to documenting other important moments in life. Direct contact with death was minimized due to changing concerns within the medical field and laws regulating the handling, transporting, and burying the dead, thus altering social attitudes towards mortality. The process of grieving became an increasingly private act and divorced from public display.
The photographic image, made in any time period, becomes a fitting medium to reflect on what once lived. The past is inherently suspended, stilled, and made silent in any photograph leaving the viewer to reflect on what once was. In the words of Harry Carroll, “photography takes the life out of living subjects and renders them into ‘corpses’.” These photographs serve as permanent artifacts that embody ritualistic acts related to personal loss. Inhabiting a visually austere environment, an isolated and anonymous figure participates in reserved and symbolic observances related to bereavement. These performed ceremonial acts were inspired by various traditional cultural and religious mourning practices along with personal reflections on loss, memory, and the passage of time. Contemporary society, particularly within western cultures, struggles with how to negotiate and process grief. Engaging this subject in a public setting asks the audience to reflect and react to personal and communal loss in an effort to find solace.
Biography
Tracy Longley-Cook is an Associate Professor of Photography at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Her interests as a visual artist, educator and curator are strongly influenced by themes relating to transformation, memory and perception, and place. Through the use of mixed media along with experimental and traditional techniques, Tracy incorporates a variety of working methods into her photography, prints and books. She has exhibited her work internationally, and some publications include The Book of Alternative Processes by Christopher James, and The Elements of Photography by Angela Faris-Belt. Curatorial projects include Emmet Gowin and his Contemporaries at the Dayton Art Institute, and The Fixed Shadow: Cameraless Images at the Wright State University Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries.
Lori Park
Biography
Lori Park is a visual artist who grew up in Dayton Ohio. She is a self-taught artist who made a long journey from working on fishing boats in Alaska and as a wilderness dogsledding guide, to later graduating from Harvard University, working for the US Environmental Protection Agency, and then eventually turning full-time to her art.
As an artist Lori works internationally with exhibitions and projects between the USA, the UK, Europe and North Africa. She works in many media, including wire suspensions up to seven stories high, large-scale bronze sculptures and textural panels, found-object assemblage, collage, photography, printmaking and more. She is often driven by a sense of curiosity about the world and the natural environment, and other issues against the backdrop of larger social, economic and political events.
Sometimes her work is simply playful and whimsical. Lori Park has maintained a base in Dayton for many years while travelling with her art.Her art work is in public and private collections internationally including the collections of HRH King Charles III of the United Kingdom and HRH King Mohamed of Morocco, HRH Princess Lalla Meriem, the UK National Collection, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lord Bath, the Peggy Cooper Cafritz Collection, the Phoenix family, USA, and others.
Her work has been exhibited inside the United Nations Conference Of the Parties (UN COP / signatories to the UN Climate Change Agreement) -where she was awarded the "Trophy: Women, Art and Climate" by the United Nations Development Program and the Kingdom of Morocco for her art work on women and climate change.
Her large-scale work has been included in Sotheby's "Beyond Limits" the world-renowned exhibition of monumental sculpture held at Chatsworth House, The Duke of Devonshire's ancestral estate, England.
James Pate
Jennifer Rosengarten
Artist Statement
Follow, follow the sun
And which way the wind blows
When this day is done
Breath, breath in the air
Set your intentions
Dream with care
Tomorrow is a new day for everyone
A brand new moon, brand new sun
So follow, follow the sun
The direction of the birds
The direction of love
Breath, breath in the air
Cherish this moment
Cherish this breath
-Xavier Rudd
Biography
Jennifer graduated from Wright State University with a major in Fine Arts in 1989. She then attended the Vermont Studio School studying with Bernard Chaet and Wolf Kahn before heading to Boston University, with a full fellowship, to study painting. At BU she worked with John Walker, John Moore and Anne Harris. She completed her MFA in 1993, and upon graduating she was awarded the prestigious Esther B. Kahn Career Entry Award.
Jennifer’s work is part of many private and public collections including The Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH, The Jewish Hospital in New York City, and Premier Health Corporate Offices, Dayton, OH. Jennifer has exhibited her work in several galleries and institutions including The Munson Gallery, Santa Fe, The Dayton Visual Arts Center, and the Springfield Museum of Art. She is currently represented by Art Access Gallery in Columbus, OH. Her home and studio are located in Yellow Springs, OH.
Hal Shunk
Biography
Education
1982 MFA—Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
Major: Printmaking Minor: Drawing
1980 BFA—Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Major: Printmaking Minor: Graphic Arts
Teaching Experience
1985—Present Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio
Professor, Tenured 1994
Harcum Gallery Director
Courses Taught
Basic Design, Drawing, Painting, Ancient Art Cultures, Modern Art Cultures, Printmaking, Global Seminar, Honors Seminar
Selected Recent Exhibitions
Art Emporium, Charleston, West Virginia
Rosewood Arts Center, Dayton, Ohio
Gallery 41, Mason, Ohio
Kismet Gallery, Toledo, Ohio
Harcum Gallery, Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio
Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
Professional Affiliations
Cincinnati Art Museum, Member
Dayton Art Institute, Member
Springfield Art Gallery, Member
Seiphid Group Arts Organization
Rodney Veal
Biography
Rodney is an independent choreographer and multi-disciplinary artist, who served as adjunct faculty of dance at Stivers School of the Performing Arts And also as Adjunct faculty of dance at Sinclair Community College. Rodney also served in the capacity of Career Community Coordinator under the guidance of the Associate Provost’s Office. He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a B.S. in Political Science and Visual Arts. He received his M.F.A in Choreography from The Ohio State University. Rodney serves on the Board of Trustees of Ohio Dance as President and on the boards of Levitt Pavilions Dayton, Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, Westcott House, HomeFull, Dayton Live!, and the community advisory board of WYSO. Rodney is the recipient of several Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District grants and fellowships, including an MCACD Fellowship for 2010-2011. Rodney has choreographed and presented performance installations all over the Miami Valley; a recent notable project being Reveal: Five Zones of Beauty offered at the Springfield Museum of Art in 2011. A solo exhibition of works at the Harmon Museum in Lebanon, Ohio in 2023 and a site-specific installation at the University of Dayton’s ArtStreet in 2015. Rodney Currently serves as Public Media Connects as its newest Producer and Community Arts Liaison and as the host of the Emmy Award The Art Show, which is currently in production for its 14th season.
David Williams
Artist Statement
“The ART in Fishing” is a new collection that evokes the beauty inherent to every fish species. The acrylics on weathered steel capture the imagery in a striking abstract art form. Started in collaboration with nationally recognized artist Mike Elsass, “The ART in Fishing” is a series of works that speak to the angler and art lover. It’s a nod to the love of the species or just a successful day on the water.
Biography
As Vice President of Real Estate Development for Cross Street Partners out of Baltimore, Maryland, he manages the Dayton office and the Arcade adaptive reuse and historic preservation project in Dayton Ohio. He oversees the design, construction, leasing, financing and supports property management for the project. Dave serves as Board Chair for Heritage Ohio. Heritage Ohio is Ohio’s official historic preservation and Main Street organization, fosters economic development and sustainability through preservation of historic buildings, revitalization of downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts, and promotion of cultural tourism. He is also an avid fly fisherman and began sharing his love of fishing through abstract art focusing on colors and markings on weathered steel.