Each year, summer in Central Ohio is welcomed by the vibrant and colorful backdrop of the Columbus Arts Festival. This year’s event is June 5-7 throughout the Discovery District in Downtown Columbus.
Billed as one of the top arts events in the Midwest, the festival generates approximately 400,000 visitors to browse the artist booths. Nearly 1,000 artists applied for the festival’s coveted 230 spots, which were chosen by a blind jury. Five of those artists won’t need to make extensive travel plans to show off their work – Amy Taylor, Brian Becher, Jacob Stout, Kathleen Green and Anne London hail from the Central Ohio area.
Amy Kaye Taylor
Amy Kaye Taylor grew up in Marengo, Ohio before spending three years teaching art on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona. The reservation’s setting, laden with bold, majestic red rock formations, inspired her career as an oil painter.
Taylor eventually returned to her Midwestern roots, but her Southwestern experience provided the Columbus resident with a deeper appreciation of her current surroundings. She applies lively colors and embellished details to her work, which focuses mostly on contemporary landscapes offered at parks, farms and other scenic gems she discovers while running, hiking or traveling throughout Ohio. View Taylor’s online portfolio at www.amykayetaylor.com.
Anne London
California native and eight-year Hilliard resident Anne London travels mostly throughout North America and Africa to study her subject matter for what she calls “Endangered Species Art.” She has strong conservation and educational leanings in her work, and her travel is sponsored by various wildlife organizations.
London has gotten up close and personal with these species, having drawn everything from lions, elephants, dolphins, wolves, vultures and hyenas. She frequently works with “primal, natural and organic” charcoal, and also uses watercolor, engravings and, recently, coffee, which has a “beautiful brown pigment.”
London watches an animal’s body language before translating her perception onto paper. She feels “exhilaration” in drawing animals and in telling their story. To view her portfolio, visit www.aelondonstudio.com.
Jacob Stout
Columbus glass artist Jacob Stout’s work is a unique blend of centuries-old traditions with original contemporary designs. He utilizes techniques honed in Venice, Italy more than 500 years ago and complements them with modern colors and forms.
The Akron native has made a living as an artist for six years. Prior to being on his own, he learned traditional glassblowing techniques at Kent State University and as an understudy for other glassblowers. The historical techniques, he says, are obvious in his work and are balanced by contemporary, complex designs.
Stout uses a full color palette for his pieces, which are both functional – such as bowls and vases – and sculptural. No molds are used during his glassblowing process, so each piece is one-of-a-kind. Check out his work at www.jacobstout.com.
Brian Becher
Stout shares a glassblowing studio with another Columbus resident being featured at the festival – Brian Becher. Becher has been a glass artist for about 10 years and has “always been interested in the fast-paced medium.”
His work is primarily Venetian in style, but with a distinctly American character. He prefers a wide palette of colors applied in layers or stripes, while the interior of the vessels remain a solid color. “This gives the final piece a woven fabric effect. I am drawn to patterning and detail,” Becher says.
His pieces are also created from traditional methods without the use of molds, and are mostly decorative in nature. To view his work, visit www.brianbecher.com.
Kathleen Green
Groveport resident Kathleen Green has worked the festival circuit for at least 20 years, traveling all over the country with business partner and husband Mark. She will make her eighth appearance at the Columbus Arts Festival this year, displaying her traditional oil paintings.
Green began her art career in acrylics, but was quickly drawn to oil because “it is forgiving and exciting. Nothing compares to it,” she says. Her realism pieces focus on objects that are warm, familiar and reminiscent of home.
“I’ll paint the interiors of old, abandoned homes, antiques – real stuff in real life,” Green says. For inquiries about Green’s work, email .
The Columbus Arts Festival celebrates its 48th year June 5-7. In addition to the 230 nationally-acclaimed juried artists, the event will feature live entertainment, food and activities. For more information, visit www.gcac.org.
Alicia Kelso is editor of CityScene.