Mary Ann Crago and Alexa Carson love details. In fact, far from devilish, they find it’s the details that bring joy to their work.
Crago and Carson are two of the individuals who will have tents at this year’s Columbus Arts Festival as part of the festival’s Emerging Artists program. The program has produced a number of artists who have gone on to show their wares in other cities, says Festival Director Scott Huntley.
“We help central Ohio artists at varying points in their career get hands-on experience exhibiting at a national-level festival,” Huntley says.
The festival is slated for June 12-14 on the downtown Columbus riverfront. For more information, visit http://columbusartsfestival.org.
Mary Ann Crago
A graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design with a focus on painting, Crago works as a children’s librarian at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Her mixed media wall hangings are well-crafted collages incorporating found objects such as dominoes, washers, keys and vintage photographs.
“I’ve always been a collector of things,” Crago says, “all kinds of things; probably too many things.” At one point, “they just kind of meshed together.”
She calls the process of assemblage “3-D sketching.”
“It’s interesting to think about them having a different purpose at some point in time, but they’re still here for some reason,” she says. Putting them together gives them a new identity, she adds.
More than that of your average collage artist, Crago’s work has a precise aesthetic. In addition to found objects, she crafts other elements – such as metal, hand-drawn wings and birds’ heads – to complete each piece. She feels that the bird-themed pieces are guardians, protectors or talismans, while she deliberately gives vintage photographs a warrior princess vibe.
In her work, painted dots are ubiquitous. Her treatment makes each collage pop with energy by either accentuating a detail or separating elements just enough to draw the eye forward.
“I’m kind of known for my dots,” she says.
Above all, there is a joy to Crago’s art. She loves making it, and the result is strong and soulful. Get to her tent early, as these pieces are sure to go fast.
Alexa Carson
Carson is another CCAD graduate. She works at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and volunteers at the Ohio Wildlife Center.
Her detailed brush strokes define her paintings.
“My purpose is to show people how much beautiful wildlife we have,” she says. “We have beautiful raptors, beautiful water fowl, warblers that come only in the spring, and people just walk right by not realizing.”
So she tries to paint the indigenous wildlife to raise awareness of “how much beauty we’re surrounded with.” Every feather, eye shape, talon and wingspan is studied by Carson and translated to canvas.
“Every species has so many amazing qualities, so I just want to focus on that specific species and show all of its just wondrous qualities,” she says.
She works from her own photography, but it pales in comparison to the experience of interacting with real animals at the nature center, she says.
“Just holding a great horned owl, you really get to understand how a great horned owl’s feet and wings and eyes work so much better than by looking at photographs or videos,” Carson says. “That really helps me.”
Although she paints many animals – an opossum is the central character in an upcoming children’s book – Carson favors birds for the work she’s bringing to the arts festival.
“I guess they kind of seem magical to me,” she says. “They just flit around in these lives that are so different from our own.”
Some nature artists ennoble their animals on canvas, while Carson takes us in a different direction: Her work feels as if we’ve just looked out the window and discovered a passing eagle or owl.
Carson uses acrylic, though she treats it like watercolor, alternating between fine lines and watery drips, creating a quality to her work that is both realistic and mystical. Check out her series of small paintings over vintage book pages – they will prove popular with the festival crowd.
The Columbus Arts Festival Emerging Artists program selects artists from a pool of local applicants. It gives them space to showcase and sell their work, and also offers a festival “boot camp” artists can attend for tips on pricing, crowd management and enticing buyers. It’s a one-of-a-kind primer into the business end of festivals so artists from Columbus can show their wares throughout the nation, if they so choose.
Cindy Gaillard is an Emmy award-winning producer with WOSU Public Media. Learn more about the weekly arts and culture magazine show Broad & High at www.wosu.org/broadandhigh.
Related Stories
-Festival artist J.D. Davison, who was one of last year’s Emerging Artists
-Frank Kozarich and Claudia Retter, two of 2013’s Emerging Artists
-The Art Shark, the festival’s ever-popular mascot
-Festival artist Lawrence Tuber, a glassworker who also teaches at the Works in Newark
