Emerging Artists break into the big time at arts festival

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What do a race car driver, a web developer and the son of a prominent local Italian meat market family have in common?

If you guessed “they’re Emerging Artists at this year’s Columbus Arts Festival,” give yourself a pat on the back.

Every year, the festival offers opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work through the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Emerging Artists program. The program is intended for artists who reside in Franklin, Union, Delaware, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Fayette and Madison counties and who have little or no experience exhibiting or selling their art.

Applicants to the program must submit their work for review by a juried panel. Once accepted, the artists receive guidance from festival staff and Emerging Artist program alumni to help them present their work.

Ricky Bowers

For Ricky Bowers, one passion has begot another.

Bowers started racing in go-karts when he was 10 years old. He has moved up the ranks since then, and now races Late Model Super Trucks. He always wanted to be a professional racer, but he never wanted to be just a professional racer.

Originally from Mentor, Bowers lives in Clintonville now. He attended last year’s Columbus Arts Festival, and while walking around and viewing the exhibits, he had a realization: His love of racing was going to become his art.

“I always wanted to do something artistic on my own; I just never knew what or how I was going to do it,” he says.

At the festival, Bowers was looking for art that portrayed the racing industry, but he didn’t find anything.

“That’s when I realized that if I put my passion for racing, automobiles and art together, I could create something pretty cool,” he says.

Not long after, Bowers started his photography business, Historic RPM.

His success as a driver has taken him through the southeast U.S., where he races on the short tracks NASCAR used before it outgrew them. Bowers has noticed that these short tracks are becoming dormant one by one, and his photography captures the beauty and change of America’s short racing tracks and iconic automobiles.

Bowers primarily prints his photos on canvas and hand-stretches them. Unsure about how to really get his photography business off the ground, he applied to the Emerging Artists program, figuring that an acceptance would help propel him.

“It means a lot that I will be able to showcase my art in front of (so many) people,” he says. “It’s a great start to a hopefully long-lasting endeavor.”

Brittni Hall

“Living in Columbus and going to the festival every year, I’ve always wanted to be an exhibiting artist, and now I’m stunned that I have the chance,” says Brittni Hall.

Hall, who graduated from The Ohio State University with a fine arts degree focusing on art and technology, works as a front end web developer for downtown Columbus-based Bonfire Red.

“While I don’t get to do painting at my job, I do get to use my creativity, which is exactly what I wanted,” she says, adding that it’s not always easy to find time for her art. “Going to work all day and then coming home to find the energy and motivation to paint is sometimes very difficult.”

Hall has been painting since she was very young, but oil painting is fairly new for her. She uses oil paints with a quick-drying impasto (a thick-spread paint that stands out from the surface) to thin it for better application with a palette knife, which she utilizes in addition to brushes. She mostly paints on canvas, but recently began painting on wood.

“I’ll make the wood look aged, give it a clear gesso to protect it from the oil paint and then see what I can create,” she says.

The festival exhibition will be a new experience for Hall, one that she knows will help her grow as an artist.

“For a long time I’ve shied away from showing anyone my paintings or putting them on social media because opening yourself and your art to criticism can be a very scary thing,” she says.

She credits the Emerging Artists program for preparing her for this, especially because those helping her have gone through the program themselves.

“It makes what they’re saying and the feedback they’re giving us that much more important because they’ve lived it,” she says. “While there will be criticism, I’ve learned that this will only make my art better. I’m extremely happy that I took the chance and now have an opportunity like this.”

Luciano Carfagna

Luciano Carfagna has a recognizable last name in the greater Columbus area because of his family’s Italian meat markets, but he is determined to make a name for himself with his art.

Born and raised in Westerville but now living in German Village, Carfagna says he has been an artist his entire life.

“Since I first put pencil to paper and felt an image flow from my mind, through my hand and out into reality, the creative process has captivated me,” he says.

Carfagna left the Columbus area for college, earning an undergraduate degree in architecture from Miami University and a master’s degree in architecture from the Savannah College of Art & Design. Sometimes, he says, people ask him how architecture and painting are related.

“I say every creative field starts with the basic concepts of color and composition,” he says.

Carfagna works primarily with acrylic on canvas.

“I like to make thick, textured art, and acrylic really lends to that,” he says, adding that his material choice depends on the project. 

Though Carfagna’s family is known for a business other than art, he cites a family member, his aunt Maggie, as an important influence.

“She was a high school art teacher in Columbus, and we would go to her classroom after hours and get to use real art supplies,” he says. “To a kid that only used pencils, that was the big leagues.”

Carfagna has come along way from his aunt’s classroom, and he is grateful to be a part of the Emerging Artists program.

“To be included amongst so many talented people is an absolute honor, and I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about how this process works,” he says. “I would be a lost puppy without this program. They do so much to start you off on the right path, and I can’t thank them enough.”

Bob Valasek is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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