The Columbus Arts Festival’s Emerging Artist program welcomed its largest-ever class to this year’s event. These 23 artists come from local counties to learn about the experience of being an exhibiting artist at a major national arts festival.
Many emerging artists have become regulars at festivals. In fact, 12 of this year’s juried artists are emerging artist alums, including mixed media artist Kate Morgan.
Dre McLeod
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Dre McLeod is a Columbus-based textile artist who uses repurposed fabric in applique quilting. She started working with textiles 12 years ago, developing a colorful, narrative style over time.
“I’m always influenced by quilts and quilters – I come from Appalachia and descended from quilters – but I’m also really inspired by previous art historical movements,” McLeod says.
One new body of her work is loosely inspired by Baroque art of the 17th century and surrealism. This type of work can take anywhere from hours to weeks, with her most detailed piece to date taking weeks to finish. Her work will be shown alongside that of fellow textile artist Katelyn Bishop at 934 Gallery in June.
The Columbus Arts Festival will be McLeod’s first time working at a festival, and she is very excited to be a part of the experience.
“I’m looking forward to the mentorship opportunities and learning how to market
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myself for the art festivals through this program. I know there are so many different avenues for artists who want to make a living selling their art, and selling at art festivals is one of those outlets,” she says. “I look forward to seeing how festival-goers relate to my work and if doing more arts festivals in the future is a good idea for me.”
Dane Khy
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Gaining skills in video and animation design during his time at the Columbus College of Art and Design, Dane Khy did graphic design work for more than 10 years. However, during the pandemic, Khy turned toward more traditional mediums and began creating art full-time.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten the sort of fulfillment as I do now, going out into the public and painting and trying to do arts festivals and things like that. It’s more of a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ type of career because you’re always trying to hope you get accepted into certain events and things like that,” Khy says. “It’s a lot to try to figure out, but I think it’s been an extremely fun career.”
His work features paint, spray paint and graphite. It’s inspired by lived experiences such as his parents’ stories of living through the Cambodian genocide during the late 1970s, as well as the way people connect to animals. Recently, he has also been making collages inspired by his daughter Rooney’s picture books.
Though his work has a dark undertone, Khy hopes his use of saturated colors helps balance
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people’s emotions and remind them to have their own experience with art and celebrate the journey with each other.
Last year, Khy was involved in the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival, so he is excited to be a part of the Columbus Arts Festival and work with his fellow artists and his mentor, Michael Bush.
“I have a studio (nearby), so it’s nice to just pop over and visit the arts festival when I can,” he says. “What I’m looking forward to most is the list of emerging artists. (There are) a lot of recognizable names, so it’s going to be exciting to be with them all weekend.”
Want to see more?
To check out more of their work, visit the artists’ websites:
Dre McLeod: www.dremcleod.com
Dane Khy: www.danekhy.com
Jane Dimel is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
