By supporting nonprofit arts organizations with a primary focus in Dublin, the Dublin Arts Council provides for a healthy community in which a variety of art forms, arts organizations and artistic projects can flourish. DAC is honored to support artists, including three Dublin visual artists profiled here.
Meet Neha Dadhich
Neha Dadhich was born and raised in Rajasthan, India. She earned a master’s degree in visual art and doctoral degree in folk arts from MLS University in India. She has worked as an artist for 18 years, including numerous exhibitions and residency programs, teaching and writing. She and her family moved to the U.S. seven years ago.
The vibrant colors and simplicity of the folk-art styles of Rajasthan impact Dadhich’s artwork, with a style between expressionism and surrealism. She primarily paints in acrylic, using pure, bright color tones to infuse simplicity and accuracy in her paintings – effectively communicating the sentiments, feelings and behavior of the characters.
“My art is a poetic message of the importance of universal love. The inspiration for my art is mmortal Relationships; we humans are deeply connected to humans, animals and nature,” says Dadhich. “These interconnected relationships are shaping our society. My art is an effort to preserve and understand these relationships, which are essential to us.”
She is currently working on the series Regrowing Life, a statement about humans’ need to nurture and nourish Mother Nature.
She and her family moved to Dublin from California nearly four years ago. She loves Dublin’s natural surroundings and abundant artwork. Dadhich is inspired by Dublin’s celebration of diverse cultures, which energizes her creatively.
“People motivate local artists,” she says.
Learn more about Dadhich at www.nehadadhich.com and on Instagram @artistneha23.
Meet Dawn Petrill
Dawn Petrill is a 1995 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art and received a master’s degree in liberal arts (MALS) from Wesleyan University in 2001. She began her artistic career as a freelance illustrator. She has been a resident of Dublin for 16 years.
Petrill paints and exhibits her artwork locally and nationally, teaching children and adults from her home studio. She also hosts a drawing class for adults with early onset dementia through Central Ohio Alzheimer’s Association, helping improve quality of life through creativity and an outlet for talking about memories.
Petrill is a member of Worthington Area Art League, Ohio Art League and National League of American Pen Women. She is also a member and past president of the Dublin Area Art League.
“I have developed a new body of work, which I have dubbed my Earthwork Series,” says Petrill. “My vision was to create a series of panels that are juxtaposed on top of each other to show the layers of the landscape. I wished to get away from the typical square or rectangular format – to break up the space and draw the viewer in by extending the planes of field outward.”
Petrill’s new artwork, supported by a grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, will be on view in the Dublin Community Recreation Center, 5600 Post Rd., in December. More information can be found at www.artatdawn.com and @artatdawn on Instagram.
Meet Don Staufenberg
Originally from Long Island, New York, Staufenberg earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Kent State University. He has served as product designer with many prestigious companies, including Rubbermaid and Herman Miller, and as head of design at Fitch Inc. He and his wife, Jill, have been Dublin residents for 31 years.
Staufenberg continues to explore the boundaries of his work, discovering how ceramic, wood, metal, polymer and color can work together to create exciting and meaningful pieces of art. His artwork was featured in a solo exhibition, Ceramic Infusion, at Dublin Arts Council in 2020, and he was commissioned to create two new public art RiverboxesTM for Dublin Arts Council in 2022.
Staufenberg says he learned a lot about Dublin during the process of creating Equal East and Equal West. He used artifacts such as cable from the Dublin Link pedestrian bridge and wood from the Coffman Park barn in the geocaching-inspired artworks. He continues to experiment and learn, hoping to incorporate stained, and perhaps even blown, glass into his artwork in the future.
“No one had really called me an artist before. I’d always been thought of as a product designer,” he says. “But now, when they call me an artist, I say, ‘Yes, I am!’”
View more of Staufenberg’s artwork at www.djsdesignstudio.org.
Networking Key to Success
All three artists recommend networking for continuing education and to discover exhibition opportunities. There are a number of artist organizations throughout central Ohio. The Dublin Area Art League provides excellent local opportunities for visual artists to connect and grow their practice.
Janet Cooper is director of engagement for the Dublin Arts Council. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
