TWO PUBLIC ART PROJECTS SET TO BE INSTALLED IN THE SHORT NORTH ARTS DISTRICT

COLUMBUS, OH (May 28, 2020) -- More art is coming to the Short North Arts District starting May 30. Two new public art projects featuring works by over 12 artists are set to be installed just as businesses begin to reopen their doors and the District starts to safely welcome visitors back after the COVID-19 public health pandemic caused an over 60-day shut down of operations in the Short North Arts District. The projects include Wall Alley Portal and One World: 2020 Short North Mural Series.

Wall Alley Portal
The first project, titled Wall Alley Portal, features a mural installation by local, self-taught artists and up-and-coming muralists Ashley Pierce and Josh Cummings. Installed in Wall Alley directly behind the Garden Theater and adjacent to the Short North Church, Wall Alley Portal is an engaging new project that helps to enliven a space that has been a constant area of concern among adjacent property owners due to its dark corners and blighted appearance. Pierce, who regularly shows her studio work at Lindsey Gallery in the Short North Arts District, was inspired by the unique architecture of the buildings that line Wall Alley, specifically an historic feature of the Garden Theater that was once a portal doorway into the old building. The imagery exhibited in Wall Alley Portal signifies hope, transformation, and the collective power that the many unique not-profits adjacent to the alley bring in helping the communities they serve. In addition to the artwork, lighting will be added to the alley to enhance safety and create an even more dynamic experience of the artwork at night.

Installation of Wall Alley Portal will begin on May 30 and continue through June 15. Members of the public are invited to watch the artists' installation occur from a safe distance behind barricades. A public artist talk is planned for a later date this fall.

Wall Alley Portal is a project of the Short North Alliance and is made possible with support from the United Way of Central Ohio, PNC Bank, The Columbus Foundation, the Short North Foundation, the American Electric Power Foundation, the Short North Church, Rock City Church, The Lykens Companies, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Short North Alliance Art Fund.



Wall Alley Portal: Artist Information

Ashley Pierce
Ashley Pierce is a self-taught mixed media artist born in Columbus, Ohio. Pierce started creating at a very early age and continuously experimented with a variety of media and tools. This unrestricted exploration developed into the unique style she is known for. Working on wood panel, utilizing watercolor, colored pencil, and carving with a Dremel tool, Pierce creates characters and scenes from what she describes as an invisible world hidden just beneath a thin film of our reality. In 2014, she shared this world for the first time at Lindsay Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. Pattern and texture play an important role in her work as she states it allows her time to build relationships and work out concepts with her subject matter. The unique and narrative style invites and encourages the viewer to create their own story and dialog with each piece. As Pierce’s artistic vision expanded, so did her materials and applications. Finding new ways to depict the world she sees has produced sculptures and larger, more complex pieces. In 2019, Pierce created a large-scale mural with the assistance of artist and partner Joshua Cummings. Their successful collaboration has brought many projects and creative plans together, and Pierce continues to work both with Cummings and as a solo artist.

Joshua Cummings
Joshua Cummings is originally from Erie, Pennsylvania. Having grown up around factories where most of the community worked, and not wanting that career path for himself, Cummings moved to Columbus immediately after graduating high school. He carried with him the industrious spirit of resourcefulness and grit, as well as a love for the outdoors, which can be seen in his work and collaborations today. Upon moving to Columbus, Cummings found himself drawn to the local music and art scene. His passion for Columbus’ creative scene, in conjunction with his skills as a craftsman, led him to collaborations with local artists, where his inspiration and creativity was fueled. In the summer of 2019, Cummings assisted in creating a large-scale mural with artist and partner Ashley Pierce of Columbus. Since it’s completion, Cummings has assisted in an array of other art pieces with Pierce and enjoys figuring out the best methods, materials, and plans to bring concepts and ideas to life.

Click here to download renderings of the Wall Alley Portal.

One World: 2020 Short North Mural Series
A perennial favorite, each year the Columbus community looks forward to the annual installation of the Short North Mural Series. The 2020 Short North Mural Series is titled One World and showcases the diversity of global artists and their experiences. Curated in collaborations with Short North Arts District galleries, One World features 11 artists whose art and artworks represent their experiences and the experiences of others from over 10 countries, including Argentina, Ghana, India, Israel, Istanbul, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, and South Africa. An exceptionally timely installation, One World conveys a powerful sense of both the unity and oneness of the human spirit. The murals, which are all temporary, are installed across various sites and spaces in the Short North Arts District. Installation will be complete by the June 6 Virtual Gallery Hop and members of the public are invited to view the artworks while making their visit to Short North Safe through social distancing, mask wearing, and handwashing. A collaborative showcase of all of the original artworks will occur on July 19 at each of the participating galleries, with pop-up installations of gallery artwork featured in various windows throughout the Short North Arts District starting that same day. Additionally, One World is featured in the Short North Arts District Art Trail, a public art and arts walking guide that is newly hosted by Experience Columbus. Click here to access the Short North Arts District Art Trail.

One World is a project of the Short North Alliance and is made possible with support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Short North Alliance Art Fund.


One World: Artist & Mural Information

Satisfied
Karji Jimi Weah
Sean Christopher Gallery Ohio
Installed at 1359 N. High St.
Karji Jimi Weah is a Columbus-based visual artist and reggae musician and native of Liberia. Karji means “the world doesn’t know what is good nor what is bad” and Weah means “King.” “A lover of silver is not satisfied with silver nor is the lover of wealth with income. As for me, I am satisfied with what little I have.”

THE TOIL OF A GHANAIAN MOTHER
Edmund Boateng
Sharon Weiss Gallery
Installed at 1288 N. High St.
In Ghana, about 60% of the women go through a stage where they carry items in a pan or basket to sell either in the markets or neighborhoods. Boateng has personally bought items from them, mostly the easiest and most convenient way of getting food items. “My mom, at some point, had to go through the same process selling all different kinds of stuff. And yes, you will see them walk miles with a baby at their back, which three of my siblings and myself have been carried at her back while walking miles to sell whatever she had in her pan/basket. This photo depicts exactly what most Street Hawkers go through to feed themselves and their families.”

Stray Delight
Kaveri Raina
Hammond Harkins Galleries
Installed at 1020 N. High St.
Kaveri Raina is an abstract artist, born in India, raised in Ohio, and educated in Maryland.

A Little Wrong
Julie Byrne
(Not) Sheep Gallery
Installed at 15 E. Second St.
Clay provides the artist with a chance to make anything, capture any detail, and speak in any voice to convey an idea. Its flexibility and strength is god-like, empowering (from dust, and unto dust) and do-overs are a matter of determination. “My work has evolved from stories, my own and stories and those I have borrowed from others. Over the years I have built a cast of characters who do my bidding. The job of creating a sculpture as story is, for me partly, my job, and partly the work of the finished piece.”

What’s the matter, Quetzalcoatl got your tongue?
Adam Hernandez
Lindsay Gallery
Installed at 921 N. High St.
Quetzalcoatl, “the feathered serpent,” is a creator deity with roots stretching back in Mesoamerican culture to before the Mayans and Aztecs, although he appears in their myths as well. Here he sits atop a field of graffiti-like markings which include a wide array of meanings and significance, from song lyrics to the Taino symbols for the Sun and Moon. This piece is meant to remind us that we can find strength and meaning in the myths and stories of those who came before us.

BARBERSHOP…Istanbul
Rainer Ziehm
Sarah Gormley Gallery
Installed at 858 N. High St.
In the alleys of old Istanbul, the barbershops are the bastions of traditional male society, the place where men gather to discuss politics, share neighborhood gossip, play dominoes; a place to escape their daily routines. The barber is not only the barber, but the friend and confidant.

The Tohoku Great Wave
Antonio González García
Studios on High Gallery
Installed at 790 N. High St.
The Tohoku Great Wave is a painting inspired by the tsunami which struck the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. Documentary films created after the disaster noted previous studies of tsunami risk and protection performed before the design and building of the nuclear power plant were ignored. The wave itself echoes the work of Japanese woodblock print artist Hokusai.

YOU CAN’T HURT ME CAUSE STORMS CAN’T HURT THE SKY
John Giorno
Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art
Installed at 777 N. Wall St.
John Giorno (1936 – 2019) was an American poet and visual artist. This work by Giorno is part of a larger series of artworks and is representative of Giorno’s blend of Pop art sensibilities with messages excerpted from his poetry and produced in his trademark font. He is known for his participatory telephone art project “Dial-A-Poem,” which first began in 1968. His work is held in museums around the world.

Pua 1
Zemer Peled
Sherrie Gallerie
Installed at 772 N. High St.
Zemer Peled’s work examines the beauty and brutality of the natural world. Her sculptural language is formed by her surrounding landscapes and nature, engaging with themes of memory, identity, and place. Her works are formed from thousands of porcelain shards constructed into large-scale/small-scale sculptures and installations.

The Colosseum
Robie Benve
Marcia Evans Gallery
Installed at 685 N. High St.
The Colosseum pictures a trademark monument of Italy, a country usually known for its culture, art, and food, and recently on the news for being badly struck by the 2020 pandemic, as most of the world. The artist, a native Italian, used colorful abstract patterns and marks to create an ageless and vibrant composition that powerfully celebrates the history and the memories associated with the famous 2000-year-old arena.

Here We Are
Alejandra Zanetta
Brandt-Roberts Galleries
Installed at 642 N. High St.
Argentinian artist Alejandra Zanetta’s piece alludes to the generational rift that she feels exists today. “While we, the ‘adults,’ the ‘parents,’ think we are always right, that we made the right choices, in reality we are leaving the new generation a complicated world, a world which is threatened by multiple challenges that we did not properly address: climate change, social inequality, and mass migration.” The figure holding his head in his hands alludes to the mythological figure Atlas, who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. The title Here We Are alludes both to the dire situation in which we find ourselves and to the will of this new generation to “contradict” their parents and to take stock of the situation.

Click here to download high resolution images of each of the mural artworks.

Click here to see additional information about all of the public artworks found in the Short North Arts District.

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About the Short North Arts District
The Short North Arts District is the most vibrant spot in the City of Columbus, and is home to more than 350 exciting businesses, the majority of which are locally-owned or headquartered. It has received numerous national accolades, is considered a model for urban revitalization, and is known as the art and soul of Columbus. The Short North Alliance (SNA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization serving both the property owners and business owners of the Short North Arts District. For more information, visit www.shortnorth.org.

Download the full press release here.