Calling all Ohioans—did you know you own your own art gallery? It’s true. Since 1989, the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery has served as the only art gallery operated by the state of Ohio, with great support from the Ohio Building Authority. That means it belongs to all of us, and if you aren’t taking advantage of it, then you’re missing out.
Located on the first floor of the Vern Riffe Center in downtown Columbus, just across High Street from the Ohio Statehouse, the 3,000-square-foot Riffe Gallery attracts a wide variety of people through its doors every day. From legislators to local business owners to office workers and everyday citizens, there is something for everyone at the state’s art gallery.
In the last two decades, exhibitions at the Riffe Gallery have focused on many themes , including photography, high fashion, circus imagery and even quilts. And no matter what the theme is, the gallery abides by one guiding principle—to exhibit artwork from artists who live in Ohio and the Midwest region. Sometimes this even extends to international exhibitions that feature works of art by artists from Ohio and from other countries.
The process behind creating these museum-quality exhibitions is long and involved.
“Our shows are typically scheduled two years in advance,” says Mary Gray, director of the Riffe Gallery. Each year, the gallery hosts four exhibitions in its main gallery and, on average, three exhibitions in the lobby of the Vern Riffe Center. An exhibition is developed one of two ways—either the gallery produces the show itself with the help of a freelance curator, or it partners with other arts organizations to host already developed exhibitions. For instance, the gallery’s current show, Against the Grain: Modernism in the Midwest, is a traveling exhibition that originated at the Massillon Museum in Massillon, Ohio.
“Against the Grain is the third Riffe Gallery show curated by Christine Fowler Shearer, former director of the Massillon Museum,” Gray says. It includes approximately 65 paintings produced between 1900 and 1950 that demonstrate the development of modernism by artists who were born in, studied, or worked in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
It took about two weeks to prepare the gallery and install the exhibition, which includes paintings from such artists as Gertrude Abercrombie, Charles Burchfield, Manierre Dawson, Alice Schille and William Sommer. And if you don’t know who any of these artists are, don’t worry! According to Gray, “Riffe Gallery exhibitions are designed to appeal to a diverse audience.” In other words, you don’t need to be an art aficionado to enjoy yourself.
Admission is free, so if you’re looking for a warm place to spend your lunch hour in downtown Columbus this winter, duck into the Riffe Gallery to see Against the Grain by January 9, 2011.
The Riffe Gallery is at located at 77 S. High St. For more information and gallery hours, visit www.riffegallery.org or call 614/644-9624.
GCAC Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus – in partnership with the Columbus Arts Marketing Association, a professional development and networking association of arts marketers. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at the arts in Columbus.
