Stepping into the home of Stephanie Rond and Nate Oliver is like stepping into an art gallery. A beautifully curated one, of course. Which is no surprise, since curating art is one of Rond’s professions. Their displays rotate through over 150 pieces.
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“We’re still actively collecting,” says Rond. “We have had to put some in storage.”
When the couple purchased the home about eleven years ago, they felt it would be a perfect backdrop to an art collection.
“The previous owners also had lots of art throughout the house,” says Oliver. “We loved this house for the art gallery feel.”
He’s known Rond since she was at The Ohio State University studying art.
Rond received a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, concentrating in painting and drawing, with a minor in sculpture. Today she curates art shows, has cofounded CAW: Creative Arts of Women, and founded the S.Dot Gallery. She also paints and does street art. Currently, Rond has a piece in Seattle.
She works with small businesses in Columbus to create street art, on or around their buildings, to show that street art does not only mean vandalism.
Throughout the home, Rond has curated the rooms to convey feelings and different moods. Some rooms are centered around a major piece of artwork.
“My job is to curate,” says Rond. “I tend to always be moving something around. The longest it has stayed the same is about two months.”
Many pieces are miniatures, from the S.Dot Gallery. The idea for S.Dot Gallery came to Rond during a ‘Playing House’ show in Cleveland where she transformed a dollhouse into a gallery for her own work.
“The show discussed the princess culture of today,” says Rond. “When we grew up it was about being a housewife. I always wanted a dollhouse, so I thought I’d do one with art, and have people send in work.”
The dollhouse is one she found at the German Village Antique Mall and the gallery is set up in her home and is viewable online and on a Facebook page.
“It’s really fun,” she says. ” I always tease the artists that they are coming over to play toys with me.”
“I also love the accessibility of the gallery by having it online. You can look at the work from the comfort of your own home and not worry about other people thinking about the dialogue you are using.”
With so many people coming into her home to do installations in the S.Dot gallery, Rond has turned her bathroom into a gallery of work by Dan Gerdeman, one of her longtime friends.
The bathroom gallery is a play on the Cowtown Lowbrow ideals of art being anywhere. Gerdeman founded Cowtown Lowbrow to give a collective voice to art that is in your face and involved artists such as Coreroc, Sharon Dorsey, Cyrus Fire, Marina Goldshteyn, Joey Monsoon, Carolyn Slebodnik, and Rond.
As to how they acquire pieces in their collection, “it’s about 50/50 between buying and trading,” says Rond. “As I sell work, I invest back into other’s artwork. I believe in art karma.”
“There’s a special energy to Columbus’ art scene,” says Oliver. “It feels really interconnected and there’s an excitement about it’s growth.”
Rond’s work recently inspired other artists to create a short art film. Tiny Out Loud aims to challenge the sense of scale in the art world, “making gender roles smaller and art’s accessibility larger.”
Anne Evans is the Co-Founder and Director of Operations for The Metropreneur and Columbus Underground. She regularly contributes feature stories on both sites, as well as Mega Weekend each week. She has started and grown businesses, created experiences, forged community partnerships, and worked to create opportunities for others. She loves meeting new neighbors and those making an impact in our community. Want to connect?