George Bellows and the American Experience

A broad overview of a major Ohio artist’s paintings 
and lithographs at the Columbus Museum of Art

Entrance to the Columbus Museum of Art

     George Bellows was born and raised in Columbus, though he made his name in New York after dropping out of OSU as a junior.  He’s most well known for his paintings of boxers from

Wooster, OH Makes a Picture Postcard College Town

Downtown Wooster and the Wayne County Court House

      Eric and I were first introduced to Wooster, OH when we met Cindy and Will there for dinner at South Street Market in 2006.  It was a memorable meal and in the center of downtown with its Beaux Arts Wayne County Court House.  I also recalled it as the home to a frenemy early in my career, before the term became popular.  I still got some chills when we visited Thomas and Rolland for a weekend there recently.

College of Wooster

      Probably known best as home to the Ohio Light Opera and the College of Wooster, the former is a summer repertory company founded by James Stuart that makes its home at the

Topiary Park: Taking Columbus' City Parks to the Next Level

Topiary Park in Columbus, OH

      James T. Mason, an artist teaching at the Cultural Arts Center in Columbus, had a vision in the late 1980's to create a topiary park based on George Seurat's 7' x 10' painting of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

The Seurat Painting

The post-impressionist masterpiece is a familiar one permanently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago that took Seurat two years to complete.  

Akron Art Museum: A Work of Art

Steel, Glass, and Italian Renaissance

      Ohio is fortunate to have so many second tier cities that house prominent public art collections.  Dayton and Toledo come to mind, along with Akron that emerged with the opening of the Knight Building in 2007.  The contemporary wing is somewhat like a glass and stainless steel prop plane that has landed and taken the original 1899 Italian Renaissance revival style building under its wing…literally.  The result has received reactions from “huh?” to “wow!”  I feel it totally works and connects the two structures in a way that is symbolic of a city that has reinvented itself.

Akron Art Museum

      I was visiting Cindy in Medina when we decided to take a day to visit Akron for the temporary exhibit Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism.  Her painting friends, Georgene and Lee joined us there.  The three of them are plein air artists, a genre that was

A Day at the Casinos, A Night at Ron's Roost

Dexter Climbss the Mileage Marker in Lawrenceburg, IN

      Eric's Mom was visiting, and a trip to the Indiana casinos is always on her list for entertainment.  We decided to make it a day trip by starting out on Route 50 West.  I like taking that highway from Cincinnati as it is more scenic and really just as fast as the interstate.  If you have time, stop off at Fern Bank Park...a lovely city gem stretched out along the banks of the Ohio River.  The tree-lined promenade is a great place to take temporary residence on one of the many benches along the walkway.  

Whiskey's Interior

      We usually make the buffet at Hollywood Casino our first destination, but they were in the middle of a remodel (they're still open though) so we decided to have lunch at Whiskey's nearby in the Newtown district of Lawrenceburg, IN.  I had been there before so the challenge was to please Carol and Eric. Whiskey's is two connected older buildings one of which was a button factory.  The look was turn-of-the-last-century, dimly lit, and inviting.  Be sure and check out

Columbus' Franklin Park Conservatory is an Overdose for the Senses

A Chihuly Sculpture in the Victorian Palm House

      Franklin Park was the centerpiece for Ameriflora, an international horticultural exhibition in 1992 to commemorate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.  The Victorian conservatory, originally built in 1895 and modeled after the Glass Palace of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, was renovated and expanded to host the garden extravaganza.  When Ameriflora became a financial disaster, the future of the Franklin Park Conservatory was in jeopardy.  WIth a handful of dedicated staff and volunteers, the institution began a rebirth.  In 2003, Dale Chihuly at the Conservatory became a blockbuster exhibition increasing attendance substantially.   Many of the pieces were purchased afterwards making it the largest collection owned by a conservatory or botanical garden.  The works are throughout the display houses adding organic color.  Since then, the Franklin Park Conservatory has become a showplace and major attraction for the city.

A Chihuly Ceiling in the Himalayan Collection

The Monstrous Chihuly in the Pacific Island Water Garden

A Road Trip to New England? No, It's Granville, OH

      Granville is one of those towns that upon crossing its border, one immediately feels transposed to another place.  It seems miles from the surrounding countryside of rural Ohio, and best described as an affluent New England village.  

Swasey Chapel

at Denison University

      I was visiting my family for a few days in Columbus and had suggested that we take the short road trip (25 miles) to the town as I had not been there for a few years.  I remembered it as the home to Denison University (Michael Eisner's alma mater) and the cozy Buxton Inn.  Other than that, I didn't recall very many other reasons other than to just drive around and enjoy the restored homes and gardens and the sleepy picturesque town center.  

Winding Through Denison University

Eclectic Cottages in the Village

New England Architecture
of Granville, OH

I was pleasantly surprised to find a thriving town of