Meet Ryan L. Taylor

Ryan L. Taylor is a wildlife, nature, and landscape fine art photographer from Beavercreek, Ohio.

He studied at the New York Institute of Photography, graduating in 2017 with certificates in Professional Photography and Travel Photography. Any other experience he has is self-taught from going out in the field.

The majority of his work focuses on the genre of nature photography, and specializing in wildlife, wildflowers, trees, and landscapes, often traveling to far off scenic locations away from home or near as can be. He delivers stylish framed and matted fine art prints while also promoting conservation and wildlife ethics.

Call it experiential photography: documenting the living things around us and delivering that moment to you, the viewer, is his purpose. Reflected in his work is a deep ecological concern for the fragile and precious environments on our planet, although he tends to focus on what beauty is already there rather than the harrowing consequences of humanity’s actions that affect tomorrow.

You can view more of his work at www.RyanLTaylor.com

Call for Artists: Dare 2B a Little Square (take 2) Community Show

Call for Artists! The Village Artisan's Spring Community Art Show theme is Dare 2B a Little Square - take 2! We had such great participation when we did this a few years ago that we decided to do it again. All art should be 6" x 6" (finished size) and 3D work should be 6" x 6" x 6". All work should be framed and ready to hang or be displayed when dropped off, or it will not be hung or shown. $10 for the first piece and $5 for additional pieces. Submit art by Feb. 24. More details and form here.

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER LOBBY SHOW: Candy Canes & Cheer

Our lobby show "Candy Canes & Cheer" is all set up in our shop lobby and runs through January 13. We're having a reception/open house on Saturday, December 14 from noon-5 pm.

ARTISANS OUT AND ABOUT: Members Participating in the Yellow Springs Open Studios

We have several Village Artisans members who are participating in this year's Yellow Springs Open Studios:

- Carol Culbertson, weaving & ceramics
- Pam Geisel, art quilts
- Sara Gray, glass
- Theresa Mayer, glass

- Kathy Verner Moulton, illustration & books

- Kathryn Pitstick, graphic/screen printing
- Libby Rudolf, watercolor paintings

The event takes place in the artist's studios on Sat. & Sun., Oct. 19 & 20, from 11 am-5 pm. Visit the event's website for more information and a link to the map.

OCT-NOV COMMUNITY SHOW: Laughter is the Best Medicine

Our "Laughter is the Best Medicine" show, featuring art from the community, has been hung in our lobby and runs through Nov 11. There will be a reception during the Yellow Springs Art Stroll on Friday, October 18 from 6-9 pm for snacks and beverages and the opportunity to meet some of the community members who helped make this show happen.

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER LOBBY SHOW: /ˈtrib-yoot/ – A Village Artisans Sisters Show

The sisters are at it again! After last year’s successful “Triple Dog Dare Ya” show, Village Artisans member Carol Culbertson and her two sisters Nancy Crawford and Barbara Richey are hosting the show /ˈtrib-yoot/ from August 16 through September 30. There will be an artist reception on Friday, August 16 from 6-9 pm. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

All three sisters have a background in teaching. Carol, who lives in Enon, is a retired elementary school teacher; Nancy, who lives in Johnstown, is a middle school art teacher; and Barbara, who lives in Xenia, teaches Computer Tech at several elementary schools in Xenia. The sisters all create art in a variety of mediums including painting, quilting, and pottery. Carol and Barbara are also weavers.

When asked the significance of the show’s title, Carol replied, “The art in the exhibit is meant to show gratitude, respect, and admiration for all those who have inspired, encouraged, and assisted the three of us as artists along our journey.”

36th Annual Art on the Lawn

WHEN: Saturday, August 10, 2019, 10 am-5 pm
WHERE: Grounds of Mills Lawn School, 200 S. Walnut Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio

More than 100 artists from Ohio and beyond will gather under the shade trees at 200 S. Walnut St., in the heart of Yellow Springs, Ohio, to show and sell their original, fine arts and fine crafts at this year's Art on the Lawn on Saturday, August 10, from 10 am-5 pm, rain or shine. This popular, free, outdoor festival of art, food and music, now in its thirty-sixth year, is sponsored by Village Artisans Gallery of Yellow Springs. Both new and returning artists will present their ceramics, drawings, fiber art, garden art, glass, jewelry, leatherwork, mixed media, papercraft, paintings, photography and more. Food vendors and live music complement the outstanding, juried artwork. 

Of the 100 artists, approximately two-thirds are returning artists while the rest are new to this show.

Returning this year is Art on the Lawn's Featured Artist Mary Hadden of Little Raven Clayworks, ceramic artist from Floyd, Virginia. Hadden won Best of Show at the 2018 Art on the Lawn.

Hadden process includes using North Carolina terra cotta clay to build her ceramic pieces, some of which are pinched and molded with her fingers and others which are built with slabs of clay. She adds texture to the surface and sometimes presses objects into the clay then fires the pieces in a kiln.

She is inspired by Mexican folk art, Edward Gorey, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Seuss, and the natural world. Her goal is to bring childlike delight through her work and to keep the magic alive.

Hadden has been making her unique hand-built ceramics for 32 years after taking a workshop. She says that “living an artful life is an adventure. To learn, discover, play, struggle and sometimes fail is a celebration of imagination and creativity.” Her curiously peculiar ceramic pieces are an extension of that celebration.

To see more of Hadden’s work visit Art on the Lawn and her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LittleRavenClayworks.

Village Artisans, sponsors of Art on the Lawn, has been a multi-media cooperative art gallery since 1983. The gallery is located at 100 Corry Street in Yellow Springs. For more information on Art on the Lawn and/or Village Artisans - stop in, call 937-767-1209, email villageartisans.email@yahoo.com or visit www.villageartisans.blogspot.com.

Meet Melanie Gleaves Morrett

Melanie Gleaves Morrett was born and raised in the deep South where she graduated with a BFA degree in Graphic Design, but chose instead to pour her life into creating fine art. Her style for most of her career has been classical, disciplined, and detailed. Recently she has been exploring more contemporary approaches and techniques especially in her printmaking, which includes hand-drawn, inked, and printed etchings, monotypes, and monoprints.

Her life is a journey and her art a journal of images that have stirred something deep within her soul. Each piece is like a page in her life she has recorded and shared so others can see and experience the world through her eyes. She believes a picture is truly worth a thousand words and she has chosen etching ink, pastels, and oil paints to tell her stories. Each work has a unique story to tell and she is happy to share the inspirations behind each one.

Melanie has won awards in both local and national shows. She believe her best art is still inside her and she is filled with great hope and anticipation to become all God has created her to be.

You can view more of her work at www.morrettfineart.com.

ARTISANS OUT AND ABOUT: Members Participating in Local Exhibits

"Flowers" by Leah Mendenhall Grommon

Through July 27 (closing reception that day from 4-7pm)

At the Spirited Goat, 118 Dayton St. in Yellow Springs

(Art by Leah Mendenhall Grommon)

"This And That" 

YSAC Gallery Committee Exhibit

Through Aug. 31

At the Alcove Gallery at Antioch Midwest, 900 Dayton St. in Yellow Springs

Kathey Vernor Moulton and Theresa Mayer are participating

(Art by Theresa Mayer)

"This Land I Love"

Tecumseh Land Trust Exhibit

Through August 31
At the Winds Café, 215 Xenia Ave. in Yellow Springs

Leah Mendenhall Grommon, Kathryn Pitstick, and Libby Rudolf are participating

(Art by Leah Mendenhall Grommon)

Kathryn Pitstick solo show

Through October 6

At the Wheat Penny, 515 Wayne Ave. in Dayton

(Art by Kathryn Pitstick)

"The Nature of Things: Scenes from Nature"

From the YSAC Permanent Collection
Through June 2020
John Bryan Community Gallery, 2nd Floor, 100 Dayton St.

Amy Achor, Sue Brezine, Pam Geisel, Kathey Vernor Moulton, and Libby Rudolf are participating

(Art by Libby Rudolf)

Call for Artists: Laughter is the Best Medicine Community Show

Call for Artists! The Village Artisan's Fall Community Art Show theme is Laughter is the Best Medicine. Art should be no larger 16 x 20. Artwork may be two or three-dimensional. All work should be framed and ready to hang or be displayed when dropped off, or it will not be hung or shown. $10 for the first piece and $5 for additional pieces. Submit art by Sept 30. More details and form here.

"Peeps in the Park" Revisited

Back in 2011, Yellow Springers Corrine Bayraktaroglu and Nancy Mellon coordinated "Peeps in the Park," the hanging of 13 art panels on the exterior walls of the building where Village Artisan's is located. Unfortunately time and weather wore away some of these panels.

When the panels were removed to facilitate the painting of the exterior, several Village Artisans members created new panels which have now been hung on the building. We also invited Nancy Mellon, who had been a Village Artisans member for a long time, to also create a panel.

You can see these pieces anytime at the corner of Corry and Dayton Streets in Yellow Springs.

(Scroll down for group shots and individual photos.)

L-R: Leah Grommon, Tara Anderson, Libby Rudolf, Theresa Mayer, Kathy Verner Moulton 

L-R: Rosie Huart, Pam Geisel, Sue Brezine, Cynthia McDonald 

L-R: Barbara Vandecreek, Kathryn Pitstick, Carol Culbertson, Diane Schwob Zubrick

Leah Grommon

Tara Anderson

Libby Rudolf

Theresa Mayer

Kathy Verner Moulton

Nancy Mellon

Rosie Huart

Pam Geisel

Sue Brezine

Cynthia McDonald

Barbara Vandecreek

Kathryn Pitstick

Carol Culbertson

Diane Schwob Zubrick

JUNE / JULY LOBBY SHOW: Drama in Purple

Our show "Drama in Purple" is all set up in our shop lobby and runs through August 12. We're having a reception on Friday, July 19 from 6-9 pm.

MAY-JUNE COMMUNITY SHOW: Birds & Bees: Pollinators and Awareness of Beneficial Insects

Our "Birds & Bees: Pollinators and Awareness of Beneficial Insects" show, featuring art from the community, has been hung in our lobby and runs through June 21 with 83 pieces of art! There will be a reception during the Yellow Springs Art Stroll on Friday, June 21 from 6-9 pm for snacks and beverages and the opportunity to meet some of the more than 35 community members who helped make this show happen.

APRIL / MAY LOBBY SHOW: Beautiful Bounty of Blooms

Our show "Beautiful Bounty of Blooms" is all set up in our shop lobby and runs through May 13. We're having a reception on Friday, April 19 from 6-9 pm.

Call for Artists: Birds & Bees - Pollinators and Awareness of Beneficial Insects

Call for Artists! The Village Artisan's Spring Community Art Show celebrates Birds & Bees: Pollinators and Awareness of Beneficial Insects. Art should be no larger 16 x 20. Artwork may be two or three-dimensional. All work should be framed and ready to hang or be displayed when dropped off, or it will not be hung or shown. $10 for the first piece and $5 for additional pieces. Submit art by May 12. More details and form here.

Meet Rosie Huart

Rosie Huart is an award-winning artist living in Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Sinclair Community College with a degree in Mental Health Technology and the University of Dayton with bachelor degrees in Art and Psychology. She is an adjunct professor teaching art for the last 15 years at Sinclair Community College and has taught art workshops in Italy, France and Greece. 

She is self-published and included in numerous art books. She conducts art and spirituality retreats titled Connecting Art and Spirit. Rosie is a certified Golden Artist Educator with Golden Paints. The Museum of Calligraphy of Moscow, Russia, has two of her paintings in their permanent collection.

As an interdisciplinary artist and educator, Rosie believes the making of art is a transformative process impacting the soul’s search for meaning. Her inspiration comes from the power of words and is reflected in her poetry and paintings. She has a strong desire to enrich people's lives through self-expression.

FEBRUARY / MARCH LOBBY SHOW: The Shade of Water -- The Importance of Clean Water

Our show "The Shade of Water" is all set up in our shop lobby and runs through Apr. 1. We're having a reception on Friday, Mar. 15 from 6-9 pm.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY LOBBY SHOW: Nature's Beauty

Our lobby show "Nature's Beauty" is all set up in our shop lobby and runs through February 11.