MassMusings

Hilary Gent, a Cleveland artist who works with oil and latex mediums, is inspired by the urban and natural landscape. She earned her BFA from Kent State University in 2003. 

Gent’s paintings are included in public collections such as The Cleveland Clinic, Summa Hospitals, Sherwin Williams, cARTa, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and numerous private collections.

Gent has spent the last fourteen years staging public art exhibits, launching art walks, and planning elaborate receptions for individuals and organizations, all of which have transformed the way residents and visitors view the Northeast Ohio Region. She was one of the first visionaries to plant roots at 78th Street Studios, where she curates art events through her HEDGE Gallery, which now represents 20 regional artists.

Gent has served on the board of SPACES Gallery and volunteered with the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Association and ARTneo. She currently serves on the board of The Print Club of Cleveland. 

Gent’s paintings begin with inspiration from the extensive color palette she sees in reflections of light, landscape, and other objects in and on the water. Touch, sound, and sight conjure a personal connection with the water’s surface. Layers take shape through pouring Sherwin Williams latex paint onto the canvas while it’s flat.

The artist says water's movement and energy is ever-changing, similar to the cycles and patterns of motherhood. She translates these unpredictable, turbulent, joyous, and blissful moments with imagery inspired by the temperament of Lake Erie.

“Becoming a mother is an emotionally charged experience, like waves on the water, both wild and wonderful, Gent says. “In this specific series I have imitated some of the extremes felt in motherhood such as exhaustion, euphoria, anxiety, and tranquility by experimenting with a variety of different pours and colors. Sinuous strands represent blissful and sleepy movement, while thicker layers of and darker color hues represent heaviness and strain. Water ebbs and flows. It carves paths, can be peaceful or violent, and is a symbol of resilience.”

Sarah C. Blanchette is a photo-based fiber artist who works out of the Detroit area. Through repetitive acts of hand and machine sewing and physical manipulations of the self-portrait, she documents her coming of age in a digital world while embarking on a journey toward growth and autonomy in womanhood.

Since establishing her studio practice in 2015, Blanchette has exhibited nationally and online in galleries, museums, zines, blogs, and artist-run spaces. Alongside her practice, Blanchette is the co-founder of the artist collective, Critical Stuff.

Blanchette holds a BA in journalism and studio art photography from Oakland University (2015) and an MFA in photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2017). She is a Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and a member of Embrace Creatives.

About her Studio M exhibition, the artist writes: “Moving through grief, time, and the end of a transformative decade, I explore my origins in an effort to grasp this new life.”

The exhibition analyzes "shadow selves” and their relationship with the “seven deadly sins” and how each is necessary in coming to terms with true balance, even though the process may cause internal conflict.

Davon Brantley reflects on personal narratives and experiences to shape his body of work. Using an amalgam of materials, he heightens meaning erratically in self-portraits that convey heightened emotional states. Childhood trauma and life experiences—a motif throughout his artwork—allow him to tackle multiple issues through development into adult life and maturity.

Through larger-than-life portraits, Brantley leads viewers through his mind as if they were watching a play, utilizing dramatic compositions, absurd realism and characters that act out certain emotions and themes in which he plays all the roles.

Brantley earned his BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in drawing. He has exhibited in and curated shows at Bay Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, CAN Triennial, Morgan Conservatory, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, and the Museum of Creative Human Art, all in Cleveland, as well as Indianapolis Arts Center.

The artist has worked with community organizations in Cleveland such as the Museum of Creative Human Art and Graffiti HeArt. He furthered his investigations in printmaking with DeepDive Art projects and the Cleveland Institute of Art. He has participated in mural activities and advocated for younger artists.

Prairies to Peaks features detailed watercolor paintings, and pen, ink, and graphite drawings recounting the artist’s 1,000-mile solo bicycle trip from Cleveland to a summer job, where she worked and lived on Mt. Elbert—Colorado’s tallest peak.  Viewers are invited to contemplate women in adventure sports, the beauty within stranger interactions, the country’s magnificent nature, the horrible destruction America has faced due to colonization, and other complexities that are associated with outdoor recreation.

Alison Alsup, born in Delaware, Ohio, is currently studying drawing and painting at the

Cleveland Institute of Art, having also completed a semester abroad at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Palestine.

“Imagine walking into a space dominated by tactile and juicy paintings, surrounding the viewer in an immersive paint and process experience,” says Jordi Rowe of her Studio M exhibition, Blueing of the Light: The Gloaming. A dozen of her paintings are on view from February 4–26, 2023.

Rowe is a painter, pathologist, and mother who alternates between creating artwork, practicing medicine, and parenting. She is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her artwork primarily focuses on nature, sky, and water, creating spaces approaching the sublime. She often integrates elements of growing up in the Canadian Rockies and Big Sky Country.

Coty Giannelli’s photography has been seen previously in Massillon Museum exhibits Massillon Tiger Football Boosters and Tiger Legacy: Our Tiger Football Family, both in 2012, and the 2019 Stark County Artists Exhibition, when he was awarded an Honorable Mention.

Giannelli earned the “Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio” honor in the 2013 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. That year he also earned two awards of excellence: “College Photographer of the Year’s Portfolio Category” and "College Photographer of the Year’s International Picture Story Category.” He was honored for “Individual Excellence” by the Ohio Arts Council in 2017 and 2019.

Having lived with his grandmother for much of his life prior to military service, Giannelli moved back in with her when she was 92 and needed help taking care of herself. He made images of her daily life to have as a remembrance of her, and the exhibition, Days with Delsie, evolved over time.  

“The daily stress of being a caretaker with little natural support started to get to me,” Giannelli said. “I started dealing with some depression, anger, and guilt issues.”  Days with Delsie turned from a celebration of his grandmother's life to a way to vent about his life as a caregiver. By sharing this intimate view with others who are going through the same thing, he hopes it brings others comfort to know that they are not alone.  

Get to know current Studio M artist Barrie Kaufman on a new episode of our MassMusings podcast! Her exhibition, A Fragile Environment, is on view through November 30, 2022. In the exhibition, Kaufman interprets the natural world with a sense of wonder while addressing its fragility.

Barrie Kaufman is an award-winning, international artist from West Virginia working in print media, painting, glass, and ceramics. She has been creating art for thirty-five years, making personal statements about the environment and social consciousness. Her background as an art therapist and art educator has informed her work.

This year, the artist received a Folk Arts Grant from the West Virginia Department of 
Culture and History and a grant from the National Endowment for The Arts for a one-person show and residency at The Parkersburg Art Center, Parkersburg, WV. Previously, she has received residencies in Virginia, Quebec, West Virginia, Georgia, and France. Honored as West Virginia Artist of the Year in 2014, she has twice received the Taipei (Taiwan) Mayor’s Award at the International Print Biennial.

Kaufman’s artwork is in the public collections in Taipei Taiwan; Trois Riviers, Quebec, Canada; Charleston and Huntington, WV; Marietta, OH; Rutgers, NJ; and New York, NY.

Amber N. Ford is an artist and freelance photographer based in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a BFA in Photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work explores Blackness, identity, and culture while questioning the accepted idealized conceptualization of “truth."

Ford's images are featured in "Missing History of Massillon: Unheard African American Stories".

Get to know current Studio M artist Daric M. Gill on a new episode of our MassMusings podcast! His exhibition, The Absolutes: Big Small Stories is on view through September 21, 2022.

Gill holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Cincinnati in sculpture and interdisciplinary art, and a bachelor of fine arts degree from Columbus College of Art and Design in sculpture and painting. He is a former adjunct professor at the Columbus College of Art and Design.

The Absolutes is a series of oil paintings on reclaimed wood. The subject matter is intentionally minimal, full of symbolism, and often blends the line between artifact and narrative display.  The series has been exhibited in Galerie Raskolnikow (Germany), Lolo Taller Galleria (Cuba), Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum (South Korea), the John F. Peto Museum (NJ), the Edward Hopper House Museum (NY), George Billis Gallery (Los Angeles and Chelsea, NYC), Center of Science and Industry Museum (OH), and the Columbus Museum of Art (OH). Gill’s metal sculptures and portrait paintings have been exhibited alongside the works of Warhol, Picasso, Calder, and Lichtenstein. He has displayed and sold his work internationally. 
 
Gill received the 2019 Artist Exchange in Dresden, Germany; a 2019 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award; and a 2018 Visual Arts Fellowship from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. 

In this episode of MassMusings, we interview current Studio M artist Steven Mastroianni about his exhibition, Scurograph, on view from June 11 through July 27, 2022.

Mastroianni’s current work explores the intersection of drawing, printmaking, and photography. Scurograph, according to the artist, is evocative of watery depths, imaginary galaxies, and mysterious maps. These luminous images create an immersive dimension with their own logic and rules of scale and space.