Gallery Exhibits
The Springfield Township Arts Center has two small art gallery spaces. One gallery features art by nationally recognized artist, Charley Harper. The second gallery is the gallery in the main lobby and features local professional artists or art clubs. The galleries are changed out frequently. Most artwork is available for sale. Artwork sold in the main gallery will be available for pick up after the show has concluded. Charley Harper Artwork can be purchased anytime the art center is open.
Any professional artist may submit to be a featured artist in the main gallery. Often, artists are solicited by ArtsConnect to be featured. We are currently interested in showcasing artists of color and artists using unusual methods and/or materials. ArtsConnect hosts the Ohio Water Colors Society traveling exhibition in the fall.
The Main Gallery Exhibit Schedule (Subject to change):
January 15 - March 15 March 15 - June 15 June 15 - August 15 August 15-October 15 October 15-January 15
Exhibit applications are reviewed by an independent panel of artists. Apply to be a featured artist or art group here.
The Harper Gallery
Charley Harper
Charley Harper (August 4, 1922–June 10, 2007) had an alternative way of looking at nature. His serigraphs were large expanses of rich color, which gave the viewer a very different perspective on the animal kingdom. A conservationist as well as an artist, Harper revealed the unique aspects of his wildlife subjects through highly stylized geometric reduction. Harper said he was the only wildlife artist who has never been compared to Audubon
, yet his wildlife art was just as instructive—the only difference was that Harper laced his lessons with humor. Harper believed that humor made it easier to encourage changes in our attitudes and awareness of environmental concerns.
There was a rare and delightful playfulness in Harper’s artwork. There was also graphic genius. Harper said, When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see feathers, fur, scapulars or tail coverts—none of that. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting: In a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe.
Reared on a West Virginia farm, Harper developed an early appreciation and love of animals as well as design. He attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and graduated from the Cincinnati Art Academy, where he also taught for many years. Gradually, Harper began to lose his interest in realism. I felt shackled by the laws of perspective and shading and decided that the constant attempt to create the illusion of three dimensions on the two-dimensional plane of the picture was limiting me as an artist. Realistic painting persuades the viewer that he is looking into space rather than at a flat surface. It denies the picture plane, which I affirm and use as an element of design. Wildlife art has been dominated by realism, but I have chosen to do it differently because I think flat, hard-edge and simple.
In his artwork, Harper imaginatively investigated the similarities between human and wild animal behaviors, but completely without anthropomorphism. I learn as much as I can about the creatures that interest me, and they all do. I observe them and find out how they interact with each other and their environments and ask myself,
What if?