The Ohio Arts Council (OAC) has recognized two Denison professors for their accomplishment in arts with Individual Excellence Awards of $5,000.
Associate professors Abram Kaplan and Sheilah Restack were each honored for “the exceptional merit of a body of their work that advances or exemplifies the discipline and the larger artistic community.”
Kaplan, a photographer whose field of study is environmental studies, routinely teaches classes at the intersection of art and science. In one of his current classes, “Confronting Climate Change through Photography,” students visited five central Ohio facilities that represent the main anthropogenic sources of climate change. The students took many photographs, talked with the hosts, and also made sound recordings of the sites. They submitted their best visual work to an outside juror for consideration.
Installation view in progress.
Hold, fiber black and white prints, thread, plexi, rubber band, installation view various sizes, by Sheilah Restack.
Restack, a photographer who teaches studio art, most recently collaborated with her partner, Dani (Leventhal) ReStack, on video and photographic installation work. Their collaborative video, “Strangely Ordinary This Devotion,” was premiered at the Whitney Biennial in 2017. Their collaborative installation” Stack for Carrington’s Hyena,” at Iceberg Projects and Columbus Museum of Art was recently reviewed in Artforum.
“These awards honor the artistic excellence of individuals who are sharing their creative talents with Ohio,” said OAC Executive Director Donna S. Collins. “The Ohio Arts Council’s 2019 Individual Excellence Awards represent the highest level of achievement in these artistic disciplines, and each year the diversity and caliber of applications is astounding. The impressive group of artists receiving awards this year proves that amazing work is being done in the arts throughout Ohio.”
The arts intersect nearly every facet of life at Denison, where art is an action — not a noun. The state-of-the-art Michael D. Eisner Center is opening in the fall of 2019, with more than 108,000 square feet for the performing arts; students learn painting, sculpting, photography, visual culture, and more in the Bryant Arts Center; the Denison Museum and Denison Art Space in Newark bring artists and exhibitions from all over the world to the college. Denison is the ideal choice for highly talented students who want to explore the performing arts in a liberal arts setting.