Do you and your Valentine love fine arts? February has served as the starting or finishing point for a number of fabulous exhibitions you won’t want to miss. As you canoodle, nosh on chocolate and sip champagne (or even if you are doing none of those things), you can plan outings galore to keep the artsy love alive all month long and well into spring
Head to the Cultural Arts Center for X-treme Pupaphobia, which celebrates the artist’s long-term love for the elusive death/rebirth of puppetry art. Within this exhibit, the artist gives a glimpse into how puppetry and marionettes are ingrained into our popular culture from the 1920s on. The exhibit runs through February 28, and you can enjoy an artist’s talk on February 23 at noon.
Lego lovers have a last shot to take in Think Outside the Brick: The Creative Art of Lego at the Columbus Museum of Art. Head over through February 26 to enjoy this collaborative project with the Ohio LEGO® User's Group (OhioLUG). You’ll find an enormous model of Columbus featuring the return of familiar landmarks and imaginative creations, as well as LEGO models of Pokémon installed in several locations around the Museum.
Check out Mac Worthington’s exhibition “the heARTs show” through February 28 at the Mac Worthington Gallery. You can enjoy the Artist Reception on February 17 from 6 - 9 p.m.
Fresh A.I.R. Gallery (Artists in Recovery) presents the exhibition Breathe & Bloom by Gloria Molyneux through March 17. Molyneux experienced mild secondary PTSD growing up from repeatedly hearing her closest loved ones tell stories of war, escape, refuge, and survival. However, she couldn't fully understand until she experienced chaos and tragedy firsthand. Breathe & Bloom is Molyneux's first public visualization of how her brain worked through trauma toward recovery and healing.
Take in Come Along with Me, an exhibit curated by Richard Fletcher, associate professor in the Department of Classics at The Ohio State University, on view through April 15 at the OAC Riffe Gallery. The selected artworks represent a range of media from painting, sculpture, photography, video, and site-specific assemblages. Come Along With Me brings together a selection of OAL artists at different phases of their careers and lives.
You’ll find two new exhibits at the Columbus Museum of Art which opened February 10. A Dangerous Woman: Subversion and Surrealism in the Art of Honore’ Sharrer is the first major assessment of the artist since mid-century. Organized by CMA in partnership with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the exhibition provides a comprehensive examination of Sharrer's place in American art and reveals the full scope of her significant achievements. A Dangerous Woman includes some 45 paintings, plus associated sketches, prints, photographs, and ephemera from the artist's extensive archive.
Shakespeare in Prague: Imagining the Bard in the Heart of Europe explores the myriad ways stage design in central Europe adapted William Shakespeare's plays, from the Machiavellian rise and fall of Richard III to the fantastical world of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This original exhibition is organized by CMA and The Ohio State University's College of Arts and Sciences Arts Initiative; the Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague, Czech Republic; and the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic. Both exhibits are on view through May 21.