Autocomplete: A Collaborative Coloring Book Exhibit at Visionaries + Voices

b/w: Jennifer Dowers | color: Demetrius Romanos

Cincinnatians, I really hope that you’ll be able to stop by Visionaries + Voices this Thursday night, 5-8pm for the opening reception for the exhibit Autocomplete: A Collaborative Coloring Book which I curated along with Nick Paddock, Jackie Covert and Matt Distel.

Last summer, Nick, Jackie and I invited V+V artists to create black-and-white artwork that would then be completed by other artists. This was the first part of a multi-step process involving a lot of trust, mostly among strangers. The b/w art was then juried.

Matt and I invited artists in the Cincinnati area and beyond to “complete” the b/w images. We chose artists who we believed would be able to both respect their b/w starting points and have fun in the process. We hand-selected b/w art that we thought would resonate with the work of each artist tasked with finishing it. A lot of mailing work back and forth ensued and, in the end, we have a diverse collection of art in all media including installation and video.

Above, Demetrius Romanos “colored in” a hand-manipulated photocopy by Jennifer Dowers. You can read an explanation of his challenge and process here.

Below, Chris Glass of Wire & Twine screenprinted on top of a pencil drawing by Ruth Burton. Check out Chris’ process here:

b/w: Ruth Burton | color: Chris Glass

Cedric Michael Cox transformed a drawing by Glenn Slama; read about his thought process here:

b/w: Glenn Slama | color: Cedric Michael Cox

Nikki Mueller of Not Made in China added imagery to a text-based piece by Dale Jackson and wrote about her process here:

b/w: Dale Jackson | color: Nikki Mueller

b/w: Michael Bartels | color: Aaron Wood

b/w: Kathleen Brannigan | color: Nichole Racek Kreglow

b/w: David Callahan | color: Jeffrey Newell

Participants include: Antonio Adams, Marcia Alscher, Andy Curlowe, Kenny Barger, Michael Bartels, Robert Bolubasz, Kathleen Brannigan, Krista Brinkmeyer, Audrey Britt, Ruth Burton, David Callahan, Sara Caswell-Pearce, Courttney Cooper, Jackie Covert, Cedric Michael Cox, Jennifer Crowe, Victor Dambowsky, Barry Davis, Leah Davis, Guy Michael Davis, Chris Pauline Salley Davis, Carolyn Deininger, Brian Dooley, Jennifer Dowers, Maya Drozdz [hey, that’s me!], Justin Durand, Troy East, Ed Fella, Danielle Foushee, James Fox, Jim Fox, Dan Funderburgh, Chris Glass, Michelle Glaze, Sh’rise Gover, Mike Grau, Joseph Greer, Eleanor Grosch, Davalene W. Hogg, Dale Jackson, Jennifer Klein, Nichole Racek Kreglow, Yvonne Lewis, Ben Long, Romando Love, Rob Macke, Corbett Marshall, Barbara Moody, Nikki Mueller, Thomas Muller, Ryan Mulligan, Aaron Munninghoff, Rebecca Nebert, Steve Negron, Jeff Newell, John Nusekabel, Eric Payne, Larry Phillips, Nicole Pivirotto, David Reid, Emily Rodgers, Gian Romagnoli, Demetrius Romanos, Marci Rosin, Laura Rucker, Beth Shaw, Glenn Slama, Mark Smith, Tammy Smith, Diamond Snowden, Kevin Stricklin, Braxton Thomas, Andrew Thompson, Jenny Ustick, Philip Valois, Matthew Walsh, Daniel Wescott, Kevin White, Aaron Wood, and Alice Pixley Young.

For me, one aspect of the concept of this exhibition is that I had the opportunity to invite participation by so many talented people I’ve met over the years including former classmates, colleagues and students, as well as friends of mine and also strangers whose work I admire.

The exhibit represents many approaches to art-making and many different kinds of talents, with contributions from graphic designers, painters, sculptors, illustrators, ceramicists and a fashion designer, with each person tackling the b/w V+V work in a very different way.

The opening reception is this Thursday, 10 May, 5-8pm at the Visionaries + Voices gallery at 3841 Spring Grove Ave. in Northside, Cincinnati. You can RSVP here. The show will be up through 29 Jun. A “coloring book” exhibition catalog of all the b/w images will be available for purchase so that you, too, can enjoy coloring in the V+V submissions.

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