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Jurors
Visual Artists Jury Selection will be held on January 18 & 19, 2025 from 9a – 4p at the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
The Columbus Arts Festival jury chooses the Festival artists at a two-day public meeting every January. Jury panelists review approximately 900 artist applications from across the country to determine the 250 who will be invited to participate in that year’s Columbus Arts Festival.
Artists are chosen in the following categories: 2D Mixed Media, 3D Mixed Media, Ceramics, Digital Art, Drawing, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry, Leather, Metal (non-sculptural), Painting, Photography & Digital Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Wood and a category for Emerging Festival Artists. Each year, artists who wish to be considered for the Festival apply through ZAPPlication™, an online application tool, by submitting four digital images of their work and one image of their booth display. A jury panel selected by the GCAC staff conducts a blind jury process, where jurors review the artists’ images and technical statements without seeing any personal information. The top scores, allowing for a balanced show across mediums, are invited to participate in the Festival.
For a view of the 2024 jurors, check out our press release.
April Sunami
April Sunami is an award-winning multi-media painter, installation artist, muralist and arts educator. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the National African American Museum and Cultural Center, the Southern Ohio Museum, the Columbus Convention Center, and have additionally been featured at the Columbus Museum of Art and the Akron Art Museum. Sunami’s work has been exhibited internationally having her work included in the 2019 Cuba Biennial exhibition and the National Theatre in Accra, Ghana. Her work as a muralist is on permanent display at locations throughout Columbus and Cincinnati, and includes collaborations with various organizations and community groups including ArtWorks Cincinnati, Urban Blooms, Greater Columbus Arts Council and Designing Local. Sunami has also been commissioned to create work for corporate clients such as Lane Bryant and Rhinegeist Brewery.
Her work was selected for the cover of the Winter 2022 magazine of the Akron Art Museum, and she was commissioned by the Columbus Art Museum to create a work inspired by the work of George Bellows, to be presented to the museum’s most honored patron of 2021. Her other honors and awards include the 2020 Future History Maker Award presented by Urban One Media, a 2020 Exemplary Distinction by the Ohio Senate, inclusion on 2019’s Top 10 local artists list by Columbus Underground, and the 2018 Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Professional Artist Award at the Ohio State Fair.
Jared Thorne
Thorne holds a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College, and, following studies at the San Francisco Art Institute, received his MFA from Columbia University. Thorne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University and is the Co-Head of the Photography Area. Before joining the OSU faculty, Thorne held teaching positions at Stellenbosch Academy and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He has had solo shows both domestically and internationally.
Dr. Ketal Patel
Dr. Ketal Patel (she, her, hers) is an Assistant Professor of Teaching for the Arts Administration, Education, and Policy department at The Ohio State University. She serves as the Director of Field Experiences and Licensure Program for the art education major. Dr. Patel is a licensed art educator and has worked across the state of Ohio and with schools and communities nationally and internationally. As a non-profit director, she brings her art educator lens to work with communities to develop culturally relevant programming. Her work in K-12 schools and non- profit spaces has fueled her passion for action research and narrative to further understand the role of art, art education, and art educators in creative ecosystems. Her current research explores art educators as creative initiators and explores narrative inquiry as ways to center empathy in art education praxis. Her work is grounded in action research and participatory inquiry and her dissertation was awarded the Manuel Barkan Dissertation Award for promising doctoral research. She loves working with students, educators, and communities to understand the transformative work happening within education.
Ketal has been part of the prestigious National Art Education Association (NAEA) School for Art Leaders. She also has been selected to serve the NAEA and Ohio Art Education Association (OAEA) as a thought leader in equity, diversity, and inclusion work. In 2023 Dr. Patel was named the OAEA Higher Education Educator of the year.
Michael Bush
Michael Bush investigates through painting the human tendency to see faces or other patterns in ambiguous images. He is a self-taught artist coming to the artform rooted in the idea of balance and selfcare through daily practice, abstract expression, and curiosity. Bush is continually inspired by the improvisational opportunities afforded to him through the combination of materials like acrylic paint, water, isopropyl alcohol, and enamel spray paint. He uses the chemical reactions of these materials as an artistic dance partner – emphasizing and countering, allowing for imagery to expand and contract with his embellishment of chance – resulting in works that rest deftly in a liminal state that spans recognition to abstraction.
For more than fifteen years, Bush’s volunteership has demonstrated his commitment to the Columbus arts community, where he currently resides. From service to the Columbus Arts Fest’s Emerging Artists Mentorship Program to his tenure as board president of the Franklinton Arts District (2021-22) to serving as juror for regional and national exhibitions, most notably the Naples National Arts Fair. Bush has presented works extensively regionally, with select exhibitions including Art Link Gallery’s Midwest Regional Exhibition and the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. He has works in a host of private collections, most notably the permanent collection of Capital University’s Schumacher Gallery.
Zach Vincent
My name is Zach Vincent and I am the owner and operator of Reelo Leather Co. I have lived in Columbus for 14 years and have been active with my business since 2019.
I got my start with leather in 2006 while working in the 1st Cavalry Division Horse Cavalry Detachment. We were a unit in the US Army that rode horses and re-enacted the Cavalry from the late 1800s. Being self sustained, I went to saddle building school in Arkansas for 2 months.
Since then I have have worked on various leather items and have participated in many state art shows.
My path has brought me to a place, participating in the Columbus Arts. I am happy to be involved with such amazing people and fortunate for the experience.