The Arts Commission Announces 2024 Merit Award Recipients

Eye On Art | 12/17/2024 9:45 am

The Arts Commission is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Merit Awards.

The Merit Award program recognizes outstanding local literary, performing and visual artists, rewarding the many hours and personal resources each artist dedicates to their artform. Four awards are given: one $3,000 award, one $2,500 award, one $2,000 award, and one $1,500 award.

Recipients are selected by a panel of renowned artists and cultural leaders from around the Midwest, with a range of expertise across artistic disciplines. The 2024 Review Panel included Aliyah Khan—Associate professor of English, and Afroamerican and African Studies, and director of the Global Islamic Studies Center GISC at the University of Michigan; Alfonso Cervera—Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University and a first-generation Queer Mexican American performer, educator, curator, and activist; and Kes Wanogho—an interdisciplinary vocalist, producer, and filmmaker. Kes is also a 2022 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow and toured Germany as the Musicboard Berlin and Detroit-Berlin Connectionʼs premier artist-in-residence.

Aliyah Khan shared a response to her experience on the panel by stating that, “It was an honor to experience the Toledo creative community's depth of artistic talent, dedication, and potential. The submissions were original, visionary, and technically accomplished, making the selection process difficult but inspiring. Congratulations to all the Merit Award recipients!"

Alfonso Cervera had this to say about reviewing the applications, “Congratulations to all the artists who applied and shared their work. I was truly inspired by the brilliance and creativity showcased, and I took away so much from witnessing how artists are producing mesmerizing and powerful work. It was an honor to engage with such transformative art and ideas and I hope everyone continues to create and share their work.ˮ

Panelist Kes Wanogho echoed, “Iʼm so honored to have been selected as a reviewer. As an artist myself it feels incredible to do this work in support of artists making such meaningful and powerful work!ˮ

Local artists selected as finalists for the Merit Awards program are highlighted below. The awards were publicly announced at the December 10th Arts Commission Holiday Reception.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Amy Beeler | $3,000 Merit Award Recipient
Amy Beeler has been a professional jewelry artist for over 20 years, showing and selling her work at art fairs nationwide. She has won numerous awards at art fairs, including 16 Best of Shows in her career. She has been part of many group exhibitions. Still, she is proud of her two solo shows with jewelry, including the 2014 exhibition Passion and Adornment at the University of Maine Museum of Art. In 2022, Amy decided to follow her dream of pursuing her Master of 3D Studio Art with a concentration in jewelry at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. During this time, she created a new body of work that uses cotton clothesline sewn into innovative jewelry forms and found the confidence to branch out into sculptural forms and wood working.

Tom Marino | $2,500 Merit Award Recipient
Tom Marino has worked in clay for over thirty years, exploring techniques with a focus on high-fired Cone 10 vessel forms. He has developed many of his own glazes and colors to create luminous and contrasting surface effects. Tomʼs professional background in chemistry, and interest in science, contemporary art and personal studies, all inform his ceramic aesthetic.

Lou Krueger | $2,000 Merit Award Recipient
Lou Krueger is a Professor/Director Emeritus in the School of Art at BGSU. Prior, he taught at Syracuse University and served as Chair of Art Media Studies and Head of Photography. Lou received his degrees from NIU BFA Metals, 1970 MFA Photography, 1976 Lou is a recipient of Ohio Arts Council and New York State awards for individual excellence in art. His recent piece, “Moon Over Manhattanˮ was accepted /published in Corning Museum of Glassʼ, New Glass Review 43. Other glass exhibitions include: “Glass International Invitational 51ˮ, Habatat Gallery, Detroit; Museum of Glass, Tacoma, Washington; “Emerging Glassˮ, Kent State University; “Embodimentˮ, Pittsburgh Glass Center; The Morgan Gallery of Contemporary Glass, Pittsburgh. He had solo exhibitions of his photography at the Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, and Los Angeles Center for Digital Art; other exhibitions venues: Nikon House and ICP in NYC, Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

Joan Brown | $1,500 Merit Award Recipient
Joan Clare Brown is a ceramic artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania currently residing in Bowling Green, Ohio. She received her BFA in ceramics from the University of the Arts in 2013, and her MFA in ceramics from Bowling Green State University in 2018. Joan primarily uses porcelain and creates small scale sculptures focusing on memories and the permanence of memories through the ceramic form.

The Arts Commission Merit Awards program is generously sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Chapman Family, and Margy Trumbull.

About The Arts Commission
The Arts Commission is the longest standing arts commission in the state of Ohio, founded in 1959, administering the City of Toledoʼs One Percent for Art Program since 1977. The Arts Commission is supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.