Benjamin Varela | Linocut | 2005

Purchase from the Connie and Richard Grace Collection Fund 2007.02.19

“My art is built on a foundation of personal experiences: First, as a child in New York City and Puerto Rico, the second, as a man learning his craft in universities and workshops in Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, and Mexico. I categorized this deductive process as the emergence of the personal “Me,” because most artists develop a visual language of signs and symbols that has been shaped by the artists’s family, education, and personal experiences.” - Varela

Benjamin Varela has an extensive exhibition history across the United States and beyond, including Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. His work has been showcased at notable venues such as the Bronx Museum in New York, Byron Roche Galery, the Mexican Printmaking Workshop in Chicago, and Coronado Studios in Austin. Varela’s art is held in several public collections, including the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, the Romo Collection of Mexican American Art Prints at UT Austin, the Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, and the Bronx Museum in New York. He has also earned recognition through public art commissions, including one for the city of Harlingen, and was the winner of the 2007 San Antonio Tejano Conjunto Festival Poster.

Michael Barnes | Lithograph

Purchase from the Connie and Richard Grace Collection Fund 2007.02.03

Michael Barnes is fascinated with narratives that evolve naturally from the subconscious and which unfold as he creates his images. The images exist, therefore, as reactions to or reflections of the world and events that take place around him. His imagery often poses psychological dilemmas and creates mysteries that challenge t viewer the viewer to interpret and perhaps solve.

Barnes received his MFA from the University of Iowa. He is an Associate Professor of Art and is the Printmaking Area Head for he School of Art at Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL.

Leonora Carrington | Mixed, Tempera (Frottage) | 1975

Gift of Professor and Mrs. Edward Stowe Akeley 1995.17

Surrealist painter and writer, Leonora Carrington was born in a remote corner of Lancashire, England. Her father was a wealthy textile manufacturer and her mother was the daughter of an Irish country doctor. Carrington’s childhood was spent rebelling against her family and her Catholic upbringing. At the age of 20, she met Max Ernst at a party in London in 1937 and they took up a life together at St. Martin d’Ardeche near Lyons. During this period, Carrington developed an artistic vocabulary of magical animals and birds that gave her paintings an air of mystery and fantasy. In 1940, Ernst was arrested as an enemy alien, and Carrington fled to Spain where she suffered a mental collapse. She moved to Mexico in 1942 and became one of the central figures in a group of European exiled painters and writers in Mexico City In the early 1970’s Carrington became one of the founders of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Mexico.

Sidney Chafetz | Woodcut | 1963

Gift of the artist 2000.09

Over nearly seven decades. Chafetz significantly impacted the Central Ohio art community, his students at Ohio State University, and those who encountered his work. "He had strong beliefs about being critical of power," said Sergio Soave, chair of Ohio State's Art Department. "His work was funny and compelling but addressed serious issues."

Born in Province, R.I., Chafetz studied at the Rhode Island School of Design before being drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. After recovering from an injury at the Battle of the Bulge, he graduated in 1947 and continued his studies at L'Ecole Americaine des Beaux-Arts in France.

Chafetz joined Ohio State in 1948, where he helped establish the printmaking program, making it one of the best in the country. He retired in 1982 as professor emeritus to focus on his own work. Sherrie Hawk of Sherrie Gallerie, who represented his work for a decade, noted that Chafetz educated the public about the uniqueness of printmaking.

His wood and metal prints often reflected his Jewish American heritage, love of poetry, or political outrage. Notable series include "Perpetrators," depicting those responsible for the Holocaust, and "Legacy," critiquing political abuses in 21st-century America. Despite the serious nature of his work, Chafetz was known for his wit and charm.

Chafetz received the Ohio Arts Council's Governor's Award in 1991, and his prints are held in museums nationwide. He designated the Columbus Museum of Art as a major repository for his work and papers. "He used his art to expose our flaws and inspire us to be better," said Nannette V. Maciejunes, the museum's Executive Director.