Conversations and Coffee

Have you ever wondered how a painter begins to create what will become a work of art? Or how a sculptor can turn a chunk of rock into a fully realized three-dimensional image? Or how a musician begins to write a song?

The Artist’s process for creation can often mystify us, especially in an age when it is sometimes difficult to know “What is Art?”

At the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department’s Cultural Arts Center, you have the chance to pose these question (and many more) to different artists each week at a program we call Conversations and Coffee. Now in its thirty-third year, Conversations and Coffee is Columbus’ longest running ‘artist talk’! Each and every Thursday at noon we invite a different artist from the community to speak to a group of eager adult learners. Presenters vary from the artists featured in our current exhibits, to local celebrities, to students doing something exciting right in our studios. Presenters often bring slides or examples of their work to share. And our weekly host and organizer, Ellen O’Shaughnessy always finds a way to draw some wonderful incite out of the conversation. Here is a sample of the artists with whom we’ll be talking over the next several months:

• April 18 – Rick Boyle, Sculptor, Loft Gallery Artist
• April 25 – Spring Break / No Conversations and Coffee
• May 2 – Patrick Durkin, Custom Carpet Inlay Artist, Creator of Matisse-a Pizza
• May 10 – W.J. (Bill Meyer), Drawings and Sculpture, Loft Gallery Artist
• May 16 – C. Forrest Amidon, Artist and Book Collector, “Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth”
• May 23 – Christiane Buuck, Liturgical Artist
• May 30 – Dianne Efsic, Collage and Painting, Woman at Work
• June 6 – Susan Hodgin, Oil and Acrylic Paintings Main Gallery Artist
• June 13 – Larry Wood, Ceramics, Loft Gallery Artist
• June 20 – Tom Wagner, Collector of the Reverse Paintings of Mark Beyers
• June 27 – Darlene Yeager-Torre, Fine Art Photography

The talks are always free to attend. We even provide you with a fresh cup of coffee. You may also bring a lunch with you (we always have tables set up for those who are munching).

We promise you will always find something amazing to share with your friends and family at dinner that night or to impress your co-workers with the next day. Conversations and Coffee is your chance to get a rare glimpse inside the creative process. Join us.

Conversation and coffee begins each Thursday at noon at the Cultural Arts center. Visit us online at http://www.culturalartscenteronline.org/conversations___coffee for an updated schedule of events.