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Columbus, Ohio USA
Art: Elizabeth Ann James, Columnist
email eannjames@gmail.com
March 2008

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Mahan Gallery
Art on the Path

“Pathway is always open to new members. The creative process is part of being human ...The severity of illness may vary... yet art is life affirming.” – Robert Tavani.

Untitled, by Kathy M., 2008. Magazine and pencil on paper, 11 x 17 in.

“Art on the Path,” an exhibit that is unusual and redemptive, will be displayed at Mahan Gallery during March. Artist Robert Tavani, registered art therapist, is a mental health advocate with professional expertise in mood disorders, schizophrenia, and autism.

Colleen Grennan, Mahan’s assistant director, told me about Tavani before the Pathway show was up. Tavani convenes the art therapy group every Tuesday and Friday at The Pathway Clubhouse located on the corner of East Broad Street and Champion Avenue Downtown Columbus. Attendees choose to drop by, or not to drop by, at specified art therapy hours. Several participants have attended regularly for seven years. They work as they choose, and, in the main, they work silently – at least at first. However, the repeated contacts with the other participants is quite healthy and useful.

Art material is available, and Bob Tavani is on hand to guide, to help, and to “just be there.” Sometimes there are three or four participants, sometimes seven, eight, or more. As described by Grennan, they come rather faithfully, sometimes bringing their own material: crayons, paints, plastic bags, lids, all these become art material, just as they do in the “normal” recycle-conscious art world.

As a display image for the show, “Kathy M.” has contributed a childlike colored pencil drawing of a reindeer with blue hoofs! The reindeer’s head is half blue, symbolizing a cognizant split, perhaps. The reindeer has been collaged on a torn magazine page showing a young athlete advertising sports shoes. A variety of two-dimensional works will be included in this show which should be a fascinating one.

Each of the anonymous participants at Pathway art therapy suffers from a diagnosed mental illness. Some of them may live with poor or inadequate social contacts. Because of new medications, schizophrenia no longer brings the terror it once did, but the illness can be immobilizing, and a pleasant setting such as The Pathway Clubhouse provides a respite. Many of the Pathway artists have schizophrenia.

As described by Colleen Grennan, a Pathway artist might not only be mentally ill, but may also suffer from blindness or obesity or be withdrawn. Yet, everyone who comes to the art therapy sessions tends to work hard. Sometimes the artists make odd and fascinating structures and take them home.

“It’s fresh and exciting art,” Grennan says. “The artists are not aware of what’s expected. They’re not copying trends.” A portion of the proceeds from art sold in the exhibit will be donated to Pathway.

Robert Tavani is from Columbus. His art has been featured at Mahan Gallery. Pathway Clubhouse is part of Columbus Area, Inc. The president and CEO of Pathway Clubhouse is Janie E. Bailey, a highly credentialed mental health and social worker. She reminds us that “time and time again, the results of art-making have provided insight, sanctuary, pride, and, for some, healing.”

Electric Lady Land at Mahan
Liz Markus and Kime Buzzelli brought “Electric Lady Land” to Mahan in February. Their work will remain available through the gallery, and their show, like plum wine, was a delicious blast. Liz Markus, painter of gorgeous abstracts, lives in New York City, and Kime, pronounced Kimmy, is originally from Columbus, and now lives in Los Angeles where she runs a successful fashion design boutique, Show Pony. Both women possess an affinity for the sixties and seventies.

Grennan was quick to explain that many young artists feel an emotional connection to the photos, art, and songs of the Vietnam era. According to Grennan, “we listen to alternative folk songs such as Dave Hawkins’ (folk singer Dave Hawkins has been a headliner at the Columbus Folk Music Society. His songs are biographical and original in the true ballad singer tradition).

Liz, Kime, and Karen
Liz Markus is a darn good painter. Her design-like abstracts are not actual color fields but they do consist of sharply defined and simple color areas. Her large, gorgeous Electric Lady Land, acrylic on canvas, gave the show its name and is one of a series that includes mysterious goggles or a hoodshape motif. Grennan rightly compared Markus’ paintings to Rorschach ink blot tests. She assured me that the hood and goggles motif was intended to suggest John Lennon, Jimmy Hendrix, Che Gueverra, or Basquiat, the grafitti artist. All of them have morphed into Protector images and “in a sense, the show connects with sixties psychedelic art in a new way.”

A similar ambiance is present in Kime Buzzelli’s lithe, grunge-fashion women. They are stunning neo-flowerchild women. Buzzelli’s delicious line drawings and washes are sometimes complemented with flowers painted directly on the wall. Her tall thin women in leg wraps and clunk heels wear delicately patterned tunics and short dresses. Kime Buzzelli represents what’s best about Now, which is also Then – in fashion and art.

Karen LaValley, one of the most gifted and dramatic landscape painters around, held sway with her offspring, Grant and Brooke, at Mahan Gallery in January. Like Buzzelli and Markus, LaValley is a painter who welds tradition into new art that sizzles.

Mahan Gallery, 717 N. High St., is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 614-294-3278. Visit www.mahangallery.com

Colleen Grennan, assistant director, helped with information for this article. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. The information in The Pathway portion of the article depended on descriptions from Robert Tavani’s own statements online and Colleen Grennan’s firsthand accounts.

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