Michigan art exhibition showcases Bobcat talent

OU Redux: Forty Years Down the Road features the artwork of nearly two dozen Ohio University alumni.

Grace Koennecke, BSJ ’25 | August 8, 2024

Art, with its many different mediums, allows not only for creative expression but also a chance to connect with other artists and build community. To that end, Judith Racht Gallery in Harbert, Michigan, is honoring the work of 20 Bobcats in an exhibition titled OU Redux: Forty Years Down the Road.

Pete Maloy, BFA ’86, is a commercial photographer, adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago and one of the artists involved in the exhibition. He says the process of bringing it together came from a desire to show his students the importance of creating a tight-knit art community, like the one he had while in Athens.

a blue and gold ceramic teapot on a gray gradient background

a print of a brown pig with three yellow chickens on its back, all on a hot pink background

a photo of a white woman at dusk wearing sunglasses, a white kerchief covering her blonde hair, a black coat with brown fur lining and black heels; she is holding a large white plate with a purple plastic octopus on it

black and white abstract painting with touches of red, green and yellow

black and white photo of a gull flying over the shoreline at the beach

a photo of a mixed media art piece depicting a man with an orange slug-like body with red spots and four limbs

Two years ago, Maloy joined forces with Bill Zuehlke, MFA ’86, who works for Judith Racht Gallery and has shown his art there several times, and Racht herself to start building the exhibition. Maloy and Zuehlke originally planned to include just three fellow alumni in the project, but that number unexpectedly expanded after word-of-mouth trickled down about the gallery, demonstrating the undeniable Bobcat spirit that the University leaves on those who attend.

an abstract art print primarily in black and white with blue and red accents

a panoramic landscape with uneven borders depicting a power plant and green field set against a cloudy sky

an abstract triptych painting with bright blues, yellows and hints of maroon

an abstract painting in orange with lighter orange textured dots overlaid

a dark brown giclee print depicting three missiles

an impressionistic oil painting of green trees against a blue sky

Maloy says he’s looking forward to reuniting with his classmates from across the country and exploring each artist’s work during the exhibition. He also hopes the presenting artists come to the exhibition to find new perspectives.

“I teach at Columbia College, which is in the South Loop in Chicago, and that's a very, very different college experience than Athens, Ohio, in the foothills of the Appalachians on the Ohio River,” Maloy says. “I try to explore with my students, sometimes, what kind of community, what kind of commitment do they all have? Do they have what we had? It's hard for me to gauge and to see it, and I’d love for artists to come and see that [and] develop their own.”

a sculptural composition of sticks painted white with brown tips on a light brown shelf

a brown ceramic jar with three feet and a lid

an abstract, unevenly circular sculptural piece in black and red with a white border

a fabric puppet wearing a multicolored crown and clothing with blue eyes, large red ears and a long red and white striped nose

“King of the Village” by Patty Mitchell, BFA ’87, MFA ’91, photography. Mitchell majored in photography and is an artist and social entrepreneur specializing in collaboration between artists with and without developmental differences. She is the founder and executive director at Passion Works Studio in Athens.

an irregular square of metal with five X shapes inside a frame

“Quilt Series: 5 Panes” by Susan Griswold, BFA ’87, metalwork sculpture. Griswold majored in ceramics and is now a freelance art handler, rigger and welder in Portland, Oregon, operating under the name St Johns Sculpture.

cityscape scene depicting several buildings and a large construction crane against a blue sky with fluffy white clouds

“Keeboom” by Terrance Wharton, etching on paper. The lone non-alumnus in the exhibition was a dear friend of Pete Maloy’s until Wharton’s death in 2021. “I just couldn’t do the show without a piece of his,” Maloy says. This piece “is a perfect representation of Terry and our time at OU. It was an appropriation from the men’s second-floor bathroom stall [in] Seigfred Hall … circa 1983.”