Welcome an interesting new venue for a visual art exhibition — the Trailside Nature Center at Burnet Woods.
The Clifton Cultural Arts Center has announced that the ninth installment of its juried The Golden Ticket group exhibition will occur there Nov. 2-Dec. 15, rather than at the traditional location, CCAC's home in the old Clifton Elementary School at 3711 Clifton Ave., which the school board closed in 2008 but leased to the arts center for use. But the board has terminated the lease to open a Clifton Area Neighborhood School in the building — it will have pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade students for the 2018-19 school year and add more grades later.
The Trailside Nature Center location is especially interesting as an art venue because Clifton Cultural Arts Center wants to build its own new building in Burnet Woods, a 25,000-square-foot, three-story structure with parking for 40 cars. There is both public support and opposition; CityBeat wrote about it here. Thus, the upcoming Golden Ticket show is a test of whether arts and nature are a good fit at Burnet Woods.
According to the Cincinnati Parks Board website, "The Trailside Nature Center is located in Burnet Woods Park, adjoining the University of Cincinnati and one of Cincinnati’s oldest parks. It includes a children’s museum, a handicap-access meeting room for nature education programs and a fishing lake created in 1875."
"The CCAC is taking our show on the road for our upcoming programmatic series and our exhibition season," says Emily Versoza, office coordinator for the arts center, via email. "Our FotoFocus show, Small Towns & Long Views, will be held at the Esquire, while our annual community art show is being hosted by the Avondale Business Center. We are very much looking forward to time spent strengthening our relationships with community partners, and reaching otherwise unfamiliar audiences."
This coming exhibit is open to artists living or working with a 25-mile radius of the CCAC. Only artists 18 and older may submit works. All fine art disciplines welcome. All works must be original in concept, design, and execution. For a full list of entry procedures, deadlines, and schedule, and to submit for Golden Ticket, visit CliftonCulturalArts.org/goldenticketentry. There are cash awards for prizes.
This year's jury consists of Mary Gray, director of the Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery; artist Terence Hammonds; Paige Wideman, lecturer at Northern Kentucky University; and Calcagno Cullen, executive director at Wave Pool.
