Portage
Arron Foster
June 7 - August 10, 2025
Reception: Saturday, June 21st 1 PM - 3PM EST
Artist Statement:
Both individually and in our collective existence, human beings assign meaning and respond emotionally to places. Places have history, good and bad. Our relationship to place, with its linked histories, identities, geographies, and cultures, can shape our worldview and influence our sense of self, well-being, and belonging. Artists are not exempt from the influence of place in their lives and work. Markers of place’s pull are viewable in the conceptual and aesthetic choices of many artists across time and location.
My work as an artist builds off this conceptual milieu and reflects my interest in how we conceptualize places. For several years, my work has centered on what geographer John K. Wright describes as experiential watchfulness, which involves seeing, documenting, and discussing specific places to stimulate local awareness, activism, and care.
Each project or series I undertake involves an intuitive, research-based approach to observing, studying, and documenting specific locations. Through this work, I hope to create a dialogue between myself and the viewer that provides an opportunity for the shared exploration and interpretation of places. I believe that by developing a shared understanding of the physical world, we can encourage empathy for the spaces we occupy and perhaps promote a greater sense of stewardship and care.
Through the structured act of close looking and the experience of capturing a piece of the landscape in perpetuity through printmaking, photography, and installation, I have attempted to engage with the unique qualities of the Ohio landscape while creating images that illustrate the overarching phenomena of ecological balance that characterizes nature.
Bio:
Arron Foster received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking and Art Education from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking and Book Arts from the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. His prints and installations have been in notable exhibitions at respected national and international galleries, museums, and art centers. He has mounted solo exhibitions at George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon, The Dayton Society of the Arts in Dayton, Ohio, The Akron Soul Train Gallery in Akron, Ohio, and Hiram University in Hiram, Ohio. He has also participated in the International Youth Printmaking Invitational Exhibition in Changsha, China, and the 11th Douro Biennial in Douro, Portugal. Foster has received competitive grants from the Ohio Arts Council, Kent State University, the University of Georgia, and the Southern Graphics Council International. Foster is an Assistant Professor of Art at Kent State University at Stark in North Canton, Ohio.