A look into 'Lignin'

SANDUSKY — An upcoming show provides much substance — in terms of meaning, depth and realness — into pieces created by several local artists. "Lignin" represents the Sandusky Cultural Center's third show in its 2025-26 season. The display of artwork collectively premieres Sunday with a public reception set for 1-4 p.m. "Lignin, an exhibit featuring 15 artists using plant materials — such as grasses, papers and wood as their media — is defined as a substance related to cellulose that occurs in the woody cell walls of plants and in the connecting materials between them," according to a center statement. Here's a look at each participating artist with the center explaining all artwork on display. Some artists, meanwhile, also provide comment about their submissions: • "Ron Abrams' lathe turns highly finished wood vessels, sometimes with colored resin, that capture the nature, history and inherent beauty of each piece of selected weed." • "Robert Coby explores surface and texture, inspired by the topography of landscape, using power and hand tools, focusing on carving intriguing textures into the natural beauty of the wood panels." • "Palli Davene Davis is a sculptor who combines wood with other natural and found objects into new and creative forms." • "Hunter Elliott is a broom-maker exploring, innovating and pushing the traditions of his craft." "My place in broom making is to reinvent the wheel and to take the universal utilitarian object to new places while celebrating the traditions that bore it," Elliott said. • "Eli Gfell is a creative builder of architecture as well as furniture. His 'Gramps' stool design is a tribute to his grandfather." "I make these from reclaimed wood, most of which was milled from fallen trees on family properties many years ago," Gfell said. "I am particularly interested in how the stool encourages a more active/engaged form of sitting. It is meant for contemplating or completing tasks. A place to sit, but not to rest." • "Tim Gorka has spent a lifetime creating primarily with wood using traditional techniques often in non-traditional ways." "Each piece has its own story and its own voice, as do I," Gorka said. "The work is the resulting conversation. You are invited." • "Beth Johnson is a highly regarded origami creator." "My representational work highlights nature's power and fragility, and the delicate balance between the two, through the use of plant material and handmade natural paper," Johnson said. "My abstract work documents the random and periodic rhythm of plant cells, using handmade natural paper." • "Patricia Krebs is a fiber artist who, for this exhibit, is showing baskets made with natural plant materials." • "Randy Maxin is a paper artist known for combining printed wallpaper samples into logical and sensitive geometric compositions." • "Travis Morehead handcarves found wood architectural elements into lattice-like forms, transforming once-functional objects into quiet sculpture that suggests both threshold and fragility. Each gesture reveals the labor of touch — an invitation to consider absence, shelter and memory." • "Matthew Palmer was a highly regarded, academically educated painter who — after a long series of very serious health issues — has emerged as a custom furniture builder. For his return to Sandusky Cultural Center in 'Lignin,' he has created a series of lathe-turned wood bowls." • "James Ward Peake notes that while lignin is mostly removed from standard commercial papers, newsprint contains higher levels of this naturally occurring polymer, which significantly reduces the overall quality and durability of the material. His origami-inspired paper sculptures are folded from treated newspaper clippings that depict images of trees, wood and other plants." • "Marcus Schafer laser cuts and layers his original, complex designs from processed eucalyptus wood." • "Victor Sergent is a custom furniture maker who is familiar to Sandusky Cultural Center for the gallery desk and visitor benches commissioned several years ago. For 'Lignin,' he exhibits two new tables." • "Andy Shannon is a multi-media artist who has created three new sculptures in wood for 'Lignin.'" Beyond Sunday, the exhibit welcomes people to view artwork through Feb. 15 during the following times and days: • 1-4 p.m. on Sundays • Noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays "Admission is free at all times and parking is available at the rear of Sandusky High School, 2130 Hayes Ave. (Ohio 4), in Sandusky," the statement read. The gallery and parking lot are located behind the high school beside its observatory. People can call 419-625-1188 for more information.