Bring on 'Bio-logical'

SANDUSKY — This multi-dimensional show truly brings depth to area artists, their artwork and a local gallery welcoming them and their creations. "Bio-logical" represents the Sandusky Cultural Center's fourth art show in its 2025-26 season. The display of artwork collectively premieres Sunday with a public reception set for 1-4 p.m. So what can attendees expect? "'Bio-logical' ... presents both 2D and 3D art inspired by the small animal forms living among us: from the microscopic to the insects, little furry creatures and even a few virtual ones," center director Charles Mayer said. Here's a look at each participating artist with the center explaining all artwork on display. Some artists, meanwhile, also provide comments about their submissions: • "R!ch Cihlar's works for 'Bio-logical' are built in translucent layers of resin over spray paint, etched to reveal the tension between birth and extinction. They are embellished with found materials and letterpress phrases." "Each work becomes an intimate relic of lived and borrowed histories," Cihlar said. • "Jacob Dawkins presents small, realistic insect drawings with geometric backgrounds in ink and colored pencil." • "Regan Falin presents a poster, which zooms in on the development of the worker honey bee in four stages framed by the honeycomb cells of their hive." • "Alexander Haines is bringing a group of cast bronze toads, hand-fabricated jewelry and 'The Ocean Octarine,' a highly complex curiosity box constructed from jeweler's brass, sterling silver, 14K yellow gold, bronze, cloisonne enamel, turquoise, aragonite, larimer and malachite." • "Josh Haplea has created a new series of his 'bar fly' pins in mixed metals and found objects along with two intriguing interpretations of 3D Bacteriophage." • "David Hobbs interprets 'Bio-logical' with two of his signature framed and painted intricate cutouts, (which is) represented by a series of small cast bronze insects on gingko leaves, bronze bats and koi fish." • "Nina Vivian Huryn has created eight new works in her signature painted and tooled leather medium. These include human skeletons along with microscopic life." • "Sean Jason Kelley, a creative painter previously shown in Sandusky only in last season's 'Artifact Machine,' has made for us a new series of highly decorative compositions featuring biological subjects from bones to small animals." "This work presents life as an interconnected, cyclical system of strength, fragility and renewal," Kelley said. • "Patricia Krebs uses her fiber expertise to recreate microscopic life forms in both small objects and wall pieces." • Todd Leech wrote the following: "My piece for 'Bio-logical' deals with the human figure and the intrusion of Artificial Intelligence into our lives. The hospital gurney and tray are being used from a previous installation that was presented shortly after my double lung transplant and is being reused to show the fragility of the human form. The piece will disintegrate over the course of the opening and will then evaporate over the month's long run of the show. What will be left at the end of the month will be interesting to discover." Also at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, as a special feature of the exhibit opening, there will be a live performance of chamber and solo works by the BGSU Contemporary Music Doctoral Cohort. "Plan to arrive early, as access to the gallery may be limited during the performance," Mayer said. People can also visit The Lobby Gallery, which celebrates the New Year of the Fire Horse. This exhibit features Asian artifacts, contemporary art, origami along with vintage and modern horse toys. Beyond Sunday, the exhibit welcomes people to view artwork through mid-March 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.