Opening Celebrates New Paintings at Elliston Room

The walls of a UC venue dedicated to literature now bear the work of another form of art: painting. Seven new works created by Greater Cincinnati artists adorn the walls of the Elliston Poetry Room on the sixth floor of Langsam Library. On April 3-4, three events will celebrate these new additions to the room. 

The oranges, greens and yellows of a Stewart Goldman painting from his Tuscany series and the rose and green hues of Beverly Erschell's "Avenue Along the Sea" now color the room's once-empty walls. Darker tones are also presented in Darrell Brothers' painting of a table and chair and Thom Shaw's "Backstreet Elegy," a black-and-white wood cut  depicting the violence of a drug deal that proves to be fatal.

The Elliston Room houses one of the best collections of contemporary poetry in the country, holding more than 15,000 books, magazines, records and tapes relating to 20th-century poetry. 
 
The Elliston Room stands for literary art, but the people who come through here can also see what our city has to offer in the other arts. We get more than 2,000 visitors through here every year," says Jim Cummins, curator of the Elliston Poetry Collection. 
 

""It's an expression of solidarity with the other artists in the city," he adds.

The room was made possible by the George Elliston Fund, established in 1951 through a bequest. The fund also allows UC to offer poetry fans, students and faculty a reading space and listening facilities, as well as frequent workshops and student poetry readings. In the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences' Department of English, it brings in a poet in residence each year to work with budding poets.

The woman who made all of this possible, George Elliston, "was very much committed to the arts in Cincinnati," says Cummins. "She was very supportive of musicians, painters and the theater. More than a hundred of her own poems were set to music by local musicians."

Among the paintings now decorating the room bearing Elliston's name are two that were donated. The others, including repairs made to an existing Elliston portrait, were purchased through the Elliston Fund and a university art fund.

The complete set of paintings includes:

• "Avenue Along the Sea," by Beverly Erschell, now a Northern Kentucky resident. The oil-on-canvas work measures 36 by 48 inches.
  
  
• "Bowl of Cherries," by Deborah Morrissey-McGoff, an MFA graduate of UC who resides in Clifton. The oil-on-wood artwork measures 48 by 38 inches.
  
• Painting from a series on Tuscany, by Stewart Goldman, retired faculty member from the Art Academy of Cincinnati.  The painting measures 48 by 69 inches.
  
  
• "No. 2, 1986" and "No. 4, 1981", both by Darrell Brothers, former chair of the art department at Thomas More College. Brothers died in 1993 and his widow, Betty, donated the paintings to the Elliston Room. The liquid-acrylics-on-canvas works measure 76 by 91 inches and 72 by 56 inches, respectively. The first shows a still life with a table and chair, while the second is a skull with robes.
  
  
• "Cats Away," by Cole Carothers, a former faculty member at the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Carothers resides in Milford. The pencil, acrylic-and-wax-on-wood piece measures 67 by 84 inches.
  
  
• "Backstreet Elegy," by artist Thom Shaw, is from a series of woodcuts called the Malcolm X Project. Shaw has a studio in East Walnut Hills.
  
  
• Portrait of George Elliston, by Stephen Alke. The frame was repaired so that the piece could be displayed once again.

Events to celebrate these paintings include:

• April 3 - A poetry reading featuring Amy Gerstler, a writer of fiction, poetry and art criticism and author of "Bitter Angel," and David Lehman, poet, editor and critic. The reading will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, in Room 127, McMicken Hall.
  
  
• April 4- A panel discussion with Gerstler and Lehman will examine "Poetry and Painting: Nostalgia for Community" at 1 p.m. Friday, in the Elliston Room.
  
  
• April 4- An art opening reception will take place at 3:30-5:30 p.m. Friday, in the Elliston Room.

For more information, call (513) 556-1570.