ASHTABULA — The Ashtabula Arts Center's November exhibit will feature “Collections of Ohio and Michigan” by Brant Gebhart of Windsor.
Gebhart grew up in the Pacific Northwest, in an artistic and creative family who filled his young years with experiences of art and music. In 1967, he came to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study harp, but a part time job at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History opened his eyes to the natural world and led to a career of exhibit design and illustration.
“The habitat of the Great Lakes enticed my first sailing trip on Lake Erie with the assistant director of the Cleveland Aquarium. Since then, I've owned more boats than cars, or harps and I could fill a small dump with paint brushes, pencils, erasers and other artistic artifacts of plein air painting.”
Gebhart sailed to the Dominican Republic in 1980 where he built a small museum. In Arizona he built and opened a painting studio while also crisscrossing the country to work on other projects. By 2008, he had settled into a farmhouse in Windsor and opened a studio where he has been painting scenes from around Ashtabula County, among his many other projects which include working on historic exhibit panels for the Windsor Historical Society.
The exhibit will be on display Thursday through Nov. 29. An art opening reception will be held Nov. 6 from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., where visitors can view the exhibit and meet the artist.
Light refreshments will be served.
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The gallery is also open before all theater performances and during intermission. Admission to the gallery is free.
