Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery Presents: Journey to the Finish – An Artistic Look at the Sports Culture in Cincinnati - Curated by Tom Tsuchiya

Mount St. Joseph University Department of Creative Arts is proud to announce the opening of Journey to the Finish - An artistic look at the sports culture in Cincinnati an innovative exhibition featuring 10 contemporary artists exploring their journey in creation of sports-centered artwork. The exhibition will run from November 3, 2024 to December 9, 2024. Gallery goers and sports enthusiasts alike are invited to walk alongside the artists in their journeys to elevate the athletes and sports moments of Cincinnati through art.

About The Exhibition

Artists and athletes have a lot in common. The exhibition Journey to the Finish curated by local art celebrity Tom Tsuchiya highlights artists whose work feature the city's great athletes and sports teams. This exhibition explores the journey artists take on their way to the finished artwork: highlighting Cincinnati's great sports culture and honoring the hard work and determination of both athlete and artist. Just as an athlete devotes many minutes, hours, and years to practice and work in their athletic journey, so too does an artist devote years to the development of their works of art. This exhibition not only presents the "finished" artwork but also includes sketches, contact sheets, and reflections of their journey to the finished work of art.

Featured Artists

The exhibition features the works of ten Cincinnati artists, all connected by their commitment to the dreams of both players and fans to our Cincinnati sports: Jim Borgman, Emilee Chinn, Steve Colyer, Elevar Design Group, Chris Felix, Tony Lipps, Brent Naughton, Greg Rust, Jenny Roesel Ustick and Tom Tsuchiya.

About the Curator

Tom Tsuchiya, whom is best known for his public art; including the sculptures of the Cincinnati Reds players, like Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose at Great American Ball Park, plaques at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and Mount St. Joseph University's own Catamount. The Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery is honored to have Mr. Tsuchiya curate this exhibition.

Opening Reception

The opening reception of Journey to the Finish - An artistic look at the sports culture in Cincinnati - curated by Tom Tsuchiya, will be held at the Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery located inside the Dorothy Meyer Ziv Art & Design building. Guests will have the opportunity to mingle with some of the artists, talk with the curator, and enjoy refreshments.

Featured Artists:

Jim Borgman

Jim Borgman graduated from Kenyon College in 1976 and was hired as the editorial cartoonist by the Cincinnati Enquirer, his hometown newspaper, which he did for the next 32 years. His fellow cartoonists voted him Best Editorial Cartoonist in America five times and he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 and the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 1993. During a visit to the White House President Clinton invited him into his bathroom to see one of his cartoons framed above the First John.

In 1997 Jerry Scott approached Jim with an idea to collaborate on a comic strip about a teenager. Something clicked and they launched Zits, which skyrocketed. Zits has been voted Best Comic Strip of the Year three times in the US, and has been awarded Germany's Max und Moritz Award as International Comic Strip of the Year. Zits appears in 1,700 newspapers all over the world. Whatever newspapers are.

As a boy, Jim would pitch a rubber ball for hours against the wall of his Price Hill home pretending he was Jim Maloney. Sixty years later, he got to meet his hero at Reds spring training camp.

Jim now splits his time between Cincinnati and Colorado.

Emilee Chinn

I am the team photographer for the Cincinnati Reds. I am also a freelance photographer and photo editor based in Cincinnati, Ohio with a focus on professional and college athletics.

Prior to my start with the Reds, I was a photo editor and assistant for the Columbus Blue Jackets, a staff photographer for Ohio Athletics, an intern for Getty Images Sport in New York, New York, and a game day photographer for the Columbus Crew SC.

Sports are my passion and fuel for my photography. My goal at every game I attend is to make people feel as if they were also there by looking at my images. I want viewers to see the light, feel the athlete's emotions, and distinguish the peak plays without stepping foot in the stadium.

My work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and more. I won gold in the 75th College Photographer of the Year Competition with my sports portfolio, gold and an award of excellence in sports action, and an award of excellence in sports feature.

Stephen Colyer is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans across various mediums including painting, pencil drawing, mix media and digital art. With a background in sports and portraits.

I graduated from Mt. St. Joseph University in 2008 with a degree in Illustration. I am currently a Cincinnati Public Schools high school art teacher at Western Hills High School.

His work has been exhibited in galleries and art events, including Reds Hall of Fame exhibitions, local galleries, Mount St. Joseph University, and Redsfest.

He has received recognition for their innovative approach to art, including [working with MimsBandz & Topps in the Project 40 baseball card project, illustrating T Shirt designs for Cincy Shirts and Breaking T. He was just published for illustrating the newest Robert Skead Novel and received a 3rd place finish in the Evendale Fine Arts Show.

As a passionate advocate for the arts, Colyer has also engaged in community outreach and education initiatives, such as Joe Nuxhall Miracle League, Reds Urban Youth Academy, and even Western Hills Campus. He has illustrated many poster designs for the school and created multiple logos for t-shirt designs for different Western Hills programs.

Elevar Design Group

Elevar Design Group, founded in 1967 and headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, with offices in Cleveland and Lexington, KY, has deep roots in the Tri-State region and serves clients nationwide. We provide a comprehensive range of services across both public and private sectors, including strategic planning, community engagement, professional planning, programming, architecture, engineering, interior design, project management, construction administration, and institutional and operational research. As our sports market grows, we are proud to have worked with major clients like the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals, TQL Stadium and various K-12 athletics programs across Greater Cincinnati.

At Elevar, we believe in delivering personalized service and innovative design solutions. Inspired by our founder, Emilio Fernandez, we emphasize responsibility for the entire project, both artistically and technically, ensuring quality from inception to completion.

Our team of 80+ professionals combines experienced leadership with fresh, innovative ideas, allowing us to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving design landscape. We focus on creating beautiful, high-performance spaces that offer exceptional value to our clients, always aiming for timeless, responsive designs that elevate outcomes.

Chris Felix

Chris grew up on the west side of Cincinnati with a family that loved baseball. His parents and grandmother were die-hard Reds fans who enjoyed listening to Marty and Joe every night. Chris's older brother, Tom, had such a natural athletic ability that he was scouted by the Pittsburgh Pirates before being drafted for the Vietnam war. So it's no surprise that Chris began playing at a very young age and fell in love with the game.

Chris attended Elder High School where another passion was quickly ignited. A dedicated and observant art teacher noticed Chris's talent for painting and encouraged him to continue spending time honing his skills. Taking that advice to heart has resulted in Chris's intricate attention to detail in every painting he creates and for what he is most known. Chris currently lives in Independence, KY where he paints and creates in his studio full time.

Tony Lipps

Tony Lipps works out of a space at Linncinnati, at 516 Linn Street in Cincinnati, Ohio since 2015. He attended Kent State University's Fine Arts program from 2001-2005. In 2005 Lipps returned to Cincinnati and joined the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, where he served for 13 years as a Deputy in corrections for 6 years and as a Patrol Officer for 7 more years. While at the Sheriff''s Office, Lipps still created art as a hobby, working on commissioned paintings and donating many paintings to multiple causes during that time.

Lipps has had artwork displayed in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Museum and in an exhibit represented by the Reds Hall of Fame at the Fitton Center in Hamilton, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. When the MLB All Star games came to Cincinnati in 2015, Cincinnati Art Galleries held a baseball themed juried exhibit where Lipps sold his painting of Pete Rose, titled, "Charlie Hustle", in the first night of the exhibit's opening. Lipps sold a commissioned piece to former Cincinnati Bengal, Domata Peko, and was recognized on the local news stations in multiple interviews showcasing his artwork.

Lipps has made commemorative portraits for many police officers from multiple departments and donated original paintings to benefits ranging from the American Heart Association to cancer benefits. In 2019, Lipps won Best in Show at "A fair of the Arts" in Anderson, Ohio. In June of 2021, Lipps held his first solo exhibit at The Eisele Art Gallery, displaying his cityscape paintings and sold 2 original paintings. Lipps continues a journey to enhance technique and subject matter to further build his background in painting. In May of 2022, Lipps joined a team of artists, led by Eileen Dorsey, in Columbus to paint a mural in the new Barrio's Restaurant.

While, I do not claim to be the "world's most renowned sports artist," I do understand what it feels like to have sports heroes and to live and die with my favorite teams. The goal of my artwork is to evoke memories of seasons past and celebrate the greatness of sports legends of every era. While I do, on occasion, create artwork for the athletes themselves, my main mission is to capture the spirit of a specific athlete for fans. Whether your favorite player is Elly De La Cruz, Jamarr Chase or Peter Edward Rose, my goal is to provide a piece of artwork that celebrates the greatness of the athlete that you hold close to your "tattered jersey-covered" heart.

A true lover of sports with the Cincinnati Reds topping his all-time favorite teams, Brent Naughton is an artist and graphic designer living in Cincinnati, Ohio and specializing in portraiture & sports art. Brent's work has been shown in the Reds Hall of Fame, The Robert Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh and the Dayton Art Institute. Locally, you can always view Brent's work on the walls of Eli's BBQ on Riverside and Fireside Pizza in Walnut Hills. He's also been featured on The Art Show on CET.

Naughton has also worked in the package design industry, illustrated several books and created artwork for many local charities that are close to his heart. Naughton lives on the east side of Cincinnati with his talented wife, Michelle Blades, their three dogs, Gorilla, Orangutan and Duke. Go Reds!

Greg Rust

Gregory Rust uses a subtle mix of anthropology, professional experience and intuition to create photographs that lay bare the underlying thread of humanity common to all people. His masterful use of color, light and composition produce an almost instant bond of familiarity between subject and viewer, regardless of setting or geographical location.

A self-described cultural chameleon, Rust studied photography while earning his bachelor's degree in anthropology from Northern Kentucky University. He has done an extensive photographic study on Native American culture, recently initiating an exhibit at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati that explored cultural sports mascots. Prompted by the simmering tribalism in America he created the exhibit "Artifacts…Focus on Race" at Xavier University, Cohen Art Gallery, 2019. In 2021 his exhibit "Native American Awareness" debuted at Xavier University and opened at Northern Kentucky University, Museum of Anthropology in the Fall of 2022, addressing historic and current Indigenous issues.

He served as Director of Photography for Xavier University for 36 years and also worked as an official photographer for two of Cincinnati's major-league sports teams-the Reds for 32 seasons and Bengals for 25 years. His legacy book, "Light Color Culture" was released in 2020. Over four decades his work has been published and shown widely including Kharkiv International House, Ukraine in 2013. A fifth-generation farmer, Rust raises horses with his family on their farm in Pendleton County, Kentucky. Check out their website at www.gullycreekfarm.com.

Jenny Roesel Ustick

Jenny Roesel Ustick is Associate Professor of Art in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati, and one of the most prominent muralists in her region. She has created numerous large-scale public murals with the nonprofit ArtWorks in Cincinnati (Mr. Dynamite/James Brown is her best-known ArtWorks project), and now primarily focuses on independent projects that have included commissions from the US Soccer Federation, Five Iron Golf, 21C Museum Hotel Cincinnati, Hard Rock Casino, and many others. She has painted across the United States, including institutional commissions and mural festivals: projects with the University of New Mexico - Taos in 2019 and 2023; the Walls for Women Project in Tennessee in 2020 and 2022; CRE8IV Mural Festival in Rockford, Illinois in 2019, 2021, and 2022 (with Atalie Gagnet); and BLINK Cincinnati in 2022. Internationally, she has completed mural residencies in Buenos Aires (Proyecto Palimipsesto, La Fundación 'ace para el Arte Contemporáneo y el 'acePIRAR, Programa Internacional de Residencias Artísticas in 2017); and Graniti, Sicily for the Graniti Murales Artist Residency in 2018 and 2023.

Ustick maintains a solo studio practice that includes drawing, painting, textile, and sculpture. She is also an active member of the collaborative group Maidens of the Cosmic Body Running with Denise Burge and Lisa Siders Kenney, focusing on multimedia time-based installations, film, and sound. She and her collaborators have exhibited in numerous galleries and museums nationally and internationally, and have participated in art fairs including Governors Island Art Fair, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and ArtPrize. Her work has been mentioned in Juxtapoz, Forbes, American Quarterly, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, and in numerous appearances in popular local media surrounding projects in Cincinnati and around the country.

Tom Tsuchiya

Tom Tsuchiya is a prominent Cincinnati-based artist who creates public sculptures. He is best known for his bronze sculptures for Major League Baseball and the National Football League, including life-size bronzes of Cincinnati Reds players at Great American Ball Park. He has designed bronze trophies such as the Madden Protectors Award to honor the NFL's best offensive line. His design integrating figures of the players into the trophy's base is viewed as a departure from the traditional award design.

In addition to bronze sculptures, Tsuchiya created sustainable art sculptures such as the 2010 work Atlas Recycled which doubles as a container for recyclables. The sculpture, made mainly from reused materials, has been exhibited around the world including Cincinnati's Fountain Square, New York City's Grand Central Terminal and London's Imperial College. At ArtPrize, Atlas was selected as a Top 25 Installation.

Tsuchiya also creates religious work including Lux Mundi, a 52 feet tall statue of Jesus for Solid Rock Church and Biola University's Spirit of Christ. He recently completed the sculpture of Mary and Jesus for St. Xavier High School in 2024.