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Pioneering Toledo Designers Have Profound Impact on 20th Century Design

The Alliance of Art and Industry: Toledo Designs for a Modern America will be on view at the Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery August 8 - October 19, 2002. Curated by Davira S. Taragin, director of the Center for Glass and curator of Modern and Contemporary Glass at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Designs explores the role Toledo's designers and workforce played in the development of modern industrial design in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition shows how the ideas and products that resulted from the industrial design movement forever changed American life.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, August 8, from 5-7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibition looks at the designers who worked for Toledo industrialists and reveals how leading designers used their involvement with Toledo companies to help define their new profession. It also examines the Midwestern design aesthetic that came out of Toledo-a moderate, restrained, functionalist approach which was above all concerned with the realities of everyday life.

Toledo Designs features work from some of the biggest names from the early era of design including Norman Bel Geddes, Harold Van Doren, John Gordon Rideout, Freda Diamond, Carl Sundberg and Montgomery Ferar, Lippincott & Margulies, Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague. Companies represented in the exhibition include Toledo Scale, Willys-Overland, Libbey Glass, Libbey-Owens-Ford, Owens-Illinois and Maytag.

Two events will be held in conjunction with the exhibition; both are free are open to the public:

Sunday, September 8, 2-4 p.m. Family Day with Deborah Davis-Livaich. Children of all ages and their adult companions are invited to join this artist, mom and principal of the award-winning firm Design Central for an afternoon of pure invention. Create 3-D appliances and learn how industrial designers shape our homes.

Tuesday, October 1, 7 p.m. The Hidden Meaning of Housewares. The products in our homes satisfy more than practical needs. Join industrial designer Gregg Davis, co-founder and principal of Design Central, in rediscovering the beauty and elegance of those necessary items we call housewares. Design Central has partnered with companies such as KitchenAid, General Electric, Jenn-Air, Tupperware and Nike.

The Alliance of Art and Industry: Toledo Designs for a Modern America was organized by the Toledo Museum of Art under the direction of Davira S. Taragin, director of the Museum's Center for Glass and curator, Modern and Contemporary Glass. The Riffe Gallery venue of this exhibition is supported by Ohio Building Authority. Media sponsors include Columbus Alive, Ohio Magazine and Time Warner Communications.

A 232-page, full color catalog of the exhibition will be available for $25.

The Riffe Gallery, operated by the Ohio Arts Council, showcases the work of Ohio's artists and curators, exhibitions produced by the Ohio Arts Council's International Program and the collections of the region's museums and galleries. The Riffe Gallery's Education Program seeks to increase public appreciation and understanding of those exhibitions. The gallery is in the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, State and High Streets, Columbus, OH. New hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 12-8 p.m. and Sunday 12-4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Monday. Admission is free. For information or to schedule a tour call the Riffe Gallery at 614/644-9624.

The Ohio Arts Council, a state agency established in 1965, builds the state through the arts-economically, educationally and culturally-preserving the past, enhancing the present and enriching the future for all Ohioans. The Council believes the people of Ohio should share the arts. The arts arise from public, individual and organizational efforts. The OAC supports and encourages those efforts.

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As required by section 119.03 of the Ohio Revised Code, the Ohio Arts Council hereby gives notice of its intent to share with the public a new rule regarding the circumstances under which councilmembers are prohibited from participating in the determination of financial support for OAC-funded organizations of which they are board members or employees. The hearing will be held Thursday, May 17 at 11:00 a.m., in Room 420 on the 4th floor of the Rhodes State Office Tower.