Carol Bonram-Hays - Roy Alum 2014
Roy G Biv Gallery is a vital resource for Columbus. It provides artists a space for experimental work, and there are too few opportunities and spaces that can happen in Columbus. I think that is a really really important part of the Gallery.
There will always be art for the commercial market, but art for the commercial market is art for someone else whereas experimental art allows the artist to try new approaches and invites the patron into the artist’s realm. The experimental aspect of art is not for commercial purposes; it’s art for art’s sake.
In 2014 when I exhibited at ROY I was more experienced than some of the other artists, but I was still emerging in the true definition of the word. Emerging can be applied to artists in all stages of life. I think it is important for ROY to keep the traditional definition of emerging for all artists.
I did a small installation at ROY that allowed me to really showcase my range and some of the more experimental elements of my work. Certainly, being selected through a juried process to exhibit at ROY builds your confidence as an artist.
When I exhibited at ROY, I was paired with Andrew McCauley. We had never met before, but we have stayed in touch. Now, 12 years after our show at ROY, we have been revisiting that work and discussing the possibility of renewing our collaboration. ROY fosters community among artists, and I would love to see that role expanded and strengthened. There have been a lot of really accomplished people and artists that went through ROY. I wonder if ROY could help bring forward an artists discussion group going forward.
ROY is a space we don’t have anywhere else in Columbus, and we really need it to continue.
https://www.carolboramhays.com/
Bio: Carol Boram-Hays earned a B.A. in Biology from. Washington University in St. Louis. She also studied ceramics at Washington University and The Ohio State University, and earned Ph.D. in Art History from The Ohio State University in 2000. She began exhibiting her sculpture in galleries across the U.S. and in Germany starting in the 1980s. Since 2004 she has been a member of the pioneering women’s space, A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Over the years she has received numerous awards for her work, including recognition from the Whirlpool Sculpture Competition, the National Association of Women Artists, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council Artist Residency Program in Dresden, Germany. In 2018 her work appeared in the Women to Watch exhibition at the Riffe gallery in Columbus, OH. Her sculpture has also been featured in reviews in publications such as The New York Times, Landscape Architecture and Dart Internationaland her work is in the collection of the Kunsthaus Raskolnikow in Dresden, Germany and the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio.