The Barnett Center’s “A Life in the Arts” series welcomes practicing artists from the Columbus area to share their insights for making a well-rounded, satisfying, and meaningful life in the arts. The initiative is designed to provide a transparent view of the lives of practicing artists in order to help our students more clearly see themselves as thriving artists here.
In our first event in this series, we invited Sarah Hixon, of Hixon Dance to offer her experience and knowledge of life in the performing arts to our students. Sarah Hixon is a choreographer, dance educator, and collaborator. She is the founding and artistic director of Hixon Dance, a professional performing company established in 2007. The company is known for its collaborations with other artists, especially musicians, and for presenting impactful and accessible performances. Ms. Hixon studied choreography with Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, David Parsons, Susan Rethorst, Vera Blaine, Susan Shields, and others. She trained at The Washington Ballet, American Repertory Theatre, and The Milwaukee Ballet, among others. She holds a BFA in Dance from George Mason University and an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University.
On Monday, November 4th, in room N380 at the Timashev Family Music Building, Melissa Vogley Woods will speak about her way of life as a multidisciplinary artist. Melissa Vogley Woods is a visual artist, teacher, and artist-curator born and residing in Columbus, Ohio. Vogley Woods is a multi-generational caregiver of 30+ years to two children, her mother lives with a difficult life-long mental illness and her father’s dementia. Her practice is aligned with her life as a way to delve into the intricacies of care within relationships with a specific focus on barriers and how we bridge them. Her metaphorical work spans between public art, social practice, and intimate exploration of the object. Recent recognition she has received includes a National USA Fellowship nomination, two Ohio Art Council Individual Artist Grants, and A Greater Columbus Arts Council Individual Artist grant, and she has exhibitions locally, nationally, and internationally in such institutions as the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus Museum of Art, Museum of Sisters Aslamazyan in Armenia, and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. She attended Mass MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, and Wassaic Projects Residencies and her work has been written about in the Brooklyn Rail among others. Vogley Woods is a dedicated arts organizer, recent curatorial projects include "Lobby," a series of three-person exhibitions held in a Planned Parenthood surgical center, and "Room to Let" series held in donated houses that exhibited seventy artists over three years of programming.