Donna Barhite has had an interest in art since early childhood.  She was mainly self-taught until 1968 when she spent the summer in Chicago, IL studying fashion illustration and commercial art at the Ray Vogue Art School.

Having dabbled in portrait sketching prior to this, she decided to sign up with Ohio artist, Walter Chapman and learn the correct way to paint portraits.  Chapman started Barhite with the basics and this was all it took for her to realize she had found her niche in the art world.  In 1972 she began to seriously study portrait painting with him and continued to do so through much of the 70's and 80's. 

Besides Walter Chapman, Barhite gives credit to Michigan artist, Pauline Link with whom she studied for 20 years.   She also took workshops from several artist's including Harley Brown, Phil Beck, Leslie B. DiMille, John Howard Sanden, Daniel Greene, Canadian artist Bernard Poulin, Larry Blovits and most recently, Judith Carducci.

Donna particularly likes the mediums of oil and pastel for portraits and figure paintings.  More than trying to attain a purely physical likeness of a subject; she believes the essence of the spirit and personality equally important.  Her painting has developed over the years into a more impressionistic style of realism.

Besides portraiture, Barhite also excels in florals which she executes in watercolor, oil and pastel.  She finds the subject of flowers more relaxing and not as intense as portraits.

Barhite is a member of the Portrait Society of America and has attended several national conferences across the United States.  She also belongs to the Fellowship of Christians in Portraiture as well as the Toledo Artists' Club. 

Barhite has won many awards over the years, most recently with her portraits in competitions given by the Toledo Artists' Club, Delta Fine Arts Association, the Fulton County Fair in Wauseon, OH, as well as the  Lenawee Heritage Show and  the Bank of Lenawee Show in Adrian, MI. 

Barhite has had a one-man show at the Croswell Opera House in Adrian and the Corner Gallery in Archbold, OH.  In 2008, she had a retrospective exhibit of 40 years of portraiture, which included many pieces loaned to her from private collections.

The Henry County Arts Council is pleased to announce Tracy Stevens as the September Artist of the Month. Tracey was born and raised in Napoleon and is a graduate of Napoleon High School class of '71. Recently Stevens has used her creativity to make art work out of antique glass pieces which includes cups, plates, vases, and other various items. Her current collection includes statues and yard decorations made of clear, white and colored glasses. The Arts Council appreciates Steven's ability to take something old and turn it into something new. Tracy’s work is displayed in the front window of the Henry County Arts Council at 125 W. Washington Street and is available for purchase. For further inquiries please contact Katie Meyers at 419-592-0293.

The Henry County Arts Council is pleased to announce Natalie Crew-Hohenberger as the May Artist of the Month.  Natalie is a 1996 graduate of Napoleon High School and currently resides near Florida, Ohio.  From a young age Natalie was aware of her passion for art and decided to pursue a double degree in Photography and Graphic Design at Indiana Wesleyan University.  Upon graduation she turned her passion into a career.

Natalie currently works for Midwest Tape, in Holland, Ohio where she does graphic design.  Midwest Tape is a library wholesaler which has been in the works of reproducing audio book covers for libraries across the United States and parts of Canada.  Natalie is responsible for recreating the imagery on these covers.  Given only a brief synopsis and no idea of what the original cover looks like, she has to put her imagination and creativity to work.  It is a fun challenge that Natalie enjoys doing on a daily basis.  

Another endeavor of Natalie's has been her own photography business, nataliecrewphotography, which she began in 2003. Her photography business began with shooting weddings across the United States and has progressed into senior, family and children portraits as well.  Natalie finds joy and excitement in capturing people's personalities and uniqueness.  In 2006, Natalie was given the opportunity to travel to Africa.  The people of Africa were very enthusiastic about having their picture taken which made Natalie realize how the simple things in life can bring such joy to people's lives.  Traveling to Africa was one of the best photography experiences of her life.  Natalie has entered her photography into many art shows and displays throughout Ohio and Indiana, winning several awards for her work.

Be sure to stop by the Henry County Arts Council at 125 West Washington in Napoleon and take a look at the May Artist of the Month window display, which features Natalie Crew-Hohenberger. Natalie's work can also be seen on her website at www.nataliecrewphotography.com.

Megan Jenny is a 1996 graduate of Napoleon High School and currently lives in Cleveland Heights, OH.  She attended Kent State University and concentrated on English and Journalism.  Ms. Jenny designs and produces stationary for Luscious Verde Cards of Beachwood, OH.  Luscious Verde is a small couture custom design business.  They are a design center for over 300 stores across the country and deal with a highly affluent clientele.  The business focuses on custom stationary such as wedding invitations, mitzvah and baby announcements, cards or stationery for corporate and private use. The company uses very saturated colors and unique blends of paper products with their own unique designs and patterns.  They work with the customer, through a local stationary shop, and design around the customers' needs.  She has designed cards for Richard Gere, Harry Connick, Jr., Joan Allen, Oliver Hudson, Michael J. Fox, Jim Belushi, Smokey Robison, and stationary for Michelle Obama and Oprah.

As a hobby, Megan developed a line of unique jewelry designs using a lot of found materials and recycled goods.  She likes to add an eclectic feel to each individual piece, creating something unusual and upbeat.  Megan sells her jewelry at Shoparooni, an indie boutique in the Waterloo Road neighborhood of Cleveland.  She also shows at Cleveland's Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival, Bizarre Bizarre in Cleveland, and BOMA in Columbus.

Another endeavor of Megan's has been the creation of the Cleveland Cupcake Company.  This is a small independent internet based bakery operating in the greater Cleveland area.  This artistic bakery prides itself on using ingredients from the great food and produce markets throughout the city of Cleveland.  Her cupcakes offer a unique twist on tastes and presentations of the timeworn classic, the cupcake.  She has provided the dessert table for the Banff Mountain Film Festival and the Cleveland Metro Zoo.  She makes cupcakes for weddings, birthdays and other special events, and for corporate functions. 

The Cleveland Scene Magazine recently voted the Cleveland Cupcake Company's bacon chocolate chip cookies as Cleveland's best cookie and ran a feature article about the cookie.

More information about this company can be found at www.clevelandcupcakecompany.com/

April's Artist of the Month

Timothy Bechtol 

The Henry County Arts Council is proud to announce Timothy Kent Bechtol, A.I.A as Artist of the Month for April.  Mr. Bechtol is a registered architect in fifteen states starting with Ohio.  Although he currently lives in nearby Findlay, he was born in Napoleon, and was raised in the Village of Florida.  He is the only child of the late Gary Bechtol, a skilled carpenter, and Elnora Bechtol, a retired Deputy County Clerk of Courts, who now resides in Findlay.  Both of his parents' families are native to Henry County.  His artistic talent was first recognized by his first grade teacher, Mrs. Doris Ruby, who strongly encouraged his parents to make sure that he did "something with drawing" when he later chose a career.

Tim graduated from Napoleon High School in 1987 and was honored by his class by being voted to deliver the Senior Class Address.  He went on to graduate from the Schools of Architecture at both The Ohio State University and Kent State University.  He has spent the better part of the past two decades actively engaged in the field of architecture.  Mr. Bechtol was promoted to the Head of the architecture department at Peterman Associates, Inc. in 2005 where he currently continues his private practice serving both public and private clients from across the region.

Architecture is a perfect union of the arts and sciences

His mentor was the late Paul Young, OSU architectural professor, historian, and registered architect.  From his teachings, Tim realized the connection of good architecture to the success of societies and communities by creating and defining landmarks, how noteworthy designs become timeless, and how important a building's form, color, rhythm and texture is to its design.  Tim is always looking forward to his next great commission for architectural design.

But his artistic talents are not bound by the architectural realm.  Tim loves being on stage in theatrical productions - both comedies and dramas.  He also enjoys theatrical set design, directing and script writing.  He has done numerous designs for t-shirt logos for various groups.  He is often caught sketching people at church or at other public places just for fun.  But his favorite past time is creating board games.  He has over a half dozen proto types in the development phase - soon to be released to market.

Tim's Style of drawing is a graphically enhanced realistic perspective.  He typically starts with a pencil sketch of a subject - whether it be a person or building.  He then builds on that framework with black ink to bring out contrast in the rendering.  Depending on the client's wishes, color is sometimes added through a rich mixture of colored pencil and architectural markers.  He then brings the image to life by adding all the little extras that live around the focal point of the subject - all the bushes, trees, sidewalks, yards, cars, people, and sky.  Setting the proper perspective within its natural surrounding is a key element of his work.