Sunday, March 21, 1999
Governor's Award honors arts innovator LoveLarkin
BY OWEN FINDSEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Salli LoveLarkin won't attend the 1999 Governor's Awards for the Arts Wednesday in Columbus. Her son Billy Larkin will accept her award for her.
Ms. LoveLarkin will receive the Arts Administration Award for a decade of work as director of three Cincinnati arts organizations, C.A.G.E. (Cincinnati Artists Group Effort), Fountain Square Fools and the Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts.
“It was her vision and her dedication that has made this gallery the success that it is,” said Dennis Harrington, Weston gallery director. Stricken with a severe neurological disease, she retired in May. “When she became ill, she didn't give up,” Mr. Harington said. “It was very courageous of her to to stay on as long as she could.”
Ms. LoveLarkin, 61, who lives in Avondale, has a long career in art and theater. She was a performance artist and costume designer when she became director of C.A.G.E. in 1988. She expanded the alternative artists' space into a venue for experimental arts that presented challenging installations by artists from throughout the nation.
In 1992, she became director of Fountain Square Fools, an ecumenical theater group that toured internationally, sharing Christian values and presenting the Gospel in a new light. The group attracted national attention in 1993 when they performed before 70,000 people on World Youth Day in Denver during Pope John Paul II's visit. She received wide criticism and praise for casting a woman in the role of Jesus.
Ms. LoveLarkin was appointed director of the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Gallery for the Arts in the Aronoff Center in 1995, creating a mission for the gallery to encourage regional artists to create ambitious projects and site-specific installations.
“She involved diverse aspects of the community that has attracted wide audience,” Mr. Harrington said. “Even our current exhibition, Digital Dialogues, was very much her vision, a show she wanted to do.”
Ms. LoveLarkin also has served on the Cincinnati Arts Allocation Committee and on panels for the Ohio Arts Council. She is an activist who has lobbied for expanded support for small arts organizations.
Besides Ms. LoveLarkin's award for Arts Administration, the Governors Awards will recognize other Ohio individuals and organizations for their contributions to the arts. The awards are:
Arts Education: Marjorie Witt Johnson, Euclid.
Arts Outreach: Preservation Dayton Inc.
Arts Patron: Ora Anderson, Athens.
Business Support of the Arts: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron.
Individual Artist: Dorothy Gill Barnes, Worthington.
Partnership in the Arts: Champion International Corp.
The Irma Lazarus Award: Heinz Poll, retiring artistic director of Ohio Ballet, Akron.
And the Oscar goes to ...
Best supporting trivia
Kazan should be honored for his work, not actions
Sunday show seems to be inspired idea
Will we choose cages or classrooms?
One of the faces of AIDS
Parents investigate police shooting
Ditka coaches 10,000 Catholics
Race St. tower to be razed
Turfway tries to get untracked
Tuxes can't hide bawdy behavior
Tigerlilies play Austin at last
Luken undercuts GOP's optimism
UK fans score basketball tickets
Politician helping Bush in Ky.
Boone Co. developments move forward
Cincinnati Country Day School to rebuild bigger
Governor's Award honors arts innovator LoveLarkin
Historic church gets ready for 150th year
Lebanon hires Laidlaw buses
Loss can't dim fervor for Mason fans
Maybe a poem is just a poem
Newport native son unknown
Sharonville reviving tie to railroad
TRISTATE DIGEST
