Bellefontaine Mayor Ben Stahler has always been surrounded by professional artists so the prospect of creating an artwork for public display was a bit intimidating at first. Regardless, he wanted the cherry blossom tree he painted to stand alone of the influences of the talented artists in his life.
“I was a little nervous when I was asked to participate in this worthwhile endeavor,” the mayor wrote of the Logan County Art League’s first “Not So Bad Art by Good People” event.
Whatever work he produced would be judged not only by the public, but by the artistic eyes of his family, which includes his mother Wanda Stahler, an award-winning local watercolor painter and career art teacher; his wife, Sara Stahler and daughter Jennifer, both of whom also have taught art in the Bellefontaine School District, and a brother Jeff Stahler, who has made a living as a nationally syndicated editorial and slice-of-life cartoonist.
But art has never been among the mayor’s hobbies
“While I have many interests and hobbies, painting has never been one of them,” he wrote. “In fact, other than my 12-week required art course in seventh grade, I have never put a paint brush to canvas.”
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Bellefontaine Mayor Ben Stahler holds his painting Cherry Blossom in the Spring created for the Logan County Art League’s “Not So Bad Art by Good People” event. Residents can vote on the best or worst of 15 paintings by local community members beginning Jan. 21 or buy one of the paintings at a Friday, Feb. 12, auction at the Holland Theatre. (PHOTO | LOGAN COUNTY ART LEAGUE) |
Read complete story in Thursday’s Examiner.
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