By Christopher A. Yates
For The Dispatch

To appreciate the works at the renovated Hopkins Hall Gallery and Corridor's inaugural show, envision it as art potluck. As with any potluck dinner, it would be a disaster if everyone brought the same dish.

Diverse in subject, medium and technique, the Ohio State University show features the works of Art Department faculty and visiting artists.

Because of limited space, each of the 26 participants is represented with only one or two small pieces.

The effect emphasizes the eclectic nature of faculty exhibitions.

Such shows usually produce visual discord, without which, viewers might conclude that every faculty member has the same agenda and direction.

The diversity of interests, abilities and artistic directions offers insight to the department's core.

One of the most visually demanding and humorous pieces is Ken Rinaldo's Standby Deliver , an interactive sculptural machine that requires viewer participation. After receiving sticks of gum at the gallery desk, viewers are expected to chew and discard them on two revolving metal plates. The plates slowly press against one another, producing long strands of goo that drop on a tooth-like glass globe beneath the machine.

Rinaldo describes the work as an exploration of physical consumption, waste and his sweet tooth.

Another unorthodox mixed medium sculpture is Amy Youngs' Hydroelectric Invert. Essentially a rubber waterspout, the piece hangs from the ceiling and extends into an electrical outlet on the wall.

Viewers flick an incredibly conspicuous switch on the spout, then the sound of roaring water and the sight of spinning lights fills the room.

Ardine Nelson's large giclee prints on rag paper feature close-up photographs of hands. The change in scale transforms the human body from the mundane to the monumental.

Other photographs include Luis Gomez's interactive photo transparency Deja Vu and Tony Mendoza's manipulated photo and text image Cuban Meditation

Standby Deliver by Ken Rinaldo

Like a film still or segment from a larger piece, Ann Hamilton's digital iris print Flectere features an enigmatic figure obscured by a green, watery veil.

Instead of finished products, Malcolm Cochran and Todd Slaughter present proposals for public art projects. Slaughter's sculpture, Body of Lake Michigan for Midway Airport, Chicago, Illinois , is a topographical view of the bottom of Lake Michigan. The finished piece will be 28 feet by 14 feet and is due for installation at the Chicago airport in January.

Cochran's proposal features a giant coffee mug that would rise about two stories. If realized, the site-specific piece will rest on the west side of Market Street in Cleveland.

A ceramic sculpture by Kelly Palmer depicts a face marked with cryptic writing. Other ceramic pieces include Rebecca Harvey's delicate and finely crafted nonfunctional teapots.

Larry Shineman's painting Orchid Moon contrasts a thinly painted potted flower with a carefully rendered image of the moon. Various drips and washes create a celestial quality on the surface of the canvas.

Other paintings of note include Pheoris West's archetypal African woman Anastasia , Alan Crockett's abstraction Two Paintings: Off the Grid and BoBo (a Couple) and Robert Arnold's remembrance of Sept. 11, Essay on Painting 2001.

Active in regional, national and international exhibitions, the show's participants reveal their creative pursuits and goals.

The images on display are only a small part of each artist's body of work, yet, as a whole, they show many creative paths and provide solid examples for students, faculty and the community.