About the Artist
T.M. Rudavsky
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Twenty years ago, as a long-distance runner and committed philosophy professor at The Ohio State University, I had never picked up a paintbrush. But an encounter with my young daughter’s art projects, coupled with numerous hours spent at museums and galleries, kindled in me an obsession with learning painting. That drive introduced me to painting en plein air, which combined my love of the outdoors with world-wide travel. Often while on a run, I would find tantalizing subjects while attending academic conferences around the world; I thus found myself intertwining research, running and painting on a regular basis.
As a professional philosopher, my academic interests in the nature of time have influenced my paintings. Metaphysics has to do with the nature of being, the ever-changing world of reality: how can we come to understand a reality that is in constant flux. Snow is melting, rivers are flowing, trees are constantly shedding their leaves and bark, and yet we want to posit to things, despite these apparent changes, an underlying identity that defies flux. My paintings represent the attempt to capture this ever-fleeting instant of a place in time, the struggle between change and identity. My primary medium is oil, although I also paint in pastel, watercolor and encaustics.
My most recent series of paintings have focused on particular locales along the Olentangy River. Living on the banks of the river, I am constantly watching the ebb and flow of the water, the passage of time itself. My aim in this series of paintings has been to capture the flow of time, of the river, by focusing on specific mile-markers along the Olentangy bike-path. Many of these spots have particular significance to walkers, to runners, and to bikers, as they mark their progress along the trail. And, most importantly, the river is a constant reminder that life is short, that all is in flux, and we can never step twice into the same river.
Spinoza reminds us that we are but “a speck in eternity”; but what greater joy can there be than to participate in eternity by rendering the temporal a thing of beauty.
Artist Memberships
National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) inducted December 2024
Oil Painters of America (OPA, Associate Member)
American Impressionist Society (AIS)
Ohio Plein Air Society (OPAS )
Central Ohio Plein Air (COPA)
Central Ohio Watercolor Society (COWS)
Ohio Watercolor Society (OWS)
Dublin Area Art League (DAAL)
Ohio PastelArt League (OPAL)
Ohio Art League (OAL)
Solo Shows:
24 E. Lincoln St. Foyer (solo) show, November 2025
OSU Faculty Club show with two artist friends January - March 2026
24 E. Lincoln St. Foyer (solo) September 2024
"Mile Markers: Along the Olentangy Trail," November 2023, Solo Show, at 24 E. Lincoln St.
OSU Faculty Club, Solo show, Sept - Dec 2020 (see article below)
Nature's Perspective Jan 4-30, 2019, Upper Arlington Concourse (with 3 other artists)
The Arlington Bank, Solo Show Grandview OH, July/August 2018, --- A selection of works from the series "Mile Markers: Along the Olentangy Bike-Path"
Juried Exhibitions
**Central Ohio Watercolor Society, December 2025-January 2026, "Ancient Ruins" and "View from the Top"
**Ohio Plein Air Society** Juried show at the Canton Museum, autumn 2025. "Shale Hollow" and "Reflections"
** German Village Watercolor Show Juried, summer 2025 "Schiller Park"
** Woman's Art League of Cincinnati, Spring 2025, "High Noon at the Prairie"
*** Central Ohio Water Society, juried Show spring 2025: "Old One"; "City Walls"
** Ohio Art League "Thumb Box" 2024, three paintings accepted
** "Artists in Bloom: Goodale Park" 2 paintings accepted, September 2024. "Party Time" and "Goodale Waterlilies"
** Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Pavilion, juried show summer 2024, "Looking OutSide"
** Central Ohio Water Society, juried Show spring 2024: "Paros Seascape"; "Yellow Hat picking Roses"
** Ohio Watercolor Society, juried show Middletown July 2024 -- "Autumn Muse"
** Central Ohio Watercolor Society, juried show German Village November 2023 -- "Oversize Pot: Jerusalem"; and "Mission Church, Joshua Tree"
** Central Ohio Watercolor Society, juried show Main Library, April 2023 "Library Muse"
**Bryn Du Art Gallery, Spring 2023 Juried show
** AIS online all-member show, juried autumn 2022 "Walnut Creek Autumn" accepted
** "Sparks of Joy" juried studio show at the James Cancer Hospital Gallery, Sept-November 2022
** OPAS 'Historic Ohio' Juried show at the Shumacher Gallery, "Schiller Park", autumn 2022
** "The Best of OPAS II" juried show at the Kent Gallery, Akron: one work accepted, April 2019
** "The Best of OPAS" juried show at the Columbus Museum of Art: one work accepted February 2017
** McConnell Arts Show -- 2 works accepted 2019
** Ohio Plein Air Society Juried Member Exhibition 2016, Springfield Museum of Art: "PARKS", one work accepted
** Studios on High: "Hit the Hop" October, 2016, juried, one work accepted
** Cultural Arts Center Faculty/Student juried exhibit, June 2016: one work accepted
** High Road Gallery, Worthington OH Juried show of teachers/students, one work accepted
** Ohio Plein Air Society Juried Member Exhibition 2014, Springfield Museum of Art: "Ohio Prairies: A Year in the Life": two works accepted
Group and Studio Shows
Dublin Area Art League (DAAL), at the UA Tremont Library, 2 pastel paintings accepted
Ohio Pastel Art League (OPAL) 3 paintings accepted, spring 2025
Dublin Area Art League (DAAL) 2 encaustic paintings accepted, spring 2025
Spring Show, Ohio Pastel Art League, 3 paintings accepted April 2025
Spring Show, Dublin Area Art League, 2 encaustic paintings accepted, April 2025
International Canadian Pollinators Online Show, 3 encaustic paintings accepted, spring 2025
"Holiday Miniatures" Pennington Gallery, December 2021 and 2022;
"Ten by Ten" Ohio Art League Holiday show December 2021; Dec 2022
"Women in Art" show at Pennington Gallery, March-June 2021
Holiday Miniatures, 24 E. Lincoln, December 2022; 2023; 2024
"Women Painters" at the Sharon Weiss Gallery, August 2022
Solo Show, 24 E. Lincoln Studio, November 2021
Holiday Miniatures, 24 E. Lincoln Studio, December 2021, 2023; 2024; 2025
Turner Studio & Gallery, Annual Holiday Show December 2018
Turner Studio & Gallery, Annual Holiday Show December 2016
Turner Studio & Gallery, Columbus, several paintings May - June 2016; November 2016
Turner Studio & Gallery, Annual Holiday Show November 2015
Turner Studio & Gallery, Annual Holiday Show November 2014
For more information about my 2020 OSU Faculty Club show, see the article in the local paper:
My front (and back) yard urban garden has been featured countless times: in the Clintonville Home and Garden Tour (2011); in several Clintonville Garden Tours; in a feature article in the Columbus Monthly; and in a feature article in BETTER HOMES & GARDENS, written by local columnist Teresa Woodward. Backing up to the river, we've had to be inventive with respect to how to plant what and where; it all works!!
Recent garden tours have included "Clintonville Garden Tour" 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018: "Simple Matters" 2021
