In partnership with The Repository, every Monday the Stark Community Foundation highlights positive events in our community. Good news for Monday!
Artist Diane Belfirio was selected as one of 75 Ohio Artists and the only Stark County recipient of the 2023 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
Individual Excellence Awards recognize a body of work by an artist who exemplifies a particular field and advances the larger creative community. These awards support the growth and development of artists and recognize their work in Ohio and their cultural impact beyond the state.
This year, we received over 600 submissions from artists working in seven different artistic fields. Funding recommendations were made through an anonymous, public panel review process that focused on the extraordinary merits of the artist’s past work. Each artist selected was given her $5,000 to experiment and explore art forms, develop their skills, and advance their careers.
“The Ohio Arts Council is proud to support the talented artists who live and work in this great state,” said Donna S. Collins, executive director of the Ohio Arts Council. “Each year, the Individual Excellence Awards highlight and recognize exceptional artistic achievements and creativity that demonstrate that careers in the arts can be built here in Ohio.”
Belfirio, who won the award once in 1981, was one of this year’s winning artists in the Visual Arts 2D category.
She received a BA in Drawing, Painting and Graphics from Ohio State University in 1978 and a Master’s in Painting from Syracuse University in 1980. Belfirio has exhibited in over 225 group and solo exhibitions regionally, nationally and internationally.
Her work is in the permanent collections of six museums, including the Butler Museum in Youngstown, the Itchiku Kubota Museum in Tokyo, and the Canton Museum of Art. In addition, her work is included in 18 corporate, hospital, library, and university art collections, as well as numerous private collections, including that of singer Patti Her Label.
Currently an Assistant Professor of Arts and Studio Coordinator at Walsh University, Belfirio teaches courses and has designed and directed 15 community artworks found throughout the Walsh University campus and Canton community.
“A rare Ohio artist, Diane has a distinctive style that often gives symbolic glimpses of life, architecture, and familiar aspects of Ohio in her work,” Collins said. Canvas. Reflections of light and opportunity are juxtaposed by a sense of reality. Diane’s art continues to evolve as she tackles new subjects, ways of thinking and doing.
The Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals through a variety of philanthropic foundations and strategic initiatives. Ranked in the top 10% of community foundations in the country, the foundation and the families of its donors have donated her $230 million to nonprofit organizations since 1963. www.starkcf.org.
