Before girlhood became something to document, share, and revisit through a screen, it lived in the unrecorded spaces of ordinary days: long afternoons outside, secret clubs, neighborhood friendships, handmade treasures, and the restless anticipation of waiting for something to happen. Hiraeth of an Earlier Spring begins with the Welsh word hiraeth, a longing for a place, time, or feeling we cannot return to, or perhaps never experienced exactly as we remember it.
Bringing together Grace Maynard and Samantha Schneider, two women artists from rural Ohio, this exhibition explores the tender tension between the comfort of childhood memory and the knowledge that the past is always partial, shifting, and beyond our reach.
From Grace Maynard
Grace Maynard is a social worker by profession and a self-taught artist by practice. She discovered painting through a desire to explore a new form of connection. When she began taking community art classes through the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, she expected to learn a creative skill; instead, she found a way to reflect on my experiences, engage with others, and see familiar parts of life with greater attention. Painting gradually became a meaningful extension of my work in social work, offering another way to understand memory, relationships, and the stories people carry. Her background in social work shapes her interest in memory, identity, relationships, and the places we come from. Growing up in rural central Ohio, she developed an appreciation for ordinary moments, familiar traditions, and the feeling of home. These experiences continue to inform her work, particularly her interest in childhood memories, the details we carry with us, and the ways our understanding of the past changes over time.
Grace often begins with familiar images, domestic rituals, and quiet moments from everyday life. Through painting, she tries to capture not only how these experiences looked, but also how they felt, including the emotions that linger and the ways they shape who we are and how we relate to one another. For Grace, art is a way of preserving personal and shared history while honoring the relationships that have shaped her over time. “I hope my work invites viewers to recognize something familiar and reflect on the people, places, and experiences that have shaped their own lives”.
About Samantha Schneider
Samantha Schneider is an accomplished oil painter currently residing in Shelby, OH. Graduating in 2021 from the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) with a double major in painting and drawing. Schneider carved her artistic niche with massive figurative works. A strong focus on cinema and the idea of “playing a role” she creates self portraits that take on their own lives as different characters. From setting up the scene, to the reference photos she takes, each brushstroke she makes and the figures portrayed. The process of creation and control within every step is as important as the final product. Schneider's artistic vision draws inspiration from the theatrical staging of Renaissance paintings, as well as lighting and composition from modern sci-fi, fantasy and thriller movies. The artist weaves drama and a playful flare into her compositions, creating a captivating visual experience for her audience. Enamored by her own individual existence and the many facets of the conscious and subconscious mind. She dives into emotion, memory, and change. Who we were, who we are and who we are becoming. How people are always in a state of change and never truly have a grasp of self. Captivated by the idea that one being can have conflicting thoughts and inner turmoil, that even within one mind there can be multiple paths of thought. People are so complex and many things all at once. Her paintings are a pursuit of self discovery within the human psyche.
Schneider's academic journey was marked by exceptional studio practice, earning her the Eastman (1912)-Bolton Memorial Prize. Additionally, she was honored with the Mary Seymour Brooks Scholarship for Painting and the Liza Noble '48 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting during her college years. After graduating she has gone on to win best in show two times at the Mansfield Art Center and earn an Ohio Arts Council Award. She has exhibited work in multiple solo and group shows, with her most recent debut in ‘Proximity of Fate’ an exhibition organized by Marquise Stillwell at The Mansfield Art Center, which featured local, national and internationally known artists as Michael Coppage and Kehinde Wiley.
The exhibition will run from May 6 - 27, 2027 with an opening reception on Thursday, May 6th from 5-8pm.