He’s turned that passion into a career, and you’ll see the results at The Contemporary Dayton in downtown Dayton where the current exhibit, “Shon Walters: The Hole Belly,” will be on display through Jan. 14. Walters’ large wooden sculptures, all created from trees he’s cut down himself, fill all four galleries at The Co. It’s the first time a single artist has been given the entire space and kicks off a new year of exhibits titled “All Local” which will focus on artists who currently live in the Miami Valley or who are from this area. Walters has a 5,000-square-foot studio just outside of the Oregon District.
If you’ve been to The Co in the past, you’ve already seen his work. “Perseverance,” the giant desk-like sculpture that sits in front of the reception area, is a permanent Walters’ creation, commissioned by the organization when it moved to the Arcade. Eighty-five percent of the wood in the striking piece came from Sinclair Park after the 2019 tornadoes. “I wanted a simple form, a belly and a point,” he explains. “It’s a huge belly that tapers to a point that could almost prick your skin.”
The belly, says Walters, represents living a full life — full on food, love, friendship, passion. He says the “point” is the most fragile part. “I feel that when we challenge ourselves artistically or are trying to learn something new, or follow an interest, we are vulnerable and fragile putting ourselves out there,” he says. “The point represents stretching ourselves out and pushing forward, stabbing through the unknown. The piece is dedicated to the plight of the artist and everything that stands in our way to do what we have to do.”
In the case of his current exhibit, what Walters “had to do” was spend 85% of the past 3½ dreaming up and creating new artwork. It all began in 2018 when he received a Culture Works grant to create a solo exhibit at the Fifth Street Gallery at Stivers School for the Arts where he’d served as special project coordinator for more than 20 years. When The Co’s executive director and chief curator Eva Buttacavoli came to the school to see her friend’s show, she asked if he’d be interested in developing an exhibit for her gallery.
“Yes, if you give me three years to do it,” Walters responded. Buttacavoli agreed.
About the show
The show’s title, “The Hole Belly,” reflects themes important to Walters. Since he knew “Perseverance” was already in the galleries, he decided to expand the belly theme and create sculptures with big “bellies.”
He also wanted to explore the idea of holes. “I think humans are curious about holes, especially ones where you can’t see inside … like caves or holes in the wall,” Walters says. “And when we say we’re down in a hole, it’s that we’re depressed.”
But when he began to think about holes aesthetically, he realized a hole doesn’t really exist without the positive around it. “When negative things happen to people, sometimes it can be a blessing; a tragedy can push you in a different direction,” he notes. “You might not know it when you’re in it and sad or angry; but when you come out through the other side, you put things in another perspective, and I wanted to showcase that idea.”
One wall in the introductory gallery is a huge wall of knots and knot holes. It’s titled “This is knot a wall but a plane of opportunity.”
Walters says the most important piece in the current show is “The golden view.” It’s a giant white box in the center of the first gallery with four peepholes. You’ll kneel down and peek through one of the holes to see four forms bowing to one another.
“They are simple, just a belly and a neck and a head praying to each other in four directions,” says Walters. “If every person was our god, we would treat them well.”
The white box represents a Temple. Walters modeled it after the big black box, Kaaba, where Muslims pray. “The cube is all white to represent a blank canvas, a new idea. My new idea? Let’s be nice to each other!”
Why wood?
Walters says his epiphany about wood came in the seventh grade when a friend of his mother’s gave her a dresser that had survived the 1974 Xenia tornado when her house was destroyed. “That dresser was painted black throughout my childhood, and I wanted to strip the paint off and see what was underneath,” he recalls. He applied a paint stripper and ran a palette knife across to scrape off the paint. “And there was this big line of red oak, and it looked like angels singing,” he remembers. “And a beam of light hit it, and I was in awe of how beautiful that piece of wood was.”
Another significant moment occurred after he’d graduated from the Kettering School of Advertising Art and moved to Athens, Ohio. “I lived in the middle of nowhere in a cabin on top of a ridge, with an outhouse,” he says. “My roommate had the ugliest coffee table I’d ever seen in my life. I told him I’d make him a new coffee table if he agreed to throw the old one out — and he agreed.”
It was the first piece of furniture Walters ever made, created out of natural limbs found on the property. “Although it was made with rustic materials, it was a contemporary design,” he says. “After that friends saw it and I received commissions, which led to me getting a job at a woodworkers shop on top of the next ridge over.”
He’s been working with wood ever since, creating both furniture and sculptures. These days, when he’s not in his studio, you’re likely to find him at Eastwood Park or Huffman Dam, camping at Hocking Hills or Red River Gorge in Kentucky. He collects wood, cuts down trees that are usually “on their way out,” then takes them to a miller where they are milled into planks.
More about the exhibit
One of the most dramatic installations in the show is titled “Life and death (Set up, punchline.)” It’s a gallery wall filled with ladles and bones.
Walters says the idea for the piece originated when he developed tennis elbow and realized, for the first time in his life, that he wasn’t immortal. “I chose common relatable objects to represent life and death,” he explains. “The ladle to me is directly related to life because eating is a key need for survival and also, I feel it is the main reason why humans get together.
“Choosing the bone to represent death was pretty obvious. I thought it was super cool that the bone closest to the area where I had tennis elbow was called the humerus bone to further tie into how much of a joke life is. For most of my life I have always wanted to live a long one, so I’ve always constantly told people that I’m planning on living until I am 102. So that is why I made 51 ladles and 51 bones to represent each year of my life.”
In the video gallery, you’ll see an interesting collaboration between Walters and his son, Zade, a videographer.
Walters was one of the artists chosen to create art for the Dayton Metro Library; you’ll see his work at the New Lebanon branch. He is also a percussionist, lyricist, costume and set designer. He led the popular local band, Sleepybird, for seven years.
HOW TO GO:
What: “Shon Walters: The Hole Belly”
Where: The Contemporary Dayton, 25 W. 4th Street, Dayton
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Through Jan. 14.
Admission: Free
ALSO: The Co’s year-round retail shop called the CoSHOP is open through Saturday, Dec. 23, and particularly features holiday and winter-themed arts and crafts. All but one of the wood sculptures by Shon Walters on display are for sale.
About the Author
