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Art and History in the Ohio Judicial Center: A Visual Tour

Learn about The Ohio Judicial Center, a building with over 220 murals, reliefs, and mosaics in the Art Deco and Beaux Arts style, with author and photographer, Richard Burry.

Years ago, government buildings contained public art that enhanced the experience of walking in the halls of Post Offices and County Court Houses. The Ohio Judicial Center is such a building with over 220 murals, reliefs and mosaics in the Art Deco and Beaux Arts style. This talk focuses on the wealth of art with beautiful photographs of the individual pieces and is the first to demonstrate this extensive public art. The building constructed in the turbulent era of 1933, has public art by twelve artists with their individual viewpoint and selected subjects from Ohio’s history. The exterior has marble bas-reliefs with a series of Ohio industries in 1933 and a second series of important historical events. The stunning two story high Grand Concourse has bronze bas-reliefs of the eight Ohio U.S. Presidents, nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices and two Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Supreme Court Room has walls with drapes and wood paneling and a richly decorated ceiling with 48 painted murals. The result is a museum-like building that gives one the awe and respect felt by people walking here for almost on hundred years. 

The book, Art and History in The Ohio Judicial Center: A Visual Tour, by Richard Burry is designed to address the void of publications on the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center with a photographic record of its fantastic public art. The photographs focus on the building’s public art completed in 1933 by many artists and the text tells the stories depicted in historic scenes.

Richard W. Burry has made Ohio his home for most of his adult life. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a graduated of Breck School, he is a veteran of the Vietnam War, received a B.S. from Beloit College, and a Ph.D. from the Medical School at the University of Colorado, Denver. After a teaching and research career in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University, Dick retired from the Department of Neuroscience and the Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility. Photography has been Dick’s obsession since he was twelve, and in retirement, he turned photography into a career, mostly as a volunteer photographer for many preservation organizations. Dick has exhibited in many galleries and has a permanent exhibit of three photographs at the Ohio Statehouse. The Ohio Judicial Center became the focus of his interest because of its underappreciated beauty and history that are the products of the architect and the many artists. Dick Burry lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Yvonne, a rescue beagle, and two grown sons and their families.

Cover to Cover will be here with books for sale, with an author signing after the talk. 

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