The Artists of Worthington

No matter the art form, Worthington has many reasons to celebrate. From painters and sculptors to theater and movie stars, the city has been home to an array of world-class talents. Read on for a look at those who have influenced the arts in Worthington and beyond. 

Worthington’s involvement with the central Ohio arts scene dates back to the 1800s. Mary Sessions (née Johnson) was the daughter of early Worthington residents, Orange and Achsa Johnson. She married Francis Sessions on August 18, 1847, and the couple were staunch supporters of the arts in Columbus. Their art collection formed a basis for the Columbus Museum of Art collection. The Columbus College of Art and Design, then known as the Columbus Arts School, had its first day of classes in 1879 at the Sessions building in downtown Columbus.

In the 20th century, two Worthington residents played a central role in the development of the arts in Columbus. A native of Italy, Joseph Canzani lived at 519 Dendra Lane in Worthington’s Rush Creek Village neighborhood. In 1949, he became the first president of the Columbus School of Art, as it was then known. Under his leadership, its programs expanded, it became accredited as a college, and it officially became known as Columbus College of Art and Design.

Worthington resident Karl Bolander became the director of the Columbus Art Gallery in 1926. A native of Columbus, he worked for Scholastic Magazine for over 50 years, traveling the country and lecturing on the arts. He relocated to Florida in 1953, where, among other things, he helped establish the Winter Park Arts Festival.

One local artist attended the Columbus Arts School before embarking on a career in sculpture. Born just north of Worthington in Flint, Annetta Saint-Gaudens (née Johnson) went on to a career in the arts. As her obituary in the April 15, 1943 “Worthington News” explains, she had charge of the Arts Students League exhibit at the Paris Exposition, among other achievements. Although she and her husband, sculptor Louis Saint-Gaudens (brother of renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens) relocated to New Hampshire, Annetta visited central Ohio and had many connections here. She donated 12 acres of her family farm to be a summer camp for working mothers and their children; the camp is now Camp Mary Orton.

More recent decades have had no shortage of artistic talents. In the early 1970s, both Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons and Eisner-award winning cartoonist Jeff Smith attended Worthington High School. Internationally renowned fiber artist and sculptor Dorothy Gill Barnes made Worthington her home, along with her husband, composer Marshall Barnes. And artist and signmaker Bill “bc” Collins created iconic signs for numerous Worthington and central Ohio businesses, while also painting landscapes, portraits and more.

Worthington’s arts involvement also encompassed theater. Playhouse on the Green, which operated north of Worthington from 1955 through 1972, was central Ohio’s first professional theater. The tent theater seated 600 and staged productions each summer with Equity actors from New York City supplemented with central Ohio actors.

Students in the Worthington theater community had the opportunity to work with teacher Bronwynn Hopton, who founded the Thomas Worthington High School Theatre Repertory in 1988. Her first name graces the Bronwynn Theatre at the McConnell Arts Center. Other young performers in Worthington worked with the Worthington Civic Ballet, founded by dancer Barbara Burrows, who directed it for 40 years.

Whether through painting, sculpture, acting, dancing, teaching or championing the arts, Worthington’s residents have made their mark.