Joseph O'Sickey: The Art of Life

A documentary about Kent artist Joseph O'Sickey will premiere on Western Reserve PBS (WEAO 49.1) on Friday, May 3, at 9 p.m. The production showcases the remarkable life of the 94-year-old artist, who will receive the 2013 Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts on May 15.  

Cleveland Plain Dealer art critic Steven Litt once described O’Sickey as “the dean of painting in Northeast Ohio.” Born in 1918, the artist has spent seven of his more than nine decades painting and teaching in Ohio, first at The Ohio State University. He joined the KSU School of Art faculty in the 1960s and retired from there in 1989.   

O’Sickey has won numerous awards in painting and has had more than 50 solo exhibitions throughout his life. His works can be found at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, the Canton Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art and in many other private and public art collections.

The premiere of the Western Reserve PBS documentary coincides with the May 2 opening of “Joseph O’Sickey: Unifying Art, Life and Love,” a Canton Museum of Art exhibition celebrating  the lengthy career of this respected Ohio artist. The show involves collaborations with other museums and galleries in Northeast Ohio and will include a full-color publication of his life and work. The exhibition will be open May 2-July 21, 2013.  

For more information about Joseph O'Sickey: The Art of Life, including additional air dates on Western Reserve Public Media’s Fusion channel (WEAO 49.2), visit WesternReservePBS.org or call 1-800-554-4549. Funding for the documentary was provided by Stark Community Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.