Member’s Spotlight Exhibitions

The Member’s Spotlight Exhibitions at The Contemporary Dayton celebrate the vibrant creativity of our local and regional artist community. Open to all current artist members, this ongoing series offers participants the unique opportunity to present a focused body of work in a solo exhibition curated by Heather Jones, Curator and Director of Programs and Engagement.

Each exhibition is installed in The T. Chase Hale & Jonathan A. Hale Gallery and remains on view for one month, opening with a public reception on the first Wednesday and continuing through the last Saturday of the month. These exhibitions not only highlight the diverse practices and perspectives of our members but also provide a professional platform for artists to gain visibility and engage directly with audiences.

Most artworks are available for purchase, with proceeds supporting both the artist and The Contemporary Dayton’s mission to advance equity, diversity, and access through contemporary art. Participation in the Member’s Spotlight series is one of the many valuable benefits of being an artist member of The Contemporary Dayton.

Currently on View

Gretchen Durst Jacobs, Landing, 2025, encaustic monotype mounted to panel, 30 x 22 inches, $800. Courtesy of the artist.

Gretchen Durst Jacobs: What the Body Carries

February 4 – 28, 2026

Opening Reception: February 4, 6 – 8 pm

Closing Reception: February 28, 4 – 6 pm

Gretchen Durst Jacobs: What the Body Carries features new work from the Dayton-based artist. These encaustic monotypes, which merge painting with printmaking, emanate from the body, using gesture, scale and repetition to explore how experience is physically and emotionally carried. Her abstract compositions balance intuition and structure, with grids often acting as quiet frameworks that hold movement, memory and sensation in tension. Each encaustic monotype, created through a process that uses hot wax and pigment transferred onto a surface, is unique and invites viewers to contemplate how feeling takes shape through mark, color and rhythm.

All artworks in this exhibition are available for purchase. Please visit the reception desk or speak to a staff member for more information. Proceeds support both the artist and The Contemporary Dayton’s mission to connect artists and audiences through accessible, engaging contemporary art experiences.

About the Artist

Gretchen Durst Jacobs is a visual artist whose abstract paintings and prints emerge through gesture and attentive listening to the inner landscape. Rooted in somatic experience and long observation of the natural world, her work explores how feeling is carried and transformed through mark, color, and form. She is interested in the artist’s role as both witness and creative catalyst within community.

Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, including the Dayton Art Institute, Manifest Gallery, the Bristol Art Museum, Lambton Heritage Museum (Ontario), and the Dayton/Kyoto Print Exchange in Kyoto, Japan. She has been awarded residencies at the Jentel Artist Residency in Wyoming and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) in Amherst, Virginia, with additional residencies in Dresden, Germany. Her work is held in private collections and is permanently installed at the Dayton Metro Library and the Kettering Government Center.

She works full time in Dayton, Ohio, and maintains a studio in Ontario, Canada.