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

Dan Cleary, Deeds Point Bridge, 2023, giclée pigment print, 24 x 36 inches, $687. Courtesy of the artist.

Dan Cleary: Five Views of Ohio

January 7 – 31, 2026

Opening Reception: January 7, 6 – 8 pm

Closing Reception: January 31, 4 – 6 pm

Dan Cleary: Five Views of Ohio features work from the Dayton-based photographer’s ongoing Ohio Landscape series, in which he turns his lens toward the places that shape daily life across the region. For years, he has traveled throughout Ohio’s cities, rivers, and countryside, capturing scenes that reveal the quiet rhythms of a landscape both familiar and constantly shifting. In these five photographs, Cleary explores his connection to home through light, water, and motion—moving from the still surface of a backwater stream to the rush of a downtown river or streetcar.

Cleary is drawn to the moments when nature and the built environment meet: reflections that ripple across moving water, light that bends along a city street, ordinary places that transform for an instant into something newly seen. His images invite viewers to recognize these in-between spaces in their own surroundings, where history, community, and landscape intersect. Through this series, Cleary offers a meditation on the layered beauty of everyday Ohio and the fleeting, sacred moments found along the paths people travel each day.

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.

ARTIST STATEMENT
Over the past years, I’ve traveled across Ohio, capturing images of the places that define where I call home. My Ohio Landscape series is a visual homage to the beauty of Ohio and its surrounding cities and countryside—exploring the fields, rivers, skies, and cities that reveal the quiet rhythm of everyday life. In these five photos from this series, I explore my connection to Ohio through light, water, and motion—from the peaceful surface of a backwater stream to the rush of a downtown river and streetcar. These pictures reflect the everyday paths people take.

I’m drawn to how reflections in moving water and city streets all leave their mark on the landscape, creating moments when nature and the urban environment overlap. I work to reveal those in-between moments when an ordinary scene becomes something more—when a familiar river, bridge, or block of downtown suddenly feels like something never seen before.

Through my Ohio Landscape series, I hope viewers see the world around us as I do—a place of deep, layered beauty where history, community, and landscape intersect in fleeting yet very real moments of connection—and carry that awareness into their own daily walks, drives, and moments in Ohio’s cities and natural environments. This series continues to evolve as I revisit these landscapes and cityscapes, always discovering something sacred in everyday moments.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dan Cleary is a professional and fine art photographer based in Dayton, Ohio, who has been creating images for many years. He has an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and is known for his thoughtful, quietly evocative photographs of Midwestern landscapes and cityscapes. His work often explores the overlap of history, community, and place—whether in his ongoing Ohio Landscape series or in projects that blend archival imagery with contemporary scenes, like his Wright Brothers: Then and Now and Indianapolis 500: Then and Now series. In addition to running Cleary Creative Photography, Dan is also an educator and mentor who teaches students and adults how to see light, create photographs with intention, and use their cameras as tools for genuine personal expression.