STATEHOUSE NEWS

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Columbus, Ohio) – Artist Bill Hinsch unveiled a painted rendering of Ohioans in Space in the Ohio Statehouse today. The image is the artist’s study for a large oil painting he will create to hang permanently in the Rotunda next year. This small version of the painting was revealed to the public in the Rotunda.

The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) commissioned Hinsch to paint a 9-foot by 12-foot oil painting which will be installed in the Rotunda area in 2024. The artwork will recognize the accomplishments of Ohioans in space travel and exploration.

The smaller rendering displayed today measures 30 inches by 40 inches. It shows several Ohio astronauts and their spacecrafts. The Earth, Moon and Mars are included along with an image representing the support staff who make space travel possible.

The painting pictures four of Ohio’s 25 astronauts who achieved real firsts. John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in NASA’s Mercury Friendship 7 capsule. Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Jim Lovell is the first to fly into space four times, and the first to fly to the moon twice. He was commander of the Apollo 13 mission. Judith Resnik was part of the first NASA astronaut group to include women. She was a crew member on Space Shuttles Discovery and Challenger. An image of Flight Director Gene Kranz of Toledo represents the Ohio engineers and scientists who are integral to achievements in space.

“This painting will be a stellar addition to the public art at the Ohio Statehouse,” said Laura Battocletti, Executive Director of CSRAB, “Bill Hinsch is showing the human faces of our space explorers. We are looking forward to installing the large version of this historic painting next year.”

Bill Hinsch is an artist from Hicksville, Ohio. His aviation art hangs in the Pentagon and the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. He was the staff artist at the Toledo Blade Newspaper and Art Director of Toledo Magazine. He co-created The Learning Map for schools and corporations. Bill now lives in Perrysburg, Ohio with his wife of 42 years, and their three children live nearby.

“It’s been an absolute honor doing this painting. Although the ‘big one’ hasn’t yet commenced, I’ve already painted it night after night in my head to the point it should paint itself,” said artist Bill Hinsch, “I’ve attempted to capture the poetry of these great Ohio astronauts, their successes, their failures, their striving upward to the heavens.”

Hinsch was selected by an art committee chaired by Charles Moses, of the Capitol Square Foundation, and committee members include Aristotle Hutras, Richard Hillis, Donna Collins, Kelly Falcone-Hall, Jim Dicke, Vincent Keeran, Brad Young, Tom Katzenmeyer, Paul Thomarios, Michael Hall and Stephanie McCloud. The selection process was aided by the Ohio Arts Council.

“Bill captured Ohio’s profound history in space flight,” said Charles Moses, chair of the Capitol Square Foundation, “The painting tells the story of Ohio’s influence from the beginning of human space flight through the Shuttle Program, and looking on to Mars.”

The painting project will be funded by private donations overseen by the Capitol Square Foundation. More details are available on the Foundation website, ohcapitolsquarefoundation.org.

The final painting is projected to be installed in 2024. The last painting added to the Rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse was “Wilbur and Orville Wright and Their Accomplishments,” by Dwight Mutchler, unveiled in 1959. The new painting is intended to match this nine-foot by 12-foot artwork, and will be hung facing the Wright brothers picture on the opposite wall in the East stairway of the Rotunda. The permanent display will remind Ohio Statehouse visitors that brave Ohioans reach for the stars.
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Photo images of the painted rendering are available at
https://www.ohiostatehouse.org/galleries/astronauts-ohioans-in-space