About The Artist 

Ariel Jovan Swartz was born December 16, 1995, and raised in New Lexington, Ohio. Her mother was her main influence by introducing her to the arts at a very young age. Whether it was making magazine collages or playing with old trinkets, it sparked Ariel’s fascination and curiosity to make more art. Her junior year of high school she was given an opportunity to work intensively under her talented art teacher, Mike Boley. He challenged her creativity through art projects, teaching her structure, presentation, and design. Ariel fancied one particular assignment her senior year of high school, making construction paper collages. She loved to make a story with various, colored discarded scrap paper by other students. Ariel found a way to re-purpose various art supplies that others would simply throw away to make a new work of art. 

Her senior year of high school, she entered a piece of artwork in the Hocking College Art Exhibition. Ariel received a scholarship from Hocking College for one of her collages, titled  “Lion Meets Monkey”. This piece was featured on black paper and incorporated different colored paper construction cut outs. Throughout her career, Ariel has exhibited various bodies of works including Youth Show 9-12, Congressional Art Show, Perry County Fair and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Art Competition 2016.

While at Hocking College, she majored in Art Business Marketing and Design with a primary focus in ceramics. Ariel has a very diverse art background and taken a variety of 2-D and 3-D courses. Ariel loves to sculpt her fantasy of the ocean through whimsical sea creatures, which incorporates coral textures, deformities, self-expression and human characteristics. She is inspired by nature specifically the ocean, and human interaction. Having fallen head over heels with the raku class, Ariel knew that she had to bring her “Sea of Love” exhibition to life.