School Tours 2026-27 at the MAC
Bring your class to the MAC this school year!
The MAC is always happy to work with schools and teachers to schedule field trips to visit our gallery spaces. Our center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00am-5:00pm, but we are always willing to work with teachers to schedule tours that arrive before 10:00am or on Mondays.
Please email Visual Arts & Education Manager llisanti@mcconnellarts.org with potential dates that you are interested in touring the galleries and what grade level students you are planning on bringing. If interested, we can provide activity guides that correlate to Ohio State Fine Arts Standards to assist in lesson planning for the visit. Tours for grade levels 1 through 8 typically involve dividing students into 3-4 smaller groups and engaging in discussions with a volunteer or staff member while touring the exhibition.
Tours typically last around 45 minutes to an hour without a hands-on activity, but we are able to host groups for up to an hour and a half when we host a hands-on art activity in conjunction with the tour. Activities are available only on select exhibitions (see below), with a small supply fee for the entire group.
For middle to high school-aged groups, we are sometimes able to arrange for the exhibiting artist to come and speak to the class as a group here at the MAC. This is typically recommended for older age groups that are able to engage in thoughtful Q&A sessions with the artist. A small fee for the artist time is requested.
Interested in making the field trip day longer?
Field Trips can be combined with a visit to a local Worthington Historical Society site, such as the Orange Johnson House or the Doll Museum at the Old Rectory, or the Old Worthington Library.
To schedule a tour at the Orange Johnson House please contact Director Kate LaLonde at info@worthingtonhistory.org or (614) 885-1247
To schedule a tour, book talk or storytime at the Old Worthington Library please contact Meredith Richards, Lead Librarian (mrichards@worthingtonlibraries.org)
Need resources to assist with getting here?
Please look into the Ohio Arts Council’s Big Yellow School Bus grant! Applicants may request up to $500 for transportation costs. No match is required. Applications are accepted year-round, at least eight weeks prior to planned travel.
Please browse the 2026-27 Exhibitions and dates below:
July 9, 2026 – September 1, 2026
In the Valley of Dreams: Aaron Troyer – Painting- Main Gallery
Flowers are often presented as symbols of natural beauty, or in many cases, as benign decorations meant to "tie the room together". Aaron Troyer’s work challenges this notion by placing an emotional weight onto the plants that center them as the protagonist in a fantastical conflict with both natural and unnatural forces. By pushing ourselves to assign human emotions to plants, we can better understand the devastating toll that we often unknowingly inflict onto the natural world.
July 9, 2026 – September 1, 2026
Fables for Our Time: Anita Dawson– Painting- Corridor Galleries
These “Magic Realist” still lifes are not still. They convey a sense of an ongoing moment captured. Dawson’s focus is on archetypal images found in legends and folk tales that continue to have multiple interpretations and resonance for our time. She juxtaposes small familiar animals, fruit, flowers, glowing skies, idyllic landscapes in compositions that include books, envelopes and postcards alluding to communication or even revelation. Messengers from nature; a bird, a rabbit, a squirrel, appear in these scenarios offering a commentary on the relationship of nature to our culture. The compositions offer a poetic way to understand our world, as did the fables of old.
September 24, 2026 – November 12, 2026
Chasing the Light Artists Speak: Group Exhibition Curated by Loren Bucek- Entire Building
Chasing the Light: Artists Speak is an intergenerational, community & theme-based group art exhibition that explores the concept of light from literal, metaphorical, analytical, expressive, spiritual, social justice, and aesthetic dimensions. Select visual artists from FL, MN, NY, NC & OH will share assemblages, mixed media, paintings, pastels, photographs, sculptures & textiles.
Chasing the Light: Artists Speak, may provoke conversation. The concept itself may serve as a metaphor for humanity, nature, or things bigger than us. Light may be chased, reflected, refracted, absorbed, bent – even transcended. Chasing the Light: Artist Speak, is coming at a moment when we need the arts to do what the arts do best. Bring people together in person to experience community. We need a place to gather and to have an opportunity to experience the world differently. To have a chance to stop and to imagine a world of possibility. A time to question. A time to pause. Reset. To [re]imagine the world where there is less hate; more empathy and agree to care for one another and the planet. Most of all to resolve to do better and then do it together without guile and polarization.
Wilson Hill elementary school students will share artwork created during a 2025-2026 multi-arts residency with support from the Ohio Arts Council.
The following artists are included in the exhibition:
Linda Bauer, Queen E. Brooks, Richard Duarte Brown, Celia Bucek, Dr. Loren Bucek, Jackie Calderone, Todd Camp, Ann E Capacci, David Covey, Glenn Doell, Antonio Gonzalez-Garcia, Janet George, Larry Hamill, Ricarrdo Hunter-Valentine, Lance Johnson, Carol Kane, Celeste Malvar-Stewart, Eric S. Murphy, Ryan Orewiler, Gaye Reissland, Laralyn Sasaki, Hilary Soroosh, Erin M. Smith Glenn, April Sunami, & Teresa Weidenbusch & Worthington Poet Laureate, Susann Moeller.
November 19, 2026 – January 21, 2027
Ideology to Invasion and Invasion to Transition: Hedieh Sharifzadeh- Installation- Main Gallery
This exhibition, located in the main gallery, presents the series Ideology to Invasion and Invasion to Transition. It features sculptures, that explore the socio-political dynamics of Iranian society, drawing from my personal experiences in Iranian society. Crafted from aqua resin, wood, and epoxy, these works abstract Iranian architectural forms to address themes of power, oppression, and cultural transition. These impactful sculptures invite deep contemplation of both individual and collective struggles, aiming to ignite dialogue on human rights, with a particular focus on women and girls, and to celebrate the resilience of Iranian culture.
November 19, 2026 – January 21, 2027
Stitching Memories on Textile: Parvaneh Hosseini- Fiber- Corridor Galleries
This collection of textile artworks with hand stitching, embroidery, collage, and a few mixes media techniques are inspired by some of the Persian stories, poems, and songs that Parvaneh Hosseini grew up with. Hosseini grew up surrounded with piles of the colorful textiles that her mother used for making dresses for other people. Remembering and creating art happened interdependently together in this process for her, she summoned her childhood memories and sewed. More images from Hosseini’s childhood memories emerged, sometimes miraculously, after all kinds of turmoil including the revolution, the war, the political movements and suppressions, immigration, and the exile that Hosseini experienced through her life.
This collection includes mostly images from stories and poems that had a life-long impact on her memory
January 28, 2027 – March 24, 2027
Resilience Unbound: Navigating the Dynamics of Power: Fatima Taylor – Pen Drawings- Main Gallery, Main Corridor, and Upper Corridor Gallery*Recommended for Grades 6 and Up*
Resilience Unbound: Navigating the Dynamics of Power is a solo exhibition that examines the ways power shapes identity, fear, and resistance in contemporary society. Through large-scale paintings and smaller intricate ink drawings, this exhibition interrogates the mechanisms of control and the resilience required to navigate oppressive structures. By blending grotesque distortions, obsessive fine lines, and vivid contrasts, Taylor’s work challenges conventional depictions of the human form—presenting figures that are neither fully liberated nor entirely subdued, caught in a perpetual negotiation with power.
This exhibition extends beyond the personal to engage with broader socio-political narratives, reflecting on issues of surveillance, social suppression, and historical patterns of control. The works on display aim to confront the viewer, evoking discomfort and critical engagement with the forces that govern both individual and collective existence.
Flowers of Destruction: Emily Strange – Mixed Media- Lower Level Corridor Gallery
*Recommended for Grades 6 and Up*
Flowers of Destruction presents a compelling dialogue on trauma, sobriety, and the overwhelming scale of the opioid epidemic through a convergence of painting and immersive installation. Strange’s work aims to articulate the lived experience of survival, providing a necessary platform for the struggles of the seemingly invisible.
The Poppy Series serves as the thematic anchor, using the inherent beauty and deadly potential of the opium poppy—the source of opioids—as a central metaphor. These paintings explore the delicate line between life and destruction, a concept exemplified by works like "Idle Hands," where the poppy stems transform into long, grasping fingers.
This specific visual commentary illustrates how boredom and mental inactivity can become conduits for relapse, underscoring the necessity of proactive engagement in recovery. The delicacy of these botanical pieces is then immediately countered by the “Survive/Survivor” Text Paintings, a series that uses bold, confrontational text to inject an unambiguous statement of resilience and hard-won strength directly into the visual conversation.
Through the contrast between the delicate, destructive flower and the bold proclamation of survival, this exhibition confronts the darkness of addiction while honoring the hard-fought commitment to recovery.
April 1, 2027 – May 1, 2027
Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition Selections of Region 1
An annual showcase of all the regional selections for the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition. This exhibition features works from high school students from all around central Ohio and is a beloved exhibition here at the MAC. The show typically features a wide variety of mediums such as ceramics, fiber, drawing, painting, and more.
May 6, 2027 – June 30, 2027
The Pith of a Tree: Melinda Rosenberg – Wood- Main Gallery
Melinda Rosenberg’s aesthetic sensibility celebrates nature while acknowledging artifice. Her work is contemplative and quiet, yet playful, and deeply sensitive to touch. She remains attentive to how a piece meets the wall, how elements of wood join together, and to the sensual qualities inherent in the material itself. The bend of a branch is taken seriously; it may determine the shape of a shield. Her approach keeps her listening to, observing, and appreciating nature.
The form of each piece is often generated and dictated by the stick itself. She selects sticks for their organic interest and their reference to nature. The shield shape functions as a female metaphor, through which she explores themes of aging (old and new wood), artifice (the act of painting on wood as a kind of makeup for wood), and aesthetics (quiet beauty, natural beauty, and the act of touching).
The old wood she uses comes from Ohio barns, old furniture, and discarded materials. The new wood is often purchased for its grain, figure, and ability to hold light. She is particularly drawn to ribbed pine fencing sold in box stores; the ribs can be spray-painted in different colors on either side, creating a shift in appearance as the viewer moves around the sculpture. Subtle, unexpected changes such as these give her work a sense of transformation over time. She values this effect and seeks ways to reward sustained looking.
Before beginning a series, she paints several boards with multiple layers of color. Her process involves painting, sanding, staining, and repainting until the wood grain achieves the desired visual interest. This intuitive approach is guided by a sensitivity to the grain and the energy required. Once a surface is resolved, she pairs it with other boards and a stick. Multiple works are often in progress simultaneously, with parts freely exchanged among them. By remaining open to what is happening—being present—while also attending to the mechanics of woodworking—being rational—she creates work that blends these complementary modes of thinking.
May 6, 2027 – June 30, 2027
Transient Boundaries: Mixed Media Narratives in Nature: Robie Benve & Dawn Petrill- Corridor Galleries
Divergent Boundaries brings together mixed media artists Robie Benve and Dawn Petrill in a dynamic exploration of material, storytelling, and environmental consciousness. Blending diverse materials with innovative acrylic techniques, both artists expand beyond traditional formats to create vibrant, layered works inspired by the natural world.