Village of Yellow Springs, Ohio

John Bryan Community Gallery

The John Bryan Community Gallery is a multi-use space that spans 726 square feet in two wings on the second floor of the John Bryan Community Center, which serves as the Yellow Springs Municipal Building at 100 Dayton Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Exhibit space is available for public viewing during the building’s hours of operation (8a-9p).  Exhibit space is available for public viewing during the hours of 9:00 am and 8:30 pm, Monday - Friday and 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Saturday, closed Sunday.  The Gallery is the home base of the YS Arts Council's (YSAC) Permanent Collection.  Three times a year, there are rotating shows of art from the collection in the JBC Community Gallery.

The Permanent Collection represents Yellow Springs artists through the preservation, collection, exhibition and storage of works that demonstrate the ideals, passions and creativity of the Yellow Springs community, now and in the future.”

The Permanent Collection Stewardship Committee, was formed in 2015 for the protection of the Permanent Collection and to guide its growth and mission. Active members of the Arts Council founded the project and the Yellow Springs Arts Council maintains the collection. The YS Arts & Culture Commission provides Village support for the Collection and maintains the John Bryan Center Community Gallery as an exhibition space for the Collection.  The Village also provides a safe storage space for any parts of the collection that are not on display.  It is a great partnership!

Many of the works are still on display at Antioch University Midwest, 900 Dayton Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio.  They can be viewed during AUM’s general operating hours (weekdays from 8:30–5:00). The collection can also be seen on the YS Arts Council's Web site, ysartscouncil.org

 If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Permanent Collection's curator Nancy Mellon 937- 767-1366 nancymellon.jafa@gmail.com . You can also e mail us at ysartscouncil@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

 The YSAC Permanent Collection was established in 1992 to preserve the work of Yellow Springs’ amazingly rich heritage of artists. To date, over 200 pieces by 112 artists make up the collection, in many different mediums:  oil and acrylic paintings, watercolors, photographs, collages, jewelry, mixed media, prints, textiles, papier mache, pottery, sculpture, books by local authors and costumes. The collection also includes digital archives of local music, storytelling, dance, interviews with local artists, a slide show by Irwin Inman, of the 12 years of Banners in the Banner Festivals and some historical papers on YS Art Organizations, and Cultural Events.

The Permanent Collection is a historical legacy of art for the Village of Yellow Springs.

It all began at the John Bryan Center, for 20 years, each artist that did a show at the John Bryan Community Gallery donated a piece to the collection. Parts of the collection were on view in the Old Union School House and parts were in storage.

As it has grown, the collection has needed a much larger space to be able to have most of the art work on view.   For the last 5 years, it has been hosted by Antioch University Midwest. 

In January 2018, the John Bryan Center became the home base of the Permanent Collection again.  The collection is too large for just one space anymore and thanks to the plethora of wonderful, local artists and generous donators of local art, it is growing larger all the time. Parts of the collection are on loan to different public buildings in town.  Our goal is to have the collection in the public view as much as possible.