Art + Belonging

The Mystery is the Meaning

Louise Captein
Miller Gallery
January 6 - March 1, 2026
Louise Captein, Visual Artist
Public Reception
January 29, 2026, 4p - 6p
Artist remarks begin at 4:30p
This Sabbatical exhibition features new work by visual artist Louise Captein, which results from a fresh approach to painting and collage that she has been developing over several years. The Mystery is the Meaning installation takes space as a medium and uses stacked grounds to “produce” shapes that result from apertures of every kind. The work reflects Captein's explorative process related to apperception—of the space without and the space within, and the paper-thin difference between them.

Can space be a medium?

MAYBE I CALL THEM LEAVES

leave as is
leave alone
leave out
let go, let be
leave nothing
leave something
leave empty
drop
self-leave
fall into, out of
leave a trace, leak
leave behind, to leave, leave,
leave
one leave after another
leave of my life
leaves, pages
leave is a verb
action verb
Richard Serra’s verb list
a manifesto of leaving

two leaves, three leaves, four leaves 
more leaves?
drop, soak, spill, spread, the color
spreads!
sag, swim, stick, smudge, smear, set, seek, see
show
form, float, fizzle, fuse
pause
thicken, take
give
accept
teach
no fuss

“Remember that the fool in the eyes of the gods….


and the fool in the eyes of man are very different. One who is entirely ignorant of the modes of Art in its revolution or the moods of thought in its progress, of the pomp of the Latin line or the richer music of the vowelled Greeks, of Tuscan sculpture or Elizabethan song may yet be full of the very sweetest wisdom. The real fool, such as the gods mock or mar, is he who does not know himself. I was such a one too long. You have been such a one too long. Be so no more. Do not be afraid. The supreme vice is shallowness. Everything that is realised is right.

—Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

ABout the Artist

Louise Captein


Louise Captein is an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Otterbein University who works primarily in oils and paper collage. She earned terminal degrees from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (1991) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2017). She has taught studio art in higher education since the mid 1990’s – both in The Netherlands and the U.S – and joined the art and art history faculty at Otterbein in 2009. Captein has shown her work locally and nationally in group and solo exhibitions at Keny Galleries of Columbus, The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Center Gallery, The Ohio State University’s Hopkins Hall Gallery, the Dublin Arts Council, and the Richard M. Ross Art Museum at Ohio Wesleyan University, among other venues. Her collages have been called “… quixotic in appearance yet meticulous in their approach to the formal elements of space, line, color and composition.”

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Plan

Your

Visit

The Frank Museum is located one block east of Uptown Westerville’s vibrant commercial district. Spend an afternoon visiting the museum’s current exhibition, browsing in Uptown’s locally owned shops, and relaxing in our excellent restaurants or coffee establishments. The Frank Museum staff are always available for tours.

VISIT

Current Exhibitions

  • The Living Art of Generative Scribing

    Fisher Gallery
    October 5, 2026 – April 15, 2027
    This exhibition showcases Generative Scribing, an emergent social art form, featuring the work of Berlin-based artist Olaf Baldini. Generative Scribing pairs deep, active listening with fluid visual art to help organizations and communities navigate complex, evolving futures. The installation features large-format paintings and drawings from global initiatives, alongside new work that will be drawn from dialogues and social fields at Otterbein and Central Ohio.

  • A Journey through America with Robert Freimark

    In collaboration with HOHMANN Fine Art Gallery
    Frank Museum of Art
    August 19 – December 4, 2026
    Between 1960 and 1968, artist Robert Freimark created Fifty States, a suite of abstract, full-sheet color screen prints representing each of the fifty United States. To make this collection, Freimark traveled around the country. He drew from his own experiences as well as extensive research into the history of each state to create a unique, multilayered print. Situated in The Frank, a museum dedicated to global art, the installation reflects on America’s 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and our country’s place in the world.

  • Jim Bowling: Inside Out

    A Sabbatical Exhibition
    Miller Gallery
    August 19 – November 4, 2026
    In this sabbatical exhibition, Jim Bowling reflects on the ways that personal, internal narratives influence external expressions. The artist explores this theme through the intimate connection between the interiors and exteriors of sculptural forms. Each narrative begins in the center of the sculpture, at the core of each piece. The surface narratives on the exterior ‘support’ forms, which are simple figurative bases, are impacted and transformed by the internal narratives. Viewers can investigate the nuanced relationships between inner narratives and exterior expressions through this series titled “Inside Out.”