Scenes and Notes from the 51st Biennial

To Create … Takes Courage So Does Hosting a Biennial!

By Bev Goldie

The last paintings have been shipped back to their owners (some with new owners!), the reports for grant funding have been sent, thank-you’s written and financial records getting finalized. We’re closing the books soon on this 51st Biennial and feeling very good. 

51st Biennial Co-Chairs Darlene Yeager-Torre (left) and Bev Goldie. Photography by Janine DeBaise

As co-chairs this year, Darlene Yeager-Torre and I have put our own artistic creating time on pause to tend to the details of this very important NLAPW offering. With the assistance of our Central Ohio Branch Board officers, we were a force to reckon with!

Thanks to each member of our team, we were able to chart new territory by seeking additional funding through grants, in-kind funding, and outright donations in exchange for advertising options. Because of thinking outside the box, we came up with ways to afford what we wanted, not just what was expected.

We were blessed that one of our officers, Gayle Holton, is a veteran graphic designer. She turned our thoughts into professional, lively, and lovely documents. She also found the source for those amazing tote bags with our logo and sponsors printed on front.

Other local members participated in numerous ways: giving presentations, greeting registrants, overseeing the catering, getting chairs and tables set up for our back-toback recital and art reception, and providing items for and stuffing our “goodie bags.” 

Darlene and I wish to thank all who attended and the “can do” attitude of our members. We hope we made Columbus proud and enticed you to come back another time. We look forward to Washington, D.C., in 2026. Thank you, Central New York, for hosting the next one.

“Bev Goldie and Darlene Yeager-Torre, cochairs of the first-ever-at-Columbus Biennial, showed how it’s done. Wisely taking more than a year of lead time, they covered all bases. The speakers’ and presenters’ talks featured a wide range of topics, from composing (also singing and playing) folk songs to making imaginative art-music displays to opening a neighborhood bookstore. The Westin Great Southern Hotel provided not only appropriate venues, the luncheons were excellent — healthy, colorful, delicious. Ancillary items — from badges to programs and brochures, from on-time presentations to ideas for at-liberty exploring the city — showed attentive preparation plus a firm and imaginative grip on the myriad requirements of such a gathering. Brava! to each of these members from Columbus.”
— Elizabeth Lauer

More Biennial Coverage

Biennial Photo Gallery

Photography by Darlene Yeager-Torre, Bev Goldie, Robie Benve, Roxanne Smith-Mansell, and Janine DeBaise

(Hover over images to view captions or enlarge the photos)