Curated by Nick Stull, “Constructed Worlds” brings together three female artists; Elham Bayati, Katie Davis, and Morgan Rose Free, who build their work from the materials of memory and everyday life. Each artist stitches, layers, or gathers fragments into something whole, inviting viewers to consider what it means to construct a world from what you've been given. On view at Dublin Arts Council, September 12 – October 29, 2026.
Elham Bayati
An Iranian-born, U.S.-based interdisciplinary artist working across mixed media, collage, print, and painting. Her practice is rooted in layering, both materially and conceptually, reflecting an episodic way of seeing shaped by migration, memory, and lived experience between cultures. Drawing from Persian visual traditions, textile patterns, and personal narratives, Bayati constructs dense, layered compositions that explore identity, womanhood, and the tension between past and present. Her work weaves together fragments of memory, emotion, and cultural history, creating spaces where multiple temporalities and voices coexist. Bayati has exhibited internationally and received First Place from the Ohio Art League. She is a faculty member at the Columbus College of Art & Design.
Katie Davis
Katie grew up on a small dairy farm in rural Ohio, and spent college summers living in National Parks, working as a hotel maid and waitress. These varied, tactile experiences inform her approach to painting, an approach that is open to magic, adventure, and curiosity. Katie's color choice and visual language are in direct relationship with her materials, which are sourced directly from everyday life, such as box lids, textiles, and furniture. Her work is playful, warm, and holds a tension between formalism and representation while exploring themes of portals, liminal space, as well as tech surveillance and curated algorithms. She is primarily a painter, but interdisciplinary work and collaborations are an ongoing part of her practice. Recent collaborations include work with a poet, sound artists, and other painters. Currently, Katie is a full time artist, full time mother of three, and a full time art professor at Columbus College of Art & Design. Her work has shown in galleries and museums across the US, including The Painting Center in Chelsea, Redline Contemporary Art Center in Denver, Sarah Gormley Gallery in Columbus, and The Camp Gallery in Miami. Katie is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and a Griffith Big Idea grant. Her work is published in New American Paintings, Archer Magazine, INPA 10, among other publications and reviews. Katie is a member of the Long Island Studio Collective in New York, and she is represented by The Camp Gallery in Miami.
Morgan Rose Free
Morgan Rose Free is a Canadian artist predominantly working in sculptural assemblage. Her conceptual interests lie in human engagement with the outside world, grappling with ideas around our current climate crisis, loss, desire, and our preoccupation with consumption.
Based in Columbus OH, she cofounded and operates Dream Clinic Project Space. She has participated in exhibitions and residencies across North America and has been awarded grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, MyMA and the Greater Columbus Arts Council. She received her MFA in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies at Alfred University and her BFA in Fibre from the Alberta College of Art and Design with honors.
Sat, Sep 12Dublin Arts Council“Constructed Worlds” brings together three female artists; Elham Bayati, Katie Davis, and Morgan Rose Free, who build their work from the materials of memory and everyday life.
