Features

What the Athens studio is best known for — its signature pieces — are the Passion Flowers, which festoon the walls and hang from the ceiling. 

The flowers, made from recycled metal newspaper printing plates, have put the town’s creative spirit on the map. Stop in numerous Athens businesses and you’re likely to find them. They also decorate several downtown outdoor spots.

“My dream is to be a roadside attraction,” says Patty Mitchell, Passion Works founder and executive director. 

Separate and unequal

In its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared “separate but equal” schools to be unconstitutional. 

Photographer James Proffitt warns that some of the images that went into this essay were taken in what he describes as NSFW conditions — Not Safe for Wading. Following are some of the musings from his vast wanderings in 2024 and 25 while collecting his images.

We love it and we hate it. It cools food and drinks, we skate on it, fish on it. We slip and fall on it, crash our cars on it and it destroys roads and sometimes things around the house. It can be treacherous, unforgiving, and beautiful: Ice.

Now she and Corwin teach groups in central Ohio and beyond to create those free-form mosaics that are then installed as permanent works of art. 

Visitors to the Nutcracker Village encounter just about any character they could imagine in nutcracker form — from whimsical storybook heroes and cartoon characters to real-life movie and television stars; from historical legends and religious leaders to first responders and service members from the various branches of the military.

His original collection, expanded through acquisitions and donations over the years, has grown into one of the largest collections of holy relics in the country, and today, the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics draws visitors from around the world to pray and reflect among more than 1,200 documented pieces displayed in a series of three hand-carved wooden altars and assorted glass cases. 

For those who need a getaway

A stay in Utopia

An Airbnb gift card could translate into a stay in the luxurious Utopia cabin at Paradise Lake, a private lake near New Philadelphia in Amish country. Utopia promises a relaxing haven for nature lovers, with peaceful water views as well as opportunities for kayaking, fishing, or simply relaxing by the shore. Utopia boasts two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a hot tub. Other Paradise Lake cabins sleep as many as 14 or as few as two. All are available year-round.   

The colorful northern cardinal lives over the entirety of Ohio, and that alone is reason enough for the state legislative assembly to name it the official state bird.  There are other meritorious reasons that call forth warm approval and high regard. 

To be certain, spray-painting railcars is illegal and dangerous. Most graffiti is born near rail yards in larger cities, like the Queensgate yard in Cincinnati, where the cars are plentiful and often don’t move for long periods of time.

Higgins later gained fame as the movie mutt, “Benji,” and to Herzig, Inn’s story of a lifetime of rescuing dogs from euthanasia and boarding them until he could find them homes is one that deserves to be remembered. “He supported at least 2,000 animals,” Herzig says. When Higgins eventually died after a long and fulfilling life, Inn gave her funeral, and Herzig has the program.