Local artists ‘hold space’ at the Winds Cafe
- Published: March 27, 2025
By El Mele
Locally based artists Rachel Meyer and Shauna Schramke teamed up this past month to present “Holding Space,” a joint art installation on display at The Winds Cafe until March 2.
Meyer, a collage artist, and Schramke, a sculptor, drawer and painter, told the News in a recent interview that they met when they both participated in “Art in the City” through the Dayton Society of Artists. Meyer, previous gallery coordinator for the Yellow Springs Arts Council, or YSAC, suggested Schramke apply to show her work at the YSAC gallery, and eventually Schramke had her first solo exhibition, “Come Home,” there in August 2024.
Meyer was approached by Mary Kay Smith, the owner of the Winds Cafe, about installing an art exhibition at the restaurant. The space is large, so Meyer aimed to coordinate a joint show with another artist for the first time, having only done group and solo shows in the past. Meyer said she immediately thought of Schramke, both because she thought their work would be complementary, but also because “working with [Schramke] on her solo show was awesome.”
“It’s been even more awesome than I imagined,” Meyer said. “We’ve sent a lot of work back and forth to each other, and I’ve never worked like that before to make a space cohesive. That’s been a really cool experience.”
“It was a first for me, too,” Schramke said. “Usually, I make these decisions by myself, but Rachel made me feel really comfortable. I was able to ask a lot of questions, and we were easily able to bounce ideas off of each other.”
The two artists have about 100 pieces in the show, which they carefully curated for the space together. Meyer’s work on display spans about a decade, and she said her process has changed a lot since she began collaging in childhood. She had to glue a couple of her older pieces back down for the show, a process she found interesting, as she doesn’t work in that style anymore. Schramke’s work spans the last six months, created after challenging herself to draw every day since September. Both artists said they like the juxtaposition of the timelines of their pieces. Most of the pieces are for sale.
Both artists play with the concepts of space, home and nostalgia in their art, though through different lenses. Schramke noted that all of her work meditates on the theme of home, including “homes that don’t look like homes that people have made homes” and “places where people want to store everything that they love and want to keep around them to help create their own space.”
“I love the Winds Cafe as a space, as wherever you’re standing, you’re looking through the windows — all of my art is about that; about looking in,” Schramke said. “I see Rachel play with the concept of home through environmental themes and the idea of the planet as a home and through childhood nostalgia.”
Meyer said she believes her work and Schramke’s are complementary because the work “makes people take a pause and feel like they’re in a different space.” At the same time, Meyer said art itself is often the space in which she feels safest — a theme that’s reflected in her work.
“I am always drawn toward things that make people feel nostalgic and fantastical, and a lot of what I reflect in it is what makes me happy,” Meyer said, though she added that she’s lately been pushing herself to “expand beyond that” and address other issues, such as climate change.
“It’s a challenge, which is good, but regardless, I always try to make things that remind people of their dreams and their optimism,” Meyer said. “I have a lot of rocket ships and dinosaurs in my work.”
While Meyer’s work has consistently been a source of joy for her since she began collaging as a child, Schramke said art was not always a way to derive joy for herself, and her journey as an artist began intentionally, in her adult life. Schramke learned to weld so she could “stick metal things to metal things.” She said she liked to build things that she could use with materials in her workshop. In the midst of home rehabbing, the art she created often became “part of the house.”
“I went into painting,” Schramke said. “I had never painted before, so I don’t know why I thought I could — it just felt good. I had no idea what I was going to paint. I just listened to music really loudly, put an atmospheric background on the canvas and saw where it went. … That’s how I went from something really intentional and stressful to something joyful. I really liked it.”
Like Schramke, Meyer said she uses found materials in her work. Her collages are made from found paper items, such as book pages or plane tickets — a challenge the artist said she enjoys.
“It’s exciting to use what you already have, and it’s good for the environment,” Meyer said. “I do a multistep process where I look like I’m in a total trash heap, but it’s in a logical order. I look for paper, separate it out into piles, cut it down, do a background, then work out from there. It’s similar to painting where you start with a base layer, much like Shauna starts with an atmospheric background.”
Meyer also listens to background noise while she creates, but instead of music, it’s a movie, TV show, or audiobook. She said she can often tell you exactly what she was listening to while creating a piece.
Both artists are very happy to have made a connection artistically and professionally, and said they have really enjoyed collaborating.
“I met Rachel and so many cool things happened to me as an artist,” Schramke said. “I would really love to work with Rachel again. What we’ve done is rich, and if we had more time to plan, it would be richer, even.”
Meyer agreed: “Even now, I have things that are inspired by Shauna’s work that I want to make in the future.”
The artists thanked their families for their hard work to help them hang the massive show, and the staff at the Winds Cafe for being accommodating and patient throughout the process.
Meyer’s work can be found on Instagram at @rachelzm, and Schramke’s work can be found on Instagram at @wd_rebellion_studio and on her website at wdrebellion.com.
*The author is a freelance reporter for the News.
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