Stonewall has long been a cultural center for the LGBTQ+ and allied communities, offering a wide variety of arts and entertainment events and showcasing original work by artists.
Between the Walls highlights members and the stories of the LGBTQ+ community using the arts as a vehicle of engagement, in partnerships with local arts organizations and artists. As a non-profit community Gallery located in the heart of the Short North Arts District, we are devoted to exhibiting LGBTQ+ artists who present a variety of mediums, backgrounds, and experience levels.
OWENS & KOWALSKI GALLERY
Current Featured Gallery Artist: Joell’e Estrada
Showing June 1st – 30th
Mixed media artist and musician based in the Old North neighborhood of Columbus Ohio, a vibrant artist and musician community on the fringes of OSU campus.
“My work includes acrylic and gouache paintings, film photography, banner making, performing vocals in my band ‘Fleshpile,’ as well as playing a multitude of instruments. I take inspiration from my childhood growing up in the rural Iowa countryside as a second generation Puerto Rican, and from the juxtaposition of my disparate life experiences, having grown up in a small town and moving to the big city.”
“I take after my grandmother’s artistic tradition of painting, but through my own vulgar and abrasive style I embrace the beautiful parts of nature as well as the decay. My work is representation of the queer experience through a second generation Hispanic woman and some of the themes and stories I grew up with.”
Past Featured Gallery Artist: Lydia Wickham
Showing May 2nd – 28th
Lydia Wickham holds a BFA from Columbus College of Art & Design. She lives in Circleville and works in Columbus, OH. Wickham has exhibited nationally, including VIVID at d’Art Center in Norfolk, VA; Transparency at Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights, IL; and Carla: The Essence of Love and Joy at All People Arts in Columbus, OH. Wickham received third Best of Show at the 2024 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Competition (Amateur Division). In 2025, Wickham held a solo exhibition at 934 Gallery in Columbus, OH, has a piece traveling with Art Possible Ohio’s Accessible Expressions 2025 exhibition, and placed in the professional division of the Ohio State Fair Fine Art Competition.
My work explores invisible forces that shape how we perceive reality. Living with chronic, unseen conditions has made me question what is real and how perception creates our world. I’m drawn to transformative moments; where fragility and resilience coexist, and, like the process of sublimation, where the internal suddenly becomes external.
Through vibrant color, light, and tactile materials like embroidery, neon vinyl, fiber, and reflective surfaces, I create immersive moments that invite viewers to look again. Transparency and reflection become metaphors for the fluidity of perception and the often-invisible layers of experience; microscopic, emotional, energetic. My process is intuitive and meditative, rooted in instinct and observation, influenced by scientific imagery, personal experience with synesthesia, and the belief that internal and external worlds are in constant conversation.
By repurposing materials associated with femininity or play, I reclaim them as conduits for expression and transformation. I use decoration as disruption, prompting curiosity, wonder, and deeper reflection. My work asks: Do we trust our own experience or the systems that interpret us? My goal is to challenge fixed perceptions, reveal unseen forces, and empower viewers to trust their inner knowing. I aim to create spaces where perception is fluid, energy is visible, and the hidden revealed.
Past Featured Gallery Artist: Kaito McCarthy (he/him)
Showing Mar 3rd – 29th
Kaito McCarthy is a 15-year old autistic trans poet and photographer searching for the moments where light, color, and reflection meet identity. Largely self-taught, he captures images that hover between real and surreal, where momentary and fleeting beauty becomes a mirror of self. Kaito’s photographs and poems illustrate the intersections between identity, imagination, and self-expression, turning ephemeral moments into enduring witness.
This collection uses birds as mirrors of identity, freedom, and transformation. Each image explores the tension between how we move through the world and how we are seen, using feathers, flight, and reflection as metaphors for visibility, vulnerability, and resilience. Birds carry the quiet weight of selfhood, of longing and becoming, and through them, I explore the spaces where imagination, memory, and identity converge, tracing the courage it takes to exist fully and authentically.
“My work follows flight as a way of existing, a way of becoming. Birds carry the quiet insistence of being themselves, and in their movement I trace what it means to live authentically, to outstretch wings into freedom, and to claim the space to be fully seen.” Kaito’s Gallery will opening will be at the Gallery Hop on March 7th from 10AM – 2PM.
Past Featured Gallery Artist: Elizabeth Hope Art
Showing Feb 2nd – 27th
“Art was always my favorite subject in elementary and high school, I adored the art classes I took in the summer and the teacher who encouraged me, and I still have pages and pages of class notes covered in doodles and notebooks peppered with ideas for paintings and art collections. In college, although I graduated with a “respectable” major (history), I took as many art classes as I could and graduated with a minor in Studio Art. It’s always been easier for me to use pen and paper or paintbrush and canvas to express myself, but it wasn’t until my mom passed away in 2014 that I took the leap from my office cubicle to pursue life on my terms. Art enables me to say what words can’t, and my art is an extension of myself, while the process itself is an exploration of my thoughts and feelings, a form of therapy and catharsis. Now, as someone who realized she was a lesbian later in life, I use my art to reach and uplift the queer community. I want my art to be the representation that I wish I had when I was younger. The paintings in this show in particular explore the quiet but deep intimacy in queer relationships.”
Past Featured Gallery Artist: 2025 Pride Volunteer Photographers
Showed Jan 5th-30th
Emma Parker Photography Lead Photographers
Directed by Emma Parker Photography these incredible volunteers gave of their time, energy, and talent to capture the joy, excitement, and spirit of Stonewall Columbus Pride 2025. Volunteering means showing up not for recognition, but to support the community and preserve the magic of Pride through every image. Through their lenses, they honor the stories, voices, and vibrancy of the LGBTQIA+ community, ensuring that the courage, celebration, and energy of Pride is remembered for years to come. Artist: Chet Kresiak (he/him), Bee Slack (they/them), Krista Reincheld (she/her), Angela RED Edgemon (they/she), Melody Grames (she/her), Kimberly Meisel (He/She), Gary Pettway (He/Him), Taylor Kiehl (she/they), Emma Parker (they/she)
BETWEEN THE WALLS ARTIST APPLICATION
We are still searching for artists to feature for our Between the Walls programming.
To be considered for programming, all artists must complete our Expression of Interest Form HERE
UPCOMING SHOW SCHEDULE
- TBA
Stonewall’s Permanent Pieces: Stonewall Columbus proudly maintains a collection of art pieces that celebrate the diversity, resilience, and creativity of the LGBTQ+ community. This collection features works by local and national artists, exploring themes of identity, pride, and community. Each piece in the collection tells a unique story, reflecting the experiences and contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals across generations. By showcasing these artworks, Stonewall Columbus aims to foster an inclusive environment that honors and uplifts LGBTQ+ voices, while inspiring visitors to engage with the rich history and vibrant culture of the LGBTQ+ and queer communities.
(A representation of pieces.)
TRANSCEND — STONEWALL COLUMBUS
