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Hopalooza! Catalogue 2019 Now Available

Our Hopalooza! event at Midwest BunFest 2019 was so successful, we have put together a downloadable/printable, color Hopalooza! Catalogue as a Thank You for all our supporters and artists.

The catalogue includes a description of the event, artist’s biographies, inspiration statements and lots of PICTURES!!!
Hopalooza! Catalogue 2019

 Hopalooza!

​Hopalooza! is a fundraising event inspired by similar public art displays around the world. Thirty unembellished rabbits were distributed to artists across the region. Those artists worked with various media to turn these blank canvases into beautiful works of art. These unique pieces will be auctioned off at this year’s Midwest BunFest with all proceeds benefiting Ohio House Rabbit Rescue.

Gracie

Artist
​Amy Mott, Franklin, Tennessee
Amy’s love of design and creation of new from the discarded was given to her by her father, an accomplished lamp designer who was known locally to turn trash into treasure.  The only thing that surpasses Amy’s love of design is her love for animals.  She is a proud bunny, duck, guinea pig, and cat owner, rescuer and advocate.  You can find her most days walking around and “looking down” for trash to turn into absolute beauty.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
“Gracie” represents the gray “hared” ladies that have devoted their lives to Rescue.

Jack Rabbit

Artist
​Michelle Mathuews, Grove City, Ohio
Michelle is a Jill of all Trades, but her main focuses are her cake business (Project Cakes), her artwork, and dog walking.  She loves animals of all kinds and enjoys utilizing her skills to help them.  Michelle loves hiking and is a proponent for environmental issues and animal rights.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My mind immediately went to puns.  I then thought of a Jack Rabbit and Alice in Wonderland, but instead of the obvious choice, I immediately envisioned a grand and regal looking rabbit as a member of a king’s court like the playing cards in the story.  Combine that all and you have my Jack Rabbit.

Galaxy Camo

Artist
​Dave Honaker, Louisville, Kentucky
David graduated from Murray State University with a bachelors degree in fine art and printmaking.  He tattoos as his primary occupation.  He and his wife are printmakers and sell art under the name Dirty Hand Studios.  During the fall he carves intricate pumpkins for the Louisville Jack O’Lantern Spectacular.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
"I’m just trying to deal with the phenomenon."​

Glamour Bunny

Artist
Cara Cox, Hilliard, Ohio
Being a graphic designer, rabbit lover, and rescuer, Cara always “hops” on the chance to create bunny artwork.  Working as a graphic design consultant for thirty-two years, she has had the opportunity to use her design skills to make a living and give back to the community.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
I hope my bunny design will inspire people to love and protect all rabbits and realize that rabbits make great indoor companions.  “Glamour Bunny” is for those who enjoy a little glamour in their lives and was created to bring them happiness.

Blue Harlequin

Artist
​Debby Widolf, Loveland, Colorado
Debbie has been involved in rabbit rescue for the past 25 years and has been an educator for HRS since 1998.  She worked at the Best Friends Animal Facility as manager of the Rabbit Department for nine years.  Since retirement (semi-retirement) Debby has had more opportunity to pursue her passion for art.  Most recently she has taught Needle Felting and has sold pieces to benefit rabbit rescues.  Whenever Debby gets the chance, she paints, and loves using a mixed medium approach.  She will bring some of her artwork to the 2019 BunFest.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My love for rabbits was my inspiration to create the Blue Harlequin rabbit for the Hopalooza! auction at BunFest.  The vision for my art is to raise awareness about the colorful spirit of the rabbit, their ability to inspire our actions and enrich our lives.

FloraBUNda

Artist
​Mary Kalb, Louisville, Kentucky
Mary is the founder and president of Harvey’s House, the Kentucky Chapter of the House Rabbit Society.  She was a textile artist/quilter/seamstress for 25 years and is now retired from that work because of health issues.  Mary has been instrumental in conceiving and carrying out Hopalooza!

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
"FloraBUNda" was inspired by one of my favorite childhood books, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  It is a beautiful story about  the redemptive power of love.  It made a profound impression of me, and it parallels my feeling about rabbit rescue:  love and patient nurturing can unlock and heal the broken and forgotten.  Our rescue work shows proof of this every day, and it gives me pure joy to see our “garden” of rescued rabbits blooming at Harvey’s House.

The Illustrated Bun

Artist
​Deirdre Pifer, Columbus, Ohio
Deirdre Pifer is a southern girl, born in Georgia and raised in Florida. The influence of tropical color and light shows strongly in her work, and she rarely colors her subjects with the colors they have in real life. She loves to work in many different mediums including acrylics, watercolor, ink, and markers.  Large, colorful animal portraits are her specialty, and the bigger and bolder, the better! Her art has been shown in Alexandria, Ohio, Granville, Ohio, Worthington, Ohio, St. Augustine, Florida, and Prestonsburg, Kentucky. She is honored to be a part of the “Bunny Brigade” volunteering for OHRR.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
The Illustrated Bun—A Tribute to Ray Bradbury
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​When I first accepted this challenge, it was intimidating.  I had a big, white plaster bunny in my art studio.  He was constantly reminding me that I needed to BEGIN.  My work life is very structured, so my creative life is spontaneous and colorful.  I started painting the different angles on him as bold acrylic shapes.  As I worked, the design idea was coming to life.  I doodled shapes on everything!  Sharpie markers are my favorite art tool, so I knew they would be perfect for this.  It was very laborious but also meditative.  There are 73 color blocks.  It took countless hours and 11 black Sharpies.  My studio is full of my favorite books.  I decided to pay tribute to Ray Bradbury since he was the first author whom I fell in love with around the age of 12.  I really can’t imagine my studio now without this piece.  I may be bidding right along with everyone else!

Daybreak at the Rainbow Bridge

Artist
​Andrea Biggs, Fairview, Tennessee
Andrea is the pet portrait watercolor illustrator behind Breath of Life Illustrations.  She also helped found the Guinea pig program at Clover Patch Sanctuary.  She lives just outside of Nashville, Tennessee with her boyfriend, and their myriad of cats, bunnies, Guinea pigs, and birds. She has always been drawn to the animals and nature with which we share our planet.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
The darkest feeling is waking up the morning after you have lost a pet.  This piece is a depiction of the peaceful transition I imagine our pets going through as they make their way from this life to the next.

Dandelion Treat

Artist
Lisa O’Kelly Nye, Liberty Township, Ohio
For as long as Lisa can remember, she has been exploring the arts.  She graduated from The Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in illustration. Then she worked for over 25 years as a professional artist including ten years at American Greetings.  After eight years in Minnesota as a creative manager, she made her way back to the Columbus area of Ohio.  She decided to pursue her passion for teaching and did freelance illustration while getting her teaching license.  She has been teaching at Rutherford B. Hayes High School in Delaware, Ohio for ten years.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
I admire and respect the work being done by Ohio House Rabbit Rescue and wanted to lend my talents to this great cause.  My inspiration was my daughter’s bunny, Oliver.  He was a loved member of our family for over nine years, and he attended BunFest twice.  Oliver enjoyed being outside especially with his buddy, Max.  Oliver also loved his treats, as most bunnies do.  This sculpture is also a nod to the online videos of other bunnies enjoying their special treats.

Guess How Much I Love You -- Betsy, The Space Bun

Artist
Molly Semones, Columbus, Ohio
Molly adopted her first rabbits, two part-lionheads, from the Columbus House Rabbit Society in 2011.  Since then three more buns adopted from the Columbus House Rabbit Society and Ohio House Rabbit Rescue have joined her and her partner.  She delights in creating, tromping about outside, time with fun people, and board games. She moonlights as a consultant, scientist, teacher and academic to keep her bunnies binkying and happy.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
Guess How Much I Love You, the classic illustrated children’s book by Sam McBratney, tells the story of a young bun hyperbolically expressing his love for his parent as they tuck him in for the night.  At the end of the book, the little bun tells his parent, “I love you up to the moon.”  The big hare then responds, “that is very far…” and tucks the little hare in and whispers the now well-known and oft-repeated saying, “I love you to the moon and back.”

The inspiration for my bunny comes from this cultural touchstone.  Guess How Much I Love You—Betsy, the Space Bun attempts to capture the love, dedication, and spirit of the rabbit community as well as the big hearts of all the bunnies who learn to love again and who teach us to love deeper.
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Betsy has her astronaut helmet on and is ready to blast off on her Midwest BunFest mission to support the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue bunnies.  Won’t you Join her?

REW (Ruby-Eyed White)

Artist
Adrienne Lang, Powell, Ohio
Adrienne Lang is not an artist.  Many of the Hopalooza! bunnies were purchased online and arrived broken, requiring her to glue, sculpt, spackle, sand and paint them into shape.  She is a rescuer who started in dog rescue and moved into rabbit rescue with the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue in 2011.  Her family’s first house rabbit was brought home from college by her son in 2001.  Adrienne is a physical therapist assistant who has worked in sports medicine for over 20 years.  Together with Mary Kalb of Harvey’s House Rabbit Rescue and Sanctuary, Adrienne coordinated the Hopalooza! Event at Midwest BunFest 2019.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
REW (Ruby-Eyed White) is a blank bunny sculpture which is primed and ready and waiting for someone to take it home and pour out his/her heart and creative spirit on it.  Much like the often-overlooked Ruby-Eyed White bunnies in rescues and shelters, this bunny sculpture is a blank canvas representing unlimited potential, hopes, dreams, and inspiration for a better future for all.  The artist who originally took this bunny lost interest or didn’t have the time for it which is very often the way animals end up in a rescue shelter.  In the article, “Looking Past the (Pink) Eyes” the House Rabbit Society, HRS, discusses the reason for these bunnies ending up in shelters in disproportionate numbers.  The article describes the REW breed as “some of the most amiable, sweet-tempered rabbits there are. Often they are overlooked in favor of their tiny lop friends, but once you share your home with a New Zealand (REW), you will be pleasantly surprised and may just have found your new best friend.” (Jul 10, 2011, https://rabbit.org/looking-past-the-pink-eyes/)  Special thanks to Mary Beth Parisi for painting the beautiful ruby eyes.

Willow

Artist
Marya DeBlasi, Columbus, Ohio
Marya DiBlasi is a Columbus based artist. Born in New Jersey, Marya studied anthropology and painting in College where she discovered a passion for both art and the stories we tell about ourselves and the world around us. She was awarded the Greater Columbus Arts Council “Artist in the Community“ Grant recognizing her work as an individual artist and the important role artists play in the creative landscape and economic vitality of Columbus. Additionally, Marya has been awarded the Greater Columbus Arts Council “Arts Education” Grant that provides local artists opportunities to share their talents by bringing creative experiences in the Arts to young people in under-served communities.  Since 2000, Marya has been exploring metal-smithing as a medium and her work is shown under the atist name: Primate. She can be found practicing and creating Metal Art, Lapidary (stone/minerals) and jewelry at various venues around the Central Ohio area and at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
All my life, I have been fascinated by myths, legends and other stories humans tell to describe the world around us. From the first recorded history, people have been depicting animals in human roles in visual and spoken art forms, to teach and tell stories about their lives, history and beliefs. We often ascribe human motivation, anthropomorphizing animal intention and behavior. When I was approached to contribute to Hopalooza! I was interested in blending the stories and myths we tell about rabbits. My sculpture shows various vignettes of rabbits in myth. It represents the long bond between us and I hope to inspire folks to think about how these gentle and intriguing creatures have influenced us throughout history.  What do the stories we tell say about our culture and attitudes toward the other beings with whom we share the earth.  

Nevermore

Artist
Kim Maring, Hurricane, West Virginia
In addition to being a bunny parent to six amazingly spoiled bunny rabbits, Kim is a “textile artist” with Uptown Bunny LLC.  She enjoys being creative in all areas and hopes that she can rock this big bunny out to an amazing home for an amazing cause.
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Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” bunny “Nevermore” symbolizes our mournful, never ending remembrance of bunnies lost.  Bunny is embellished in vintage Edgar Allen Poe literary pages and comes with a copy of Poe’s original work “The Raven”.  

Carrot Bunnvers - aka Captain Rabbit

Artist
Amanda Gutsche, Hatfield, PA
Amanda is a mixed media and graphic artist from the Philadelphia area.  She is currently a serf to eight rabbit overlords.
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Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
Carrot Bunnvers is the champion of rescuers and defender of the small and furry.  Amanda was inspired by all the heroes involved with animal rescue efforts.  Anyone who has ever adopted, sheltered, fed, cared for, donated, volunteered, transported, and rescued an animal has a bit of Hero inside of them.  

He Carries Starlight in His Wake

Artist
Kathleen Tom, Fallbrook, California
Kathleen is a Chinese-American artist who works primarily in pen and ink and watercolor.  Her works combine elements from her Chinese heritage with the whimsical.  She was born and raised in New York City, and at the age of 24, she moved to Southern California where she currently resides with her son. 

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
Because of shipping issues, my rabbit blank arrived broken.  I was disappointed, but instead of throwing it away, I decided to repair it.  Pieces that could be glued back were glued back.  Holes and missing pieces were filled with paper clay and epoxy paste.  The image I’ve painted on the rabbit is a continuing theme throughout my drawings for the last few years…purity and serenity and ethereal beauty.  What was once broken can be beautiful and strong again.

Summer of Love

Artists
Beth Abramovitz, Columbus, Ohio
Beth primarily makes etched silver jewelry, and her inspiration comes from her garden. 

Frannie Mamlin, Columbus, Ohio
Frannie is a junior at Linworth Alternative High School in Worthington, Ohio. She has had a passion for art her entire life.  She plays cello, does theater, and paints at every chance she gets.

David Maywhoor, Columbus, Ohio
David has been painting since 1969 and experiments with styles and medium.  The chance to splash color on a bunny was too good for him to pass up. 

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
We were inspired by this summer’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the “Summer of Love.”  The bunny was a fun summer collaboration.  Our hope is that the flower power with which we covered the critter will instill hope.

Mystic

Artist
​Eileen Matias, Akron, Ohio
Eileen, an artist working in Akron, Ohio, adopted her first rescue in 1998.  She has fostered rabbits and has adopted 10 rabbits since then.  Her mediums include colored pencil, photography, relief print, and sculpture.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My bunny statue arrived with a small crack on his face. I decided to keep the crack because in 2016 I adopted a rabbit that came to the shelter with one eye missing due to an infection.  The minute I saw him I knew he was coming home with me once he was available for adoption.  The infection came back, and the little guy ended up dying.  The vet said he was either an old rabbit or one that had had a hard life.  So, this rabbit is dedicated to all the rabbits who come to shelters and rescues with special needs.

Hare Krishna

Artist
​Maggie Rusnak, Columbus, Ohio

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
Maggie Rusnak’s  Hopalooza! Bunny  is titled “Hare Krishna,” which celebrates her Indian family and pays homage to her meditation practice.  The name is a play on words: “hare” in Sanskrit means “to praise”—and we all know bunnies are divas in search of worship by their fans!  Three other meaningful ancient words are included in the design:  (1) “Om”—found in the middle of the bun’s back—expresses the connectedness of the universe; (2) “Anicca”—found on the left above the tale--means “impermanence” and is a reminder to remain focused on the present moment; and (3) “Ahimsa”—found on the right above the tale—means “non-violence” and is a reminder to treat one’s self, as well as others, with compassion.  These three words help to guide Maggie’s personal philosophy, and she wished to share this through her artistic rendering of the embellished bunny.  She hopes that others will feel her inspiration and enjoy “Hare Krishna” as much as she enjoyed creating it.

Honey, I Shrunk the Rabbit

Artist
​Christy Monson Conner, Richmond, Kentucky
Christy is a free lance artist with a degree in Art from the Eastern Kentucky University.  Her studies included painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and jewelry.  Painting is her main focus these days with a bit of mosaics when the mood hits.  Inspiration is everywhere, and she loves to learn and try new mediums.  Currently she is learning to weld.
​
Over the years Christy has been lucky enough to have her designs chosen for some very large public art exhibitions.  The largest piece to date was a life size horse for the World Equestrian Games held in Lexington, Kentucky in 2010.  House rabbits have shared Christy’s life and have been her passion since 1997, and she thinks this is an exciting way to promote the rescue efforts of Ohio House Rabbit Rescue.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
There was no initial inspiration for this piece.  I knew I was going to do it in glass, and after looking at all the different colors on my table for a bit, I just saw what it would be in my head.

Bun Haylen

Artist
​Allison Coleman, Columbus, Ohio
Allison was introduced to the bun world by a little white rabbit hopping down her neighborhood street.  She always had been a cat person and didn’t know how to care for a house rabbit.  The plan was to foster and help him find a good home.  But…she and her husband fell in love with the little guy and named him Luigi (aka Weegie).  Luigi inspired Allison to become involved with helping bunnies.  She had no idea that Columbus had such a large community of bunny people and has made some awesome lifelong friends from there.  Who knew that one bunny could make such a difference in her life?  So now she is officially a bun and cat person.  She has 4 amazing cats and just recently adopted her new baby bunny, Dino.  He is a Flemish Giant with a Giant Personality!

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My bunny was inspired by a lifelong love of music and animals. Music and a passion for helping animals are very important to my husband and I. We strongly believe music, and kindness and compassion to our beloved bunnies makes the world a better place. I felt what better way to show this than by making “Bun Haylen” which is based on the original paint job of Eddie Van Halen’s iconic guitar.

Gathering Flowers

Artist
​Irene Finck,  Columbus, Ohio
Irene makes stoneware clay vessels and sculptures. She is inspired by nature and the time spent as a child in her backyard gardens with her Dad. She loves the textures and forms of nature like pine cones, acorns, gingko leaves, and sweet gum tree pods. Images of plants are most often the designs on her work. Most images are carved into the clay or applied. These images, while they relate to real plants, are her interpretation of them. Some might see a daisy while others, a sunflower. She likes this. She first worked with clay at OSU and loved it. She has always been a maker and enjoys seeing what she can do. She was able to work with clay again about 15 years ago, and it is her favorite medium.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My vision is of a bunny taking a morning romp in a dew-covered, flower filled meadow.

El-ahrairah

Artist
Penny Collins, Toledo, Ohio
Penny “That Lady” Collins is a professional artist/illustrator who specializes in the topic of rabbits (and Hares!).  She uses her work to map out life’s journey.  Penny’s works have been published and shown internationally.  Her comic, Regarding the Secret Life of Rabbits, can be seen in several languages. What started as a RABBIT-A-DAY creative exercise turned into a life-long passion. Although her illustration/artwork covers the gamut of life and subject matter, Penny continues to return to the little heartbeats at her feet.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
"El-ahrairah, your people cannot rule the world, for I will not have it so. All the world will be your enemy, Prince With A Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.’  And El-ahrairah knew then that although he would not be mocked, Frith was still his friend.”  (from Watership Down by Richard Adams)

El-ahrairah fell into pride. Believing himself and his people to be the strongest in the world, he heeded not the warning of Frith.

Aren’t we all fallen spirits? And yet, although Frith would not be mocked, he is still our friend.

My piece is a stylized El-ahrairah : a symbolic examination (and reminder) of what it is to be “human”. Our humanity is symbolized by the Earth-tones and structure of the guiding lines (our need for order and architecture).

What may not be recognized in this piece is the black base-coat symbolizing the Black Rabbit of Inlé (our mortality) – and yet it IS visible. It is the very linework of the character as well as the red inner shadow of El-ahrairah’s eyes.

Bunnerfly

Artist
Mary Beth Parisi, Columbus, Ohio
Mary Beth Parisi is a glass enamel artist and contemporary painter who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee.  A native of Cleveland, Ohio, her glass enamel pieces range from small jewelry to larger vessels and 2-dimensional works.  Her personal style emanates whimsey and joy and expresses the vibrant spirit of music and literature reimagined.  Parisi’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions and galleries in Columbus, Cleveland, and New York.  In the rabbit world, Mary Beth is a Board Member of Ohio House Rabbit Rescue and has been Co-Chair of Midwest BunFest since its inception.  A proud human to her 2 current rescue bunnies, Jack and Jill, she has been a rabbit lover, rescuer, fosterer and transporter for more than a decade.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
My inspiration for Bunnerfly came from a desire to try and blend three of my favorite things into one single piece.  I am a voracious reader of epic fantasy literature, an enamellist and painter of natural forms, and, of course, a lover of Bunnies.  In Rabbit Rescuer, as in life, we focus so much on the realities around us.  We sometimes forget to dream, to imagine.  As I contemplated my blank sculpture, I allowed myself to just imagine… What if bunnies could fly? What if they lived in the water?  A bunny with a mermaid tail was high on my list but the mechanics of sawing the sculpture in half was a bit too much, even for me! LOL!!! But wings to soar on; that is cool.  May my inspiration speak to your imagination.  May the idea of a Butterfly Bunny touch something inside that sets your imagination and creative spirit free.  Joy, delight, humor!

Buckeye Bunny

Artist
Mary Beth Parisi, Columbus, Ohio
Mary Beth Parisi is a glass enamel artist and contemporary painter who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee.  A native of Cleveland, Ohio, her glass enamel pieces range from small jewelry to larger vessels and 2-dimensional works.  Her personal style emanates whimsey and joy and expresses the vibrant spirit of music and literature reimagined.  Parisi’s artwork has been shown in exhibitions and galleries in Columbus, Cleveland, and New York.  In the rabbit world, Mary Beth is a Board Member of Ohio House Rabbit Rescue and has been Co-Chair of Midwest BunFest since its inception.  A proud human to her 2 current rescue bunnies, Jack and Jill, she has been a rabbit lover, rescuer, fosterer and transporter for more than a decade.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
This bunny sculpture is being done to celebrate the Columbus hometown obsession—The Ohio State University! As many of you know, Columbus is home to the host organization of Midwest BunFest—the Ohio House Rabbit Rescue, OHRR for short! I thought it apropos to honor that connection by giving one of the bunnies an OSU theme!  As an OSU alumna and Hopalooza! artist, I was honored to accept the challenge.  I am using my bunny, Jack, adopted from OHRR as my inspiration!

Big Bertha

Artist
Barbara Allen Frost and Koranna Spurgeon, Westerville, Ohio
Barbara Allen Frost and Koranna Spurgeon have a unique art relationship with Koranna having introduced Barbara to enameling back in 2002 in one of the evening classes she taught at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center.  Later, Barbara was able to take over from Koranna as the enameling teacher there.  She taught for almost eight years until Koranna resumed teaching the classes.  Their close friendship has included attending four biannual enameling conferences together and hosting monthly open enameling studios at the Cultural Arts Center.  Barbara is a full-time registered architect with her own practice, and Koranna is an insurance sales specialist at Health Scope Benefits.  They loved working on this as a team. 

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
They are both metal enamellists and use ground color glass fused in a kiln onto a copper base.  This gave them the idea to paint their bunny a dark bronze outdoor paint color, which Koranna then decorated with some of the unique designs that she also uses on her copper enamel pieces.  Then they added the painted ferns and fancy flowers to doll up the bunny.  Decorating the rabbit’s neck is an enamel pendant made by Barbara specifically for the rabbit.  They worked on this project together over the summer months in Barbara’s enameling studio, but every time that Barbara wanted to do other art forms or enameling there, she had to pick up and move the unfinished rabbit, which she then started referring to as “BIG BERTHA” because of the awkward and heavy form.  That name just stuck!

Medieval Marginalia

Artist
Ann Elliott. Columbus, Ohio
Ann enjoys experiments in a variety of media including photography, glass enamels on copper, calligraphy, and painting.  She normally works with small pieces and photographs small things, so the size of these bunnies provided an interesting change of pace.

Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
This piece was inspired by the whimsically creative images in the margins of illuminated manuscripts.  These include geometric designs, detailed images from nature, mythological creatures, strange hybrid creatures, and animals doing human things—which is still popular to draw today in animated and children’s books!  All the rabbits on this piece are copied from scenes of rabbits and hares in medieval manuscripts.

Still Crazy

Artist
Barb Armitage, Columbus, Ohio
Barb is a quilter and needle pointer. Since retiring from teaching, she has had the time to indulge her passions.  Barb knew Pat Barron and Bev May who helped start OHRR, and she has been on board to help in many ways.  Hopalooza! is a fun opportunity for her to combine her love of friends, bunnies, and quilting.
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Vision/Inspiration for this Hopalooza! Bunny
The very first Midwest BunFest was crazy!!!  There were fewer of us, so there was so much for each of us to do.  The day of the event was also crazy!  Great attendance!  Since then, Midwest BunFest has grown and grown—and it is still crazy!  So, I am making a crazy quilt bunny, and I’m calling it, “Still Crazy”!

www.ohiohouserabbitrescue.org
© 2025 Ohio House Rabbit Rescue. All rights reserved. 
Ohio House Rabbit Rescue is a non-profit organization committed to rescuing abandoned rabbits and educating rabbit owners about rabbit care. All proceeds from this event go toward our adoption center, education programs, and foster rabbits.
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