Meet Amy Kollar Anderson
WORK EXHIBITED WORLDWIDE:
US, SCOTLAND, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
Favorite Dayton Place to share with visitors: Amber Rose
Favorite Band: Sleepybird
When playing hookie, can be found at: Dayton Art Institute
Favorite hidden gem in Dayton: Front Street Studio and Garden Station
Dream: to be a full time artist (more…)
Meet Caressa Brown
MODEL
STUDENT
VOLUNTEER
OSU FAN
Favorite Dayton Place to share with visitors: Riverscape, Carrilon Park, and the Oregon District
When playing hookie, can be found: walking around
peaceful and serene downtown Dayton
Favorite book: Notes From the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (more…)
Elton Griffith
Elton Griffith is an educator and world traveler who lives, works, and plays in Dayton. Elton teaches at DECA and has visited most countries around the world—and all but three US states.
Favorite place to share with visitors: All that he can—but especially the rivers
Favorite book: Miguel Street
Favorite Band: Ufomammut
Favorite Website: WolframAlpha (more…)
Meet Grady Bagwell
What got you started?
Started the summer I turned eight. One day I went to the gym in Estes, Colorado. Then my cousin came from Connecticut and took me to a [Dayton] gym called Urban Krag; I got a season pass the second day. For my parents, it was kind of like a cheap form of baby-sitting.
Favorite crag food: Chex Mix or Cheez-Its.
Least favorite food experience:
In Beijing [for the UIAA Youth World Cup], I ate a silk worm the size of my thumb. It was pretty disgusting. I swallowed the shell and all that. It was pretty crunchy.
If you were a climb, how would you describe yourself?
I’m a 45-degree overhang for like 30 feet, with a slopey top out and a spicy landing.
Longest gone without climbing: Never taken more than a month off, but recently went to the doctor and he said I have tendonitis in both elbows and both shoulders, so…
Climbing style of choice: Bouldering. I like tall boulder problems.
Favorite crags: Hueco Tanks, Squamish and the Red River Gorge.
You lived on a portaledge for a while. What’s the story?
I slept, ate and lived on one for a week to support good climbing causes. We raised over $1,200 for the Access Fund and the Red River Climber’s Coalition. It was one of the best/craziest/most boring experiences I can remember in a while. I couldn’t really climb and settled for counting T-nuts on the lead wall.
Height: Doctor said I’m 5-foot-10, but I thought I was taller than that.
Proudest send: Hueco’s The Flame (V12) in 30 minutes.
Meet Hamilton Dixon
CREATER OF DAYTON ART INSTITUTE RAILINGS
Hamilton Dixon is an artist who lives, works, and plays in Dayton—since 1991.
Favorite Dayton place to share with visitors: Dayton Art Institute
Favorite website: liveleak.com
When playing hookie, he can be found at: home
Hobbies: camping and gathering firewood
His dream: (more…)
Meet John Drake
OWNER OF DRAKE’S GYM “TRAINER OF THE STARS“
John Drake has lived, worked, and played in Dayton since 1980. He owns and runs Drake’s Gym downtown—home of Jab City Boxing.
Favorite Dayton place to share with visitors: local restaurants
Hobbies: going to his cabin
Favorite hidden gem: His Gym!
Meet Kasey Henneman
Kasey Henneman is a horticultural technician with Five Rivers Metro Parks. Kasey lives, works, and plays in Dayton, so we caught with her to see what’s up.
Favorite Band: BoomBarian
Favorite Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Favorite Hidden Gem in Dayton: Bike Paths!
Hobbies: drawing comics, biking
Her Dreams: to make animation, to surf, to make good music, and to be healthy and happy
Favorite Dayton Watering Hole: E.B. (Espresso Bar at Pacchia)
Meet Liem Lu
Liem Lu is a software engineer who likes to play at Urban Krag in Dayton, an old, vacant church transformed into a climbing center in the heart of Dayton’s Oregon District. We caught up with Liem to see what’s up.
Favorite Dayton place to share with visitors: Air Force Museum
Favorite website:www.lieminator.com (he note’s that he is not at all biased…)
Dayton place to play hookie: Liem must keep this a secret, he says. Otherwise his boss will come looking for him.
Hobbies: Rock climbing, tennis, travel, photography, website design, cooking
His Dream: to visit every state in the US (he’s hit 28 so far) and every country in the world (he’s at 11 and counting)
Favorite Book: Catfish and Mandela: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam
Favorite Watering Hole: Tanks
Favorite Destination: Urban Krag
His Pet: a cat
Meet Scott Gibbs

* Designated by the Montgomery County Arts Council as “Master Painter”
* Instructor at K12 Gallery and well as an independent art instructor
* Current work is an exploration into redefining Classic paintings through
the eyes of young people
Quirky fact: Carries twine, thread and wax with him for the occasional
impromptu twig sculpture


Meet Sean France
Sean France is a painter who lives, works, and plays in Dayton.
- Favorite Band: Primus
- Favorite hidden gem in Dayton: Woodland Cemetery
- Hobbies: Cycling, Guitar (more…)
Meet Shon Walters
Self employed woodworking business; Stivers School for the Arts
Favorite Dayton “place†to share with visitors: My house
Favorite Book: Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
Favorite Band: Currently (world) Neutral Milk Hotel (Dayton) New Vega
Where do you play hookie in Dayton: Eastwood Park
Favorite hidden gem in Dayton: Wigglebird and the work he does with Zoot Theater Company
Hobbies: Playing music
Your Dream: To never sleep again and my reality to become my conscious dream
What will be your legacy: My work in wood and the arts
Celebrity Crush: Audrey Tautou
Favorite Dayton watering hole: My nalgene bottle
Favorite Destination: My studio
Favorite encounter with a famous person: Anyone I consider famous is dead and they just can’t hold a conversation.
Pets: Don’t believe in owning them
Role Model: Scott Gibbs
Favorite Team: Team Stivers
Quirky fact about you: I have never purchased toilet paper nor do I plan to.
Meet Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper is a graphic designer who lives, works, and plays in Dayton.
- Favorite Dayton place to share with visitors: Thai Kitchen, South Park Tavern
- Favorite Band: Guided by Voices, Talking Heads, (more…)