Chillicothe — The public library is more than just books, and their art shows help to illustrate that. The current artist has shown at the Pump House, and now Keri Sagraves Dodds has her India ink paintings in the Main Library Annex through the end of March.
The show opened on February 5th, 2026 with a reception in the former Central Elementary School behind the main library on South Paint Street.
Dodds said she has been in a couple recent shows in the Pump House Center for the Arts in Yoctangee Park. In the Annex of the Chillicothe & Ross County Public Library, she said she has an array of art over 20 years – a few new, a few old.
Her specialty is painting with India ink, which she says is a difficult medium but she enjoys the challenge with its stronger colors and different technique. She said she may start with watercolors out in the field, but then adds the ink in her studio – which is very unforgiving if you want to change it. And that is on top of the difficulty of starting “plein air.”
Dodds said most of her originals have sold, but she does sell prints, and all of her art is for sale in one way or another. She said the best way to contact her on her Facebook page.
Hear her in her own words in the interview below.
Courtney Lewis, Communications and Marketing Manger for the library system, watched over the opening of the art show.
She said these are recurring displays, with art space free and available to the public. (She said there is also similar space in the North Side Branch.) A request form is on the library’s website.
Lewis said they had a Pride show in the Annex last June, and coming up in April is a teen art show in the North Side Branch. She said they change the shows every one or two months, and announce them in their quarterly booklet on library programs.
She said library meeting rooms are also available for free, and you don’t even need a library card to book them.
The library system has a website and Facebook page, and other social media.
Snapshots of the opening of the art show:
