A University of Toledo painter is being recognized by the Ohio Arts Council for outstanding accomplishments in two-dimensional visual arts.
Dan Hernandez, who teaches drawing and painting as a professor in the Department of Art, received a 2025 Individual Excellence Award.
Dan Hernandez teaches drawing and painting as a professor in the Department of Art.
“I’m very excited to be recognized by the Ohio Arts Council,” said Hernandez, who also received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in 2011 and in 2015. “This affirmation at a statewide level feels particularly significant as I’ve shifted the direction of my work in recent years, exploring new ways to express familiar themes.”
Hernandez blends religious iconography with the contemporary visual language of video games in his work, which has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions.
He is one of 75 Ohio artists to be presented a 2025 Individual Excellence Award, selected from a pool of nearly 600 through an anonymous, open panel review process focused on the exceptional merit of past artistic work in a variety of disciplines.
The Ohio Arts Council, the state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen state communities culturally, educationally and economically, presents the Individual Excellence Award annually to give Ohio artists the resources to experiment and explore their art forms, develop skills and advance their careers and receive affirmation and acknowledgment for outstanding work.
Each award is accompanied by $5,000.
