Anne Balogh Spotlight
Anne Balogh
Written by Nor Osborne, December 2025
The center of the Levain Park in Newark hosts a vibrant burst of color. Coating the cinder block walls of the park’s facilities building is a 40 foot by 9 foot mural. The creation of Hebron artist Anne Balogh, the mural celebrates the various ways local residents and nature interact. In swooping strokes of bright color, Anne abstractly depicts figures tending to budding trees, bicycling, fishing, and playing baseball alongside rolling acres of farm land, lush flowers, and a majestic butterfly. The piece intertwines two of Anne’s greatest loves, art and biology.
“Science and art have been my two main interests throughout my entire life,” Anne says. “It’s just been a continuous journey.”
Anne’s degree from Allegheny College is a testament to this love. Having majored in biology and environmental science and minored in studio art, her knowledge of both topics is vast. Her senior thesis worked to combine these areas of expertise, including the creation of life sized inks of endangered species. She hung these inks across campus in an effort to raise awareness of the vulnerable creatures.
This project introduced her to a new love, producing art on a large scale, a passion she has continued to explore in recent years. Examples of this large-scale work can be seen beside a swimming pool in West Jefferson, a splashy tribute to aquatic adventures, and on the shaded paths of the Dawes Arboretum in Newark, where she displays the interconnectedness of nature through a puzzle of a forest’s ecosystem. Her artwork dances across the walls of nurseries, the sides of buildings, and the backside of fences all throughout the area, illustrating everything from fairytales to jungles.
Anne loves to paint on the small scale as well, especially using watercolors. Her water based style can be described as loose realism, a dreamy splatter of natural scenes. A large portion of this watercolor portfolio portrays birds in flight.
“Birds are what I focused on for the first decade of my career. They come naturally to me,” she says. “I did my graduate work at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, where I was able to create a series of bird illustration ‘Birdmarks’ for them, and some other biological illustrations.
She went on to conduct bird research as a field biologist and environmental educator throughout the United States and later worked at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center at the Scioto Audubon Metropark in Columbus.
Now, Anne directs her creativity and passion for the outdoors into her position as the program manager for the Licking Park District.
“I get to do everything from the recreation side of things, like kayaking and hiking, as well as the education side of things, directing programming for all ages,” she says. “And I’m constantly looking for new ways we can bring art into what we do.”
One way Anne brings arts to the Licking Park District is through her direction of the ‘Art in the Park’ series, a program that teaches different artistic techniques while featuring different wildlife topics, such as nature journaling and eco printing.
“The arts represent, in a way, the best parts of being human,” Anne finished. “It’s creativity, connection, and broadening world views.”
