When he's not discussing city affairs, Athens City Councilman Jeff Risner grows carnivorous plants and is an avid painter, inspired by Bob Ross.
Suggested HED: Athens City Councilman Jeff Risner: He paints, he plants, he legislates
Editor’s Note: This is the sixth part in a series profiling each Athens City Council member.
Jeff Risner crouched down and held open the hatch to the glass temperature- and humidity-regulated tank in his basement.
“This one has little fangs on it,” he said, pointing to the sharp protrusions extending down from the head of the Nepenthes bicalcarata.
Risner, who is the Democratic Second Ward Athens City Councilman, doesn’t make it a habit to keep wild animals in his home — unless you count Frodo, his pet cat. Instead, he collects carnivorous plants. He has a collection of more than 200.
The plants don’t just take nutrients from the soil; they’re known for attracting, trapping and digesting insects and small animals.
“Not to brag, but I probably have the largest collection in Southeast Ohio,” he said, pointing out that he has yet to meet anyone who could rival his total.
His collection includes Venus fly traps, several pitcher plants and a variety of other species. He has so many that he can’t keep them all in one place — they’re divided between a greenhouse in his yard, a couple of patches on the lawn, tanks in his basement and a pot in his family room.
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Risner said he’s always been interested in science, and guessed that these hungry plants have intrigued him since he was about 12 years old.
“I’ve always been interested in science,” he said. “When I was a kid, growing up, like every other kid I wanted to be a paleontologist and dig for dinosaur bones.”
Risner said he never grew out of that interest in science. In 1975, he graduated from Ohio University with a degree in geology and has worked for the Libyan government as a hydrologist and the Exxon Corporation as a computer geologist.
“My biggest passion on council goes back to my time as a hydrologist, and that is the protection of our water systems,” he said. “There’s an ancient Roman quote: ‘If a city doesn’t have bread, the city will riot, but if the city doesn’t have water, it will die.’ ”
Risner, who teaches computer science at University of Rio Grande in Gallia County, said one of his proudest accomplishments since he joined council in 2011 was his involvement in extending the area protected by the Athens Wellhead Protection Plan the next year. He makes $7,537 annually on council and his term concludes at the end of 2015.
Risner’s scientific background is his greatest asset to the legislative body, said First Ward Democrat Kent Butler.
“I think what I appreciate most about Jeff is his critical mind,” Butler said. “He is a thinker and he’s willing to ask critical questions.”
But Risner’s passions extend beyond science and public service. Amongst the tanks of carnivorous plants are hundreds of canvases that Risner painted himself — including a few still-lifes of his plants.
Risner has only been painting since about 2006, but has already painted several hundred canvases. He said he was inspired to take up painting after watching episodes of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross on television.
For Christmas one year, his wife bought him a paint set and a set of Bob Ross DVDs, and in 2007 he set out to paint 90 canvases in 90 days. He fell short, and was only able to complete 84 paintings, but he said the experience helped him hone his skills as an artist.
In 2009, he spent half of a summer studying art through a residency program in the Tuscany region of Italy.
“They worked us to death,” he said. “It was no joke.”
Every afternoon after a full day of painting, Risner and the other students were subjected to harsh criticism from their instructors.
“I had mixed reviews sometimes,” he admitted. “Other times, you get the feeling with the first brush stroke that it’s complete … You can’t do anything wrong. You live for those moments.”
Risner is also an active member and former President of the Ohio Plein Air Society, which provides learning opportunities and a sense of community for landscape painters in Ohio.
“(Risner has) such a willingness to serve and a fearlessness to speak his mind,” said Debra Dawson, one of the society’s founding members. “That’s a good thing. We need that stuff.”
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