The new community garden at the oldest church in Akron is getting a new, one-of-a-kind entrance this summer, thanks to the talents of the University of Akron (UA) Myers School of Art and 16 Akron high school students.
Arts LIFT, UA’s award-winning summer arts apprenticeship program for Akron Public Schools students, is collaborating with nationally recognized sculptor John Comunale to create a series of steel gates for the entrance of the Feed My Sheep Garden at First Congregational Church, 292 E. Market St., in Akron’s University Park neighborhood.
The gateway will be unveiled July 8 during a celebration at the church from noon to 3 p. m. The event will also feature local eclectic Bluegrass band Fast Molasses and refreshments.
This is the ninth summer that UA Arts LIFT is enhancing the Akron community with a permanent art project. UA Art Professor Elisa Gargarella is the originator and director of the program that also involves college students from UA’s Art Education Program.
This summer’s UA Arts LIFT program started Monday and runs through June 22 at Folk Hall, home of the UA Myers School of Art. In addition, the students will visit Comunale’s downtown Akron studio to learn new welding techniques. They also will work with master gardener Sarah Vradenburg to learn about community gardening, landscape design, conservation and how art can help to grow a greener community.
Founded in 2002 with support from the Lola K. Isroff Arts Assistance Endowed Fund, the program enables students to work with professional artists while also participating in collaborations that enhance the community, assist underserved populations, and address environmental and ecological issues.
Past UA Arts LIFT partners include the Akron Zoo, Crown Point Ecology Center, Corbin Conservatory at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center, Keep Akron Beautiful and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association
For more information about the Arts LIFT program, call the UA Myers School of Art at 330-972-8325.
Dialogue with El Anatsui
To kick off the opening festivities of Gravity and Grace, El Anatsui will participate in a 6-7 p.m. conversation Saturday with Interim Chief Curator Ellen Rudolph at the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s Main Library Auditorium, 60 S. High St., Akron. The event will be followed by an opening party across the street at the Akron Art Museum, 1 S. High St. The museum has organized and is premiering the national tour, Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui. To reserve your seat for this amazing opportunity, register online at http://AkronArtMuseum.ticketleap.com/dialogueanatsui. Dialogue tickets are $15, $7 for members and includes gallery and party admission. Party-only admission is free to members and $10 for nonmembers. For more information, call 330-376-9185.
‘Fold Crumple Crush’
WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49) will air the documentary Fold Crumple Crush: The Art of El Anatsui at 9 p.m. Friday. Anatsui, a native of Ghana, who teaches at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, demonstrates how his works have become a hybrid of painting and sculpture, objects that speak of African history, but also reach for the ethereal.
The program shows the artist installing work at the Venice biennale and visits the small town of Nsukka, Nigeria, as Anatsui goes about his daily life. The show takes viewers into the bustling studio where 30 to 40 assistants usually work, showing them stitching together bottle tops into a vast metal hanging, then follows Anatsui into his home where he recalls his formative years. Fold Crumple Crush will air again at 11 p.m. Saturday, 9 p.m. Monday and 1 a.m. June 25. More information at www.WesternReservePBS.org/schedule.htm.
Today
First Films — Akron Film+Pixel is inviting Northeast Ohio filmmakers to share their earliest attempts at making movies at a free special event at 8 p.m. at the Lockview, 207 S. Main St., Akron. Registration is free and is encouraged. Filmmakers can register by sending their name, title and length of the movie (no more than roughly 10 minutes) to info@akronfilm.com. Akron Film+Pixel will provide a DVD player, a VHS VCR, a VHS-C adaptor and a Mini-DV player. If filmmakers have a movie on a different format they must bring a player with standard RCA outputs or the necessary film projector. Attendance for this program is free. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, contact Rob Lucas at 330-618-4405, Steve Felix at 330-603-1520, email info@akronfilm.com, or go to www.akronfilm.com.
Store Warehouse Sale — The Cleveland Museum of Art store is holding a 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. warehouse sale daily through Saturday at the Museum Warehouse, 3635 Perkins Ave., Dock C & D, Cleveland. Sale items include posters, books, cards, jewelry, gift items and much, much more. Discounts of up to 70 percent. Get directions via Google Maps.
Friday
Reception — A 5-7 p.m. opening reception today for Life’s a Beach, work by four area photographers, Pamela Z. Daum, Bob Dill, Carl Subich and Charles Szabla, is being held at Summit Artspace Gallery, 140 E. Market St., Akron. On view through July 28. Information, call 330-376-8480.
Opening — A 5-8 p.m. opening reception will be held at the BOX Gallery, 140 E. Market St., Akron, third floor, for Canvas and Clay; The Ohio Landscape paintings and ceramics by Jim Leslie and Narratives ceramic mixed media sculpture by Annette Yoho Feltes. Shows run through July 28. More information at 330-825-2308 or http://www.akronareaarts.org/akron-area-arts-alliance/members/artists-of-rubber-city.
Plein Air Competition — Peninsula’s Fourth Annual Plein Air Competition - Along the Crooked River will be held through Sunday. An exhibit of the works created will be on display and available for sale at Peninsula Art Academy, 1600 W. Mill St., June 30 – Aug. 11. 330-657-2248.
Saturday
Workshop — Opportunity Clicks!: Optimize Photography With Your Cell Phone Camera with Carl Subich is free from 1-3 p.m. at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron. Register at psargent@neo.rr.com, call 330-376-8480 or go to http://www.akronareaarts.org.
Reception — A 6-8 p.m. opening reception for the Ohio Watercolor Society Regional Show at Cuyahoga Val-ley Art Center, 2131 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls. The show runs through July 12. Information, call 330-928-8092.
Opening — A 2-4 p.m. opening reception for Instant Reflections by Ted Lawson and Kimmy Henderson is being held at the Little Art Gallery of the North Canton Public Library, 185 N. Main St. On view through July 14. Information, call 330-499-4712. ext. 312.
Sunday
Joan Mitchell — Lou Zona, director of the Butler Museum of American Art, gives a 2 p.m. talk in Beecher Center Auditorium. His presentation traces the expressionist tradition from its origins to the dynamic Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950s. The work of the younger artists of the Abstract Expressionist movement will be explored, with a focus on the work of Joan Mitchell (1925-92), whose work is on view at the Butler, 724 Wick Ave., Youngstown, through Aug. 5.
Worth noting
Schreckengost Exhibit — On loan from the Viktor Schreckengost Foundation to the Akron-Summit County Public Library through August, the exhibit includes many examples of items designed by the famed Cleveland artist and designer, as well as drawings and designs of his work. It may be seen in the Special Collections exhibit case on the third floor of the Main Library, 60 S. High St., Akron. 330-643-9000.
