January 21 - February 26, 2011
The 11 artists featured in the new Summit Artspace Gallery show titled The Human Element refer to themselves as “The Gathering” because they periodically get together to eat, drink and make art. The group is made up of college art professors, public school art teachers, people with fine art degrees and those who show and publish their work professionally.
“The idea is to create a sense of community,” said show curator Mike Hovancsek. “This setting allows us to make art, socialize and share resources in a supportive environment.”
Hovancsek said it is wonderful that even with members sitting in the same room and looking at the same subject, they tend to develop radically different art. “The fun is looking around and seeing the wide array of styles, formats and approaches members use to depict the same subject,” he said.
The public is invited to meet “The Gathering” at a free opening reception Friday, January 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. The artists are Cheryl Townsend from Stow, Jan Noden from Ravenna, Laura Buck Balliet from Cuyahoga Falls, Missy O’Hara from Akron and Joe Culley, Stefanie Workman, Gingr [sic] Vaughan, Cheril Walker, Brad Bolton, Cheryl Green and Hovancsek from Kent.
The Human Element exhibition features a variety of artistic interpretations of the human form, including portraits, figurative art, gestural sketches and biomorphic art in a wide array of media -- painting, drawing, photography, textiles, mixed media and ceramics.
Hovancsek challenged the group to unearth earlier pieces and to create entirely new pieces that depict the human form in interesting ways. Some artists took this literally, for example producing nude portraits, while others worked conceptually focusing on bone or blood. “All roads in this show lead back to the human body in one way or another,” Hovancsek said.
There will be a free Saturday demonstration and workshop offered to the public during the show. Please register for these events by emailing psargent@neo.rr.com.
January 22 - Digital Collage Demonstration by Gingr Vaughan 1-3 pm
February 5 - Squarely Human: A Hands-On Workshop Illustrating Aspects of the Human
Form through Geometry with Joe Culley 1-3 pm
A growing downtown art center, Summit Artspace is a project of the Akron Area Arts Alliance in cooperation with Summit County government. It also houses a second gallery called The Box and several artist studios. It is located at 140 E. Market Street, one block east of the Akron Art Museum.
Regular Summit Artspace Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday noon to 5 p.m. The Human Element will also be open until 9 p.m. on Saturday, February 5 for the Downtown Artwalk and February 6 from noon to 5 p.m. for Sunday Sampler, an event with the Akron Art Museum and Akron-Summit Public Library. Admission and parking are free.
The Arts Alliance is a non-profit advocacy group that promotes the value of a strong, diverse and vibrant arts and culture community in Greater Akron.
