The Curated Storefront is a series of ongoing exhibitions that will activate unused storefronts with multimedia art installations in downtown Akron along Main, Market and Exchange Streets.
Click here for more information and for photos of the current installations.
Installations will change and update, with the following as the current storefront exhibitions:
Cascade Plaza
Secrets of the Mystery Cult is an installation of figurative Guardians and shrine-like sculptures that emit light by Mark Soppeland.
Akron-Summit County Public Library
Sign Waves is a user driven interactive display station that captures the gestures of onlookers, which in turn become looped material for the art. The first project in The Optics of Memory series, SignWaves was designed through the leadership of Diane Davis-Sikora with the assistance of co-collaborators Bo_Sheng Liu, Chip Clark, electronic artist Chris Yewell, and over *50 CAED Design Students in final production. (*College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University.)
Akron-Summit County Public Library
Print Screen is a large-scale 3D printer by architecture professor Brian Peters that can print on vertical surfaces. This piece is a prototype for an on-site fabrication process where vertical screens are 3D printed onto existing vertical surfaces.
Everett Building
Dennis Wojtkiewicz is best known for his exploration of light in his oversized oil paintings of fruit and flowers. Each subject is encapsulated and transfixed with a heightened approach to realism. The symbiotic relationship of color and technique instills the work with an interior glow and palpable sense of spirit.
Birth & Death Building
Krunchworks' Dominic Falcione created a masking tape mural with 10 colors of tape on plastic film that was backlit to produce a bright and colorful nighttime display which enlivens the entire building. This installation was created one line of tape at a time and the overall colors and effect of the design is transformed by the changing of the background color of light.
Sojourner Truth Building
A Crown, a Necklace and a String of Jewels is a tribute to Sojourner Truth for the persistent activism in her campaign for women’s rights, tireless work as an abolitionist and the pursuit of justice for all. This site specific installation by Jeffry Chiplis and Dana L. Depew is made of reclaimed argon and neon signage.
United 1 Building
This mixed-media showcase features the work of Jonah Jacobs, John Comunale, Matt Miller, Christopher Hoot, Jim Leverton, Timothy "C-Rex" Johnson and Anthony "Nino" Meyo along side two works from www.HieronymusObjects.com, painters Mary A. Waters and Charles Bierk.
Whitelaw Building & Akron Civic Theatre Kiosk
For the historic Art Deco storefront and The Akron Civic Theatre Kiosk, Candy Coated of www.CandyCoated.org chose inspirational imagery found in Japanese and Chinese decorative arts to highlight the beauty of these modern and historic architectural designs highlighting them with vibrant graphics in magenta, bubble gum pink, lime green, and golden yellow. Vivid cobalt blue lighting on the Whitelaw building activates the night with a moving water effect that compliments the swimming fish and flower vinyl stickered landscape.
