State of the Art: Constructs, on view through February 26th at the Akron Art Museum, is not to be missed. A bewilderment of massive installations and explorations of light, color, and sound, this exhibition completely transforms the space it occupies and offers something intriguing at every turn. Spearheaded by curators from the Akron Art Museum and the Crystal Bridges Museum […]
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Potion Park: The Kaleidoscopic Garden of Steve Ehret and Kat Francis, on view at the Canton Museum of Art through March 5th, merges the fantastical styles of these partner artists. Described as a “dream world” in didactics, the exhibition consists of only thirteen works. The show includes works by each artist, as well as pieces the pair created together. Perhaps […]
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Tell me the last time you walked into a gallery and the first thing you noticed was the smell. KINK Contemporary consistently delivers the unexpected, and I shall not survive you by artist/florist Kate Rutter was no exception. This show, which lasted for less than a week, asked us to peer a little deeper and find sweetness in surrender. Rutter […]
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Arts funding in Cuyahoga County could get a significant boost by the end of 2023. Just before Christmas, 2022, The Ohio legislature passed a bill that includes permission for Cuyahoga County to put before its voters a revision of the cigarette tax that supports the arts. Governor Mike Dewine signed the bill January 2. Jeremy Johnson, director of the advocacy […]
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Nicole Malcolm’s solo show Please Come To My Party is among the most “meta” exhibits we’ve seen in some time. At several levels it is a show about the artist’s life: Malcolm’s work is nostalgic, exploring her personal trajectory and sentiments. The exhibit draws partly on work made while she was a student at Ohio University, and partly on work […]
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To close 2022 and begin 2023, Akron Soul Train presents its Winter SOULstice Alumni Show, beautifully and intuitively curated by Meryl Engler. The exhibition, which offers high-quality art by local artists, has something for everyone, from prints, to paintings, to textiles. It exceeded expectations on every level and is one of my favorites I’ve seen in the space. Since its […]
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Ten years is a long time, even if it feels like just a few minutes. CAN Journal turned ten years old in 2022, and so did this website—even if it feels like a start-up that’s just getting started. So at the end of the year, in that holiday intermezzo of reflection and looking back, we’re considering not only the last […]
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Media consumers everywhere know this end-of-year drill: Late December is the time when we look back, reflect, and make lists. Thanks to the internet, one of the easiest ways to do that is to report which posts of the last year were the most read. In 2022, that list validates some assumptions you might have: Recognizable names attract readers. So […]
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One year ago, ArtsNow, the backbone arts organization of Summit County, convened arts professionals and communitarians at the Akron Roundtable to report on 2021’s highs—and lows. 2021 was a year most nonprofit arts organizations spent clawing to bounce back from pandemic-induced shutdowns and budget cuts. Despite these challenges, the arts and culture sector kept pressing forward. “In a time of […]
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It’s the season when you begin to see stories that look back on the year that was. And 2022 marked a milestone for Collective Arts Network and CAN Journal. This year, CAN turned ten years old. But this post doesn’t stop at 2022. This timeline looks back on the last decade, plus a bit more. Regular readers know this origin […]
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