20th Annual Kaleidoscope Juried Exhibition
Betty and Howard Taylor Main Gallery
Kaleidoscope is an annual holiday show presented by the Alliance for the Visual Arts (AVA). This show is open to all members of AVA organizations: Akron Society of Artists, Artists of Rubber City, Cuyahoga Valley Art Center, and Women’s Art League of Akron. This year’s juror is Francisca Ugalde Zapico, Curator at The University of Akron’s Institute for Human Science and Culture at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.
Juror’s Statement
At the Cummins Center, I spend most of my time curating ethnographic, scientific and historical materials, so am especially thankful to Summit Artspace for inviting me to curate this year’s Kaleidoscope exhibition, and giving me the opportunity to flex my visual arts creative muscle.
Curating exhibitions is a fun and challenging exercise and my go-to approach is to define parameters within which to make selections, find relationships and develop narratives.
The process of curating this exhibition was a layered one, starting with instinctual first choices driven by personal preferences based purely on the visual elements of each piece.
These initial choices become the parameters that shaped this exhibition.
Through each subsequent review of the submissions and the artists’ descriptions each piece was considered through the lens of these parameters and how they relate to the whole exhibition experience.
I’d like to again, thank the Summit Artspace team and all the artists who submitted their works.
– Francisca Ugalde
Curator
Institute for Human Science and Culture
at the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology
Special thanks to Bradley Hart, Summit Artspace resident artist, for photography of virtual exhibitions!
If you would like to purchase any art, please visit a staff member or volunteer at the front desk, or email natalie@summitartspace.org.
Artist Statements
1- Dave Derrig (AoRC)| Dominic | NFS
Prismacolor on mat board
Statement: Commissioned piece for the Sorrent family.
2- C. Arthur Croyle (ASA)| Earth Day | NFS
Oil and acrylic
Statement: The planet is in trouble, but nothing will stop this determined little man from breaking up the rock that supports him.
3- R. Thomas Campbell (ASA)| Blood | NFS
Oil
Statement: “Blood” is second painting of a series concerning communion polity of my Christian denomination. The inspiration and believe that the experience should be and is inclusive of all peoples was the motivation for the painting.
4- Elizabeth Prindle (AoRC)| Light Exchange | NFS
Mixed media
Statement: Inspired by the the death of one of three friends who met at the Cleveland [photography] Print Room, and the vintage film mailers going back and forth between two people. Light passing to film, the soul passing to light.
5- Gwen Waight (AoRC)| where are you from | $1,200
Found object assemblage
Statement: This piece is about the question I have been asked my whole life…”where are you from?”. I tell people “Ohio” and then I get ” no, where were you born?”, I say “Oh, I was born in Iowa.” I can usually tell that this is not the answer they were looking for and thus begins a circle of where were my parents from or where am I really from etc. I understand that what they want to know is why do you look different than me, are you Asian, and that the sometimes simple question is so that I can understand that I am different or don’t belong. It is a innocent enough question and most of the time harmless but it is that constant pointing out of my difference from others that can contribute to oppression and racism.
6- Sharon Frank Mazgaj (CVAC)| Blueberries in Blue Teapot | $5,000
Colored pencil
Statement: I often work on a series of images. During the Covid lockdown, we took a trip to a pick-your-own blueberry farm, which inspired my “Blueberry Series”. Having only seen packages of ripe blueberries in the grocery store, I was struck by the variety of beautiful colors on each bush. I brought home several branches and got to work setting up many still lifes with various vintage containers that I collect and own. I took about a 100 reference photos. From there, I narrowed down the images to the ones I felt most interesting. This colored pencil piece features my grandmother’s old teapot. I like the play of light and shadow, the limited the color palette, the shiny pottery versus the organic shapes. I simplified the background to give a contemporary feel. A colored pencil piece this size usually takes me over 150 hours, over the span of a few weeks.
7- Sharon Frank Mazgaj (CVAC)| Blueberries in Mason Jar | $3,000
Colored pencil
Statement: As part of my “Blueberry Series”, I chose a vintage mason jar to arrange the gorgeous blueberries in. I liked the play of the transparent hard glass versus the organic shapes. I arranged the branches and loose berries to lead the eye around the composition. I simplified the background to give the piece a contemporary feel.
8- Helen Wilson (CVAC)| The Springtime Diaries-Rhapsody | $800
Mixed media, acrylics
Statement: This piece is apart of my Springtime Diaries series. Using several techniques including monoprinting, asemic writing, sgraffito and intricate cutting, I created a series of pieces which reflect my deep passionate love for spring. Living on the edge of the woods, spring is a very long drawn out process. A process of complete renewal that literally bursts with life. I gave myself license to “go overboard”, and using several of my favorite colors, plenty of mark making and intricate detail I tried to give voice to the deep Joy that is spring- a joy that is almost musical – a Rhapsody to me.
9- Tom Baldwin (CVAC, AoRC)| The Last Symbiosis | NFS
Wood carving
Statement: This piece represents a fossil that could be found in our future but is in fact in the making of our current times. The symbiosis that has occurred for probably thousands of years between the Red Knot shorebird and the Horseshoe Crab is coming to an end. The loosely regulated harvest of the Horseshoe Crab for medical and sport fishing industries has caused a severe lack of the crabs laying their eggs in support of the Red Knot shorebird for food on their migration to the North Arctic to breed. Each year, many shorebirds never make it to their breeding grounds. It is expected that the Red Knot shorebird will be extinct on the east coast within the next decade. It looks doubtful that the legislative moratoriums needed in the Delaware Bay to save the Red Knot will ever take place.
10- Deanna Clucas (CVAC)| The Way Home | $385
Acrylic
Statement: This watercolor painting was inspired by my many meeting trips between Medina and Richfield. The constantly changing seasons changed the ever familiar scenery. My favorite time is fall and those first days of winter snow so on this sunny day, it brought joy as the afternoon sun warmed a cold day.
Honorable Mention
11- Dee Fairweather (AoRC)| An Autumn Evening | $390
Framed oil on archival paper
Statement: An Autumn Evening is a landscape meant to invoke a foreboding feeling . As leaves change color and a storm leaves slick grass after a heavy rain, you can almost smell the must of damp earth and decaying leaves in the air as the foliage gets ready to retire in the changing seasons.
12- Dee Fairweather (AoRC)| Under the Blanket of Clouds | $390
Framed oil on archival paper
Statement: Clouds cover the horizon and late sunrise on a particularly humid summer morning. Lush greenery whispers with creatures stirring, unsure what will unfold during this particular day.
13- Tricia Kaman (ASA, CVAC)| Sunday’s Pose | $3,500
Oil
Statement: The act of painting portraits, as well as landscapes and still life, creates a portal into a place of inner peace. Whether I’m painting outdoors in plein air, or painting portraits in my studio, I have an attachment to my subject. The finished work enables the viewer to see through my eyes. Each model is gifted with the time to be still and quiet to enjoy their thoughts undisturbed by the demands of the world. The viewer is given that same time and space when observing the artwork. The paintings will not judge, or make demands of the observer; rather, these images gently encourage the viewer to find inner stillness and reflection.
14- Ron Salisbury (ASA)| Florida Sunset | $750
Oil on masonite
Statement: My goal in this painting was to create a mood and a sense of mystery. Twilight and sunset paintings lend themselves to the end.
15- James W. Leslie (ASA)| Summer’s Stand | $750
Oil on canvas
Statement: On a warm August day as I hiked the Furnace Run, I was Intrigued by this Scene before me. My emphasis and focal point is the gnarly stand of trees, roots, and rock that stand guard for the next potential flooding of this now docile river. The deep rich colors of the shaded roots give way to the soft pastel reflections within the quiet water and distant trees.
16- Tom Jackson (ASA, CVAC)| Finch’s | NFS
Oil on canvas
Statement: Finch’s is a continuation of my Facade Series. I have begun introducing people into these paintings. In previous works, the majority of my effort was expended on the rendition of the architecture and surrounding environment. I am finding that the inclusion of figures into the environment not only heightens interest for the viewer, but also the painter! It also requires careful examination of the “grit” that we humans bring into the subject and making decisions on how much of that reality to include.
Honorable Mention
17- Linda Hutchinson (CVAC, ASA)| Curiositas | $6,500
Oil on canvas
Statement: I love figurative groupings that occur naturally in everyday interactions. The rhythm therein of bodies and counter spaces create an interesting rhythm to me, similar to reading music or visualizing a group of dancers on stage. This rhythm becomes more important than any of the individuals therein. I like to think of it as humanly interaction…connection…cooperation. A human visual orchestra if you will. My reference for this work was from a vacation in North Carolina.
Second Place
18- Charles Felzen Johnson MD (AoRC) | Artist Meets Percussionist | $600
Wood, metal, leather, plastic bottles and tubes, circuit boards, acrylic paint and India ink on poster board on Masonite
Statement: Traditional art is generally presented in up to three dimensions that are viewed. Adding movement in time, the 4th dimension, requires position change such as seen in a Calder mobile or a mechanized construction. Music which changes in time, may add a 4th dimension. I have rendered a musical piece (Dvorak’s New World Symphony) into a static 3-dimensional construction which indicated notes on a musical scale but only captured the static theme of the piece. The challenge of this construction, which is composed of 13 percussion “instruments”, was to have a professional musician (Richard L. Roberts) compose a piece by percussing the 13 “instruments”. The instruments include wood rods and blocks, a copper tube, plastic tubes, a triangle, plastic containers, an electric switchbox, cymbal and leather covered drums. They are assembled on a background of acrylic geometric shapes which includes a scale identifying the standard percussion instruments. The resulting composition by Mr. Roberts was recorded and can be played with the construction.
19- Norman Mallard (AoRC)| Backyard Buddy | $350
Found metal on recycled wood
Statement: Using scavenged metal, my work seeks to bring beauty and joy from mundane materials, allowing the viewer to see cast-off pieces in a new light. My background in graphic design shapes my bright view of the world, celebrating consumerism and the green movement equally.
20- Care Hanson (AoRC)| Follow Me Home | $650
Acrylic on canvas
Statement: My aim was a balance of calm and energy, a quietly confident scene with pockets of bright movement. The substrate is a reclaimed canvas, an all beige abstract left on a curb. It was a joy to work larger than I typically do. The intuitive process gradually pulled me into this imagined sea & landscape. No doubt it hints at my feelings of wanderlust…
21- Lee Beuther (AoRC)| Enlightment | $450
Acrylic
Statement: This piece, Enlightenment, was an experimental piece that was both challenging and fun. It became an exploration of my feelings about being isolated and detached from my normal activities due to the pandemic. I loved working with complementary colors and allowing the little sparks of blue to peek through to create interest.
22- Matt Shiarla (AoRC)| Gleason Farm #2 | $200
Watercolor
Statement: Gleason Farm #2 is a painting of a friend of mine’s farm. One evening I took the long way home through the country side of Wayne county. I stopped along the way and took pictures of things and place after a deep snow as the sun was setting. These photos I then took back to the studio and started sketching and painting. Gleason Farm #2 is one of the many results of this process.
23- Bob Pozarski (AoRC, CVAC)| Sunworship | $3,000
Leaded art glass, black walnut frame
Statement: Every year I select some of the most interesting home made glass elements from inventory made that year. I arrange them in a pattern radiating from a “Sun” piece, often in the order of the rainbow. I create a pattern for the background glasses and choose colors that compliment the blown and fused pieces. This is Sunworship # 25.
24- Darryl Finney (AoRC)| Solace and Discord | NFS
Urethane tooling board, resin, wood and brass
Statement: With this piece, Solace and Discord I explore the duality of profound loss and hope. Taking something used up and discarded, put on display as something of lessened value. But that object unwilling to be put to rest, reaching outward, defying expectation and becoming something more.
25- Kristina Malcolm (WAL)| Psilomelane Ring | NFS
Sterling silver and psilomelane
Statement: This ring is so big, it almost exceeded the capabilities of my tools. I almost couldn’t get this piece hot enough to solder with the torches I have. On the back, you can see the ruins of my first attempt at soldering. I left them there because they reminded me of architectural ruins and as a reminder that I am not a machine and mistakes are part of what makes the piece handmade. Also on the back, the complete underside of the stone is reveled to be just as beautiful as the front side. On the front, a huge sterling metaphorical topographic map reflects the pattern displayed in a piece of psilomelane’s highly metallic finish. This red, silver, black, and gray stone is very soft and the metalwork is meant to be a fortress as well as a frame for the subtle and unique stone.
26- Carol Tomasik (ASA)| Venus Agitatus | $1,200
Paper, acrylic, black cotton
Statement: “Venus Agitatus” was created by weaving strips of painted paper and black cords together into a dizzying textile, giving a new perspective to a familiar image
27- Megan Dardis (AoRC)| Stay Composed | $400
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
Statement: “Stay Composed” Is a conglomeration of emotions represented by varying marks and textures, all trying to escape outwards to express themselves but are constrained, attempting to be held in together boxed in by the edges of the canvas. The jagged hard edges of shapes and lines mix with and blend into loose and expressive brush strokes. The paint itself is very tactile in some places and soft and smooth in others, creating a complicated yet beautifully composed composition, mirroring the internal emotional chaos that we all hold with in us, which to me is our beauty as humans.
28- Debrah Butler (CVAC)| Prince Among Princes | $1,600
Graphite
Statement: This drawing portrays a young fellow I saw working in a gas station. He is a dancer. I asked him if he would consent to sitting for a drawing. I wanted to portray his sensitive yet strong and expressive nature. My hopes are that he becomes the dancer that he desires.
Honorable Mention
29- Janet Baran (ASA)| Summer of Life | NFS
Acrylic
Statement: I am working on a series about seasons as they relate to life. My daughter is in the summer of her life. Her cat, Eartha, is also.
30- Lou Camerato (ASA, AoRC)| Empty Houses #2 | NFS
Acrylic, assemblage
Statement: This is a mixed media piece combing acrylic painting and assemblage. I am often fascinated by empty houses and the feeling that is left behind by its previous residents. This is a painting my former home where I helped to raise my two children for 12 years. I also enjoy the desolation of empty interiors. Being there is almost a sacred experience. This piece is intended to provide an interior vie through a hole in the wall slats.
31- Luanne Bole-Becker (AoRC)| When Dreams Were Born | $450
Found and vintage items, metal, wood, plastic
Statement: When a good friend gave me the tricycle she rode as a little girl, I used it as a base to celebrate the enthusiasm and adventure of youth.
32- Ron White (AoRC)| We All Know and Have Experienced This Pressure | $1,200
Clay and cold glaze
Statement: Ron tries to sculpt a moment or experience that is concurrent. He hopes that viewers will have an opportunity to see similarities and relate to his sculpted subjects. This piece is from juggling teaching high school, yoga, night classes, doing public works and trying to perceive politics amidst all of the pressures of this new way of life in COVID. The sculptures are clay works fired to cone pout zero six and cold glazed.
Third Place
33- Helen Wilson (CVAC)| Memoire of the Rock Hound’s Daughter | $700
Mixed media, acrylics
Statement: When my parents passed away we spent many hours looks through old photos. This mixed media piece was inspired by all those old photos. It is one of a series that reflects back on my childhood vacations traveling around the west. My Father enjoyed nothing more than teaching his three daughters the joys of rock collecting. We spent many happy hours in dry river beds, bent over double,picking up stone after stone and spitting on them to see their true colors. Always hoping for gold and always finding the beauty of the ordinary. A lesson I have remembered all my life-the ordinary is alive with beauty.
34- Phyllis Lawicki (WAL)| The Incredible Dragonfly | $10,000
Acrylic
Statement: I chose to paint this due to the immense varieties of dragonflies. I have always found them interesting, beautiful and graceful. I enjoyed the challenges of working on this artwork. Born in water. Number of species unknown so is the lifespan. The male dies after mating and the female after she lays her eggs in a body of water. The young are swimmers as soon as they are born. They wipe out all the mosquitoes in the water. They have no tteht but powerful jaws, they eat small fish and frogs. When wings develop they fly out. They fly just like a helocopter they can catch and eat in midair. They can stay still, go back, forward, up, and down. They are beautiful colors.
35- Susan Mencini (CVAC, AoRC)| Lakescape | $500
Acrylic
Statement: Creating art for me is about the process. Our world is in a constant color change of seasons. Whether it is lovely greys of winter, pinks in spring, cerulean skies of summer or the sienna and ambers in autumn, they allow me to discover and unfold colors each season through painting. This was inspired by the lake at Camp Hoblitzelle in Midlothian, Texas.
36- Wendy Freedman (CVAC)| Tribute to Sanxingdui | NFS
Porcelain
Statement: This porcelain box was inspired by the bronze artworks of the Sanxngdui culture from the kingdom of Shu. The culture was dated back to 11-12th century BC in the area around modern Guanghan, China. This was sculpted from porcelain clay, bisque fired, painted with underglaze, then glaze fired with clear glossy glaze. Gold metallic accents were added after glazing. The inside was glazed with a green turquoise glaze.
37- Susie Lilley (AoRC)| Watching | $348
Archival inkjet print
Statement: Perspective is a key element of photography. Playing with the reality the perspective presents is an enjoyable part of the adventure. What is seen through the view finder of the camera is sometimes deceptive, leaving what is printed to be more intriguing. The details exposed in print capture the imagination in a way not evident when the photo is taken. ‘Watching’ is the inside of a lighthouse staircase, and while the light searches the water, the staircase watches the viewer.
First Place
38- Megan Dardis (AoRC)| Spilled Milk | $450
Acrylic and oil on canvas
Statement: “Spilled Milk” captures the moment when emotions hit the fan, the inner turmoil meets its breaking point, boils over and explodes with a release of intense emotion. In my work I try to capture the fleeting emotional states of our shared human condition that are constantly in flux. In particular I explore the emotional landscape of trauma, recovery, and rebuilding from within the thick of it. In this painting pigment and gesture are frozen in a liminal space. A sudden and rage-full release of emotion and yet in the same moment a breath, a pause and an ease of tension as the emotion transforms into a physical release, caught onto the canvas forever in its transient state of being.
39- Tom Jackson (ASA, CVAC)| Strolling on Broad | $2,800
Oil on canvas
Statement: This continuation of my Facade Series reflects my current interest in including figures in these paintings. In this case, I elevated the figures to equal status with the architecture itself. In addition, I continue to enjoy developing the interiors of these structures to provide added depth to the painting as well as interest for the viewer.
40- William Beuther (AoRC)| Stylish Stairway | $250
Photograph
Statement: This stylish stairway in the Reykjavik’s Harpa Concert Hall leads to an impressive array of shapes, windows, and mirrors.
41- Susan Yingling (AoRC)| Montserrat Cathedral (Basilican De Montserrat) | NFS
Laser engraved photoon painted glass with collage
Statement: I wanted to capture the opulent splendor of this abbey tucked up in the mountains outside of Barcelona. Recreating the vertical format of the photograph required a series of engravings, worked on individually and then realigned within the frame. The laser engraver’s bed size is both limiting and challenging, and for this experimental piece, abutting multiple sheets of glass gave me the opportunity to highlight the elongated space. Candy wrappers, origami papers, metallic papers and paint chip samples gave me the palette for the collaged areas.
Honorable Mention
42- Bradley Hart (AoRC)| Chicago | $500
Collage
Statement: Photographic collage on board. This work was created in one session–selection, cutting, placing, pasting—from a series of photographs made of downtown Chicago. I wanted to capture the hurried, disjointed, eclectic energy of the city and found a single photograph just wasn’t enough to tell the story, it had to be a collage.
43- William Beuther (AoRC)| Icelandic Abstract | $250
Photograph
Statement: Reykjavik’s Harpa Concert Hall is a treasure trove of colors, textures, and abstract shapes that is either loved or hated by locals. Although definitely not a local, count me as one who absolutely loves it.
44- John Sharp (ASA)| Plant on the Table | $400
Acrylic
Statement: I enjoy both Hard Edge Geometric and well as Representational Art….and I like to combine them when possible.
45- Carol Klingel (ASA, AoRC)| Your Own Bliss | $1,200
Oil on canvas
Statement: “Every explicit duality is an implicit unity.” Alan Watts
46- James W. Leslie (ASA)| Still Water Spring | $650
Oil on birch panel
Statement: My desire was to capture a sense of warmth and coolness of the afternoon sun as it blazes the upper foliage of the trees, the patchy streaks of light and shade across the stream bed, and finally, the reflection upon the cool quiet water of a late summer stream.
47- Martin R Darr (ASA)| Lucinda | $1,200
Oil, masonite
Statement: Thirty years ago I was driving through Lucinda, PA and stopped with my old Canon AE 1, 35mm. When I move all of those old negatives to my computer, I saw a painting~NF
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