Blurred Lines | Group Exhibition
Forum Gallery
Since Abstract Expressionism became popular in the mid-20th century, men have largely received recognition for the movement even though women have always, and continue to, play an important part in shaping the style. Blurred Lines surveys a grouping of intergenerational women artists in Northeast Ohio who create abstract paintings in their own unique styles. Participating artists include Megan Dardis, Care Hanson, Dara Harper, Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse, and Diana Rice.
Special thanks to Bradley Hart, Summit Artspace resident artist, for photography of virtual exhibitions!
Did you know?
Most of the artwork on display at Summit Artspace is for sale.
Click on the artwork images for pricing and more information about each piece.
If you would like to purchase any art, please visit a staff member or volunteer at the front desk, or email natalie@summitartspace.org.
1- Care Hanson | Through Thick & Thin | $400
Acrylic paint on canvas
2- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Tea at the Savoy Hotel | Price on request
Watercolor paint, acrylic paint, ink, mixed media
3- Megan Dardis | Standing Tall, Eyes Open | $2,000
Acrylic paint on canvas
4- Diana Rice | Pixie | $1,200
Oil paint on assembled canvas and found fabric
5- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Take Starship to Mars | Price on request
Acrylic paint, ink, mixed media
6- Care Hanson | Seeking Shorelines | $700
Acrylic paint on canvas
7- Care Hanson | Noise in the Attic | $300
Acrylic paint on framed canvas board
8- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Freedom: Always New | Price on request
Acrylic paint, mixed media
9- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Going Green Summer, 2023 | Price on request
Acrylic paint, mixed media
10- Megan Dardis | Paint The Town Red | $1,300
Acrylic paint on canvas
11- Care Hanson | field notes | $450
Acrylic paint on canvas
12- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Exciting Rebirth of Spring | Price on request
Acrylic paint, mixed media
13- Dara Harper | Delight | $550
Painting on canvas
14- Megan Dardis | Tracing My Steps Only Gets Me Lost | $700
Acrylic paint on canvas
15- Diana Rice | Swollen | $370
Oil paint on assembled canvas and found fabric
16- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | The Biltmore Gardens | Price on request
Acrylic paint, ink, mixed media
17- Dara Harper | The Color of Midnight | $625
Painting on canvas
18- Care Hanson | Closer Than You Think | $300
Acrylic paint on vintage framed canvas
19- Megan Dardis | Can We Talk About It | $2,000
Acrylic paint and Black Magnum on canvas
20- Care Hanson | Summer Stretching | $750
Acrylic paint on framed canvas
21- Diana Rice | Clear and Sweet is My Soul | $150
Oil paint on birch
22- Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse | Barbie’s Painting | Price on request
Acrylic paint, ink, mixed media
23- Megan Dardis | Needed Me | $2,000
Acrylic paint on canvas
24- Care Hanson | Riding with the Wind in Her Hair | $600
Acrylic paint on canvas
25- Dara Harper | Yellow Sky | $800
Painting on canvas
Artist Bios
Megan Dardis is an abstract artist working in Cleveland, Ohio. Dardis’ paintings depict explosive events and waves of movement and motion, in which she combines geometric and linear elements with painterly brushstrokes in vibrant color palettes. In Dardis’ work emotions are transformed into pigment and gesture capturing the in-between transient states of being. Layers of paint and mark are built up, covered up, poured over, scraped off, breaking down and regenerating all at the same time. The layers of application of paint tell the story of her physical process and emotional experience with painting. This personal process of painting takes shape as unknowable landscapes that are marked with the residue of experience and emotion. Dardis’ work grabs ahold of the intangible and fleeting moments and emotions of the human experience, capturing them in their constant transformation, freezing them forever into a state of always becoming.
Dardis has participated in multiple group and solo shows, in the Cleveland and Akron areas of Ohio. Her work can also been seen at her studio and gallery, MDA Studio in Tremont, Oho. Dardis has also painted a large-scale outdoor mural as part of a community centered project that she organized and executed funded by a grant from The Fenn Foundation. Dardis’ work has been featured in The CAN Journal, as well as cleveland.com. Dardis has a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts from The Cleveland Institute of Art.
Mary Ann Flynn-Fouse has an over 60-year career as an artist, beginning in the 1950s, as a student at Kent State University, where she received her BFA and MFA in Painting. Her paintings are characterized by a splashy, bold, and gestural style, known as Abstract Expressionism. Flynn-Fouse’s brilliant works are rooted in emotion and as she refers to them as “coloramas”. Her process is all about the energy of action painting; the immediacy of expression.
In 1960, she was one of the first women to ever be included in the May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the most notable exhibitions to be a part of as an artist working in Northeast Ohio. Flynn-Fouse taught at Walsh University in Canton for many years, through the 1980s, until she decided to focus on her own art full-time. She has been in numerous group and solo exhibitions in notable venues throughout her career, including Akron Art Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Emily Davis Gallery, Massillon Museum, and Zanesville Art Cener.
In her 80s, Flynn-Fouse remains a prolific artist painting nearly every day. She lives part-time in Akron, Ohio and in Naples, Florida during the winter. Flynn-Fouse is represented by Sweet Art Gallery in downtown Naples, Southwest Florida’s largest contemporary art gallery.
Care Hanson is a visual artist with an eclectic practice that includes acrylic on canvas, altered book journals, mixed media on recycled cardboard, nature mandalas, and hand stitching. Her BFA from BGSU dates to 1980. Family life and office work took priority over art until 2013, when she joined her husband in retirement. Since then, art has been a daily practice & way of life.
Care’s paintings begin with random scribbles on the canvas. She paints without a set destination or plan, relying heavily on intuition and a spirit of ‘just try’. The canvas is layered and rotated until it rings true and feels ready for a title (the important final step) She values the creative process as a means of exploration, meditation and connection. Care prefers artwork that’s abstracted, and a bit open ended, leaving room for conversation with the viewer.
Dara Harper is a creative entrepreneur, artist, and educator who has established Art Only Boutique, a company that produces original paintings in acrylics, ranging from figurative to abstract compositions. As an educator, she has designed and developed an art curriculum adaptable for all ages using various art mediums and tools.
Dara graduated from The University of Akron with a Master’s in Curriculum & Instruction. A Bachelor’s in Studio Art with an emphasis in Painting and a Minor in Art History. As an artist, Dara has public art installed in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Downtown Cuyahoga Falls, and the West Side of Akron, Ohio.
“Engaging the community and spaces through art is part of my purpose as an artist.”
She is uniquely driven to use art to advocate, create conversations and develop meaningful relationships that will positively impact her community. She is co-founder and lead of the Akron Black Artist Guild, winning the 2021 Knight Arts Challenge. Dara Harper is listed with the Black Cube Collective for Black women abstract painters.
Diana Rice is a recent graduate of The University of Akron Myers School of Art. She received a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Illustration.
Rice’s paintings focus on her personal history, mythologizing childhood memories, dreams, and familial stories. She draws inspiration from poetry, literature, folklore, and her own writings in her practice. Using traditional and created symbolisms in her paintings, her work creates a lyrical reality that is both a true personal record of early childhood and an otherworldly narrative open to the interpretation of the viewer.
Rice has always been interested in the arts, from painting to storytelling. Her father is also a painter, and she would often enjoy painting and reading with him in childhood. Rice’s family was also talented in music, her mother was a gifted singer and Rice remembers many touching church-service solos. Looking forward, she plans to continue her artistic education abroad with sights on European graduate schools. Rice intends to continue to travel after graduation and begin to sell and show her work.
See the Summit Artspace exhibit schedule for show details.
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