Where's There?

 

Where’s there? 

Cherry Red Palette

The Other Side

Dream Crusher

Amber

Developing

Checkmate

Paperweight

By Tom Wachunas

 

“The theme of “Are You There?” revolves around the idea of self-discovery amidst the unknown and resisting external influences. The series features window-like viewpoints, overlapping layers, and explosions of color, each representing the myriad decisions we make in life. These layers symbolize the diverse aspects of human existence: physical, energy, emotional, and mental, capturing the essence of different periods in our lives in an abstract form.”  - Emily Orsich

EXHIBIT: ARE YOU THERE? – recent paintings by Emily Orsich / at Strauss Studios Gallery / 236 Walnut Avenue NE, downtown Canton, OH / Through closing reception on Friday Jan. 3, 2025, 6-9pm. /Viewing Hours: Mon-Fri 10am to 5pm, Sat. 12noon to 5pm/ 330-456-0300

Background:  https://john-strauss-furniture.myshopify.com/collections/emily-orsich?fbclid=IwY2xjawGgXZNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHTJwWB3QH0LTp642gnL67cktN5__fRcQe-87wb7kokAs-OrtSt19u4PBLw_aem_4kN41ZlhczwkKboeghzGng

 

   Let’s away. To back then. To right now. To not yet. Or maybe to a place, a state of being, wherein present moments, past memories, and anticipated futures exist together all at once. Where tensions and harmonies, confusions and clarities, are recognized, processed in the mind, and expressed through the heart. Where we roll with the punches through all manner of experienced affirmations, denials, peace, turmoil, despair, hope, agony, joy, doubt, certainty, losing, searching, finding. In short, life.

  Emily Orsich paints that.

  Her exciting polychromatic compositions speak – indeed sing - to the vicissitudes of being alive. Her paintings are symbolic, metaphorical fusions, supple and intriguing, of organic and geometric configurations, intertwined and traversing both physical and ethereal realities. A blending of materiality and spirit.

   I appreciate this distinctive dialect of abstract painting as a form of poetry. Consider what Robert Frost once wrote: “Poetry is when an emotion found its thought and the thought has found words.”

   Now, let’s go somewhere a bit farther with that. Emily Orsich paints metapoetry. It’s when painting finds that ineffable, piquant place where words leave off.

   Have you been there?

#ROYGBIV RSVP#

 

#ROYGBIV RSVP# 

 

By Tom Wachunas

 

“In 2020 I started a series of mini paintings focused just on color, creating a little spectrum of paintings on my social media feed. I always loved the idea of doing a show with an entire wall of mini paintings, but it was just too ambitious to try to do myself. So last year I decided to invite 11 other artists to join me. Over the course of a year the 12 of us created 225 pieces…”    - Heather Bullach

 

EXHIBIT: SPECTRUM, at The Hub Art Factory, 336 6th St NW, downtown  Canton

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Heather Bullach, Sally Priscilla Lytle, Jake Mensinger, Todd Bergert, Steve Ehret, Dyanne Williams, Christopher Triner, Erika Katherine, Clare Murray Adams, Jo Westfall, Sharon Mazgaj, Emily Vigil

HERES A FINAL CALL TO WITNESS A DELERIOUSLY DIVERSE, GLORIOUSLY UNIQUE GRIDLOCK OF 225 6”X6” MARVELOUS PAINTINGS BY 12 LOCAL ARTISTS FROM 7:30 P.M. TO 9:30 P.M. ON TUESDAY, NOV. 12 at THE HUB ART FACTORY. THANK YOU, HEATHER BULLOCK, FOR YOUR CONCEPT AND YOUR CURATING! STUNNING AND SPECTACULAR AND SUPERB AND SSSSSIZZLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Fill in the blank: Once more, with _____

 

Fill in the blank: Once more, with ____ 

Drift in Harmony

 

Calm Like A Bomb

  

Whispers Underneath The Waves

Falling Into Midnight's Shadow

 

Snake Charmer

 

Tangled In The Sun's Last Breath

Flicker Of A Firefly's Lament

By Tom Wachunas

 

“I want to paint the feeling of a space. It might be an enclosed space, it might be a vast space. It might be an object.… Feeling is something more: It’s feeling your existence. Painting is a means of feeling ‘living.’”  - Joan Mitchell

 “I'm not interested in 'abstracting' or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line, and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it - drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea.”  - Willem de Kooning

  “Art is an experience, not an object.” - Robert Motherwell

Artist background/ interview: https://artsinstark.com/interview/joe-ostrowske/

EXHIBIT: HIGH VELOCITY – Paintings by Joe Ostrowske /  through  January 10, 2025, at Cyrus Custom Framing and Art Gallery, 2645 Cleveland Avenue NW, Canton, Ohio / Gallery Hours are Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

   In an ArtsinStark “Self Portrait” interview (link posted above - from August of this year), painter Joe Ostrowske was asked to tell what inspired his creative process. He answered, “I find the blank canvas is what inspires my process. I never know where it is going to lead me, but I love the journey it takes me on with every new canvas.”

    So he’s about painting the journey rather than just replicating a pristine final destination. Ostrowske’s gestural abstractitudes aren’t so safe and predictable as that. They’re adventuresome explorations of colliding crossroads. They boldly depart from well-beaten trails to familiar comfortable places. Instead, they navigate more complex terrains   articulated with all the loose and visceral expressivity that acrylic paint can give him. His paintings are busy, sometimes explosive agglomerations of stratified marks and scattered, amorphous shapes that seemingly burst and dance to the rhythmic motions of sizzling bright colors. It’s as if he is sojourning in the dense and diverse landscapes of a consciousness not always his alone.

    Who else’s consciousness, then? As if,…what if. And here’s where I feel compelled to admit (and encourage) a sort of ‘magical thinking’ born from my own engagements with the process and methods of making a painting. Here’s an enigmatic, inexplicable, unreasonable, absurd proposition, but… What if paintings – ostensibly inanimate objects with lavishly decorated and marked-up surfaces – are themselves conscious entities capable of actually speaking to and being heard by the painter as they come into being? Granted, maybe only other painters will fully apprehend this idea, but give it a try anyway: The painting wants what the painting wants. It’s not just a static document of the painter’s past decisions, not just a silent witness, not merely an eye-popping wall adornment. It’s a continuing performance in the sense of performance being the motivation for, or execution of, an action, or the behavior of reacting to sensate stimuli, in real time.

   At that moment when you decide to look at that thing on the wall, the painter’s performance in real time has only paused, not ceased altogether. It has simply flipped the script as it looks back at you, now a fellow performer. The painting wants what the painting wants, which is to give you your turn too, in real time, to act, to get into it. Intuit. Let the painter’s performance lead or inspire you to make what you see continue to keep playing out on the stage of your perceptions - to write a message, feeling, or narrative on the blank canvas of your imagination.

   You might even experience looking as if playing a game of hide ‘n seek, or capture the flag. Better yet, let’s play tag. You’re it.

Captured in Cloth

 

Captured in Cloth 

Serenity

John

Watching U

Regrets

Still I Rise

Ophelia - Woman coming into her Confidence

Elements

By Tom Wachunas

 

…Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise… from “Still I rise” by Maya Angelou

   “Art is a form of experience of the person, the place, the history of the people, and as black people, we are different. We hail from Africa to America, so the culture is mixed, from the African to the American. We can't drop that. It's reflected in the music, the dance, the poetry, and the art.”  - Faith Ringgold

 

EXHIBIT: Eyes To The Soul: The Fiber Art of Margene May / at Canton Museum of Art, through October 27, 2024 / 1001 Market Avenue N., Canton, Ohio /  330.453.7666 /

The Canton Museum of Art is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Sundays 1-5 p.m. Admission is free on Thursdays and the first Friday of every month.

Background info:   https://www.cantonart.org/exhibits/eyes-soul-fiber-art-margene-may-august-27-2024-october-27-2024

 

   This captivating retrospective tribute to the work of Canton artist Margene May, who passed away unexpectedly in 2022, was curated by Lynda Tuttle Swintosky. Her downtown gallery, Lynda Tuttle’s Art Center, significantly contributed to the vital diversity of Canton’s burgeoning art scene with a large solo exhibit (31 pieces!) of May’s exquisite fiber portraits back in August of 2010.

   Margene May elevated the craft of fabric cut-and-paste to a riveting level of jewel-like intricacy. She composed portraits with pieces of cloth that often echoed traditional African-styled abstract designs, symbols and patterns. Moods, attitudes, postures. Her portraits exude a wondrous presence of palpable emotional expressivity and qualities of human character. They speak stories of vulnerability, strength, desire, anxiety, hope, doubt, confidence.

   Yes, stories. And also questions. As we watch, as we lock eyes and look at them, one of the pieces here called “Watching U” reminds me that they look at us too, perhaps asking what we feel, assume, or truly know about African Americans alive together with us in modern society.

   Margene May’s portraits are dynamic immersions, compelling contemplations and celebrations that still evoke beautiful connections to the ethos of African art and culture. One of the most powerful and poignant examples of that connectivity is especially present in her marvelous work called “Serenity.” A mother, her face aglow with intense, warm color, looks peacefully past our gaze, seemingly through us, into a time or place where her sleeping baby has yet to arrive. Mother’s hair seems windblown, electrified, alert. Her hand, resting on baby’s torso, is a cradling comfort. And a strong, ready shield.   

MuralFest Destinations - Part 2

 

MuralFest Destinations (Part 2 – more photos) 

by Timothy Smith

Timothy Smith

by Heidi Clifford and Ashley Palmer

by Kwesi Agyare

by Libby Doss with Canton Country Day School students

by Ashley Liptak (center figure by Stephen Ehret)

by Bethanie Steelman

Bethany Steelman

“Canton Mural Fest is a celebration of art, culture, and community in Downtown Canton as we transform blank walls into vibrant works of art that will captivate and inspire. We envision a collection of murals that together make an outdoor mural gallery designed to connect, reflect and celebrate our diverse communities through public art.” – Downtown Canton Partnership

 

https://www.downtowncanton.com/events/mural-fest/

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAXtwT-OeyS/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=5b7334f9-cedd-43ed-a31a-0c7fbd835bc3

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS/ Mural location:

Dirk Rozich and Tracy Dawn Brewer (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Rafael Valdivieso (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Ian Burleson (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Derin Fletcher (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Bethannie Steelman (335 Second St. NW)

Arlin Graff (236 Walnut Ave. NE)

Ron Copeland (300 Walnut Ave. NW)

Ashley Liptak (405 3d St. NW)

Libby Doss with Canton Country Day students (404 3d St. NW)

Kwesi Agyare (331 Cherry Ave. NW)

Heidi Clifford and Ashley Palmer (321 Cherry Ave. NW)

Timothy Smith (320 Walnut Ave. NW)

Kat Francis (320 Walnut Ave. NW)

Lisa Quine (328 Walnut Ave. NW)

   Sponsored by ArtsinStark, the Downtown Canton Partnership and Visit Canton, Mural Fest celebrates public art and features 13 new murals in the Cherry and Walnut Avenue area of downtown Canton. This entire project is an altogether extraordinary urban transformation. A truly thrilling facelift, if you will, and a significant augmentation of Canton’s cultural depth.

MuralFest Destinations (Part 1)

 

MuralFest Destinations (Part 1) 

by Lisa Quine

by Kat Francis

by Ron Copeland

 

by Arlin Graf

by Derin Fletcher

 

by Ian Burleson

by Rafael Valdivieso

by Dirk Rozich

“Canton Mural Fest is a celebration of art, culture, and community in Downtown Canton as we transform blank walls into vibrant works of art that will captivate and inspire. We envision a collection of murals that together make an outdoor mural gallery designed to connect, reflect and celebrate our diverse communities through public art.” – Downtown Canton Partnership

 

https://www.downtowncanton.com/events/mural-fest/

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAXtwT-OeyS/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=5b7334f9-cedd-43ed-a31a-0c7fbd835bc3

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS/ Mural location:

Dirk Rozich and Tracy Dawn Brewer (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Rafael Valdivieso (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Ian Burleson (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Derin Fletcher (221 Cherry Ave. NW)

Bethannie Steelman (335 Second St. NW)

Arlin Graff (236 Walnut Ave. NE)

Ron Copeland (300 Walnut Ave. NW)

Ashley Liptak (405 3d St. NW)

Libby Doss with Canton Country Day students (404 3d St. NW)

Kwesi Agyare (331 Cherry Ave. NW)

Heidi Clifford and Ashley Palmer (321 Cherry Ave. NW)

Timothy Smith (320 Walnut Ave. NW)

Kat Francis (320 Walnut Ave. NW)

Lisa Quine (328 Walnut Ave. NW)

   Sponsored by ArtsinStark, the Downtown Canton Partnership and Visit Canton, Mural Fest celebrates public art and features 13 new murals in the Cherry and Walnut Avenue area of downtown Canton. This entire project is an altogether extraordinary urban transformation. A truly thrilling facelift, if you will, and a significant augmentation of Canton’s cultural depth. To accommodate my many photos of the spectacular artworks, I will post an ARTWACH ‘Part 2’ in another day or so.

Dressed To Express

 

Dressed to Express 

 

By Tom Wachunas

“To the young American, here or elsewhere, the paths to fortune are innumerable and all open; There is invitation in the air and success in all his wide horizon.”  - From The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today – an 1873 novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw perfume on the violet... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."  - William Shakespeare, from King John (Act IV)

"Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world's view of us."  - Virginia Woolf

 

EXHIBIT: Gilding Northeast Ohio: Fashion and Fortune 1870–1900,  on view THROUGH OCTOBER 13, 2024 in the Main Gallery at Massillon Museum, 121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon, Ohio / Tuesday- Saturday 9:30 am – 5:00 pm, Sunday 2:00-5:00 pm / 330.833.4061

From Massillon Museum website:  https://www.massillonmuseum.org/

“Gilding Northeast Ohio… showcases fashion from the permanent collections of the Massillon Museum and the Western Reserve Historical Society and loans from various regional museums.  The garments and objects in the show tell the story of politicians, titans of industry, socialites, and the workers who helped gild Ohio… Exciting exhibition features include original costumes designed for the HBO series The Gilded Age.  The exhibition is guest-curated by Brian Centrone, who has long partnered with the Massillon Museum…”

   On the front page of Massillon Museum’s website, you’ll read, “…Our mission is to be a cultural hub where art and history come together.” With this ambitious and stunning installation, Massillon Museum has outdone itself, fulfilling its mission in a thoroughly absorbing, efficacious and educational manner. It’s a transportive and immersive experience, wherein the museum’s main gallery has been morphed into a sprawling, flaunt-it-if-you’ve-got-it soirée. Here’s a telltale mingling of mannequins standing in a movie set, or aboard a time machine. We’re on a captivating expedition into the late 19^th-century period of societal wealth and industrial/economic prosperity which historians called “The Gilded Age.”

    That designation was originally inspired by the title of an 1873 collaborative novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner – The Gilded Age: A Tale of Our Time. The novel was a satirical lampooning of the lust for influence and fortune that had emerged in post-Civil War America.

   Gilded. As guest curator Brian Centrone wrote in one of the many narrative text panels accompanying this exhibit, the word “…suggests a golden façade, hiding a harsh reality beneath. This exhibition showcases Northeast Ohio’s families, fashions, and frivolities while peeling back the gilt to reveal the workers and structures foundational to Northeast Ohio, and to America.”

   When you read those panels, notice how most of them are bordered at the bottom with a section under the heading of “Beneath The Gilding.” Candid peeks under the patinas. Amidst all this opulence, these superbly crafted accoutrements and elegant artifacts of affluence, underneath all this fancy, was a time nonetheless fraught with sociopolitical disparities, inequities, contentions and corruptions.

    Gilding. Sounds uncomfortably close to Guilting? In saying that, I don’t mean to in any way disparage or condemn the overall quality or content as such of this magnificent exhibition. Only that its impact evoked something far deeper in me than just appreciating the realities of a past era. I’m simply not convinced that we can categorically say “The Gilded Age” had an end-date at all. Consider this: For better or worse, what was once still is.

   Thousands of years ago, in a land far, far away, a ridiculously rich and wise king wrote, “…What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”  (Ecclesiastes 1:9)