Art Happenings @ Northside Arts District, Akron 12/8 Warm up this month by heading south ... to Akron! In Akron's new and trendy Northside Arts District you can view Glassblowing Demonstrations on site afternoons and even weekend nights: Tuesday -- Friday 12 - 6PM and Saturday nights 6 - 11PM. After warming up by the furnace, browse the retail shop for very reasonably-priced, hand-blown pieces: vessels in swirled colors, delicate ornaments, and charming figurines of fruits and vegetables, among other alluring objects made on site by artists Jack Baker, John Boyett and guests.

Just downstairs from the Hot Glass Studio is Millworks Gallery. Polly Gilmore is exhibiting works in fiber and glass entitled with hand & breath. With her hands she has crafted quilted fiber works. Some of her Japanese pieces, which at first glance are interesting enough studies of texture and stitching, have a much deeper and richer past. Certain fabrics displayed in these pieces had been discarded in Japan and used as stiffening, hidden in the thick belting on authentic Japanese Kimonos.

She has given these cast-off rags – with holes, stains and wear marks in tact – a place of respect, on full view in her works of art, rather than hidden away. A large piece of seemingly abstract neutral irregular horizontal strips is actually an extremely-close up view of white birch bark. This abstracted view depicts how the natural scratches and wearing of the tree, over time, becomes a language all its own, deepening, widening – changing. Telling us of its past experiences.

In other interesting pieces the artist layered transparent and iridescent fabrics, embellished with copper thread, so that they can be viewed from either side, changing depending on the light. Also on display are pieces she created with her breath – hand-blown glass pieces, some garnished with copper, beads, and other ornament. The arrangement of the hung quilted pieces and the blown glass compliment and enhance each other. The common theme in her work is to pull pieces out of the past and place them into her work, showing us how time changes them, their intended purpose, her as an artist, and ultimately can change us. The Millworks Gallery is open Thursday and Friday 5-8 p.m., and Saturday 5 - 9PM with hand & breath is on display through January 3.

On your way down to Akron, leave time to weave through the Cuyahoga Valley and find your way to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association's Hines Hill Administrative Building (1403 W. Hines Hill Road). In their John F. Seiberling Gallery you'll find a photographic display called In the Wild by Bob Downing. You may recognize the photographer's name as the long-time columnist from the Akron Beacon Journal. His weekly, then bi-weekly, outdoor-oriented travel columns took him all over North America. This display is a personal visual diary of those trips: from misty, grey Cape Cod, Maine to the majestic mountains and crisp lakes of British Columbia.

This presentation is a brief representation of his vast collection of travel photos, which means that they are not professionally taken, or artistically rendered. Rather, they reflect a personal view of a passionate pursuit. The gallery is located inside of a cozy old home, on the grounds of a family homestead which is perched on the Eastern side of the Cuyahoga Valley, with a stunning view across the valley to Boston Mills, in all its snow-making, winter splendor. In the Wild is on display through January 15, open Monday - Friday, 8:30 - 4:30PM.

Whether you warm up dreaming of Bob Downing’s far-away travels in the snug home that is the headquarters of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association and the John F. Seiberling Gallery, bask in the glow of the furnace at Akron Glass Works, or contemplate the meaning behind Polly Gilmore’s quilted works in Millworks Gallery, (or maybe all of the above), Akron has welcoming indoor adventures on a cold December day.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Carol Drummond carolATdrummondesign.com
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