Kent State Hosting Not One, But Two Free Art Shows

Winter can be a cold, dreary season – making it a great time of year to warm the heart and stimulate the imagination at one or both of the School of Art exhibitions currently under way. And they’re free to attend.

Biennial Faculty Show

Running through Feb. 10 at the Art Gallery inside the Kent State Art Building, at 400 Janik Drive, the Biennial Faculty Show highlights the talents of the art faculty staff.

Eftihia Tsengas, public relations and marketing coordinator for the College of the Arts, said the show features 100 percent participation in the exhibit by full-time faculty, including:

• Michael Loderstedt, printmaking
• Janice Lessman-Moss, textiles/fiber
• Darice Polo, painting
• Martin Ball, painting
• Kathleen Brown, metals and jewelry-making
• Mark Schatz, sculpture
• Gianna Commito, painting
• Kirk Mangus, ceramics
• Paul O’Keefe, sculpture
• Submissions from such emeritus faculty as Brinsley Tyrell

Anderson Turner, director of galleries for the Kent State School of Art, said the show offers students and the public the opportunity to see the current research of the faculty “at the premier School of Art in the region.”

“For over 50 years, the School of Art has been the only school in Northeast Ohio where an artist can earn a master of fine arts. Shows like the Biennial Faculty Show offer a glimpse into that rich and important history,” Turner said.

Hours to visit the free exhibit are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday until Feb. 10. For more information, visit the School of Art’s Galleries webpage or call 330-672-7853.

“Steady As She Goes” Exhibit

Running through Feb. 11 at the School of Art’s Downtown Gallery at 141 E. Main St. is an exhibit featuring the work of artist Mark Schatz, an assistant professor and foundations program coordinator in the School of Art.

Tsengas  said his exhibit focuses on the theme of seeking stability in an unstable world. In this exhibition, lush and familiar landscapes float or balance precariously on ice floes.

"The major pieces in 'Steady As She Goes' are miniature fragments of what could be the Midwest – sprawling neighborhoods, hilltop radio towers, distant cities – all set adrift on icebergs, which are beautiful but also serve as this elegant metaphor for a landscape that seems fixed but is always shifting and changing with time," Schatz said.

"Since 'Steady As She Goes' is a nautical term for holding course, particularly through rough waters, it struck me as funny to have a nautical theme for a geologically-themed body of work. I liked thinking of these landscapes as ships lost at sea, hoping that if they just point in one direction and hold tight they will eventually find their way," Schatz said.

Hours to visit the free exhibit are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit the School of Art’s Galleries webpage or call 330-676-1549.