October 2008

No tricks - partying patrons will be the first visitors to the Haunted Artspace this evening - and they are in for a treat!! To those unlucky souls with no tickets to tonight’s event there are  plenty of opportunities to see what sleep-deprived, pizza-fueled artists can create when their muses are possessed:

Installation opens to the public on Halloween - $2 donation (optional)
Friday, October 31, noon to 9
Saturday, November 1, noon to 9 (Art Walk)
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 6 - 8, noon to 5

These are the last dates you can see the gallery exhibit, Fresh & Spooky, too. Stop in to Summit Artspace, 140 East Market Street, Akron, Ohio, before these shows are spirited away!

The bright yellow forsythia plays the lead each spring, then is relegated to a supporting role for the remainder of the year. This one seems to be aspiring to just a bit more glory with unseasonal blossoms that are a reminder of past performances and a promise of future splendor.

With less than a week to go the transformation is well underway at the site of the Haunted Artspace. The space has become maze-like due to the addition of portable walls borrowed from Akron Society of Artists. Surprises appear around each bend - startling even with the lights on.

Work continues in the studio, too, and a bit of thrift store shopping netted some eerie artifacts. The black velvet clown painting is truly scary in any context!

New progress shots from the past week are here.

Shredded Wheat
Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer
The Pledge of Allegiance
Ferris Wheel
incandescent light bulbs
alternating current
the hootchie-cootchie dance. . .

. . .and Columbus Day. . .

can trace their beginnings to the World’s Columbian Exposition aka the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, weaves together a chronicle of the fair with the story of H. H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer. Holmes’ macabre murders almost went unnoticed amid a Chicago that was caught up in planning and presenting an event to surpass even France’s Exposition Universelle and its thousand foot steel structure by designer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.

The exposition itself plays the leading role in this narrative, with a huge supporting cast of recognizable, prominent names from late 19th century America. Mr. Larson’s engaging  style requires constant reminders that this is not fiction, but a historical account of an unbelievable undertaking.

Work has begun on the Haunted Artspace project. Papier mache tree trunks reach for the solarium ’sky’ on a sunny afternoon while Hobbes pretends he’s in the forest.

An invitation has been extended:

We are deadly serious. . . only the strong of heart and lovers of art are welcome to attend. . . the Haunted Artspace, an eerie art installation created by a dozen area artists. . .

Installation begins in a couple weeks, but a peek at some of the work in progress by Kevin and Dan can be seen here (look for the tree images). I’ll be adding to my Haunted Artspace photos, too.

Photographer Andrew Thomas Lopez captured the creative coven pictured above, including Inda Blatch-Geib, Donna Webb, Joan Colbert, Joseph Blue Sky, Mark Soppeland, Kevin Smalley, Dan Coffield and Miller Horns. Also participating are Laura Bidwell, Leandra Drumm, Rachel Gentner and Bonnie Stipe.

Fresh Art, the annual juried show at Summit Artspace, took on an eerie theme for 2008 and became Fresh + Spooky. Attendance at last Friday’s opening reception approached three hundred, with an additional seventy visitors Saturday afternoon and evening. October seems to put everyone in the mood for some unearthly apparitions and the participating artists did not disappoint. 

Above is the pen and ink postcard art created for the show.

Imprints/around the square, created for the 5-squared show, is headed for the big city!

Don, of Brooklyn, New York, stopped in Angel Falls Coffee Company while visiting Akron and is now headed home with a piece of Highland Square art. Many thanks!