“Creatures of the Night” features artwork that focuses on the creatures that appear in the nighttime, hiding in the shadows, and invoking feelings of mystery and intrigue. These creatures can be anything that are realistic which we generally encounter at night, to ones that our imagination conjures.
Displayed image: Toe Nibbler by Madison McSweeney. oil on canvas
In celebration of Main Street Kent’s Rainbow Weekend activities on October 7th & 8th, 2022, the FJKluth Art Gallery is proud to announce our upcoming exhibition, “Pride in Kent.” “Pride in Kent” features 26 artworks made by 12 Northeast Ohio artists pertaining to LGBTQ+ themes and/or with the artwork created by LGBTQ+ artists and major allies. The 12 artists whose work will be on display are: Pierce Bartman, Laicee Blackwell, E.J. and Abbie Bocan, Terri Cash, Emma Gatzulis, Shaunese Johnson, Cassius Moran, Kelly Pontoni, Jeremy Mark Ritch, Vixx Vali, and Kili Watson-Samad.
30% of artwork sales will go to benefit the Kent State LGBTQ+ Center. The Kent State LGBTQ+ Center supports an inclusive environment on all KSU campuses, advocates for all individuals and community groups based on sexual and gender identity, and promotes physical, mental and academic wellness. If you want to find out more about Kent State LGBTQ+ Center, you can visit their website at: https://www.kent.edu/lgbtq
Displayed image: Create by E.J. and Abbie Bocan
“Black and White” is the title of a collection of paintings using black colored gouache paint on white watercolor paper to create abstract geometric compositions. The paintings each invoke a range of associations and emotional responses from the viewer that stimulate the eye and the imagination. The study of such abstract compositions helps better construction of other types of paintings. “Black and White” was painted by Frederick John Kluth. All pieces are 18×24 inches in size.
Displayed image: Tri-Star Symmetry by Frederick John Kluth
This series of gouache paintings, and color pencil and crayon drawings titled “Serenity: Wildlife in the Environment,” portrays wildlife found peacefully living without humanity’s invasion. All pieces are made by Frederick John Kluth.
Artist’s Statement: “It is an exhibit of pieces that I did about the environment. Birds are an indicator of environmental degradation so I included birds. Most are gouache pieces but one is crayon or pencil and one is a collage.”
Light is reflected off matter to form art objects which then need interpretation by the viewer. The viewer can compare the forms of the art object to reality or ideality. Geometric forms are in the realm of the ideal. As such they deal with ideal rules of art interpretation without the distraction of association. The idea of this exhibit is to test how the viewer responds as a way of discovering new rules. Control of abstract forms allows more control of representational forms so this exhibit is a step in the development of better art. The viewer should consider each piece and report reactions. Notes on reactions should be left with the exhibit.
The pieces are experimental and intentionally do not follow easy rules of finished art. Some ideas work and others do not. Study is needed to determine which ideas work. It is helpful to try to speculate why and how a piece works and why it does not. If the viewer accepts the challenge much can be learned about art.
The tools used to create a piece of art can have a profound effect on that art. Tools such as ruler and compass control the line and isolate it from the soul of the artist. The brush on the other hand can record sensitively the emotional state of the artist. The advantage of hand made objects such as these is that insight is given into that artistic soul. In this exhibit one can contrast the rigid contribution of the compass and ruler and sensitivity of the brush.
Art experimentation such as present in this exhibit is an asset to the art community as it allows new forms of expression to be explored.
Verónica Lombeida Saltos is a photographer born in Guaranda, Ecuador. She studied Photography Design at Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano de Diseño, La Metro / Quito, Ecuador, and attended workshops in Argentina and Chile. Her work invokes the usage of textures, colors, and smells where they can produce sensorial images. Social issues such as mental health and environmental problems are employed in a conceptual and fashionable approach in her work, as well. Past exhibitions Saltos has been in were Premio Brazil at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (Quito, Ecuador), New Starts at Foorumi Gallery (Knokke, Belgium), Global Images – Global Cris at International Center of Photography (New York City, New York).
Her series, Magic House is about how Saltos’ house is part of their identity, presenting it as “a house full of people, spaces full of flowers with light, smells of life.” She states, “it is a series in which I represent what this magical place means to me, my experience with that house. The same meeting with the space and with myself, it is a way I find to say thanks and bye to this place.”
Universes is where one discovers “voices, faces, and spaces around the world in a virtual journey.” After the pandemic invaded the world, people had to find their own way to live and feel Covid by “expressing their inner and outer self in the different corners of the planet.” This approach allowed Saltos to “meet beautiful people who have revealed a little bit of their universes, allowing me to go to the special place of their home.”
What originally started as an informal hang out for a group of artists and creatives from The University of Akron and Akron Art Museum to kick back, relax, enjoy drinks, and create works of art at High St. Hop House in Akron became a group of over 50 people from the span of its beginning in 2018 to today in 2022. This diverse range of painters, illustrators, photographers, sculptors, textile artists, writers, and musicians created artwork while motivating, inspiring, and supporting each other in their creative pursuits of artistic freedom. These artworks were made either within a sketchbook, drawing pad, or as a small three-dimensional project.
For the first time, this group will be presenting a portion of the immense amount of work they created during these creative sessions at the FJKluth Art Gallery titled Sketchbook Creative – Casual Creations. The show will feature 10 artists: Erin Abshire, Sarah Abshire, Abby Cipar, Taylor Clapp, Liz Crosby, Hope Hickman, Elizabeth Lax, Maria Uhase, Kim Wengerd, and Carly Zimmerman; with their artwork of over 40 pieces being displayed in a salon style approach
Pandarus was a renowned Trojan aristocrat who fought during the Trojan War. His tactician skills helped lead a contingent from Zeleia, and his archery skills helped him win battles against the enemy. Eventually, things took a turn when he was deceived by Athena, who wished for the destruction of Troy, to kill Menelaus, the king of Mycenaean Sparta. Pandarus fails, only wounding Menelaus. This assassination attempt destroyed the potential truce that could have led to the peaceful return of Helen of Troy, ending the Trojan War.
While fighting to save his life, Pandarus has another opportunity to kill one of the other opposing leaders, Diomedes. Pandarus attempts to kill Diomedes, but the assasination attempt fails once more. Diomedes quickly retaliates by throwing a spear at Pandarus right into the nose and killing him.
This story is told as twelve separate paintings on display at the FJKluth Art Gallery titled: Pandarus Broke the Truce – A Tale from the Iliad of Homer. The exhibition features paintings by Indonesian artist Koen Satyawan based on sketches by American artist Frederick John Kluth.
For the first time both Standing Rock Cultural Arts and the FJKluth Art Gallery combine their gallery spaces to present the 22nd Annual Environmental Art Show.
The exhibition contains over 50 works of art by 17 artists focusing on the environment in their works.
Color Abstract is made by American artist Frederick John Kluth from Kent, Ohio. The series is designed as an abstractual experiment on combining specific colors and shapes to attract and lock the viewer’s attention.
Utilizing an impressionistic Rorschach approach for every painting, the viewer is able to perceive a part of the psyche that is invoked from each piece in the series of work.
Motivated by the upcoming two year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, Frederick John Kluth was inspired to create a series of work that reflected on the evolving nature of colors and their interactions in a series of twelve paintings. This evolving nature of the colors and their abstract form is the same as the constant changes that occur with the COVID virus, the pandemic, and our responses as a society.
Now the story of the Queen of Sheba, From Eastern Africa she came away. To the ancient lands of Biblical times. She traveled for wisdom, never to stay. Tamrin, the famed merchant, was invited By King Solomon who was so noble. The king needed rare and exotic supplies To build a magnificent temple.
This story is told as thirteen separate paintings on display at the FJKluth Art Gallery titled: Queen of Sheba. The exhibition featured drawings by Neha Sahu based from sketches by Frederick John Kluth.
Rituals, ceremonies, and traditions served as the strong connection for any culture to the spiritual world. Life and death were not to be afraid of, but intertwined elements, for the dead protected the living, granting them blessings that allowed their existence to thrive with new life. To abide with these traditions, masks were used in essential roles, created to portray ancestors, animals, and mythical heroes to please the spirits and in hopes of being blessed with protection or good tidings.
The masks displayed in this exhibition portrays how different cultures created their own masks by employing the materials, colors, styles that are significant to their beliefs with one underlying theme that stayed consistent: to celebrate life and death.
Being the offspring of Zeus’ affair with Alcmene, Zeus’ wife Hera attempted to kill Herakles ever since he was a child. Herakles slipped through all of Hera’s attempts, prolonging his life. Hera decided attacking Herakles directly would not be the best approach, so she focused her efforts on destroying his spirit by driving him mad and forcing him to murder his wife, Megara, and their children.
After recovering his sanity, Herakles expressed deep remorse from his actions, purified by King Thespius, and traveled to Delphi to determine how he could atone for his actions. The Oracle of Delph, Pythia, instructed him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin and a man he saw as an inferior, King Eurystheus, for ten years and perform whatever labors given his way Herakles can, in return, obtain immortality.
The final task, King Eurystheus instructs Herakles going into the Land of the Dead to capture Cerberus, the hound of Hades who guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving.
This story is told as thirteen separate paintings on display at the FJKluth Art Gallery titled: Herakles Visits the Land of the Dead. The exhibition features drawings by Indonesian artist Koen Satyawan based from sketches by Frederick John Kluth.
Once upon a time long, long ago, Prince Mitgefühl had an old hag arrested because she seemed to be trying to poison the guests at his wedding party. When the hag was taken to jail, she was discovered by none other than Queen Vergeblich, the stepmother of Snow White, the bride at the wedding. Further investigation revealed that the Queen had attempted to murder Snow White on at least two other occasions. A Trial was held in the local castle with many people in the audience because everyone knew Snow White.
This story is told as fourteen separate paintings on display at the FJKluth Art Gallery titled: The Trial of Queen Vergeblich, The Stepmother of Snow White. The exhibition features paintings by Indonesian artist Koen Satyawan and based from sketches by American artist Frederick John Kluth.
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