“The arts are an even better barometer of what is happening in our world than the stock market or the debates in congress.”
Hendrik Willem Van Loon

Great name isn’t it? Poor guy must have had it pretty rough in Junior High, but I like his quote because it is so true. When all else in life is just doom and gloom and impending disaster, artists find way to remind us about what is still good and pure and right (credit to Mr. Meatloaf). In which case, we must be headed for total annihilation because there is an overload of art going on right now!

Over the next week or so, I hope to get to as many of these as possible and post my ‘pinions, but until then, below is a listing of what is going on and where.

Tonight (Friday June 11, 2010) 5-9pm is the opening of Dress Code at 2nd April Galerie, a collaborative exhibit between Marti Jones Dixon and Lynn Digby. They will be my new neighbors in a couple of weeks when I join the family downtown. It has been fun watching the show take shape as it gets mounted on the walls and listening to the little things that pull it all together. Pay attention to the title tags on the wall; such details make all the difference.

Tomorrow (Saturday, June 12, 2010) 2-4pm is the opening of the Art From the Salon show at North Canton’s Little Art Gallery that consists of works by the students (yeah, right, been a long time since any of them had to sit at a desk and ask for a restroom pass) of painter/teacher/crazy lady Nancy Stewart Matin. Many of our local favorite names will have works on display. I can’t make the opening to view it (son turns 20 that day), but did get a small preview of pieces when I picked up one of my own last week. I will get there however, so stay tuned.

Sunday (June 13th, 2010) 10-3 is the Art al Fresco art fair on the grounds of Fieldcrest in North Canton. For those old time Cantonians, that would still be known as the Hoover property, just like Mellet Mall and Belden Village will never be known by their “new” names.

Downtown Massillon just put up a bunch of murals painted by the community to cover over bruises left by recent fires and blight. No big high priced installations needed here, just some love and attention inspired by the current gem of a show at the Museum itself.

Up north, the 20th Annual Juried show for the Artists of Rubber City continues through the 26th at the Summit Building which is right next door to the Akron Art Museum. I suppose one could stop in there too since it is so close by. Don’t forget our own museum however, Form and Function is still going on amidst several weeks of art camp offerings. Speaking of which, camp for me is only two weeks away, the kind with black snakes in the shower and skunks in the underbrush, so if you notice a lack of postings (like I missed a whole week!) then I am probably off climbing “Mount Tighty-butt” as we call it dodging raindrops and herding wayward scouts.

Let’s not forget Constellations of Women going on at Anderson Creative and then round the corner to find BZTAT being BZ and her neighbor galleries showing new works and preparing for the summer season. But for now, drop into the Dress Code show. Dixon features a red dress in her paintings, which reminds me about the red dress dilemma from a post way back when I first started this site. Remember the red dress that did not exist? Ha! I found it on a rack at the store that said they did not have it. And I was right, it was ugly once I put it on, so I bought the red one next to it and declared it a victory for my side.

I guess we can be thankful in one small way for all the current chaos in our country for as Mr. Loon says, the arts are a better barometer. And to me that barometric measure says the pressure is high to fill our world with color, creativity and camaraderie. (Thank goodness for spell check, that last one was a doozie).