WLU’s spring break was in mid-March. Chris took a few days off work and we headed north for a few days. (Yes, I know most people, especially students, use spring break as opportunity to go somewhere warm! ) We spent a fun three days pursuing some of our favorite things: art, antique hunting, food, beer, and funky tourist attractions.
Our first stop was Akron, Ohio to visit the Akron Art Museum. It is just a little over two hours from home, and yet Chris and I had never been there. The museum combines a late nineteenth-century brick and limestone building (originally the city’s main post office)with the twenty-first century glass and steel structure by the celebrated Viennese architectural firm Coop Himmelb(l)au. This impressive addition was added in 2007 and is spectacular both inside and out.
We saw several exhibitions in the museum, but I will focus on our two favorite:
Beauty Reigns, which closes May 3, 2015, features the work of 13 emerging and mid-career abstract painters, working in studios across the United States. The exhibition is chock-full of big works that blast you with intense color, multi-layered surfaces, and high-energy patterns. We loved this show!
Christopher Pekoc: Hand Made made my day. I told Chris that seeing Pekoc’s work made our whole trip worthwhile. Christopher Pekoc’s mixed media assemblages are beautiful, intense, and gutsy all at the same time. Among the media used by this Cleveland artist: gelatin silver photography, Xerox prints, shellac, sandpaper and punches—in novel ways to create evocative images. He employs machine stitching in his work as well, which not only adds additional surface texture, but seems to strengthen his compositions. The image of the human hand shows up in many of his works, which mirrors the artist’s hand in the creation of these works. Pekoc’s work can be seen through April 26, 2015.
Before we left the museum, Chris and I visited the museum store where did some damage to our wallets, including a catalog and video of Pekoc’s works. (As of this writing, I have not watched the video yet!) Double thumbs up to the Akron Art Museum!
Before leaving the “rubber city”, we visited the tasting room of the Hoppn’ Frog Brewing Company. Good beer and good grub to go with it. I especially recommend the Hop Damn IPA!
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