$10,000 in Akron art prizes

There’s $10,000 up for grabs at the 3^rd annual Akron Art Prize, starting Sept. 6. Results will be announced Saturday, Oct. 4 in the grand lobby of the Akron Art Museum.

First place receives $5,000 and their piece displayed in the Akron Art Museum for the week following the finale.  There will be five $1,000 runner-up prizes.

Artists will show their works in five Downtown Akron venues Sept. 6-Oct. 4 during which time the public will determine the winners.

Participating Venues:

43 Furnace Art Complex
Zeber-Martell Studio Side Gallery (43 Furnace St.)
ARTWALLS at 43 Furnace Upstairs (Enter through Zeber-Martell Studio main doors)

Akron Glass Works (106 N. Main St.)

The Nightlight (30 N. High St.)

Palladian Palette (30 N. High St.)

Summit Artspace Gallery (140 E. Market St.)

Akron Art Prize 2014 is introducing a new Art Prize app with an enhanced voter and participant experience, getting you close to the entering artist.  The artist name, entry title, media type, artist statement, email and artist profile information – including links to websites and business information – will be available on your smart phone or via voting tablets. Voting will take place during a limited time frame and will only be allowed within Downtown, encouraging voters to attend and experience the events.

Former BJ Featurs Department editor and columnist Connie Bloom added:

“It'll be an embarrassment of riches: 4 popup artists (Mary Sandmann (Mary Sandmann Photography of Medina), Bernadette Houk, Sharon Wagner and James Leslie) and a new show by tattoo artists in the Penthouse (3rd floor), plus the opening of Akron Art Prize on the first floor.”

Garrettsville to rock to rebuild town 

Tom Liggett, son of the late Harry Liggett, BJ Alums founder, is getting ready to perform with his band mates April 26 at the Garrettsville Fire Rock Relief benefit concert. 

There will be eight bands, starting at noon and running till 9 p.m. Tom's mates think they'll hit the stage about 7:45 on that Saturday.

The concert will benefit the 13 Garrettsville businesses hit by the March 22 fire that wiped out an entire block of Main Street. All the proceeds of the Garrettsville fundraising, under guidance of the Garrettsville Chamber of Commerce, will go into the Garrettsville Strong account at the Middlefield Bank in Garrettsville.

So have and will such fundraisers as T-shirt sales, haircuts/pedicures, fish frys, ribbons, beer-brewing, computer repairs, spaghetti dinners and chocolatiers. 

G-Plex donated the use of its site at 10340 Industrial Street in Garrettsville for the benefit concert. Admission is $10.

The crowd will bring blankets and lawn chairs. There will be refreshments and raffles. And plenty of rocking and rolling.

Tom Liggett is Community Pregnancy Center director of development and a graduate of Hoban High and the University of Akron.