The 17th Annual Kaleidoscope Juried Holiday Show opens Friday, Nov. 22 at Summit Artspace on East Market, 140 E. Market St. The show will open with a free Meet the Artists Reception & Awards from 5 to 8 p.m., in the main gallery at Summit Artspace on East Market.
The exhibition runs until Dec. 21 and is free and open to the public.
The juried exhibit is organized each year by the Alliance for the Visual Arts. Kaleidoscope was founded in 2003 by AVA, which is the umbrella group of the four area arts organizations: Akron Society of Artists, Artists of Rubber City, Cuyahoga Valley Art Center and the Women’s Art League of Akron. More than 600 active members are eligible to compete in Kaleidoscope.
Cash prizes for the top juried winners will be announced at 7 p.m. at the opening event by juror Theresa Bembnister, Curator of Exhibitions at the Akron Art Museum. Bembnister has curated numerous exhibitions, including the current “Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art,” an immersive new exhibition that features artists whose work has been influenced by video games. She earned master’s degree in art history and museum studies from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree from the Kansas City Art Institute.
Gallery visitors will be able to vote for their favorite artist to win the People’s Choice Award, a working kaleidoscope designed and hand-blown by glass artist, Bob Pozarski of Peninsula. The winner will be announced at the end of the show on the Summit Artspace website. Julie DiSiena of Northfield was the 2018 People’s Choice winner for, “Prism Sunset Pond,” used in this year’s publicity. She is a member of the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center.
The Kaleidoscope artists also will gather for a free panel discussion led by Bembnister on Thursday, Dec. 19, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the main gallery surrounded by the artwork. The event is free. Reserve a seat at: https://bit.ly/2NnVD1P.
Summit Artspace’s main gallery is open weekly Thursdays and Fridays, noon to 7 p.m., and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Additional hours include 5 to 9 p.m. during the Dec. 7 Artwalk and Dec. 19 for 3rd Thursday events, 4 to 9 p.m. For info, visit www.summitartspace.org.
