Several artists from the Medina County Art League are participating in this show in the Medina County Library. It runs from September 30-to October 27 with a reception on Sunday, October 6th from 2-4pm. Please visit the exhibition and enjoy their artwork.

Congratulations to Barbra Zimmerman, who's work "#6 in Red" was awarded Best of Category. She also received an Honorable Mention for "Impatience #5" at the Cuyahoga Valley Art Centers 36th Annual Juried Show. The Artist's Reception is on October 18 from 5-8 pm. See her work and get more details here.

The Business of Art for Artists: Presenting and Promoting Your Work Saturday, October 5th 2019 12:00-3:00pm This one-day workshop is a distillation of Mary Urbas’s popular class from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Professional Practices and the Business of Art for Artists: Presenting and Promoting Your Art. Urbas will share her 40+ years of experience as a gallery owner, curator, teacher, and consultant. As a frequently exhibited and award- winning fiber artist, she is able to bring a real-world perspective to both creating and marketing fine art. This workshop is designed as a first step towards helping the developing artist make a successful transition from creating art to effectively presenting and promoting it. A variety of important topics will be covered: • Researching, contacting, and approaching galleries that are appropriate for your artwork • Preparing and presenting your artwork for exhibition • Determining pricing for your work • Writing an effective artist statement and maintaining an updated resume • Generating business cards and creating other promotional materials • Making connections and maintaining/utilizing mailing lists • Determining what qualities jurors are looking for in award-winning pieces Mary Urbas is dedicated to help artists cultivate a professional image, make connections, and get their work shown, regardless of their current level of development. More information about arranging private consultations will be available at the workshop. Workshop Location: Saturday, October 5th, 12:00-3:00pm 623 West Liberty Street, Medina, OH 44256 Root Candle Company Community Room For questions or additional information, please contact our coordinator, Carol Kessel, at 440-823-6405. Medina County Art League Fall 2019 Workshop About the Instructor: Mary Urbas received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she majored in Textile Design and Silk Screen Printing and minored in Weaving and Printmaking. Her work is regularly featured in juried exhibitions and art fairs throughout Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, receiving many honors, awards, and several Best in Show titles. She is now an instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Art, as well as at Lakeland Community College, Notre Dame College, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, and the Valley Art Center. In addition to teaching Textile Design, Art Fundamentals, and The Business of Art for Artists, Urbas also teaches at several summer art seminars for adults and camps for children through Cleveland Institute of Art, the Brecksville Center for the Arts, the Valley Art Center, and Lakeland’s Continuing Education Division and Early Childhood Education Program. Urbas opened her own gallery in 1997, called The Gallery in Chagrin Falls, which features contemporary fine arts and crafts. She later founded the From WOMAN exhibition at Lakeland, an annual juried show which features local and regional artists, focusing on work created by women and about women. Having just marked its twelfth anniversary, this highly successful exhibition occurs every March to celebrate Women’s History Month. In addition to her own gallery and exhibitions, Urbas has been the Assistant Director of the Chagrin Falls Valley Art Center since 2001, where she also functions as the Gallery Curator and teaches several classes and extended camps for adults and children. For nearly twenty years, Urbas has served as Gallery Manager at Sylvia Ullman's American Crafts Gallery in Cleveland, as well as Gallery Coordinator, Exhibition Curator, and Installation Designer for Lakeland Community College. Urbas maintains an extremely active presence in the art community; in addition to serving on the boards of several local non-profits, Urbas is frequently asked to judge at juried art competitions across the state. She is an active member of several regional artist guilds and professional associations, including the American Crafts Council and the Surface Design Association of America. Download Registration Form Below

A new show entitled, Poe’s Garden, invites artists from Summit, Portage, Cuyahoga, Medina and Stark to submit high quality art that leads the imagination to pull back a curtain from the darkness and investigate the unsettling and fantastic places our minds can go. Poe’s Garden will be a place where the deliberate, wide-ranging variety of visual art will thrill, astonish, create dread and awaken and provoke the viewer with images, imagined worlds and artistic technique. The accepted work will be the artist’s creation of new, mysterious or secret realms or the exploration of past, present or futuristic realities through a creative yet skewed lens. Art will be judged on its power to sustain mystery, leaving the garden gate open to imagination, wonder and even a little fear. The first-place visual winner for Poe's Garden will be featured in the November print and online editions of The Devil Strip. Deadline for Entry: Monday, September 23, 2019 Midnight Entry Fee: $15 Media: 2D, 3D; all media types except video For more information and to enter please follow this link: https://summitartspace.submittable.com/submit/13fe813f-e6d3-4a5a-aa80-cb0e6bcfa86c/poes-garden-visual-art

Hello and welcome back Medina County Art League Members. It has been a busy summer and I am sure you all are as excited as we are to be back. Before I get started with what’s to come I would like to take a minute to reflect on the summer. We had a wonderful, but warm sunny day for Art in the Park. We had a great crowd and were blessed to have 103 super talented vendors to make the day a great success. Most importantly though, Kathy and I would like to thank all of those who volunteered to make the day a success. From those that help measure vendor spaces, set up tents, manned the MCAL tents, managed vendors, judged artwork, handed out waters and everything else it takes to put this event on, we thank you with all of our hearts! If anyone is interested in helping out with next year's Art in the Park, please see one of the board members to get started. We have a brand new committee and are coming up with great new ideas to make Art in the Park 2020 a success! We need your input and ideas!! Speaking of new and great ideas, as you are all hopefully aware of by now, we have a whole new slate of board members who took office in July. Once again we thank the outgoing board members for their service! Myself (Vince Matheney) and Kathy Stokes-Shafer, your new co-presidents met in early August to discuss our newfound duties and to discuss the direction we wanted to take the Medina County Art League. One theme we both agreed upon, and have also heard from many members was Modernization. We are going to work with the other board members and work to minimize paper-based items that lead to printing costs and potential mishaps due to lost paperwork. We plan to look at online membership applications, hopefully with online dues payments. This has also been discussed for Art in the Park. We also plan to better utilize our website to provide a small gallery for members to show off their talents. As always if anyone has ideas, please bring them to us! A second theme we are interested in pursuing is growth in Membership. We want to find ways to let the world know that the Medina County Art League is as awesome as we all know it is. This means we need to get out and represent MCAL and spread the word by attending and having a presence at local events. It means better utilizing our social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It also means reaching out to our friends and family who may have an interest but stopped coming. In addition, we plan to establish a Welcoming Committee to welcome those newcomers and returnees as they walk in the door. If your not an old pro like some of us who have been here a while, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle and not have a good experience. We want everyone who comes in the door to be excited to come back. That means those of us who have been here a while also though. This new board is determined to bring a new level of excitement and comradery. Please bring us your ideas! In conclusion, and I cannot emphasize this enough, we are excited for this new year and are looking forward to making some meaningful changes to help us meet the goals of our Medina County Art League Mission. Promoting and educating visual artists of all kinds, promoting interest in the arts, and providing opportunities for all of you to show your work and grow as artists. Kathy and I appreciate each and every one of you and look forward to meeting and working with you all! See you at the September meeting! One final note, each of you who attends the September meeting will receive a small surprise! Show up to find out what it is! Vince Matheney and Kathy Stokes-Shafer Co-Presidents, Medina County Art League

Lodi Library is having their 6th Annual Juried Art Show Oct. 1-17, 2019 and we'd like you to participate! The event is for both Adult and Student works and prizes will be awarded.  There is no Entry Fee for this show.  Judging will be held on Wed., Oct. 2 with the opening reception immediately following at 6:00 pm and the winners announced at 6:30 pm.  Prizes will be awarded in two categories: (1) Adult; (2) Student. Entrants may submit up to 2 original works that are ready to hang.  Original two dimensional art in any medium, no larger than 40" in height and width, will be accepted.  No three dimensional works accepted.  For complete rules and entry details, pick up a flyer at the Lodi Library. Lodi Library will receive the artwork Wed., Sept. 25 through Sat., Sept. 28, 2019.  Submission to this exhibition constitutes acceptance of stated conditions and includes permission to photograph accepted work for publicity purposes.  The library reserves the right to reject, upon arrival, any piece because of inappropriate subject matter or content. All entries will be ready to be picked up after the show, Fri., Oct. 18 through Mon., Oct. 21, 2019. This event is not affiliated with Cloverleaf Local Schools. Any questions, please call: (330) 948-1885; email: philipps@mcdl.info or visit:  www.mcdl.info/art

Creative Space Avon a glass studio and gallery is having an "Artisans of Northern Ohio" juried show that includes Medina county. All art mediums are considered. The entry deadline is September 9th. The show opens on September 28 and runs through October 24. Details and call for art can be found on the events page at creativespaceavon.com Judy Kean the gallery owner is a talented stained glass artist and a supporter of both emerging and established artists.

Kathy and I would like to begin this message with a vote of thanks to all the outgoing board members. Many of them have served MCAL for many years and I know are leaving the organization better than when they took over their positions. I would especially like to thank our outgoing President, Deanna Clucas for the wonderful job she has done over the years. For the few years that I have been a part of this organization, her dedication and enthusiasm for making MCAL better each day has been inspirational and I can only hope that Kathy and I’s presidency can live up to the high bar that has been set. As your incoming presidents Kathy and I are eager to get to know each and every one of you, to serve the needs of the organization and to continue to make MCAL a great place to learn about and grow our artistic abilities. I personally am also excited to share our wonderful group with those that haven’t found us yet. There are many in the county who are unaware of what we offer and I am excited to take on the task of making more folks in our community aware of our organization and growing our membership. Finally, I would implore you all to take action, talk about our group with your friends and family. If you love our group, tell people about us. Share our exhibition/show dates with your family, friends and coworkers. Particularly Art in the Park, coming in July, but also Aquarius, Cool Beans, Marie’s Café, and all of the other wonderful venues we show in. After all everyone loves a pretty picture and even more so they love the stories that those pictures tell. They love that spark of imagination each image, photo or sculpture brings and they will cherish those memories forever. If we all work together, we can continue to build and grow this organization, and together enjoy the benefits of each other’s company, comradery and artwork. I have always been fond of the saying “many hands make small work”. The more of us that get involved the lighter our load. Everyone’s circumstances are different, but please consider helping out where you can. Again, Kathy and I look forward to serving as your Presidents. See you at Art in the Park or at our first meeting in September! Vincent Matheney and Kathy Stokes-Shafer, MCAL Co-Presidents

Soprema Center and Café Classes are taught by Ann Kellish the first and third Tuesdays of the month from 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at 617 School Dr., Wadsworth, Oh 44281. For more information: 330-335-1513. Watercolor Classes Sharon Borror conducts classes on Fridays 9:30-noon in her home. Call Sharon for openings and additional information: 330-421-4715 Watercolor Classes Beginner and intermediate watercolor classes held on Wednesdays from 9:00AM to Noon with Karen Martin. Please contact Karen for details or additional information at 330-414-1009 or on her website KWrightStudios.com Drawing for the Novice Summer drawing classes with Deanna are scheduled at Cuyahoga Valley Art Center begin Tues. July 9, 6:30-9, Wed. July 10, 9:30-noon and at Peninsula Art Academy Wed July 10, 6:30-9 for 10 weeks. I get a lot of Medina people in my classes so don’t be shy. It’s good to perfect your drawing skills. Contact Deanna Clucas for information 330-697-7543 or deanna.clucas@roadrunner.com Akrona Gallery Classes Drawing and Color and Media Exploration Classes Drawing Introduction/Review (3 classes) Color Theory and Media Exploration (1 class) Contact Carol Kessel 440-237-6401 or visit www.akrona.com Polymer Clay Classes for Adults and Kids Annette Carruthers enjoys sharing her love of polymer clay with adults and kids through classes held at The Sassy Sunflower in Copley. New fun projects offered every month. Please contact Annette for more information. clayfulart.annette@gmail.com (216)965-6154 cell Facebook ~ Clayful Art by Annette Drawing Classes offered Barbara Johns is offering a series of 6 drawing classes. She will start with “How to Draw a Face”. The classes will be at the Senior Center on Northland Dr. Call Barbara to sign up. 330-723-2620

April Showers bring May flowers! Isn’t that a welcome sight! Welcome to SPRING everyone! Last month’s program was enlightening to us all. Bill Peck presented his way of painting with colored pencils on hydra stone; a substance he mixes and molds into flat surfaces that when dry and hard can be carved into or drawn on. I see a workshop coming in the future. We had planned on having our election last month; however, it was tabled until May to enable us to complete the nominations for all of the offices. It’s looking good as after the meeting was adjourned, we acquired some interest in the presidency. Yay! I’ve been serving as president since 2012, that’s 7 years of keeping you informed and sometimes entertained. I’m honored to have been able to serve you all of this time. I’ve been able to get acquainted with all of you, stay involved in all of the activities and help solve little problems that crop up every so often. We’ve had some changes in our board and committee chairs through the years and these extraordinary people did a terrific job working as a team. Thank you all for making my job easier. We will have a wonderful board this time too. Teenia is already getting potential new officers ready with some on-the-job-training. So this may be my last president’s message as the new president(s) will take office in June. I’ll be around though serving as past president. We’ve accomplished a lot as the board meets monthly to make sure everything runs the way it’s supposed to. So the future of Medina County Art League looks great! Our workshops will now be organized by Carol Kessel, replacing Barbara Johns who has been in charge for many years. Don’t be surprised to see more than two workshops a year. We’re still looking for fine artists for Art in the Park. So pass the word around. We are still offering our members an opportunity to share a booth for those who don’t have enough inventory for a whole booth. Find a partner in the same position. You must have a tent and display materials to showcase your work. Complete the application found on the website, send photos of your work and booth on a CD to MCAL PO 339 Medina 44258 by the end of June. Our new AIP committee is coming along nicely learning the ins and outs of continuing one of the best art shows in the area. Thank you all. Artfully yours, Deanna Clucas

MCAL would like to congratulate member Annette Caruthers for her art being seen on local TV news show New Day Cleveland! New Day Cleveland is a show on FOX 8 which highlights area places to go and see. The May 13th episode features the Sassy Sunflower, a small shop in Copley, Ohio in which Annette sells and teaches her artwork. Look for her artwork at about 1:30 into the video linked below. Video: https://fox8.com/2019/05/13/copley-fairlawn-rt-sassy-sunflower/ More info about Annette: Article by MCAL, Facebook Other Links: New Day Cleveland, Sassy Sunflower