Art students create works for downtown street exhibit

October 13, 2011 | Arts, UToday
By Angela Riddel



Local artist JV applied finishing touches to one of the images for downtown exhibit, while UT student Ashley DeKay watched.

Students in Arturo Rodriguez’s 2D Methods Monotypes and Relief class will have their work appear as part of a street exhibit that may be viewed by patrons of the Gallery Loop Friday, Oct. 14.

Presented by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, the Gallery Loop will take place from 6:30 to 11 p.m.

The students created large woodblock prints that were adhered to exterior walls of buildings in downtown Toledo.

“The students were required to take into account the history of their site and create an image that is visually pleasing but also pays homage to the site they chose,” said Rodriguez, UT associate professor of art. “It is my hope that the murals will spur interest in the history of the downtown area of Toledo.

“Paris,” a giant cutout by Eric Broz and Chris Richards, appears on the exterior of Madhouse, 1215 Jackson St.

“Another aim of this assignment is to get the University students to become more engaged in a part of the community that is not very far from where they study art,” Rodriguez added, noting UT’s Museum of Art Campus, where the Center for the Visual Arts is located adjacent to the Toledo Museum of Art.

While not an official stop of the Loop, the Arts Commission and several local businesses and the city of Toledo worked with Rodriguez to find locations suitable for displaying the works and with handling the paperwork required by the city.

The prints, some as large as 22 feet tall, are on building walls and other downtown spaces near many of the stops. Maps will be provided on the Gallery Loop bus so that patrons easily can find the works.

The Gallery Loop offers the community an evening of complimentary bus rides to more than 20 local venues, featuring more than 100 local, regional and national artists working in an array of media — from painting, photography and sculpture to poetry, music and more.

The Gallery Loop will feature four buses running two consecutive loops throughout downtown Toledo from 6:30 to 11 p.m., with a transfer stop at Toledo School for the Arts’ 333 Gallerie.

See work by UT art students on the exteriors of the Ottawa Tavern, 1817 Adams St.; Manhattan’s Restaurant, 1516 Adams St.; Madhouse, 1215 Jackson St.; the Glass City Café, 1107 Jackson St.; Studio M Printmakers, 320 N. Michigan St.; the Art Supply Depo, 29 S. St. Clair St.; and the Oliver House, 27 Broadway St.

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