An open reception will be 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday for Prizm Creative Community's sixth annual juried art show, ART-A-FAIR 2012, in the lobby of the Fifth Third Center at One Seagate, 550 N. Summit St. It features visual and literary pieces by 45 members of Prizm. Continuing through May 10, hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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Anneliese Gryta of the Microenterprise Legal Assistance Project at Advocates for Basic Legal Equality will present a free workshop for visual and performing artists, writers, composers, and other creative workers about the importance of contracts for artists, essential points in a contract, and sample agreements for commissioned works, consignment, transfer of work, and more. The meeting will be 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Professional Building, 1838 Parkwood Ave., Room 450. Reservations are required: 419-254-2787 and efinkel@acgt.org.
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Viking ships were used for trade, exploration, colonization, and warfare from 800 to 1100. An ambitious project in the field of experimental archaeology has involved reconstruction and sea trials of various types of such ships. John R. Hale will speak about them at 7:30 p.m. March 16 in the Toledo Museum of Art's Little Theater, starting with sewn-plank canoes of Scandinavia's Bronze Age and linking them to watercraft used in the Pacific and in central Africa. Hale directs liberal studies at the University of Louisville. His talk is cosponsored by the museum and the Archaeological Institute of America-Toledo Society.
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Call for artists: A new event, Maple and Main Art Fair, will be June 1 and 2 in downtown Sylvania. In addition to art booths, there will be live music and food, and a celebration of painter Walter Chapman's 100th birthday. Deadline is March 31 and applications are at maple-and-main.org. Organizers are the Sylvania Community Arts Commission and the Sylvania Chamber of Commerce.
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The Findlay Art League's Photo 30 Show opens Friday at 7 p.m. with awards presented at 8 p.m. The event is open to the public. Photographic media ranges from black-and-white film and digital color to black-glass ambertype. The gallery is at 117 W. Crawford St. in Findlay.
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The Ohio Watercolor Society's traveling show continues at the Wassenberg Art Center through March 24. About 40 original paintings from traditional to abstract by watercolorists from Ohio and the region are on view. Hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The center is at 643 Washington St. in Van Wert. Information: 419-238-6837 and wassenbergartcenter.org.
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Jill Downen, a St. Louis sculptor, will discuss her recent work at 6:30 p.m. Monday in 206 Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater at Bowling Green State University. In temporary installations, drawings, and models, she explores the symbiotic relationship between the human body and architecture. Information: 419-372-8525.
Send items at least two weeks before the event to tlane@theblade.com.