Photo club donations aid 46 new homeowners

'Hocking Hills: Fiber Reflections,' is a 50-by-38-inch fiber and mixed-media piece by Sharon Hammer Baker, Deborah Bewley, Gerry Brock, Linda Dove, Judy Kahle, Patty Kehoe, Susan Krueger, Pamela MacGregor, Frances Parry, Letty Roller, and Connie Stark. The work is based on a photo by David Bewley.

'Hocking Hills: Fiber Reflections,' is a 50-by-38-inch fiber and mixed-media piece by Sharon Hammer Baker, Deborah Bewley, Gerry Brock, Linda Dove, Judy Kahle, Patty Kehoe, Susan Krueger, Pamela MacGregor, Frances Parry, Letty Roller, and Connie Stark. The work is based on a photo by David Bewley.

Moving into one’s own home after a period of homelessness is a joyful event, and for 46 people, that transition will be even more wonderful thanks to the Photo Arts Club of Toledo. Nineteen members donated 46 matted and framed color photographs, mostly landscape, flora, and fauna, to several agencies that assist people making that transition. The idea was triggered by a gift of high-quality frames and plexiglas from Wally Purkey, a retired Northwood photographer and gallery owner. Some club members had been mulling ideas about how to give back to the community and Purkey’s gift fit right in.

Etching titled 'A Cent Into Heaven' by Craig Fisher. His work is on view at the Perrysburg Municipal Building through Oct. 15.

“We sent out a notice to club members telling them about the project and asking them to submit pictures suitable for hanging in homes,” said Donna Gottschalk. “We got 150 pictures, whittled it down to 100, then at a meeting, voted on 46.”

Submitting multiple images were Ms. Gottschalk, Deb Rankin, Bill Rankin, and Mark V’Soske, The club is at Toledo Botanical Garden. Members also donate time and talent to take family portraits at the Friendly Center each year.

● Complex and highly detailed etchings by Craig Fisher will be displayed in the Perrysburg Municipal Building through Oct. 15. Fisher, a graphic designer and commercial illustrator, fills his work with creatures inspired by small organic matter and by tools (springs, cogs, switches) that are out of context. The building is at 201 W. Indiana Ave. in Perrysburg.

● Fiberforum: Threads that Bind will celebrate its participating artists at a 5 to 7 p.m. reception Tuesday in the Library Gallery at the Findlay campus of Owens Community College. The show continues through Oct. 4. Fiberforum is a group of fiber artists who have met for 40 years. In a 50-inch-by-38-inch collaborative piece called Hocking Hills: Fiber Reflections, members worked off of a black-and-white photograph by David Bewley, each taking a segment of the image and recreating it in fabric, felt, embroidery, or sewing. The result is a colorful and textural composite view of the forest.

For Overheard at Bass Pro, members met at Bass Pro Shops and wandered around individually, listening for snippets of conversation from shoppers. They used those overheard remarks as inspiration for individual projects. Works are by Sharon Hammer Baker, Deborah Bewley, Gerry Brock, Ruth Carpenter, Linda Dove, Judy Kahle, Patty Kehoe, Susan Krueger, Pam MacGregor, Frances Parry, Letty Roller, and Connie Stark.

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The last Art Walk of 2013 will be Sept. 12 at which two dozen art-related galleries, eateries, studios, and shops in and around downtown will open their doors from 6 to 9 p.m. Free guided tours will begin at at 6:15 and 6:45 p.m. at the Art Walk Info Table (at S. St. Clair and Lafayette streets). Maps at theartscommission.com. Information: 419-254-2787.

● A 6 to 9 p.m. reception on Sept. 12 will celebrate the opening of Everlasting Home/​Ephemeral Archive at Launch Pad Cooperative, 911 Jefferson Ave. It’s a show of installations by Emily Dorr of Troy, N.Y., that incorporates entomology pins and collage. She’s structured her pieces from naturally occurring forms such as swarms, clusters, and murmurations, and her themes touch on fertility, the home, traditional customs, childhood, and violence. The work’s meticulous construction provokes a worrisome contrast with the resulting product’s short, delicate life span. This will be the first exhibit by an artist from outside the region for Launch Pad, a local collaborative. The closing reception and artist talk will be 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 25. Other than the receptions, the gallery is open by appointment. Information: www.launchpadcooperative.com.

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The American Gallery will feature plein air watercolor paintings of the Monday Morning Painters, opening with a 5 to 7 p.m. reception on Sept. 14. It will continue through Oct. 14. The gallery is at 6600 Sylvania Ave. at McCord Road in Sylvania. Information: 419-882-8949.

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Places I Have Been, opening Monday with a 6:30 to 8 p.m. reception, features fiber art, painting, collage, photographs, jewelry, and miniature literary pieces by members of Prizm Creative Community. Through Oct. 30 it will be in the lower level of Way Public Library, 101 E. Indiana Ave. in Perrysburg. Information: myprizm.com.

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Artists and crafters will sell their wares from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday outside of the Toledo School for the Arts, 333 14th St. #4. It will be a warm-up for the Toledo SOUP dinner, 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, which will raise money for one of five small ventures. Information from Maxwell Austin: glasscitypedicabs@gmail.com and 419-309-3780.

● Inspired by Diego Rivera’s huge Detroit Industry murals painted for the Detroit Institute of Arts 80 years ago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) invited 15 international artists to conceive new murals based on the city’s history. Their paintings include the birth of Motown, a car (the Cadillac Eldorado), labor struggles, urban farming, and more, and comprise the exhibit, The Past is Present, opening with a 6 to 9 p.m. reception Friday at MOCAD, 4454 Woodward Ave. in Detroit. Admission is $5. Information: 313-832-6622 and mocadetroit.org.

Send items for News of Art two weeks before the event to tlane@theblade.com.