Museum: Artistic treasures await visitors to Toledo museum and area galleries

The Toledo Museum of Art will be hosting exhibits of pop culture and Ansel Adams photographs.

The Toledo Museum of Art will be hosting exhibits of pop culture and Ansel Adams photographs.

The beauty, stimulation, and challenge of art can be a part of your summer getaways and day trips.

Visits to galleries and museums cost little or nothing and provide cool refreshment.

This summer, the Toledo Museum of Art will exhibit the beloved landscapes Ansel Adams photographed through the 20th century, from June 30 to Sept. 24. Pop culture of the 1960s, including items from advertising, packaging, and comic strips, will be on view July 7 to Oct. 8.

Many of the best local artists will fill the museum s large Canaday Gallery with contemporary art from July 28 to Sept. 3 in the 88th annual Toledo Area Artists exhibition, one of the longest-running juried contests in the country.

The museum will host its second Juneteenth Celebration June 17, 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with music, dance, film, and demonstrations of African-American traditions.

The new, $30 million Glass Pavilion, on Monroe Street across from the museum, is scheduled to open in late August.

The area s private galleries, lovingly operated by artists and art aficionados, offer more treasures. Downtown Toledo has many charming galleries, such as the innovative Space 237, on four floors of a 19th-century building at 237 North Michigan St.

The Paula Brown Gallery, specializing in contemporary prints and fine American crafts, is in larger, freshly renovated quarters at 912 Monroe St.

Hosting interesting shows in the vicinity of Fifth Third Field are the Leslie Adams Gallery (1 South St. Clair St.) and 20 North Gallery (20 North St. Clair St.).

Across from the Toledo Museum of Art, the Parkwood Gallery, on the ground floor of the Professional Building at 1838 Parkwood Ave. is run by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo.

In Sylvania, the American Gallery is hosting Flower Power, paintings and even neon images of flowers. In June, it will display the glass art of Mike Wallace.

The Hudson Gallery, also in Sylvania, is owned by artists/framers Barbara and Scott Hudson and features the work of established, midcareer artists.

Fenwick Gallery of Fine Art, 7638 West Central Ave., includes the studio and paintings of wildlife artist Harold Roe. Fenwick also sells the Americana folk art paintings of Rayma Adkisson.

In Blissfield, Mich., sculptor Ken Thompson works out of his Flatlanders Art Galleries, which has several exhibition rooms in which regional artists are often featured.

Toledo Botanical Garden plants sculpture throughout acres of gardens. Its popular Crosby Festival of the Arts is set for June 24 and 25, with a preview party June 23. On site are two cottage galleries, as well as the Blair Museum of Lithophanes, open from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Lithophanes are delicate porcelain plaques that reveal their beauty when lit from behind.

Marianne Payne of the Committee for Cultural Diversity at the Toledo Museum of Art chats with artist Wil Clay in January, 2005, near one of his paintings at 20 North Gallery in downtown Toledo.

The University of Toledo s Art on the Mall show and sale of alumni-made goods will be Sunday, July 30.

An hour north, African-American Art from the Walter O. Evans Collection continues through July 2 at the Detroit Institute of Arts. It is 78 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper created from 1848 through the end of the 20th century.

Undergoing a major renovation and expansion designed by architect Michael Graves, the Detroit museum is adding more than 30,000-square-feet of gallery space. During construction, it is displaying some of its most beloved pieces, juxtaposing them with works from different aesthetics and eras.

About 30 minutes north of the Detroit museum is the beautiful campus of Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills.

Ann Arbor s hugely popular art fairs will be July 19 to 22.

A half-hour drive southeast from Toledo takes you to the maturing Schedel Arboretum & Gardens in Elmore, which has increasingly added sculpture amid the blooms. It features paintings in its Trellis Gallery, located behind the main house.

Due south of Toledo is a delightful treasure for children and adults. The Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books at the University of Findlay displays about 300 to 325 pieces of original art from children s books, systematically rotating its collection of 3,000 items. A new, 8,000-square-foot addition is expected to be completed next year for the museum s 25th anniversary.

If you re visiting Lima, make time for Artspace/Lima, dedicated to providing visual arts to the west-central Ohio region. It s in a charming 19th-century three-story brick building in downtown s Town Square.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, closed during a $258 million renovation and expansion, has lent pieces to Oberlin College s Allen Memorial Art Museum (British paintings, through June 5), and to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which is displaying the museum s ceramic pieces by Viktor Schreckengost, Cleveland artist and designer, through Aug. 13.

Part of Cleveland s museum will reopen Oct. 15 with a major show, Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali.

Don t have time for an out-of-town escape? Take a tour of Toledo s art in public places using the Toledo Sculpture Tours online booklet on the Web site of the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo (www.acgt.org). It lists scores of sculptures and murals, and includes photos, descriptions, and maps.

And to take in 22 fine sculptures in one blow, meander the sculpture garden in front of the Toledo Museum of Art along Monroe Street.

Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.