PEACH WEEKENDER

News of Art: Artists’ club members to auction 80 paintings

Vineta Cook, 'Landscapes of the Soul.'

Randi O’Reilly Lowry’s oil paintings will be on view through April in Georgette’s Grounds and Gifts shop, 311 Conant St., Maumee.

The 53rd auction of paintings by members of the Toledo Artists’ Club will be Saturday in the Maumee Elks Club, 139 W. Wayne St. in Maumee. Doors open at 6 p.m. and bidding begins at 7. Eighty paintings will be sold in a range of prices, and a raffle will offer jewelry and small paintings.

Sold will be watercolors, acrylics, landscapes, abstracts, and more by John Cook, Paul Brand, John Trumbull, Julie Daggert, Thomas Sorrell, Aaron Bivins, Richard Dziak, and many others. The club has a gallery, office, and classroom at Toledo Botanical Garden. Information: 419-531-4079 and toledoartistclub.com.

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Potters for Pets: an Evening of Critters, Clay, and Chardonnay, will be 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Manabigama Pottery Center, 13270 Bishop Rd., Bowling Green. A dozen ceramic artists have donated original works for a silent auction, with proceeds being shared by the Wood County Humane Society and Nature’s Nursery.

Manibigama is owned by Tiffany Hyland and John Thies. Information: 419-206-0320.

Vineta Cook, 'Landscapes of the Soul.'

Gallery openings:

● Four University of Toledo bachelor of fine arts seniors will display their theses projects in the Center for Visual Arts Gallery beginning with a 6 to 8 p.m. reception Friday and the work will be installed through April 18. A second group will exhibit their final projects April 22 through May 3 with an April 25 reception. Information: 419-530-8300.

● A reception for Vineta Cook and her Landscapes of the Soul, will be 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in Downtown Latte. A native of Lithuania, she’s a photographer and painter.

Cook says her influences are 1940s lyrical abstractionism as well as Van Gogh, Munch, Pollock, Ciurlionis, and K. Zimblyte. “I paint very quickly in order to express spontaneously and to catch individual, special moments,” she writes, “a true spiritual experience documented on canvas. For me, oils are the perfect medium for this. I prefer to add thicker layers of paint, which tends to make the landscapes more dramatic, while putting things in some perceived mode of perpetual motion.”

To see her work, go to www.vinetacook.com. The shop is at 44 N. St. Clair St.

● A reception for a juried student show in Terhune Gallery at Owens Community College will be 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 11. It opens Monday and continues through May 1. The gallery is in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Work by alumni will be hung on the gallery’s outside walls. Owens is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its arts center.

● Randi O’Reilly Lowry’s oil paintings will be on view through April in Georgette’s Grounds and Gifts shop, 311 Conant St., Maumee.

Calls for artists: 

● The Arts Commission and Art Corner Toledo are seeking designs for the 18th Street Mural Project. Deadline is May 2. It entails five murals, each a panel measuring 8.5-feet high by 14-feet wide and designs should incorporate the ideas of activism and community engagement.

They’ll be installed on boarded-up windows on a City of Toledo-owned building at 311 18th St. at Madison Avenue adjacent to the construction site of the UpTown Green Park.

Information: 419-254-2787 and theartscommission.org.

● Phase 1 of the East Toledo Public Art Initiative seeks designs for 18 cement trash cans already on Main Street. Deadline is May 4. The idea is to paint them with bright and innovative designs. Winning designs will receive a $100 honorarium and up to $100 to buy painting supplies. Information: lesogallery.com.

● Painters willing to paint outdoors along or near the Maumee River are invited to participate in the June 5-7 Plein Air Event in Waterville. It’s organized by the Waterville Area Arts Commission which will invite the public to watch artists in action and will host additional events for a celebration in Conrad Park. Information: 419-441-0025 and on Facebook.

● Feel as if you’re under-recognized? Harpo Foundation’s Grants for Visual Artists has a deadline of May 6 to submit work to be considered for grants up to $10,000. Applications will be evaluated on the quality of the work, potential to expand aesthetic inquiry, and relationship to the foundation’s priority to provide support to under-recognized visual artists. The foundation was started in 2006 by artist Edward Levine.

Information: harpofoundation.org/​grants-for-visual-artists.

● NASA and Ingenuity Cleveland present a challenge to create a work of art celebrating NASA’s 50-year-old workhorse, the Centaur upper-stage rocket. Deadline for the Centaur Art Challenge is May 1. Information: ingenuitycleveland.com/​centaur.

● Louis Krueger, photography professor at Bowling Green State University, will speak about his recent work at 6 p.m. Friday in Room 204 of the Fine Arts Center building.

● An art class for children ages 2 to 5 will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, as well as May 3 and June 7 at Lullaby Lane in the Shops at Fallen Timbers in Maumee. This week’s theme is based on the images of Eric Carle. Cost is $12.50. The program is in conjunction with LeSo Art Gallery. Register at Rachel@lullabylane.com and 419-878-0127.

● People who have memory loss and their caregivers are invited to a free program at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Toledo Museum of Art. For this month’s Meet Me at TMA, the group will meet in Herrick Lobby for a tour about how the Jewish religion is depicted in art. Pre-registratio​n is encouraged by calling 1-800-272-3900.

● Through Monday, quilt lovers can see four hand-sewn quilts at the Quilt Foundry, 234 W. Wayne St., Maumee. They’ll be auctioned June 21 at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Wauseon to raise money for Sunshine and the Mennonite Central Committee. Information: 419-335-3763 and blackswampbenefit.org.

● Part of the Celebration of the Arts week at Terra State Community College includes exhibits of all types of artwork by college and high school students, faculty, and regional artists, on view from 5 to 9 p.m. most days in the gallery and the halls of Bordner Arts & Health Technologies Center (Building D) from Friday to April 13.

Also shown will be pieces by acclaimed fantasy artists Dave Leri, Travis Lewis, and Chris Seaman. The college is at 2830 Napoleon Rd., Fremont.

Information: 419-559-2379 and terra.edu.

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

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