PEACH WEEKENDER

News of Art: 4-24

Tree City Film Festival gets under way in Sylvania

‘Odaliske’ is the latest addition to the collection at the Blair Museum of Lithophanes at Toledo Botanical Garden. The museum opens its 2014 season with an exhibit featuring the work of Columbus artist Tara Polansky.

The 2014 Tree City Film Festival begins today and continues through Saturday in Sylvania. Short films by students will be shown at 6 tonight in Northview High School; admission is $3. Friday, Oscar-nominated short films will be screened at Northview with animated shorts at 6 p.m. and live-action pieces at 8 p.m. Admission is $8.

Adult entrants were given 50 hours to create their films. Their entries will be screened at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday in the Train Barn at the Sylvania Historical Village. Admission is $8; for the 3 p.m. show student/​senior tickets are $5. The 8 p.m. screening is expected to sell out quickly. Information: 419-517-0118 or e-mail director@sylvaniaarts.org.

Read more about the festival in Friday’s Peach section.

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At the Toledo Museum of Art:

● Abstract artist Sean Scully will discuss his oil paintings and inspiration at 6 p.m. May 1 in the Peristyle. Scully’s paintings of bars, blocks, and stripes have earned him an international reputation. Museum director Brian Kennedy wrote Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe, in 2008. “He has a capacity for talking about abstract art that opens people’s eyes,” said Kennedy. The talk is free.

● Decoding the Astronomical Narrative in the Codex Borgia, a masterpiece of ancient Mexico, will be discussed by Susan Milbrath at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Little Theater. Colorful drawings created between 1325 and 1520 show ceremonies that are linked to events in the sky. Milbrath will explain how she used computer simulations of astronomical events to come up with her reading of the drawings. She is curator of Latin American art and archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The event is cosponsored by the AIA-Toledo Society.

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Opening from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday is the Blair Museum of Lithophanes, featuring contemporary porcelain work by Tara Polansky, a teacher at Columbus College of Art and Design. Polansky, who has studied in Hungary, crafts lithophanes using photographs, cups, and works on paper. Also displayed in this exhibit called Revelations and Withholdings will be items from the Blair’s 2,300-piece collection made by Lazlo Horvath, a designer at Herend Porcelain, a Hungarian manufacturer of premier porcelain, and the Blair’s most recent acquisition, Odaliske, circa 1820. The museum’s new gift shop is stocked with lithophane lamps, Victorian lithophane stands, night lights, and more.

First created in Europe in the early 1800s, lithophanes are translucent porcelain plaques which, when backlit, reveal images. The Blair, with the largest collection in the world, is in Toledo Botanical Garden and open at no charge from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, May through October, and to groups by appointment. Information: 419-245-1356 and www.lithophanemuseum.org.

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At the Metroparks:

● Sunday in the Park with Art: the Maumee River, a watercolor session, will be 1 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Indianola Picnic Shelter at Farnsworth Metropark. Register by Friday. Fee: $12. Information: 419-407-9701 and metroparkstoledo.com.

● Nature Shoot: Wet Sand Prairie at Irwin Prairie led by Art Weber, will be 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 1. Reservations are due by Monday. Fee: $15. Information: 419-407-9757 and http://​reservations.metroparkstoledo.com/​programs.

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Call for artists: Planned Parenthood seeks artists to create fashionable accessories using 350 colorful condoms provided by Planned Parenthood for its Art of Prevention Condom Art Show and fund-raiser Oct. 8 in the Parkwood Gallery. Last year’s designs can be seen at www.artofprevention.com. Information: 419-255-3730 and lauren.bartolozzi@ppoh.org.

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Anatomy for the Artist is a six-week class beginning Tuesday, 6 to 9 p.m., and taught by Jennifer Giovannucci at Art Supply Depo, 29 S. St. Clair St. The fee is $190. Also at the store, Drink & Draw is 7 to 10 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of the month. The fee is $10. Registration: www.artsupplydepo.com.

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Contemporary Mexican majolica pottery is at La Galeria, 1224 Broadway, through May 24. The 16 pieces, including five murals made from tiles, were crafted by artists who were invited by Uriate Talavera in Puebla, Mexico, to interpret Cinco de Mayo, the day in 1862 when indigenous Mexicans in Puebla defeated the French invaders. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon., Weds., and Fri. Visitors may need to call the number posted on the door to gain entry. Additional pieces in this collection can be seen in the Rare Book Room at the Main Library and at Maumee Valley Country Day School’s Kaspersak Center Lobby, Door #1. Information: 419-241-1655.

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An artist talk and closing reception for ReedRead — art that employs text, books, and communication — will be 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday in LeSo Gallery, 1527 Starr Ave.

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Downtown Bowling Green’s Art Walk will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Among the visual and performing arts will be a display of 50 handmade quilts, from crib and wall quilts to large bed coverings. Throughout the day, members of the Black Swamp Quilters Guild will demonstrate their skills at the Busy Thimble, 148 S. Main St.

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The 42nd International Glass Invitational Awards Exhibition opens at 8 p.m. Saturday in Habatat Galleries, 4400 Fernlee Ave., Royal Oak, Mich. Ninety-two invited artists from 24 countries, including Toledoan Jack Schmidt, each submitted two new pieces for this prestigious show that continues through June 28. Information: 248-554-0590 and info@habatat.com.

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New work by Janealla Killebrew will be at the Gaslight Gallery, 117 E. Crawford St., Findlay during May. An opening reception will be 5 to 9 p.m. May 2 during Findlay’s Art Walk. Collage, photography, charcoal drawings, and cut-paper note cards by this retired art teacher will be displayed. Information: www.thegaslightgallery.org.

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