Emerging Artist Cory Sheldon brings the imaginative world of his independent video game Merry Bear into the gallery through an immersive installation of sculptural environments, props, and interactive storytelling. Blurring the boundaries between digital and physical space, the exhibition explores nostalgia, play, and the surreal intersections of memory, design, and contemporary culture.

Through Our Nikkei Eyes features artists of Japanese descent from across the United States, exploring the identities and lived experiences of Nikkei communities—Japanese and Japanese-descended individuals living outside Japan.

Untitled (Jam) pt. 2 is a participatory installation by Maddie McSweeney that invites visitors to step inside a contained space and consume jam, shifting from observer to participant. Expanding on the artist’s earlier durational work, the piece transforms a simple, sensory act into an exploration of intimacy, vulnerability, and shared presence. What begins as playful quickly becomes charged — asking audiences to consider where the boundary between self and other begins to dissolve.

Tragic Miracle considers the question: when someone passes, why is the evidence of their living— including the material items they possessed—such an important part of human existence?

In “The Universe Between Here and There,” Alyssa Lizzini explores the interwoven connection between space, time, and memory through large-scale, multi-layer drawings. Lines, grids, maps, and data become the stars, black holes, and supernovae of an ever-expanding universe of memory.

Thomas Smith, specializes in crafting sculptures for the American suburban middle class, transforming inexpensive materials into minimalist pieces inspired by mass-market decor. Through the metaphorical lens of a terrarium, the artworks explore the tension between aesthetic priorities and the impermanence of the American Dream in suburban life.

Footprints, an exhibition and fundraiser. Enjoy art prints that can be purchased to support the mission of Akron Soul Train: to provide local artists with funds, resources, and visibility in the Akron community. All printed artworks are 12” x 12” or a “foot” by a “foot.”

Akron Soul Train is working with emerging Akron artist Althea Jones to present and host her exhibition, Skin Color, a community-building interactive art performance. Skin Color was conceptualized after Jones encountered a container of peachy ink labeled “skin color.”

Spotlight Artist during our 2023 Members' Show, Nick Lee uses self-portraiture to address post-pandemic racial disparities and the dangers that threaten minorities in this country. Personal, eye-opening, and centered around cultural empathy, the exhibit asks its audience to experience the reflection of another.

Visual artist Orlando Caraballo’s exhibition “Capicú” presents a story about how personal, familial, and cultural systems create complex histories and futures, and how one inherits the choices of those that went before. Through drawing, printmaking, installation, and photography, Caraballo creates portals that peer into his life and the life of his ancestors. Layered in love, death, grief, time, and acceptance, “Capicú” contains generations of struggle, progress, and legacy.

Glacial Uprooting of a Cotton Candy Dream, focuses on ideas of the simulacra. When peeking into a microscope, dendrites become tree roots, osseous tissue become cave formations, and zygotes become astronomical orbs. Rooted in playful imagination and contradiction, Glacial Uprooting of a Cotton Candy Dream strategically deviates from mere imitation. Recycled and highly synthetic materials falsify the natural, posing larger questions about the reciprocal relationship between human beings and the environment to which we inhabit.

Gregory Hatch’s new series, That's All Folk, builds upon a decade of exploration into the felting process. He is inspired by queer comics, folk horror, weird fiction, cartoons, folk magic, and personal rituals. He uses undyed and naturally dyed wool to explore the varied possibilities of a limited palette.

​Akron Soul Train and the Black Artists Guild teamed up to produce an exhibition titled Reshaping the Narrative. Reshaping the Narrative shows positive stories of African Americans to promote equity, empathy and empowerment for all.

The Suitcase Project was a juried exhibition showcasing 9 artists whose families either migrated or immigrated to North East Ohio, up to two generations removed. The project was created by Shari Wilkins of the Cleveland Print Room, inspired by an exhibition by Tom Kiefer that documented the personal belongings carried by migrants at the US/Mexican border.

This inaugural CapSOUL show was inspired by Maya's culture and life experiences. Her pieces explore healing, freedom, and black expression.