Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday from 11am - 4 pm | 191 S. Main St. Akron, OH 44308 | Mailing Address: 121 South Main Street Suite 500 Akron, OH
Gallery is open Wed-Sat 11AM - 4PM at 191 King James Way Akron, OH 44308
Now on view
Debra DeGregorio: co≈rrelate
Burton D. Morgan Gallery: Exhibition on view
Nov. 8 - Dec. 16. 2023.
Opening reception Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, 5:00 - 7:30 pm
A Closing Reception will be held Friday, December 16, 5:00 PM - 7:30 PM. This same evening Akron Soul Train will announce their incoming 2024 Arists-in-Residence. Look for more details about this exciting event soon.
A Windstorm of Connection and Aversion: Artist Debra DeGregorio presents co≈rrelate
Mixed media artist Debra DeGregorio’s exhibit co≈rrelate rises and disintegrates across the page and space in a way that exposes “the contents of the mind caught in a windstorm.” Using drawing, collage and ‘micro installations’ of string, paper and pins, she depicts an interior process of connection and aversion. Bright colors, bits of old work, scraps, line and debris; these become symbols that come together and fall apart in a way which relates to the human process of attachment and detachment.
In co≈rrelate, DeGregorio expands the idea of connection and disconnection to include personal shares from the community. Gathered anonymously over months, online and in person, these shares are vulnerable and unique, familiar and universal. The words are embedded within large drawings and installations throughout the gallery.
“Whether conveying a sense of comfort or loneliness, [I am] interested in the common underlying threads of experience; within the works, the shares, the viewer, the artist and oneself.” - Debra DeGregorio
Co≈rrelate is generously sponsored by HFS Wealth Advisors.
About the artist Debra DeGregorio:
Born in Pittsburgh, Debra studied Printmaking and Drawing at Kent State University, Ceramics and Printmaking at the University of Akron, and received an MFA in Printmaking from SUNY in New Paltz, NY. She has shown her art throughout the Midwest and has contributed to multiple juried exhibitions nationally. Debra resides in Cleveland, Ohio, and is currently teaching Drawing at Youngstown State University.
Raja Belle Freeman: Consider this Your Trigger Warning
CapSOUL Gallery: Exhibition on view Nov. 8 - Dec. 16, 2023.
Opening reception Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, 5:00 - 7:30 pm
A Closing Reception will be held Friday, Dec. 16, 5:00 PM - 7:30 PM. This same evening Akron Soul Train will announce their incoming 2024 Arists-in-Residence. Look for more details about this exciting event soon.
Artist Poet Raja Belle Freeman’s Exhibit “Consider This Your Trigger Warning” Demands Attention
“Consider This Your Trigger Warning” is Raja Belle Freeman’s collection of political poetry presented with her visual art. The mixed genre aesthetic both reminds the audience to look and listen. “Trigger Warning” presents juxtaposed imagery, one side shows society uplifting the black man, respecting and loving him, seeing his beauty. On the other side, society’s complacency with the black man’s destruction in the most gruesome and public way. Coupled with striking poetry this exhibit seeks to sensitize a society once more and to fight for what should not be buried.
“I found myself regularly discussing the cyclical nature of the consumption of Black bodies in the media. Someone was killed, we'd mourn them collectively, our passion for them would dissipate, someone new would be killed, and again, and again. My work focuses not only on this cycle, but on how it leads to collective desensitization when it comes to the destruction of people of color. Plainly, we can see a person of color die on our phones in the morning and still be right back to our day before the afternoon. I try to make this clear in my poems while capturing the way that it affects me personally, how it changes the way I navigate through the world, and how important it is to continue to call out injustice before we lose the will to fight anymore.” - Raja Belle Freeman
About the poet and artist Raja Belle Freeman:
Raja Belle Freeman is a performance poet and visual artist. She realized her passion for writing at Twelve Literary Arts where she became a teaching artist. Now she teaches at Lake Erie Ink, a youth writing space. Raja is a member of the board of directors of South Euclid’s community development corporation One South Euclid. She graduated from Cleveland State University with a BA in Creative Writing and a minor in Black Studies. Freeman has been quoted in several outlets including Scene Magazine, WKYC, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and others. Raja Belle Freeman’s poetry can be found on various YouTube channels.