My Hometown is Suddenly Full of Cool Outdoor Art Installations

I wouldn't necessarily call my hometown "full of culture." It's a nice place, & I love it, but as an example, every festival held on the downtown riverfront, from Italian Fest to Irish Fest to Oktoberfest, features a bevy of carnival foods from corndogs to funnel cakes, without much distinction between them.

I was surprised, then, when I was having lunch with my mom earlier this summer & noticed that a large-scale reproduction of a painting was being installed on the brick wall of the bar across the street. My mom mentioned that a large piece of art had gone up outside the local library, too, as part of Inside|Out, described as "a community-activated art project that brings high quality art reproductions from the Akron Art Museum's collection into your neighborhood."

Cool, right? It's like an art scavenger hunt all around town!And so I set about trying to find all of the 10 art installations around the city of Cuyahoga Falls.

There was, of course, the one we watched go up...

...& this sort-of-macabre one at the local library.

 
There was this industrial-looking one in the park across the street from my middle school...

...& this brightly colored one at the community center that hosted a lot of awkward dances for students of the three area middle schools when I was growing up.

There was this wintry one right downtown, on the wall of one of my favorite brunch spots...

...& this very serene one sandwiched between the police station & the gym where I worked in college.

There was this one, another pretty little winter scene, in a lovely little park I didn't even know existed...

...& this wacky, eyeball-filled one in another lovely park I didn't even know existed.

In all, I only had time to find eight of the 10 before by big move up to Cleveland, but it was such a fun way to explore my hometown before I left. I hope that other residents are enjoying it as much as I did, teaching their kids that you can eat a gyro at the Irish Fest but still hold a deep appreciation for the finer things in life.

Thanks, Akron Art Museum, for making my hometown a little bit artsier this summer!