MEDINA, Ohio -- The Medina Library, 210 S. Broadway St., recently opened a new art show in the B. Smith Gallery on the third floor. The show features the artwork of five local women who belong to a group called Women In Art, formed in 2019 to exhibit and sell their artwork.
According to their brochure, “We make art for the love of art, for the happiness it brings us and to release the creative energy within.”
Deanna Clucas works with watercolor and acrylics to create both realistic and abstract works. She has earned a degree in commercial art from the University of Akron. Her artworks in the show are primarily florals and rural scenes.
G. Barbara Johns is an award-winning artist whose first love is watercolor. Her artwork is in collections all over the United States. In this show, she displays several Whiskey Paintings of lovely, interesting women’s faces, as well as several floral and fruit watercolors.
"Red and Green Fish" by Darlene Young is currently on display in the third-floor art gallery at the Medina Library as part of the Women in Art exhibit. (Mary Jane Brewer, special to cleveland.com)
Darlene Young writes that her favorite medium is watercolor and that she loves botanical painting above all else. She describes her work: “Small details have always interested me, so most of my work is done in close-up views.” Several of her displayed pieces are very small.
Annette Carruthers is an award-winning polymer clay artist, whose love of animals and nature inspires her whimsical designs. She enjoys incorporating crystals, pearls, stone and metal findings into her wall art, sculptures and jewelry. Much of her artwork in the show is a combination of polymer clay sculptures with mixed media, including a vase filled with pieces of greenery, seashells and a clay sea turtle.
A one-of-a-kind entry among the paintings and clay creations is a quilt created by Teenia Geig-Koehler titled “Pieces of Covid.” Here’s how she explained her title: “I am a member of the Material Girls Quilting Group here in Medina, as well as the Medina Art League and Women in Art. Our winter challenge, ‘Chase Away the Winter Blues,’ began in March, just before the COVID-19 shutdown. Our challenge included using four pieces of blue fabric in a project. My four pieces are included in the center square.
This polymer clay/mixed media creation by artist Annette Carruthers is currently on display in the third-floor art gallery at the Medina Library as part of the Women in Art exhibit. (Mary Jane Brewer, special to cleveland.com)
“When the shutdown began, I began making masks from pieces left over from other projects. Being a quilter, I simply don’t throw away any pieces I think I might be able to use for something. That pile began to grow as I completed 320 masks, each given to a relative or organization in need. Some of those scraps became this quilt.
“Except for the original four fabrics in the center, each piece of this quilt is a leftover from making masks. My mask making not only supplied masks for people who needed them, it supplied an outlet for the emotional rollercoaster we were all on during the early days of the pandemic. Each was sewn with a prayer for the wearer, and the scraps were sewn with hope for better days ahead.”
In addition to the quilt, Geig-Koehler is exhibiting acrylic bird portraits and several mixed media pieces.
The exhibit will be on display at the library during the current abbreviated hours through Sept. 12. Library hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.
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