Downtown Toledo is thriving, and the 3rd Thursday Loop is one of the best ways to get a taste of our city’s creative renaissance.
Want to get in the loop? Enjoy 30+ creative spaces on the third Thursday of every month. Start by taking a walk or the TARTA bus, with a $1.25 to ride for the entire evening. Enjoy specials on drinks, food and local bars, stop into galleries and studios or just soak up the incredible artistically inspiring atmosphere of a city who cares.
To make things a little easier for those overwhelmed by the options of things to do and places to see, here are top five of our favorite offerings during October’s 3rd Thursday Loop on October 15.
Shanna Merola, from We All Live Downwind
1) Art Exhibit and Opening for Piece It Together (6-9pm, UT Center for Visual Arts)
In what way is an image an act of protest: through the reaction of the spectator, or through the creator’s production? More specifically, how can a picture make a difference?
The complex intersection between art and protest will be explored through an exhibition of two up-and-coming women artists, Shanna Merola (Detroit, MI) and Sheida Soleimani (Providence, RI) at the University of Toledo’s Center for the Visual Arts Main Gallery, opening Thursday, October 15, during the 3rd Thursday in October Art Loop. Piece It Together will allow visitors to survey expressive, powerful pieces from two stunning bodies of work. Both Merola and Soleimani’s works illustrate the power of visual language through strikingly-composed 2D pieces informed by their personal, political narratives. Aesthetically impressive, the works in Piece it Together gain communicative power through the strategic narratives employed in their creation.
Shanna Merola's conceptual landscape photographs from the series We All Live Downwind will be on view. Merola’s high-resolution photo collages tie together humanity and environmental issues in a visually intense and stirring light. The documentary photographer, who works for grassroots social justice organizations and the National Lawyers Guild, brings her political work into the studio by allowing the flood of natural disasters to influence her highly compelling and contemporary work.
Iranian-American artist, Sheida Soleimani, similarly embraces her personal life in the creation of her work. The daughter of two political refugees, Soleimani has meditated on a 100-year history of Iranian politics in her widely-acclaimed series of works, National Anthem. Using sculpture, collage and photography to juxtapose contemporary, Western culture and Iranian politics, Soleimani’s works are extremely thought provoking and controversial. Dripping colors lie over accoutrements of her daily life, all inhabiting a disturbing background of political and social turmoil.
Piece it Together is a provocative, pensive exhibition, nurturing the power of image through the vigor of protest.
Shanna Merola will give a lecture in the Haigh Auditorium at 2pm on Thursday, October 15, open to the public.
The artists will also be available during the opening reception, 6-9pm, on Thursday, October 15
The exhibit will be on display through December 11
UT Center for Visual Arts, 620 Grove Place
419-530-8300 | utoledo.edu/comm-arts/art/galleries
Work by Rose Letherby
2) Art Gallery, costume party and more delightfully spooky offerings during Hallow Thursday (6-9pm, Delightful Art With Dee’s Art With A Heart)
Patron Saint of Art Parties, Dee Brown, will host a multi-sensory Halloween party during the Loop.Enthusiastic Dee encourages guests to get into the holiday spirit early and don costumes for the party. Enjoy music by local singer-songwriter, Orlando Finelli, and view work by October’s featured artist, Cat Wells Harting. In addition, Rose Letherby, “accountant by day, artist by night,” will dress in Day of the Dead attire and have 12 paintings from her Day of the Dead series on display.
6-9pm
Delightful Art With Dee’s Art With A Heart, 137 N. Michigan St.
delightfulart.org
RSVP online
3) The School of High Art presents A Film In Color, Transparency Committee, and Welling (8pm, 4th Floor of the Secor Building)
Built to help support releases for his band Daniken, Pat Peltier’s “pet project,” record label/studio/promo company/professors of chill, The School of High Art, will bring you an evening of experimental soundscapes and moody music. New Jersey’s dreamy post rockers, A Film In Color, will hit an aggro-note, juxtaposed with the ambient noise by Transparency Committee, and Welling, the solo-moniker of Daniken’s Peltier. Get weird and experience a sudden chill during the evening show, housed in the Secor Building practice space shared between Transparency Committee, Shmotel and Awesome Job.
Secor Building 4th Floor, 425 Jefferson Ave.
facebook.com/theschoolofhighart
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Craving more education from The School Of High Art?
Pat Peltier will show off his visual works during Peripheral Completion, at Beads & Books (4925 Dorr St. Suite A, 419-350-1087, beadsandbooks419.com) at 5pm on Friday, October 16. Celebrate the store’s one year anniversary, and give a nod to Eric Nedrow, co-owner and band member of Daniken, during the art opening.
Get amped with even more tripped out sounds the following day, when Daniken, Detroit psych rockers Crazy Toy, and Awesome Job, “Toledo Fuzz Mongers with hearts of gold,” play together at Lido Lanes (865 South Ave., 419-2544-7456), at 6pm on Saturday, October 17.
4) Exhibition Opening Party for Degas and the Dance (6-9pm, The Toledo Museum of Art)
Enjoy an opportunity to be an adult wearing a tutu in public (only during the Loop, of course). A ballet-rich atmosphere will be en pointe during the grand opening of the Toledo Museum of Art’s major fall exhibition, Degas and the Dance. Celebrate 75 years of the Toledo Ballet’s performances of The Nutcracker while standing amongst some of Edgar Degas’ most notable ballet-inspired pieces. The party will include two live performances by the Toledo Ballet on the exhibition’s specially designed dance studio, live drawing in the Great Gallery, a cash bar and even enjoy a dance or two of your own. The Ballet Barre Members’ Lounge will feel like a Parisian cafe, as The Cloister Gallery is transformed into a members-only patisserie, offering coffee, hot cocoa, traditional petit fours and music performed by the Toledo School for the Arts string ensemble.
6-9pm
The Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe St.
419-255-8000 | toledomuseum.org
RSVP online
5) Monsters Under The Bed, (5:30-9pm at Toledo School for the Arts’ Gallerie 333)
Jump into the world of daydreams and imaginary friends during TSA’s October illustration show. Inspired by storytelling, Toledo artist, Michelle Duni, and David Gildersleeve, of Savannah, Georgia, have filled the Toledo School for the Arts’ Gallerie 333 with illustrations of the wonderful world of child imagination. Explore the interaction of childhood and fantasy during the second gallery party for this lovely, imaginative show.
5:30-9pm
Toledo School for the Arts Gallerie 333, 333 14th St.
419-246-8732 | ts4arts.org
RSVP Online
