Akron

I want to thank the Akron Art Museum leadership and the many volunteers who made the Thursday, September 24, 2026, Community Opening Celebration a great success! It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening! The new galleries in the museum's just-renovated historic 1899 Building are fantastic.

During the Akron Art Museum reopening, I was able to view three new exhibitions that were created through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Ohio Arts Council:

• Shana Moulton: Meta/Physical Therapy
  September 23, 2026 – September 26, 2027 | C. Blake McDowell Jr. Gallery (New 1899 Building Gallery!)

• The Surrealist Impulse
  September 23, 2026 – September 12, 2027 | Susie and Tony Paparella Galleries (New 1899 Building Gallery!)

• Naudline Pierre: May the Light Reach You
  September 23, 2026 – April 18, 2027 | Karl and Bertl Arnstein Galleries

There was so much that I saw during the Community Opening Celebration, that I created the following outline of this blog post. If you want to jump directly to one of these sections of the blog post, please click on the following links:

1. Free Community Opening Celebration
   - Wave Space Studio
   - Idea Machine by CHIAOZZA
   - Zygote Press

2. New C. Blake McDowell Jr. Gallery
   - Shana Moulton: Meta/Physical Therapy

3. New Susie and Tony Paparella Galleries
   - The Surrealist Impulse

4. Music by The Sonder Bombs

5. Second Floor Previously Existing Galleries

I hope my blog post encourages readers to visit both the new space in the 1899 Building and the existing Akron Art Museum galleries.

Thursday, April 9, 2026 -- My day of art!

I have created this blog post to share with you my impressions of the day I visited two art exhibitions at one venue, and the reopening of a second, renovated art venue. I want to encourage my readers to visit in person what I share online here. I also deviate from this one day to share my photos from a third art venue, which I visited on April 2nd.

The main blog post sections feature:

• Improper Frames - Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer Station

• Martin Puryear: Nexus - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Manet & Morisot - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Summit Artspace Grand Reopening Party

I want to take this opportunity to state how fortunate we are in Northeast Ohio to have these art venues to enjoy!

The unusually warm weather on Saturday, April 4, 2026, brought huge crowds out to the annual Sakura Festival in Akron, Ohio. This was Stuart's second time attending the Festival, but it was a first-time visit for Julie and our son, Kevin. The Festival was hosted by the Downtown Akron Partnership.

Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. The Japanese cherry blossom trees, planted by the Japanese Association of Northeast Ohio (JANO) along the canal in downtown Akron, were beautifully in bloom. The crowds enjoyed the delicate, pink blossoms as they walked along the canal and patronized the many vendors who participated. There were crafts, and performances by a drumming group and dancers, as well as opportunities to learn about Japanese culture, including a traditional tea ceremony.

Thank you for reading our blog post, and we hope you will share it with others so they can learn about this fun Akron event and scenic trail.

I was so pleased to have participated in the academic activities that were part of this year's celebration of the 60 years of Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP). After attending the Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Archives 60th Anniversary Open House, the Executive Director of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, Cathy Faye, Ph.D., invited me to return for a full day of learning about the history of AHAP at the Saturday, November 8, 2025, Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the History of American Psychology. Following the symposium, a HUGE surprise announcement was made at the celebratory cocktail party: A one-million-dollar challenge grant!

Over six years ago, I learned about the National Museum of Psychology. When I finally visited on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, I learned that there was much more to the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology than just the psychology museum.

I really enjoyed all the times I have visited the Center, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about its history on this 60th anniversary. I put this blog post together to congratulate the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology board members, staff, and supporters, not only for the progress made over the Center's history, but for the bright prospects for the future!

I attended the March 13, 2025, Akron ArtWalk after I learned about it via an invitation from Summit Artspace Executive Director Heather Meeker.

For this blog post, I gathered my photos, videos, and information about the following four venues I visited to encourage you to learn more about them:

• Summit Artspace

• Art x Love

• Akron Soul Train

• Akron Art Museum

I also include in this blog post information about Summit DD (Summit County Developmental Disabilities Board) and related agencies that Summit Artspace arranged to be involved to make this the "2nd Annual Inclusive Akron Artwalk." This is part of Summit Artspace's commitment to empowering artists of all abilities.

I also want to say thank you to Downtown Akron Partnership for sharing my #AkronArtwalk experience thread on Bluesky.

Thank you to the leaders of these four art institutions for providing an enjoyable evening for my first Akron ArtWalk. I hope that this blog post gets you motivated to get out to visit these venues, and to also learn about the other locations that are partners in these Akron ArtWalks. Have fun!!!

As I have done in the past, I wanted to create this blog post to share my photos from the holiday lights in the area, but this year there were two big differences:

• Unlike past years, I attended the official lighting ceremonies at four locations!! Normally, I only attend the downtown Cleveland Lighting Ceremony, and then would see the holiday lights display at Nela Park, Akron, and University Circle during my normal holiday visits to those venues. This made this year special!

• A second difference is that I also attended two arts venues the same evenings as two of the lighting ceremonies. I wanted to share these experiences this blog post. First, after I attended the University Circle holiday lighting ceremony, I went to a Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program production. Second, before the Akron holiday lighting ceremony, I toured Summit ArtSpace.

What follows are my photos and videos of:

• Saturday, November 23, 2024
  Illuminate the Circle: A Magical Holiday Experience - Cleveland's University Circle
  and Jesus Christ Superstar - Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program - Wine Cast

• Friday, November 29, 2024
  Tour of Summit ArtSpace
  and
  Welcome Santa Parade & Grand Reopening Celebration For Lock 3 - Akron

• Saturday, November 30, 2024
  WinterLand Cleveland - #WinterLandCLE in Tower City & Public Square - Downtown Cleveland

• Friday, December 6, 2024
  GE Nela Park’s 100th Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony - East Cleveland

I feel so fortunate to be able to attend these holiday lighting ceremonies and arts events. Thank you to all the creative people who enrich my life!

After spending three days in and around Niagara Falls, we were out again for more fun the day after we returned. On Thursday, November 14, 2024, we had a most enjoyable day with our son, Michael, in Akron, enjoying two art exhibitions. Visiting Akron art galleries was a great way to spend a rainy day.

We first visited the Myers School of Art's Emily Davis Gallery at the University of Akron, and then went to the Akron Art Museum. We would have also visited Akron's Summit Artspace, but it is not open on Thursdays, and the three of us wanted to make use of the Thursday FREE admission at the Akron Art Museum.

Our main motivation for going to Akron was to see the following two exhibitions, but we also want to share what else we enjoyed during our day:

• Skull & Bones Exhibition

• GLOW: Neon & Light

We wrote this blog post so you can learn about our day, and to encourage you to visit these Akron art venues.

When Stuart saw the announcement on social media for the Institute for Human Science and Culture's Misinformation Society panel discussion on October 2, 2024, he knew that it was important to attend. The topic is of immediate importance as we are in an election cycle that has included a historic level of misinformation and disinformation.

Originally, Stuart planned to watch the YouTube livestream of the event. After Stuart wrote about his tour of the National Museum of Psychology on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Julie also became interested in seeing the museum.

This blog post is about the two of us attending the October 2, 2024, panel of University of Akron professors discussing misinformation/disinformation, and then touring two sections of the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.

The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, located at The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, collects, preserves, provides access to, and interprets the historical record of psychology and related human sciences. . . .

The Center houses the Archives of the History of American Psychology and the National Museum of Psychology, as well as the multidisciplinary Institute for Human Science and Culture.

We want to thank the "Misinformation Society" panel members for sharing their knowledge on this important topic. Also, a BIG thank you to the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology staff for their Brown Bag History series and for our visit to the institute galleries and the Psychology Museum. We are very fortunate to have this great resource in Northeast Ohio.

On March 30, 2024, I decided to attend "330 Day" at House Three Thirty after I saw the interesting activities planned for their special day of celebration! What made the event special is that it was in recognition of the first anniversary of this new community center created by the LeBron James Family Foundation. While the activities of the day were really enjoyable, the thing that made me really interested in attending is the knowledge that this facility has a higher purpose.

It is great that the LeBron James Family Foundation supports this new community resource in Akron!

I wrote this blog post to congratulate House Three Thirty on their first year of serving the community, and to share what I learned. What follows is information from the day, and the photos and videos from my visit, organized under the following headings:

• 3:30 pm on 3/30 - Our Community PROMISE

• Venues

• Family Room Entertainment

• Cabaret Entertainment

We are very fortunate to have House Three Thirty in Northeast Ohio!!

I am so glad that I finally toured The National Museum of Psychology on Wednesday, March 20, 2024!! The National Museum of Psychology is within the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP), which is located at The University of Akron.

I think I first learned about The National Museum of Psychology about five years ago. I must have learned about the museum from shared social media announcements when they completed their 2019 building renovations. At that time, I immediately said to myself that I must go to explore this museum, but my visit to the museum kept getting delayed. I had earned a double major as a college undergraduate in psychology and history, with my psychology major being what I considered my primary emphasis, so I was excited to know there was a nationally recognized museum focused on my area of my interest so close to home.

Since The National Museum of Psychology does not open until 1:00 pm on Wednesdays, I first stopped to see the LeBron James Family Foundation's House Three Thirty facility - very impressive. It has a cabaret, museum, coffee shop, taco restaurant, sweet shop, bank, and more. This was my first time visiting.

In addition to The National Museum of Psychology, I also visited the Institute for Human Science and Culture (IHSC), which is on the 3rd and 4th floors of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP).

I was very fortunate to happen to pick a Wednesday (March 20, 2024) that the Summit County Children Services had arranged a special tour, pizza dinner, and informational session at the psychology museum, which they invited me to attend. I enjoyed hearing from the agency staff and from students benefiting from internship opportunities offered by this important agency.

I knew I would enjoy visiting Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP), and I am glad I finally did visit after the long delay since I learned of it five years ago. Thank you to the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP) staff for my visit. We are very fortunate to have this great resource in Northeast Ohio.