Experience art in a different way. The “Please Touch” exhibit at the Akron Art Museum, which runs March 2 through July 16, offers the added dimension of touch to the traditional museum experience, and asks visitors to explore the work with their hands as well as their eyes.
“’Please Touch’ builds upon the recent exhibition, ‘Jimmy Kuehnle: Wiggle, Giggle, Jiggle,’ which created a maze-like inflatable sculpture in the gallery that visitors could not only touch, but inhabit,” says Alison Caplan, Akron Art Museum director of education. “We commissioned a group of regional artists whose art had a playful sensibility and we asked them to create new work that would engage audiences of all ages in new and unique ways.”
Inspired by childhood games, puzzles and lift-the-flap books, artists Jay Croft, Jordan Elise and Christopher Lees, and Erin Guido and John Paul Costello are creating touchable artworks that visitors can manipulate as they create meaning out of the pieces in their own way.
“Please Touch” is organized by the Akron Art Museum and supported by a generous gift from The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation. Additional support is provided by Brouse McDowell, LPA.
Museum hours are Wednesday-Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Regular admission is $10; student and senior (65+) general admission is $8, Children 17 and younger and museum members are free. Gallery admission is free every Thursday.
