Downtown Akron Self-Guided Public Art Tour | Part 2
Categories Family Fun Budget-Friendly Arts & Entertainment
This guide is built to give you everything you need to enjoy a self-guided walking tour of public art in downtown Akron. This is Part 2, which features works of art located north of Mill Street. Lace up your shoes, grab a snack or drink—perhaps even a DORA beverage—from one of downtown’s 50+ dining establishments, and get exploring!
Looking for Part 1? View it here.
1. Gay Games Sculpture
Artist: Don Drumm
Location: Outside the John S. Knight Center, 77 E Mill St, Akron, OH 44308
This sculpture was commissioned to commemorate the 2014 Gay Games, an international sporting event that is designed to be inclusive to all people regardless of sexual orientation or athletic ability. The games were held in Cleveland in 2014. The 2014 Gay Games featured 35 different sports and events, including badminton, cheer, darts, rowing, squash, table tennis, and water polo.
2. Human
Artist: Boa Mistura Art Collective
Location: High/Market Parking Deck, 40 S High St, Akron, OH 44308
When Boa Mistura returned to Akron in 2023 to refresh the STEM Plaza, they also created this mural on the High/Market parking deck, moved by the death of Jayland Walker and issues of racial inequity in the United States. The mural shows the word “human” in bright, overlapping letters, and says, “We all share the same sun.” This piece of art was installed as a replacement to the Never Turn Back mural Boa Mistura completed in 2018.
3. Abstract Mural on Main
Artist: Kelly Urquhart
Location: Open green space next to Chameleon Café, 23 S Main St, Akron, OH 44308
In 2008, artist Kelly Urquhart was chosen to be the lead artist in creating a mural for the Lock 3 Summer Arts Experience. The mural depicts abstract figures in an alien world.
Click here to learn more about the artist.
4. Eagle Wheel
Artist: Mark di Suvero
Location: The Akron Art Museum’s Sculpture Garden, 24 S Broadway St, Akron, OH 44308
This immense sculpture is what happens when harsh angles and industrial nature meet intricate balance and graceful movement. Mark di Suvero created this piece between 1976 and 1979 and it was acquired by the Akron Art Museum in 1980. The sculpture is painted in di Suvero’s signature color, intense industrial orange. The piece is said to bridge the gap between art and our everyday lives. The focal point of the statue is a large flywheel that was resurrected from a sawmill in California.
5. Contacts III
Artist: Alexander Liberman
Location: Behind the Akron Art Museum, near the group entrance. Accessible through sidewalk between High and Broadway. 1 S High St, Akron, OH 44308
Little is known about Contacts III. Some say it was created across the cosmos and is a hyper realistic depiction of an alien life form. Others say it is as old as time itself. Others say it was created by Alexander Liberman in 1970 and then acquired by the art museum in 1976. Who’s to say which of these is correct?
(We’ll say it. It’s the third thing.)
Liberman is considered an early proponent of Minimalism, a style of art that relies on hard-edged basic shapes and forms, limited use of color, and limited artistic expression outside the form and materials of the artwork itself. Contacts III illustrates the artist’s interest in industrial processes and modernization.
6. Welcome
Artist: Charles R. Mitchell
Location: Behind the Akron Art Museum, near the group entrance. Accessible through sidewalk between High and Broadway. 1 S High St, Akron, OH 44308
Charles R. Mitchell was born in Akron in 1922 and went through many changes in his life before becoming an artist. From being a B-17 bomber pilot (first lieutenant) during World War II to studying at the Cleveland School of Art to working in automobile design for a few companies including Chrysler, Mitchell certainly had variety to his life. Mitchell left the automobile industry in 1980 to pursue a career as an artist. In 1990, Mitchell created Welcome which was inspired by a tale of cupid from classical mythology which you can read about on the plaque in front of the sculpture.
7. Kings and Queens
Artist: Kirk Mangus and Summit County Teens
Location: Parking lot wall behind Summit Artspace at 140 E Market St, Akron, OH 44308. Parking lot entrance is on Summit St.
Kings and Queens is a 225-feet-wide by nine-feet-tall mural depicting faces representing diverse ethnic groups in Akron, and “honoring the city’s past, present, and future of cultural heritage.”1 Internationally-acclaimed ceramic artist Kirk Mangus, who was a faculty member at Kent State University, secured funding in 2006 from the National Endowment for the Arts, the County of Summit, and the Vernon L. Odom Fund of Akron Community Foundation to work with 25 Summit County teens in the creation of the mural. In 2022, Mangus’s widow (and internationally renowned artist) Eva Kwong worked with local students to restore the mural, and Summit Artspace commissioned a new community-based digital mural titled Faces of Akron to coincide with the restoration of Kings and Queens.
8. Akron Children's Hospital Metal Flower Sculptures
Artist: Judith Spater and Stephen Canneto
Location: Featured sculpture is on the sidewalk of Market St., opposite the art museum. 49 E Market St, Akron, OH 44308
Akron Children’s commissioned 25 different sculptures designed by Judith Spater and built by Stephen Canneto in 2014–2015. The sculptures celebrate community spirit and support in Akron along with Akron Children’s 125th anniversary, which was in 2015. These sculptures are between six and nine feet tall, made from durable weather-resilient metal and paint and are spread across northeast Ohio, many located in Akron. You could take a tour just to see each of these sculptures! If you have finished this tour and are looking for more, see if you can find all the sculptures.
9. Art Bomb Brigade Mural
Artists: Art Bomb Brigade and Students through Arts LIFT
Location: Across many walls and surfaces in the Historic Arts District. Featured image is at 51 E Market St, Akron, OH 44308.
In 2018, the Art Bomb Brigade worked with a group of students through Arts LIFT on a series of murals spreading throughout the Historic Arts District. This mural features a wide gamut of colors and various organic and geometric shapes and textures. The goal of the mural was to encourage visitors to come to one destination and stay for another.
10. Northside Green
Artist: April Nicholson-Couch
Location: In the middle of the Northside District’s main parking lot. 106 N High St, Akron, OH 44308
In 2020, DAP partnered with Summit Metro Parks and local artist April Nicholson-Couch to turn what was once an ordinary parking lot in the Northside District into a butterfly waystation. The Northside Green, as it is called, supports pollinators and serves as a space for passersby to enjoy the area. The colorful ground mural that spans the Northside Green is filled with butterfly imagery.
11. Outside the Box Gallery
Artists: Various
Location: TrueNorth Akron, 110 N Main St, Akron OH 44308
Outside the Box is a collection of shipping containers that have been upcycled and turned into a gallery by Curated Storefront. Artists from around the country and world create murals and ignite creativity by bringing high-profile art to Akron.
Want to see more art? Be sure to check out the first part of this self-guided public art tour if you haven’t already, and take a look at this additional self-guided tour to Curated Storefront’s downtown Akron art installations.
See our updated traffic advisories and parking information to navigate and park downtown with ease.
Mentioned in this Post
Akron Art Museum
1 S High St
John S. Knight Center
77 E Mill St
Summit Artspace
140 E Market St
High/Market Parking Deck
40 S High St
Chameleon Cafe Akron
23 S Main St
Northside Green
106 N Main St
TrueNorth Akron
110 N Main St