Dragonfly Fountain

We were engaged by the Akron Zoo to create a mural for the fountain in the Lehner Family Zoo Garden, a beloved local landmark and sanctuary that first opened to the public in 2003.

Art x Love inspected the fountain, researched materials, explored several creative directions, and developed a series of mural concepts that were refined and expanded with the executive team’s feedback. We aligned on the concept of the dragonfly for its crucial role in pollination and cross-cultural symbolism.

Dragonflies have been around for more than 325 million years, have 360º vision, can fly in any direction, migrate across oceans, and currently under threat with the loss of wetland environments. “To me, dragonfly’s represent an urgency for life and conservation,” says Mac. “They live for 5 years, and spend less than 70 days as adults. It’s remarkable to think about how highly evolved and important these ancient species are.”

Dragonflies commonly represent transformation, change, new beginnings and fresh starts. Native Americans believed they represented souls passing into the realm of the nonphysical. In Japan, they symbolize courage, happiness, and rebirth. In India, they are believed to help people receive intuitive guidance from their higher self. And in China, they represent prosperity and good luck.

“Dragonflies are a crucial pollinator with approximately 164 species native here to Ohio,” said Doug Piekarz, president & CEO at the Akron Zoo. “Our gardens have always held an emphasis on pollinators, with a butterfly maze and caterpillar centerpiece. Now with the addition of the dragonfly mural, we can represent wetland pollinators as well. Mac Love did a fantastic job and we are honored to be able to showcase his work here at the zoo.”

Mac painted the mural in 100 hours over the course of 10 days. He freehand drew the composition after cleaning the walls and priming them with a special marine epoxy. The paint we used is specially formulated for masonry in seasonal conditions, and designed for long-term aquatic immersion. Because of the industrial nature of this material, Mac only had 4 hours to work with each color before it hardened like taffy.

“I had an absolute blast working on this mural,” said Mac. “I got to experience the awesome Akron Zoo and staff on a daily basis, and found a tremendous amount of peace and inspiration in the Zoo Gardens. The one thing that I will always remember from this project is the exuberant exclamations from approaching families and campers. The positive impact this mural has had on them brings me a lot of joy, and I think that’s reflected in how others will feel when they see this for themselves.”

Libation

In 2022, Mac was commissioned to paint a new mural for R. Shea Brewing’s location in Canal Place. He presented the owner with a range of stylistic options, and then developed the preferred concept as a black-and-white rendering with a range of color options for their preferred budget.

Mac worked on the mural during off-business hours to avoid disrupting customers, and completed the mural in 14 days over a span of 10 weeks. The final design is fully hand-painted, and extends from edge-to-edge across the three walls of the entrance, including around pipes and hardware.

“This kitchen is HAWT" was written by a customer on a note to staff, and saved by the owner. This served as the original point of inspiration for developing the mural. Mac painted a selection of menu items and ingredients for the kitchen’s wall, and used a combination of linear shapes to celebrate R. Shea’s irreverent spirit, pride, and unconventional excellence.

The main entrance wall was reserved for R. Shea’s logo, and was expanded to unify all three walls with rays of light that beam from the left and right. A series of icons were also painted over the top to highlight the brewer’s ingredients, food, beverages, and amenities.

The “Welcome” wall celebrates R. Shea’s brewing process, community, and creative culture. The woman depicted on the wall is inspired by Aleksandr Rodchenko’s untitled portrait of the writer and socialite Lilya Brik. Rodchenko used this photo as an element in the iconic graphic design of his advertisement for Lengiz, and Leningrad-based state publishing house. In that original graphic design, Brik’s profile is embedded in a Constructivist collage with her shout amplifying the slogan “BOOKS in all fields of knowledge.”

Mac chose to use the same profile and angular exclamation to celebrate the diversity of human expression, values, and beliefs that so commonly resonate around the bar and a good beer. The R. Shea logo is also prominently featured on this wall, and captured in an arrowhead-like shape to add energy and momentum to the powerful striped lines that flow and encourage people forward.

ARISE/ASPIRE

In 2022, LAND studio received grant funds from the Ohio Arts Council and Arts Midwest, and commissioned Mac for a new mural on the corner of E. 120th & Buckeye Road, in Cleveland’s Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood.

Mac worked with residents of all ages to create a mural that reflects the voice of the community. ARISE/ASPIRE is inspired by more than 2 years of collaborative work with residents and students in Buckeye-Shaker, and is informed by our Steps to Equity and Village Activity Book projects, as well as the work of Elevate the East and many others.

"Having walked every sidewalk in the neighborhood, interviewed hundreds of residents, designed and distributed more than 3,000 neighborhood activity books, and vetted community ideas and concepts for improvement, I can confidently say that we have created something that is not just unique to Buckeye-Shaker, but to any neighborhood in the world. As an outsider, I take the responsibility for these opportunities very seriously, and am highly cognizant (and hopefully) respectful of the historic challenges and legacy of trauma that these communities (and the artwork’s audience) carry. I believe the work we created recognizes that burden and will provide people with a sense of hope, empowerment, and visibility that has not been present in that immediate area for some time."

– Mac Love

Watch the News 5 Cleveland story about the mural on A Better Land.

Northwest Akron Branch

Akron-Summit County Public Library engaged us to produce a collaborative mural for the Northwest Akron Branch Library’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. We LOVE libraries, and were thrilled to have this creative opportunity to work with our community and celebrate one of its most cherished and important resources.

Mac created the design, which features the three buildings that have been home to the library over the years. He then transferred the design to holographic paper collage on two 4 ft. x 8 ft. panels for kids, community members, and staff to paint and color in. We also created a series of marketing graphics to raise awareness of the event and get people excited.

After the celebration, we brought the mural back to our studio, where Mac added more layers of paint while preserving the community’s marks, and then finished the piece with a high-grade polyurethane. The mural was then delivered and installed at the Northwest Akron Branch Library, where it proudly hangs above the entrance to the children’s books section.

Holographic paintings are a signature of Mac’s work, and have colors and shapes that shift with changes in light and perspective. Mac intentionally developed this technique to create art that is both great to photograph, but also best experienced in person.

This painting holds a special place in our hearts, not just because our kids contributed to it and see it every time we visit the library – but because we know that libraries are vital resources that inspire, empower, and serve all people.

5th Street Arcades

5th Street Arcades needed a mural that could engage passersby and bring people inside, so Mac created Kaleidoscope Garden as an interactive painting with colors and shapes with shift with changes in light and perspective. It is an iconic part of 5th Street Arcades, and a frequent inspiration for selfies and children playing. Business has boomed at 5th Street Arcades since Kaleidoscope Garden was installed in 2016. If you visit it, take a selfie, follow @artxlovellc (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn), post the picture and tag #kaleidoscopegarden you will automatically entered for a chance to win one of Mac’s Kaleidoscope Bloom paintings.

Water Taxi

Cleveland Metroparks engaged Art x Love to create a mural wall that would shield construction of the new water taxi station on Cleveland’s Flats East Bank. The mural needed to reinforce the brand, raise awareness of the water taxi, and provide an aesthetically pleasing distraction from ongoing construction.

Development of the Water Taxi mural began in October of 2015, and construction finished a year ahead of schedule due to unseasonable warmth. Since the mural was no longer needed, we volunteered it as a public art solution for Edgewater Park, which was beginning to show signs of its age.

The Water Taxi mural was created as one continuous image across 32 separate 4 ft. x 8 ft. panels that would connect to form a circle. Key panels of the mural were disassembled for display across Edgewater Park.

Following installation, public feedback was highly positive and usage of the park increased annually, with many residents and new visitors expressing their appreciation of the vibrant artwork. In the years since, Edgewater Park has grown dramatically with a world-class beachfront recreation center and performance space.

Solstice (Was)

This two-piece residential commission was specifically designed for the meditation and music room of the client’s house. Each painting was richly layered with the colors, signals, and textures to inspire a great sense of peace, excitement, and discovery in the viewer.

The Solstice paintings began with a homework assignment for the client, to more clearly understand to colors, energies, and textures that best resonated with them. Based on their input, Mac began developing rich layers of oil paint to play with.

No brushes were used in the creation of these paintings, which lends a degree of mystery and tension in the mark-making and exposed layers beneath the surface. Solstice is intended to reflect the internal and external seasons of our summer and winter exchange.

Introducing the Problem

Mac found this journal entry while preparing for a presentation on Why Art Matters that was scheduled exactly 10 years from the day he wrote it. The full text is provided here as reference.

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Introducing the Problem

“The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
– William Butler Yeats

I became aware of the problem when I was first asked “Is there such a thing as love?” It never occurred to me that others might not know, feel, or sense it. “Of course there is,” I would say. “If you believe in it then that means it can exist for someone else.”

Recently, my uncle confided in me that he is no longer certain that truth exists. It is often said that hope is a fruit born of youth, but my uncle’s cynicism surprised me. He is a thoughtful, intelligent, and well-travelled man. What could cause this crisis of faith? In a word: humanity.

Never before has mankind known so much and so little about the world in which it loves. Global communication and awareness has shaken the foundation of our trust, forcing new responsibilities and consideration upon those who were all too ready to accept their limitations. Now we fight and struggle for the familiar, desperately trying to slow the change that we know must come.

Throughout the fear and uncertainty, we are all trying to cling to something that we can be sure of: a job, a loved one, a country, an exercise, an excuse.

We live without a unifying theory for all that we now find around us.

My uncle shared his concerns with me. We talked about Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Israel. We talked about the media, the American presidential race, Hannah Montana, Benazhir Bhutto, the surge, the internet, and marketing trends. We talked about whether or not the internet is safe for my thirteen year-old cousin and about why we have mass executions in our schools. We talked about the psychology of our country and the common American individual. We talked about immigration, the marketplace, mass media, and guerrilla advertising. We talked about art, terrorism, religion, and liberty. We talked about all of these things and more. Throughout it all I conceded his every concern and fear, but on the subject and nature of truth, I would not move. I could not. If I waiver on truth our world will crumble.

And yet, so the world crumbles around me. Our country was born from the people, by the people, and for the people – yet we continue to suffer as people always have. The exploiter has become the exploit. The abuser is now the abused. The revolution has become the institution and we are all to blame.

I talked to my uncle about truth and how I believed it to be a permanent and constant thing. He mentioned history and political spin while I chipped in preferential viewpoints and still, I maintained the position for the immutability of truth. This only aggravated his concern for the attainment of truth.

Before the discussion could spin any further, something in my uncle clicked without any justification. Maybe it was stubborn optimism, or the response on the tip of my tongue “the truth is not for us to have, but to participate into being.” Maybe it was the scotch.

The debate over the existence of truth ended there, but my thoughts turned to Yeats and the myth of reluctant leadership. What good do our thoughts or considerations do if they are not shared? How many eternal truths of life and the universe have drifted through our fingers as others fervently pursued mortal gains?

I am probably wrong about a great many things, but I realized that I needed to share my thoughts about these great mysteries, if only to brighten the path as it was brightened for me.

• Mac Love •
January 14, 2008

Stuffed Animal Portraits

Specifically designed for Noah's Restaurant's holiday art exhibit in 2005, the Stuffed Animal Portraits were an experiment to learn about the depth of subjective perception in the development of pictorial narrative. Each portrait began with a child painted on a sculpted surface, and was then transformed into an animal avatar.

Resilience

In 2004, Mac Love was selected as a Royal Scottish Academy Artist to be featured in the National Galleries of Scotland. As Love’s second consecutive selection for that honor, he produced a month-long unscripted performance titled Resilience, which centered on the story of a sink Love found while walking home.

Resilience intentionally sought to disrupt the gallery space and engage visitors in conversation about personal, cultural, and creative matters. The performance explored the diversity and merit of creative expression, and asked visitors to consider the nature of fear and our values.

Mac Love performed Resilience for one hour every day for the four weeks of the Royal Scottish Academy exhibition. In Love’s words, “It was crazy, wild, terrifying, hilarious and beautiful. I’ll never forget some of those conversations. It was amazing.”

Terror of One

Terror of One was originally conceived in 2001 as a contemporary update of Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream. I originally painted painted this in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2003. It was selected for exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy and has since been exhibited in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ohio.

Daisy (Umbrella)

Daisy (Umbrella) is an oil painting Mac created in 2001, following the attack on the World Trade Center and as a reflection on human nature. An early inspiration of his was the Belgian surrealist artist, Rene Magritte. Mac has always been enamored with the language of symbolism expressed across his work.

Daisy (Umbrella) came to Mac in a dream and provoked thoughts of fear and security (real and imagined), and the tools and artifices we use to travel and go outside, both physically, spiritually, and intellectually.

The painting is named “Daisy” after his great-aunt’s personal assistant and caretaker in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Daisy was an extremely strong, beautiful, and compassionate Caribbean woman with a great sense of humor and booming laugh that seemed to be directed at existence itself.

“This painting is a lifeline, not just for American audiences, but to the better nature of all people.” – Mac Love