Akron on Deck

Akron On Deck is a unique playing card set featuring 54 Akron businesses and landmarks, with cards designed by 54 local artists. Art x Love created Akron on Deck in 2020 as a Kickstarter project to support local creatives and businesses through the pandemic. 40% of the proceeds from card sales go directly to the artists as royalty payments for life.

Following the success of Akron on Deck, we produced Akron on Deck II in 2022, featuring 54 new card designs by local artists and 54 different Akron icons and landmarks. Since 2020, Art x Love has sold more than 12,000 decks and raised more than $100,000 for local artists, businesses, and non-profits with Akron on Deck.

With the Akron Bicentennial kicking off in December 2024, we’re happy to announce that we are currently developing Akron on Deck III: Bicentennial Edition. This third and final playing card set will be available for the 2024 holiday season and beyond.

You can also purchase Akron on Deck from the following retailers:

Steps to Equity

In 2020, The Muldoon Center for Entrepreneurship at John Carroll University engaged Art x Love to support “new programs and projects that empower children and residents to build a stronger, more connected community.” We worked with residents and students from Cleveland’s Buckeye-Shaker and Woodland Hills neighborhoods to research the area, identify areas for improvement, and partner with local organizations and stakeholders to improve quality of life in the area.

Our work began with a Buckeye-Shaker GIS walkability assessment. Residents and students walked every sidewalk in the neighborhood and assessed the condition of roadways, sidewalks, structures, greenery, littler, visibility, perception of safety, and mapped ideas for improvement.

Based on our findings and ongoing conversations with residents, Art x Love produced The Village Activity Book, a free 16-page all-ages educational and participatory design tool designed to help residents share their vision for the future. More than 3,000 copies were distributed across Buckeye-Shaker and Woodland Hills. We received hundreds of submissions and thousands of responses were collected, analyzed, and shared with local stakeholders and leaders to guide and inform future planning.

The data these projects collected proved a valuable resource for Buckeye-Shaker and Woodland Hills residents, as well as local stakeholders and leaders. We were able to refer residents to funding opportunities, inform city planning projects, connect like-minded neighborhood ambassadors, and build stronger community connections.

In 2022, LANDstudio engaged us with an urgent public art opportunity to leverage our findings as a creative extension of the We Wear the Mask project. We met with local artists from the project, developed public art concepts based on the community’s activity book submissions, returned to the streets to test the concepts with residents, successfully pitched our project to the City of Cleveland’s art commission, and worked with Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. to produce and install the ARISE/ASPIRE mural on the corner of E. 120th St. & Buckeye Road.

In 2023, the Cleveland Public Library engaged us to produce a collaborative community mural for the Rice Branch Library based on submissions from the The Village Activity Book. John Carroll University generously offered to fund the project as a part of their continuing investment and service to the community.

The map of Buckeye-Shaker and Woodland Hills that appeared on the cover The Village Activity Book was selected as the preferred concept for development. A day was organized for the community to come out and paint, and more than 75 residents of all ages showed up and made their mark. Over the next several weeks, Mac continued painting and adding library patron’s words of affirmation to the mural. The final piece was titled Land of OpportUNITY and serves as both an inspiring point of pride for the community and wayfinding resource.

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John Carroll University is committed to providing its students with meaningful learning experiences that take an equitable approach to community building, and is making a long-term investment to support the Ward 6 area with a focus on the Woodland Hills and Buckeye-Shaker neighborhoods on the east side of Cleveland. These projects are strategically designed to raise awareness of community assets and liabilities, and to help organizations align with residents toward an equitable, inclusive, and enduring vision for the community with real collaboration and meaningful investment.

Art x Love is delighted to continue this partnership to collaborate with residents and local organizations to support equitable, sustainable, and meaningful change for the people of Buckeye-Shaker and Woodland Hills.

Akron Stories

In 2019, Art x Love was engaged by a community of passionate Akron residents to help advocate for a statue dedicated to the people who made Akron the “Rubber Capital of the World.” We refined their strategic plan, and helped secure funding from the City of Akron to commission and install the statue by famous Zanesville (OH) sculptor, Alan Cottrill.

Art x Love created the Akron Stories website, all marketing materials, managed community events, and coordinated commemorative brick sales to fund an oral history project dedicated to preserving the stories of Akron’s rubber workers. To date, we have conducted more than 150 interviews, collected thousands of stories, and produced more than 100 mini-documentary films that bring each story to life using family photographs and archival film.

To share these stories with the public, we produced an all-weather touchscreen kiosk that was installed in the commemorative plaza, allowing visitors to explore the stories and find the exact location of their commemorative bricks. After 3 years of being on display, the kiosk was hit by a service vehicle and had to removed. We are currently working on finding a new permanent home for it.

In 2023, the Akron Stories team was recognized by the Ohio House of Representatives for “their tremendous efforts to guarantee that the past will not be forgotten, and the dedication of this new monument convincingly demonstrates how very much can be accomplished by a group of conscientious people with clear objectives and firm resolve. Indeed, they have distinguished themselves as concerned and responsible citizens and have, with admirable dedication, helped sustain the history of the area."

Together for Akron

On January 6, 2024, Shammas Malik was publicly sworn-in as Akron’s 63rd Mayor, and a community celebration followed at House Three Thirty. Art x Love was engaged to create a collaborative mural for the occasion, using Mac Love’s design for Akron Speaks: Community Conversations.

Akron leaders and residents were invited to answer the question: What does “Together for Akron” mean to you? This mural is entirely composed of their responses, and was completed by Mac Love as a signature holographic painting.

A work-in-progress glimpse of the “Together for Akron” mural.

@PLAY Akron

In 2017, Art x Love was awarded a $240,000 Knight Cities grant for @PLAY Akron, an 18-month, 24-neighborhood, interactive art project designed to bring diverse people together and encourage deeper community connections. Our team walked and biked every street in the city, conducted thousands of street intercept interviews with residents and stakeholders, and produced more than 100 murals and 50 placemaking transformations across the city.

@PLAY Akron has inspired millions of dollars of new investment and systemic change across the City of Akron, and fundamentally changed the way local organizations and non-profits approach neighborhood research, community engagement, and creative collaboration.

Soap Box Anniversary

Video and text in development.

Land of OpportUNITY

Video and case study currently in development.

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.”

Quality of Life Day

Art x Love was invited to give the closing presentation on Why Art Matters at “Quality of Life Day” for the City of Green’s Community Leadership Initiative. This program for business and community leaders is designed to foster and encourage community engagement, immersing participants in an in-depth leadership program focused on Green, Ohio.

The program day that included an introduction to Pickleball and presentations from Ohio & Erie Canalway, Summit Metro Parks, Akron Community Foundation, and the City of Green.

We were delighted to learn that participants voted Art x Love among the most valuable experiences of the day, calling the presentation “So eye opening – I did not expect art to be so useful in placemaking and changing the space into something better.”

Akron Speaks

Shammas Malik is running for Mayor of Akron, and we are excited and encouraged by his style of leadership, vision for the future, and plans for the city.

To support the campaign, we developed the worksheets and brochure for Akron Speaks – a series of community conversations inspired by the World Café method for simple, effective, and flexible group dialogue. Four events were organized in each geographic region of Akron, and dedicated to the core issues facing Akron. Dozens of residents attended, sharing their voice and vision for an informed and better future for the city.

The worksheets and brochure give people a flexible and safe space to share their thoughts, insights, and vision for the future – regardless of whether they could attend.

Thousands of insights and ideas have been collected from residents, all of whose voices and vision are informing Shammas’ campaign. Together, we can be the change that Akron needs!

Click below to download the worksheet and share your vision!

Click here to learn more about Shammas Malik and why we support him!

Photo by Shane Wynn

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope is an art exhibition featuring the creative work, reflections, and stories of more than 90 local artists and individuals whose healing journeys have been transformed through art. The exhibition takes its name from a gathering of butterflies, which is called “a kaleidoscope.”

More than 150 people filled the halls for the opening exhibit, which also served as inspiring introduction to Stewart’s Caring Place’s facility and services.

Art x Love managed all art submissions, curated and hung the exhibition, and created all marketing collateral and supporting materials for the show included the exhibition booklet and sales guide for staff.

To learn more about the artists and their healing journey, visit the exhibit Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm, now through August 8th, 2023.

GSM Silent Disco

Grace Church’s Student Ministries (6th-12th grade) used our @PLAY silent disco headsets for their “Whiteout” blacklight dance party. Everyone wore white shirts, put on a headset, danced, gathered, and glowed with friends through the night. Live DJ’s, food, music, and games kept the party going – it was a blast!

To learn more about our Silent Disco Headsets and book a reservation, click the button below.