Forever Changes Ribbon Cutting
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, clients, featured artists, and family joined us on May 9th for the official ribbon cutting of our new studio, gallery, and shop in downtown Akron – Forever Changes! This space is a dream that has been more than 20 years in the making.
Back in 2002, Mac was offered a job fixing holes in the floor and walls of an old photographer’s studio in Stonington, CT. In exchange for that work, Mac was promised the space rent-free for the remainder of the summer. He jumped at the opportunity and named the space “Forever Changes,” after the album of the same name by the band LOVE.
The original “Forever Changes” was located in Stonington Borough, above Nonie’s Deli and Ice-Cream Alley, and across from the Water Street Restaurant. Mac would open the space early in the morning to work on commissions, teach private art lessons in the afternoon, and remain open late into the evening so restaurant-goers could visit while waiting for a table to open up. In three quick months, Mac sold enough paintings and completed enough commissions to pay for his postgraduate studies in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“I vividly remember the smell of bacon and blueberry muffins in the morning, the dreamcatchers we made in the afternoon, and the conversations we would have late into the evening,” says Mac. “It was the first summer after the September 11 attacks, and people really appreciated the opportunity to see an artist at work and to share their thoughts about what I was working on or just what was going on in the world.”
“One day, after completing my largest painting sale ever, I remember coming in and thinking to myself this could be as good as it gets,” says Mac. “I made a promise to myself right then and there to enjoy that moment, and to never be discouraged, no matter how long it might ever take to feel that way again.”
With our new studio and gallery in downtown Akron, we can now create opportunities for local artists like the one Mac had early in his career. Forever Changes will be free and open to the public 5 days a week. Here, you will always be able to discover creative community, to see and learn how things get made, and perhaps find a piece of local art that will change your life for the better too.
