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."

@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.

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.”

@PLAY Silent Discos

Liven up your event with Silent Disco! Art x Love has 200 silent disco headsets and 3 transmitters that are available to rent for parties, events, fundraisers, and interactive experiences in northeast Ohio. We’ve used these headsets to produce interactive neighborhood cleanups, birthday parties, guided meditation, yoga, history tours, and more.

Email contact@artxlove.com or call 330.238.8588 to learn more about pricing and availability for your next event.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How much does it cost?

It’s $5.00 per headset per day, and $20 per transmitter per day.

Shipping, delivery, and pickup

We do not ship our headsets. Pickup is available from Art x Love Studios, Monday-Friday from 10am-4pm or by appointment. Our address is 1969 N Cleveland Massillon Rd., Akron, OH 44333

We can deliver and pick-up the equipment for additional fee.

Do you provide DJ’s?

Yes, we can help you book DJ’s for an additional fee (typically $50/hr per DJ).

How do the headsets work?

Each cordless headset has a power switch, volume control, and three audio channels with LED lights that glow blue, red, or green depending on which channel you listen to. Each channel is specially tuned to the unique frequency of a transmitter.

How do the transmitters work?

Each transmitter has a power cable, power switch, antenna, channel control (1-3), left/right audio ports, and comes with an audio cable that can be plugged into computers, phones, microphones, and can be configured to work with all audio sources. Once plugged in and connected to an audio device, the transmitter sends that audio to whichever channel of the headset you’d like. We recommend using 2-3 transmitters for all Silent Disco events.

Still don’t get it?

Participants get to choose which channel of audio they want to listen to. If you rent 3 transmitters you can have Channel #1 connected to a DJ, Channel #2 connected to an iPod, and Channel #3 connected to a phone. This allows users three different and unique audio experiences to choose from.

What is the equipment’s range?

50-100 yards depending on the number of obstructions (floors, walls, buildings, etc.).

What happens if they get wet or break?

This equipment is NOT weatherproof. Any loss, damage, or breakage will result in a replacement fee of $40.00 per headset, $250.00 per transmitter, and $20.00 per audio cable.

What are the product specs & features?

Our @PLAY Silent Disco headsets are an open wireless RF stereo headphone system. Each headset has a folding design for easy storage, and vibrant LED lights on both sides. The headsets and transmitters use detailed analytical sound reproduction with strong bass response. Soft ear pads offer superior comfort and noise cancellation. The wireless headsets offer a range of freedom and movement with reception through walls and ceilings.

Can you give me the technical data?

System: UHF/RF 
Modulation: FM 
Mode: stereo 
Channel option: 3 channels 
LED lights: Blue, Red, Green 
Signal-to-noise ratio: >75dB 
THD: <1% 
Speaker: 40mm mylar 
Frequency response: 30~20000Hz 
Channel separation: >35dB 
Operation time: 10 hours 
Charging time: 3 hours 
Power supply: Rechargeable Lithium-Polymer battery (500mAh)

Stewart's Caring Place

Stewart’s Caring Place provides free cancer support services for individuals and families. Art x Love was engaged to develop the Art Plan for Stewart’s new Cancer Wellness Center in Fairlawn, Ohio. We developed a menu of local artists for consideration, then commissioned and oversaw development and installation of the select artist’s work.

Stewart’s Caring Place radiates with a healthy spirit of creativity, compassion, and community. Art x Love commissioned and purchased artwork by Kimmy Henderson and Leah Rzepka, and produced signature holographic paintings throughout the space, including the custom-designed donor wall.

We are delighted to support Stewart’s Caring Place, and look forward to developing more opportunities to encourage and inspire healing and communication through the arts. That work continues today with our management and curation of the Stewart’s Healing Arts Gallery, showcasing local artist’s work with 100% of the proceeds from art sales going to the artists. Email us at contact@artxlove.com to learn more.