NEWS - May, 2018

Art Renewal Center Announces Finalists in International Salon Exhibition

Posted May 15, 2018

Handwritten Dreams and Self-Portrait at Eight, both from the Handwritten Dreams Project, by the Artist, Leslie Adams, have been selected as Finalists in the 13 Annual ARC International Salon Competition. This is the ninth year the Artist's work has been juried into this prestigious competition. In 2012, her work, Portrait of Michael Shane Neal, was awarded First Place in Drawing. This year the competition received over 3,750 entries from 69 countries. The finalists represent approximately 28% of entries. The Handwritten Dreams Project will open at the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art in June, 2018.

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The Handwritten Dreams Project Opens at the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art

Posted May 15, 2018

Leslie Adams' solo exhibtion, The Handwritten Dreams Project, opens at the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art on June 1st, 2018 following a lecture by the Artist in the Museum's Little Theater. The Handwritten Dreams Project was created as part of ArtPrize Nine at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in 2016 and most recently, at the Portrait Society of America's International Art of the Portrait Conference. Of the work, the Artist states, "Drawing is my first love, but I’m infatuated with cursive - with signatures, poetry, and long letters from friends - anything written in one’s own hand. And, I love dreams. I love the dreamers of dreams. A self-portrait, Handwritten Dreams celebrates the hopes and aspirations that we, as children and adults, universally share. It is a drawing, installation, and interactive work that provides the space and time where viewers can pause, reflect, and write their own dreams on paper. Each then pins their hopes to an endlessly growing “wall of dreams” in the symbolically staged 1970’s classroom that I remember as a child. For as a young school girl I was taught to be curious, inspired to dream, and encouraged to record my dreams in perfect penmanship. It made them real. I am so fortunate that my dream of becoming an artist came true, and my goal as an artist is to inspire others to believe in possibility. Reflecting on the great cursive debate confronting today’s society, Handwritten Dreams seamlessly marries the elegance and beauty of line found in both cursive and drawing with the very marks that are the expressions of our individuality and pure imagination." The exhibtion runs through July 7th with a closing celebration coinciding with the Museum's Annual Block Party. 

Portrait of Dr. Arthur G. James Dedicated at Ohio State University Hospital

Posted May 4, 2018

A recent portrait of Arthur G. James, M.D. was dedicated today at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. The portrait was installed next to a portrait Adams previously created of Richard Solove in 2015. The two men were instrumental in the creation of the hospital. Dr. James never stopped dreaming. "My personal goal for this hospital is that it become the number one cancer hospital in the country," he once said. "This would mean we can achieve the best results in treatment because we have the most advanced methods."

Handwritten Dreams Presented at Portrait Society of America’s International Conference

Posted May 1, 2018

A portion of The Handwritten Dreams Project, which was created as part of ArtPrize Nine at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in 2016, was presented at the Portrait Society of America's International Art of the Portrait Conference in April. Following a lecture and presention by the Artist, a Portrait Society of America 2018 faculty member, conference attendees were invited to share their dreams. Of the work, the Artist states, "Drawing is my first love, but I’m infatuated with cursive - with signatures, poetry, and long letters from friends - anything written in one’s own hand. And, I love dreams. I love the dreamers of dreams. A self-portrait, Handwritten Dreams celebrates the hopes and aspirations that we, as children and adults, universally share. It is a drawing, installation, and interactive work that provides the space and time where viewers can pause, reflect, and write their own dreams on paper. Each then pins their hopes to an endlessly growing “wall of dreams” in the symbolically staged 1970’s classroom that I remember as a child. For as a young school girl I was taught to be curious, inspired to dream, and encouraged to record my dreams in perfect penmanship. It made them real. I am so fortunate that my dream of becoming an artist came true, and my goal as an artist is to inspire others to believe in possibility. Reflecting on the great cursive debate confronting today’s society, Handwritten Dreams seamlessly marries the elegance and beauty of line found in both cursive and drawing with the very marks that are the expressions of our individuality and pure imagination." The Handwritten Dreams Project will be exhibited at the Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art this summer before traveling to other venues throughout the world.