January 16th was the soft opening for the rebranded gallery space connected to the Uncorked Wine Bar in downtown Akron. The rebrand includes a new name, 22 High Street Gallery, and is curated by a friend of mine, McKenzie Beynon. Her first show was Winterland, a set of six murals painted by local artists, Maggie Duff, Laine Keener, Cody Knepper, Jeff Schleis, Dillon Sedar, Meagan Smith and Melissa Urian.

I’m excited to see what McKenzie has in store for this gallery because I’ve always loved the space. The fact that it’s connected to a wine bar doesn’t hurt either.

I think that this could potentially help bridge the gap between artists and the corporate world in Akron. I often see people who hold a lot of power in the area visit there. Not to mention that it’s one of the few Akron wine bars that I can list off the top of my head.

When it comes to the murals, my favorites would have to be the piece above with the snowflakes or the one with the owls in the tree of ice. The former looks like it took a lot of time and a steady hand to create such lovely details. The latter is awesome because owls are my favorite animals. Also, the heavy black outline and geometric shapes make it stand out from the rest.

The exhibit should be up through the first portion of February. To find out more information, visit their Facebook page.

Thanks for reading,