SALEM, OHIO.- The Butler Institue of American Art/Salem presents New Master Drawings. What could be better than an exhibition of Ohio artists at the Akron Art Museum? A series of exhibitions of Ohio artists organized by the Akron Art Museum at three outstanding venues around Northeast Ohio! While the museum’s galleries are closed for expansion, the Akron Art Museum is collaborating with area arts organizations to present New Master Drawings, an innovative three-part exhibition. It is the tenth installment in the museum’s Ohio Perspectives series, which focuses on contemporary art in the state.

The first exhibition in New Master Drawings will take place at the Butler Institute of American Art/Salem, 343 E. State Street in Salem, through April 23. This venue, located on the town of Salem’s charming main street, will showcase the work of three artists from around the state: Laurence Channing from Cleveland Heights; Robert Robbins from Columbus; and Zena Zipporah from Shaker Heights.

Drawing is one of the most dynamic and talked-about areas of art today, as artists in Ohio and around the world seek to reconnect with craft and handwork. Laurence Channing grinds charcoal into a fine powder and applies it to paper using pieces of felt. He exploits charcoal’s silky texture to depict lakeshores, urban landscapes and figures that are precisely modeled but also slightly blurred, as though seen through a haze. Channing heightens the serene, meditative quality of his images by centering his compositions on large forms or dividing complex scenes into separate panels.

Columbus-based artist Robert Robbins also uses charcoal to create his large-scale woodland scenes, images that are both picturesque and tinged with melancholy. The banks of trees and heavy, moist atmosphere in these images relate to the tradition of American romantic landscape painting. However, Robbins adds broad areas of deep shadow that obscure parts of the compositions and draw the scenes close to abstraction.

Zena Zipporah engages in a frankly obsessive drawing technique, covering found objects with small drawings and tiny letters. Her texts, images of humans and animals and the materials on which she draws—eggs, children’s clothing and christening gowns—all reflect her interest in mythology and the creation stories that are part of every culture. Zipporah sees a clear connection between drawing and writing: both offer her a way to preserve and sort through feelings and ideas. Two of her remarkable sketchbooks, filled with drawings, letters, postcards, clippings and other found objects, will also be on view.

New Master Drawings is organized by the Akron Art Museum and made possible by a lead gift from Malone Advertising. Additional support provided by generous gifts from The Mirapaul Foundation, Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund and the R.C. Musson and Katharine M. Musson Charitable Foundation.

The exhibition series is presented in cooperation with the Butler Institute of American Art/Salem, Summit Artspace and the Canton Museum of Art.