An oil on canvas painting took first place at the Kaleidoscope 2007 art showing Friday night at the Summit Artspace Gallery in Akron.

Linda Hutchinson of Brimfield won the top award with her piece, “Hidden Symmetry.”

The painting shows the steeple of an old barn against a deep, sky blue background.

“My piece goes along with the whole urbanization of the area,” Hutchinson said. “I think of the steeple as man’s attempt to capture the sky, but in reality that’s not possible.”

Kaleidoscope 2007, which featured 75 pieces by 52 artists this year, is an annual juried exhibit that gives local artists the chance to show off their work.

Artworks ranged in a variety of media, including oil, acrylic, pastels, watercolor, colored pencil, photography, glass, wood and fiber.

The show, sponsored by the Alliance for the Visual Arts in Akron, contained pieces from the Akron Society of Artists, Artists of the Rubber City, the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center and the Women’s Art League.

“The title really emphasizes the variety of artists we have in the area, and the theme is really diversity,” show coordinator Nancy Richards Davis said. “There’s a lot of work involved in organizing the show, but we really wanted to focus to get the best quality of work.”

First-, second- and third-place awards were given out, as well as four honorable mentions. Also, a special People’s Choice Award will be determined by spectators coming into the gallery.

“Everyone that comes to the gallery gets a vote, and the artist with the most votes gets the glass kaleidoscope on display made by Bob Pozarski,” Davis said.

The kaleidoscope, made of a triangular-shaped glass tubing, has two multi-colored glass discs attached to the end and was on display in the center of the gallery.

Second place went to Mary Titus for her watercolor work “Mayan Mask,” and third place went to Marcia Mazak with her photo collage “Views from Scope No. 2.”

Kaleidoscope 2007 will be on display until Akron’s First Night celebration on Dec. 31. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and admission and parking are free.

Contact College of the Arts and College of Architecture and

Environmental Design reporter Sam Twarek at [email protected].