Artist Jody Hawk to Exhibit Storyboxes at MassMu

The exhibition, “Jody Hawk: Local Allegories / Stories of Massillon,” will open in the second floor gallery at the Massillon Museum on Saturday, April 18, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., with a reception for the artist. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will continue through August 2.

The artist interviewed six Massillon women to assimilate their stories and create a storybox reflecting each subject. Each storybox is deconstructed as a digital composite and displayed as a photographic print above the real box. Some of the boxes were borrowed from the Massillon Museum.

Viewers hear each woman's voice—as she shares her interior strength, while viewing within each box reproductions from the Massillon Museum's photography collection as well as items from the women whose stories are represented. Hawk’s installations assemble each voice into a visual allegory. The boxes pull together different fragments of the women’s lives and interpret the wisdom and experience revealed through their stories.

“My artwork investigates the vernacular,” Hawk said. “Before 2006, my images primarily investigated the cultural landscape. I was fascinated by ornamentation to a piece of property and how a person might create a personal landscape.” When her grandmother died, she inherited a musical jewelry box full of mementos from trips; gifts of jewelry from relatives and friends; and scribbled directions, addresses, pictures, and notes. Her new work evolved from the jewelry box and its contents into an installation of objects with an oral history component.

A visiting assistant professor at the University of Akron, Hawk works with a group of local artists, Raw Umber, to organize art shows and was selected to present work at last year’s First Night in downtown Akron. For First Night, she collaborated with musician Gustave Aguilar, constructing a musical instrument made from found objects. The two were part of the Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology in Cleveland. Hawk helps lead the Massillon Museum’s Art Explorers group of young people who have an interest in art as a career. She has shown her work nationally and her photographs grace public and private collections.

“Jody has interviewed a lovely array of local ladies with interesting stories to tell,” said Massillon Museum Curator Alexandra Nicholis, who is working with Hawk to install the exhibition. “It will be a joy to see the final exhibition, having watched it grow.”

The stories of seven women will be included in the exhibition: Amelia Sparks, Gloria Pope, Polly Cochran, Pat Beane, Isabel McFadden, Ann Arnold, and Mary Gibson (a tribute; she passed away before the interview).

The Museum’s Education Department of the Museum will base the May 2nd “Do the Mu!” free family activity time on the “Local Allegories” exhibition. After a tour of the exhibition, the artist will help participants create a project based on her concept.

On Saturday, April 18, visitors can enjoy two additional exhibitions, which will open concurrently with the “Jody Hawk: Local Allegories, Stories of Massillon” exhibition. “The Rise of a Landmark: Lewis Hine and the Empire State Building” will open in the main first-floor gallery. In the Fred F. Silk Community Room in the lower level, the Studio M exhibition, “Image to Image,” photographs by Walsh University digital photojournalism students will also open.

The Massillon Museum is located at 121 Lincoln Way East (Ohio Route 172) in the heart of downtown Massillon. For more information, contact the Museum at 330-833-4061 or visit www.massillonmuseum.org.

The Jody Hawk exhibition may be seen during regular Massillon Museum hours from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Chit Chat Coffee Shop is open in the Museum lobby from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Saturday. Free parking is available on adjacent streets and in nearby city lots. A visit to the Massillon Museum is always free.

Media Contacts:

Christine Fowler Shearer, Massillon Museum Executive Director: 330-833-4061 or cshearer@massillonmuseum.org

Alexandra Nicholis, Massillon Museum Curator: 330-833-4061 or anicholis@massillonmuseum.org

Margy Vogt, Massillon Museum Public Relations Coordinator: 330-844-1525 or vogt@sssnet.com