Judy Takacs, “Sweet Sloth,” oil. Photo by Roger Durbin

At Summit Artspace, a Knight Arts grantee, the annual holiday show – “Kaleidoscope 2014,” now on view through New Year’s Eve –is a colorful exhibit. Don’t miss the chance to see it during the season, for this year’s collection of entries will add texture, sparkle, rich and lustrous color to the gray cold days of winter.

The exhibition is sponsored by the four members of the Alliance for the Visual Arts (Artists of Rubber City; Akron Society of Artists; Cuyahoga Valley Art Center; and Women’s Art League of Akron). From these groups came 164 entries, from which out-of-town jurors Mary Urbas and Theresa Yondo selected 85 to be in the show.

The jurors wrote that they used four major criteria – unique idea; creative design; execution (or knowledge of the medium); and presentation. They had much to work, and the choices they made certainly seem up to the measures they chose.

April Cameron, “Hidden Lake,” acrylic. Photo by Roger Durbin

Winners of the juried show are: Linda Tompkin (first place for her acrylic “Creation Calls”), Doreen St. John (second for her oil “Wet Lands”), and Maryann Mosyjowski (third place for her watercolor-ink-and-pastel “Iris”). Honorable mentions went to Candace Bennington, Chris Morrow, James Leslie and Sharon Wagner. Among those noticed we see a variety of genres: oil, acrylic, earthenware, found objects and digital works. The range of media illustrates, among other things, the large and rich visual art tradition and community in the Akron area.

There were several people viewing the exhibit this past Thursday afternoon, many of them locked in conversation over some of the works being presented. It’s nice to see viewers engaged in the works – a trait the jurors had, in fact, looked for when they sought out personal expression through the skill and artistry of making art.

Linda Tompkins, “Creation Calls,” first place winner of Kaleidoscope 2014. Photo by Roger Durbin

It was easy to see why first place winner Linda Tompkins’ work could generate some comment. The sizable work seems to luxuriate in rich, deep color. A still-life of fruit and flowers, the work plays with larger ideas via square cards and a pen and pencil placed against a striped background akin to wallpaper. Yet the work creates a kind of intrigue, getting the viewer to be drawn in and begin to guess at what is going on.

Inventiveness and lushness come across in the large, three-part mixed fiber work by Annette Boncek called “The Earth Laughs in Flowers.” The individual pieces look like huge pedestaled flowers of various size and texture, but each in rich hues of reds and purples and gold. The varying sizes of stems and flowers, somewhat working against each other, add to the appeal of the work.

Annette Boncek, “The Earth Laughs in Flowers,” mixed fiber. Photo by Roger Durbin

The strong use of color in most of the pieces makes these works fit in with the title of the exhibit. When you first walk into the Summit Artspace galleries, you immediately are hit with the richly resonant works. The exhibit will be up through First Night Akron; that event would be a good time to get in from the cold and take in some creative and colorful works – that is, if you don’t get a chance to see the exhibition before that time.

“Kaleidoscope 2014” will be on display 12-9 p.m. Thursdays and 12-5 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through December 31st at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron; 330-376-8480; www.akronareaarts.org. Admission and parking are free.