It’s all in the family, at least for the grandfather, father and son exhibit of art mounted by the Akron Society of Artists on the third floor of Summit Artspace, a Knight Arts grantee.

“The Nevin Family: Three Generations of Art” reveals the tradition of visual art by Karl Nevin (oil paintings), son Michael (acrylic paintings) and grandson Daniel (ink pen drawings).

It turns out the three have more in common than name and family relationship. Their art, which spans from 1942 to present, reveals a great concern for detail, a fondness for orderliness in what they depict in their pieces, a fascination with clean lines, and a striving for liveliness in their art, whether that takes form in human or animal images, or the non-objective drawings of the youngest Nevin.

In Karl Nevin’s “Philly Street Scene” (1942), as one example of his three paintings on display in the exhibit, the eldest art maker depicted a backstreet scene of two people (a man and a woman) walking their dogs during what looks like an early evening timeframe. The structural lines of the buildings, the cleanly defined, sharp delineation of shadows cast by buildings and the walkers, give the sense of a peaceful, homey environment. Maybe looking at the work now, the piece seems almost nostalgic, a peek at a time when things seemed a lot less hectic. Perhaps the subtle, darker shades of color help to convey the atmosphere.

Karl Nevin, “The Liberty Bell.” Photo by Bradley Hart

For his part, Michael Nevin has a two-track artistic interest – in urban scenes (somewhat like his father) and the depiction of draught horses in rural Amish landscapes. His 17 works in the exhibit show well his concerns.

He still rides. But when making art with his acrylic paints, this Nevin gives to his likeness of draught horses sharp clarity in vivid color options to lend strength, power and personality to the horses he paints. Mostly farming scenes of plowing fields and the like, the images seem to be a nod to the idea of subsistence farming and a feel of the earth among man, horse and ground.

Michael Nevin, “The Belgian.” Photo by Bradley Hart

In his urban scenes, Nevin said he always works on his acrylic paintings from photographs. His “Lake and Wells, Chicago,” a street scene under an elevated train, is done in a clear nod to photorealism. Nevin captures the tiniest fragments of light bouncing off windows, the sides of automobiles, as well as the larger renderings of daylight creating vast shadows (but made unerringly stark and clear as his father might have done).

Daniel Nevin, Michael’s son, has six abstract pieces on display. Even though his ink pen works are clusters of swirls, triangles, blocks, rectangles and canopies, among other geometric ideas, there is, like the other Nevins, that strong sense of clean line, orderliness and utmost concern for the finest details.

Daniel Nevin, “Patterns 1.”  Photo by Bradley Hart

One need only look at three works – “Patterns 1,” “Patterns 2,” and “Patterns 3” – to get a notion of the abundance of new ideas that this Nevin has at his disposal. What else one might notice is that no pattern dominates, nor takes attention away from, other designs. That technique illustrates skillful compositional elements, but also the idea that each section has its place in an overall very orderly arrangement.

“The Nevin Family: Three Generations of Art” is on display 12-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through May 31 at the Akron Society of Artists’ gallery on the third floor of Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron; 330-294-9948; www.akronsocietyofartists.com. Admission is free.