First Friday in downtown Canton: Live art, music, food trucks and Oscar Mayer Frankmobile
September's First Friday in downtown Canton is celebrating the longtime event's art-based tradition.
"Artist Unhoused" is the theme, and the event will feature artists and art-oriented vendors, with many of them creating art live on the street, said Mike Sturdivant, director of marketing and communications for the Downtown Canton Partnership, which oversees First Friday planning.
"We will be turning the streets of downtown Canton into an explosion of art, music and performances, with over 20 artists and performers located throughout downtown," he said. "We also will have our biggest number of vendors yet with over 100 lining the streets."
Most First Friday activities will take place 5 to 9 p.m.
Adding more fun this week to First Friday will be the Oscar Mayer Frankmobile, which will be at 400 Market Ave. N at Centennial Plaza as part of a national tour.
And "our new kids zone will be back and bigger than ever," Sturdivant said, referring to the area on Fourth Street and McKinley Avenue NW next to the Eric Snow YMCA parking lot.
The food truck court will be in the YMCA parking lot between Third and Fourth streets NW and McKinley.
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Food vendors will include Island Delights, Wink's Gospel Treats, The Green Vegetarian, Thai It Up Food Truck, Stachia's Almost Famous Wings, Eddies Famous Cheesesteaks, MJ's Tasty Eats and City Diner Food Truck.
Art vendors will include Tracy Dawn Brewer, Dontay Jenkins, Creative Endeavor 330, Cameo Photography, Acathla Clothing and Uniontown Antique Thrift & Gifts. Participants also include artist Dave Sherrill and BZTAT Studios, which will be marking its "Final Friday on 6th Street" 5 to 9 p.m.
"We will have BZTAT art at deeply discounted prices and other creative items for sale," the studio announced.
BZTAT Studios is leaving its 209 Sixth St. NW location due to the purchase of the building for the Canton Palace Theatre's proposed expansion plans. BZTAT is relocating to 730 Market Ave. S in the new Canton Creator Space. BZTAT will be closed to the public in the coming weeks during the transition, but open by appointment.
Just Imagine art studio also has moved from the same Sixth Street building due to the Palace's expansion plans.
The nonprofit Just Imagine will celebrate a grand opening on Sept. 1 in conjunction with First Friday festivities. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. at the new location at 207 Market Ave. N. Afterward, the studio will remain open for shopping and tours until 9 p.m.
Just Imagine is an arts vocational habilitation program offered by the Stark County-based TWi. Just Imagine works with individuals who have disabilities, empowering them to create art.
First Friday events also will include live music, featuring the Buck Naked Band, presented by Jerzee's Cafe from 6 to 10 p.m. at Canton Centennial Plaza.
Grapes in a Glass, 575 Market Ave. N, will feature the artwork of Phil DeSantis and live music by Carol Cain from 7 to 11 p.m.
DeSantis is a Canton native and self-taught portrait artist who specializes in expressive painting using various mediums, Canton First Friday said in promoting the event. DeSantis has been commissioned for portraits, including former president George H.W. Bush and former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz.
DeSantis' art will be displayed inside Grapes in a Glass and be for sale.
The Matt Corey Band with special guest Von James will be performing jazz, R&B and pop from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Kempthorn Stage at Third Street and McKinley Avenue NW near the YMCA.
"Pee-wee's Big Adventure" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Canton Palace Theatre, 605 Market Ave. N. Admission is $2; tickets will be sold at the door for the PG-rated adventure comedy released in 1985.
Portraiture paintings featuring Marilyn Manson, Jack Nicholson
Arts shows also will be happening inside galleries and studios in downtown Canton.
Drew Dudek's new exhibit will be on display at Patina Arts Centre.
Dudek's exhibition is tucked in a corner of the second-floor loft studio space at Patina, 324 Cleveland Ave. NW.
An original style of portraiture painting is featured, including images of celebrities such as musical artist Marilyn Manson, Marilyn Monroe, the Thor character portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in "The Avengers" movies, and Jack Nicholson's character from "The Shining."
"The style is organic and flowing from emotions of that moment," the Canton artist said. "No portrait is an accident in this display. A blend of realism with some uncanny valley to light abstractions."
Art pieces in the "Unraveled" exhibit will be for sale. The display will be up through September.
Art enthusiasts also can enjoy Dudek's free-spirited and energetic creativity on Instagram, where video clips capture him painting murals and other wall-sized pieces in a free-form style.
"The wall paintings in my home art studio are for me," he said. "I can let loose and get super messy and I never intend to keep them, always painting over the previous one. Layers of paint and emotions. I am working on a series with some wall-size canvases that I hang on my paint wall painting in the same way, but that is different than my wall art."
North Canton educator showcases colorful abstraction
Strauss Studios, 236 Walnut Ave. NE, will be presenting Christopher Triner's artwork in the Upstairs Gallery at his solo exhibition, "Departures" 6 to 9 p.m. Friday.
Live music will be provided by Mansfield jazz musicians Jeffrey Boyd and Sidney Brown.
An art teacher in North Canton City Schools and adjunct instructor at Malone University, Triner's work has appeared in a variety of galleries and showcases around the state, as well as being exhibited at various private collections across the world.
Triner's work explores colorful landscapes and abstractions, which is a change from his past paintings focusing on representational imagery, Strauss Studio explained in a news release.
"Departures is a change in approach and thinking for my work," he said. "As a trained painter, I've rarely left the world of realism or subtle abstraction, feeling the need to attend to what is in front of me in color and texture."
"This body of work was to push my abilities to find new marks and pathways of painting," Triner added. "Limiting myself to the composition of a square of different scales, I explore new tools, the luck of random textures, and further combinations of non-prescribed colors. I see my work as still a type of topography or map-making of landscapes, but now, I cannot visually see the trails, the paths, and the light sources from images; only in the arbitrary occurrences that happen on the painting."
Eibel and Bennett present joint art show at Silo
Another art happening on Friday will be at Silo Arts Studio, 431 Fourth St. NW.
A joint art exhibition will feature "Regrowth," a collection of watercolor, gouache and acrylic paintings by Amy Eibel, and "Pressed," a collection of abstract acrylic paintings by Jess Bennett. The exhibit is 5 to 9 p.m. for one night only.
"Amy and I have each been working over the past year on these solo collections for the show, sort of keeping them to ourselves," Bennett said in a news release. "It turns out that both of our works employ so much color and movement. When we finally came together to see how the two collections might gel, it was crazy how well they fit together despite different styles and techniques."
Eibel and Bennett first met at local maker events through their handmade businesses Little Chicago Clothing Co. and Letterpress Jess. The pair teamed up and jointly owned Print & Press Shop & Studios with their husbands from 2016 to 2022.
'Heroes vs Villains' at The Hub
The Hub Art Factory will present the exhibit "Heroes vs Villains" from 5 to 10 p.m. in downtown Canton in conjunction with First Friday.
"Come see imaginative representations of your favorite animated and live action heroes and villains along with some brand new ones created just for this exhibit," The Hub announced on Facebook.
The Hub Art Factory is at 336 Sixth St. NW.
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com. On X (formerly Twitter) @ebalintREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: First Friday in downtown Canton features food trucks, Oscar Mayer car
