The “Wallhaven” community mural painting by Lindsey Jo Scott, the John Brown Monument in Sherbondy Hill and “Peace” by Nirali Schrader near North Hill are all examples of public art in the city that are now documented and available for viewing in the newly unveiled Akron Public Art Inventory, an online art database.
The comprehensive database includes more than 725 pieces of artwork in Akron owned by the city, funded by it or on public property.
The Akron Public Art Commission (APAC) selected Art x Love, the creative agency owned by Mac and Allyse Love, to spearhead the project.
The duo spent a year riding bicycles through the city and cataloging the public art with two goals in mind: one, creating an online database using GIS (geographic information system) maps that the public can utilize, and two, evaluating the condition of the public artwork.
The city’s original public art inventory was a pdf with only 35 items on it, according to the inventory website. Many of the city’s public artworks do not document the name of the piece or the name of the artist(s) and organization(s) involved. (Anyone with information that is missing about a particular work is asked to contact the Akron Public Art Commission.)
“Hopefully, it’ll shed some light on all of these creative artifacts that we have around us, and all these cultural assets.” Mac Love said.
This is not your ordinary database. It’s interactive.
How does the Akron Public Art Inventory work?
The website drops viewers into the 50 “featured” and most up-to-date pieces of artwork. The viewer can launch the application for a fuller view and browse a wide map of Akron, then zoom into exact streets to view the artwork and read about each piece’s specifications.
These include the artwork’s:
- Title
- Size
- Artist’s name (can be multiples)
- Installation year
- Materials used
- Condition
- Accessibility
Viewers can also use the website’s tools like a target to check out artwork near current locations or filter to see all listings under “view all artwork.” The website filters art in the database by ward or category.
To see all the listings, be sure to go to the vertical menu on the right click on the funnel-shaped icon toward the bottom. Click off “featured,” which restricts the view to 50 selected artworks.
“For example, a lot of people don’t know that there’s a fire department [memorial] in Akron,” Mac Love said. “The police department has its own museum. You’ve got the Akron History Center.”
“So, we have some things that are just their own, just treasure houses of even more arts and culture artifacts.”
The first-of-its-kind system in Akron is a resource for residents and visitors to explore the city’s 24 neighborhoods through culture.
Public artwork in Akron
A majority of the public art in Akron, including sculptures and murals, is accessible to the public. What came as a surprise to Mac Love was the condition of the artwork. About a third of the artwork is in poor condition, while roughly another third is in neutral condition.
“You know, sometimes it’s dirt spray from a lawnmower or maybe something that hasn’t been washed in, like, two or three years,” Mac Love said. “So, honestly, the vast majority of Akron’s public arts assets, with just some warm water and a sponge, could really be brightened up in a really significant way.”
Public art in Akron adds to the history and culture of the city, he said. Love’s main goal is to preserve and improve the condition of existing art. The artwork collected in this database was “scaled back” to only include those pieces that are city funded, city-owned or located on city property, Mac Love said. Because of this, artworks on private property, or attached to Akron’s public libraries or schools, were not included in the database.
The project was funded with $48,500 of an anonymous $100,000 gift APAC received to fund its work, said Mac Love, whose first task in 2026 is to restore artwork around the city. Then, he aims to expand and continue to invest in the Akron Public Art Inventory.
“There is no other city that has an inventory like this,” Mac Love said.
