Introduction from Akron-Summit County Public Library

Knowledge sets us free, art sets us free.
—Ursula K. Le Guin—

It was a time of both isolation and exposure. It was a time of restrained freedom—freedom of movement, of connection. And it is likely that only from such a time could the Akron Art Mail project, providing a key to shared reflection and expression, have taken its unique shape.

Harnessing the energy and passion of two organizations that take their missions and values from the communities they serve, Akron Art Mail touched the lives of participants with the vision and words of artists considering this particular time and, in response, became an opportunity for all community members to share their own, very individual truths. Words and images bring with them a certain freedom, a certain release, even when created in the most difficult of circumstances.

The Akron-Summit County Public Library and the Akron Art Museum celebrate this daily inside our buildings and beyond our walls. Our collaborative relationship, so powerfully expressed through the Akron Art Mail project, continues to grow as art is made, ideas are celebrated, and knowledge is gathered, and all are shared as far as we can reach, with as many as we can reach—together.

Barb White
Deputy Director
Akron-Summit County Public Library