CANTON — In warm and subtle colors, artist Kathleen Gray Farthing depicts on canvas a scene from lost Americana at an intersection in downtown Lisbon.

With its stainless steel exterior, window glass, curved roof, distinctive clock and vintage sign, the Steel Trolley Diner is both memorialized and reborn through her piece on display in the "Small Town Ohio" exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art.

Featuring more than 60 paintings by members of the Ohio Plein Air Society, which is comprised of artists in Stark County, around Ohio and surrounding states, the exhibit continues through Oct. 24 at the museum at 1001 Market Ave. N.

The group creates art outdoors on location through direct observation.

This is the Ohio Plein Air Society's first exhibition at the Canton Museum of Art. 

Poignant and sometimes evoking nostalgia, the works capture moments and buildings, houses, natural settings, industrial landscapes, rivers and other sights.

Subjects and locations include a gas station in Beach City; a barn in Danville; a bridge in Brinkhaven; a granary in Bellville; an antique store and library in Chesterville; grain silos in Andover; a small chapel just east of Granville; a historic post office building in Kent; and a yellow wheelbarrow propped against a fence in Fredericksburg.

Also on display through Oct. 24 at the museum are "Close to Me: Ceramics by Erika Sanada," "Moments in Time: Watercolors by Yuki Hall" and "Soar, Roar, Explore: Animal Life from the CMA Collection."

"We try to give a variety," said Christy Davis, the museum's curator of exhibitions. "One of our main goals is to make art accessible to everyone. There's no one theme or media that affects everyone.

"I think everyone has one style of art that resonates with them, but if they say otherwise, they just haven't found it yet — it just hasn't been discovered," she added. "We want to see new faces every time (we have an exhibit). I think that's a measure of success."

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays.

Adult admission is $8; students and seniors are $6.

Guests will be required to wear masks while visiting the museum until further notice.

Tickets can be purchased at the museum or online in advance of visiting at www.cantonart.org/   

Free admission, sponsored by the PNC Foundation, is offered from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday.

Admission is also free on the first Friday of each month during extended hours of 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in conjunction with First Friday events in downtown Canton.

Gray Farthing, of the Alliance area, said she felt compelled to capture the well-known Steel Trolley Diner through artwork.

"My daughter did theater in the small town of Lisbon, so we had passed the Steel Trolley Diner many times, as well as having eaten there two or three times," the 65-year-old said. "When the theme for our exhibition was announced, I thought the diner was a perfect subject. Sadly, the diner is closed now."

Asked why small-town scenes are worth preserving through art, Gray Farthing said, "Many plein air painters have captured an iconic scene or building only to discover later that it is gone. Our paintings become a historical record." 

Making the exhibit unique is that all of the works were created outdoors on-site, she said. 

Plein air painting gained popularity in the 1860s, and was fundamental to Impressionism, according to the Canton Museum of Art.

The term “plein air” described Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and the Impressionists in France, the museum said in a news release about the exhibit. Since the late 19th century, the term has been used to describe artists who take their easels outdoors to paint.

The beauty of plein air painting is "what you see in the artwork is what the artist saw in that moment of time," Farthing said. "Plein air paintings are usually started and finished within a span of about two to four hours.

"Any longer and the scene has changed too much to continue," said Farthing, who studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Farthing, a plein air artist for about 13 years, said through the "Small Town Ohio" exhibit people can "discover pieces of Ohio they have never seen before."

"... One may discover that a little crooked alley may make as beautiful a painting as a large estate. Seeing our state through artists' eyes may encourage the viewer to take a second look at what is all around them."

Bob Maurer, 73, of the Canton, placed first in the juried "Small Town Ohio" exhibit for his watercolor piece, “The Thompson Building, East Liverpool."

Maurer worked as a city of Canton planner for 30 years; he also worked for Habitat for Humanity for about 10 years before fully retiring. 

The artist said he appreciates "vintage architecture that still exists here and there, and am always happy to discover an unusual architectural style to make a painting of, especially in plein air outings."

"Small Town Ohio" features diverse styles, said Maurer, a member of the Ohio Watercolor Society and Pennsylvania Watercolor Society.

"It's especially interesting to see how different artists paint their particular impressions of one subject," he said. "Small towns are disappearing and we are being overrun with glitzy malls and super malls."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com