Artist Kati Kleimola’s experience every year at Art on the Mall on the University of Toledo campus mimics the beauty she folds into her work: color, people, art.

“This is my favorite show,” Kleimola said about the art event Sunday on the UT main campus’ Centennial Mall. “It’s always great weather, there’s so much turnout, the people are great, the campus is beautiful. It’s just a really nice day.”

It will be Art on the Mall’s 26th year for the one-day event and Kleimola’s fifth.

The 33-year-old Toledo native is inspired by people when she creates. She works in acrylics, mainly on large-scale pieces and with floral themes that surround the people and places that affect her.

“I’m really inspired by people. A lot of pieces even though they are floral, I might have collected the flowers from someone’s yard or they remind me of someone or a special occasion,” she said. “I love creating something big and colorful that is going to be happy in someone’s space.”

A piece that will be available at the booth is a 30-by-40 painting called Southwyck, titled after the wildflowers she picked from the abandoned mall parking lot on Reynolds Road for the artwork.

“There is still beauty in places that are forgotten about or overlooked,” she said.

Her colorful canvases will be at one of the booths on Centennial Mall, an oblong stretch of property on the university’s main campus that crisscrosses grassy knolls and concrete walking paths.

It’s that setting that the University of Toledo Alumni Association chose 26 years ago when members were looking for a way to encourage alumni to return to campus, said Ansley Abrams-Frederick, director of alumni programming.

“It’s surrounded by all these buildings; it’s just a really great place to hold a show,” she said. “Centennial Mall is a jewel of a setting — even more beautiful with the tents popped up and all the colors and sights and smells.”

Art on the Mall started in 1992 with two dozen local artists. Today, the juried show has grown exponentially to feature 110 artists who offer work in acrylic, glass, oils, jewelry, mixed media, pen and ink, photography, pottery, textiles, fiber and basketry, watercolors, wood, and more.

The event continues to have a local flavor: Almost 70 of those artists have some kind of tie to UT, Abrams-Frederick said.

“We are still primarily Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, but we have some artists from Tennessee, from Florida,” she said. At least one award remains open to only those with some kind of tie to a UT alumni: Best of Show, an award Kleimola took last year.

The event offers a full day’s events beyond the perusing and purchasing of art.

Nine local vendors offer food and drink. Guests can lay in the green space and listen to the jazzy sounds of two bands. A children’s art station manned by art instructors will keep the little ones busy, and a beer and wine garden will entice the adults. Students in UT’s ceramics department will be throwing pots near the student union and inviting visitors to participate.

The event is free, including parking and golf carts that shuttle guests back and forth.

While many art shows are held over the span of an entire weekend, visitors can easily see everything they want to in a day, and still see the high-quality pieces offered at larger shows, Abrams-Frederick said.

“You can walk the entire thing and you don’t have to be an athlete to do it,” she said. “There are a lot of different things for all sorts of different tastes, and it will cost you nothing other than what you want to buy.”

Contact Roberta Gedert at rgedert@theblade.com, 419-724-6075, or on Twitter @RoGedert.

First Published July 26, 2018, 10:35 a.m.