A show by a Cincinnati contemporary representational painter, "Axis Mundi: New Works by Emil Robinson (A Keystone Contemporary Show)," opens with a 1-4 p.m. reception Sunday at Taft Museum of Art downtown. Robinson will give a talk about his work during the event. This is the first show in what is to be an annual Taft show devoted to an emerging contemporary artist, and will debut four new paintings by Robinson.

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Merce Cunningham — one of the giants of 20th-century dance and choreography — died on Sunday at age 90 in Manhattan.

Cunningham had a friendship with Cincinnati art dealer Carl Solway, whose show of his drawings, Merce Cunningham in His 90th Year, is on display at Carl Solway Gallery through Aug. 15.

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The Contemporary Arts Center has canceled one of its first shows of the 2009-10 season, Young Country. That group show, in which young artists address issues and symbols of Americana, was scheduled to open Oct. 3 and continue through Jan. 10.

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The Cincinnati Art Museum today announced a bequest of a major local art collection — 200-plus contemporary glass, wood and ceramic objects amassed over 35 years by Nancy and David Wolf. In addition to the bequest of the objects, the Wolfs also will gift the art museum their library and provide enough money to maintain and expand the collection.

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If you were out and about this weekend, you may have heard rumors that Maiza Hixson has put in her resignation at the Contemporary Arts Center. Those would be true. Hixson was Associate Curator. Last year, she was the curator for the exhibition American Idyll: Contemporary Art and Karaoke, putting together a set of artists that looked at karaoke and similar real life or amateur approaches to community and singing. It was complex, reflecting her ability to load exhibition projects with strong talent and layered conceptual inquiries. The CAC has a knack for promoting and incubating talent throughout its institution. Many people who work there for a time go on to other great opportunities.

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The Cincinnati Art Museum's 2009-2010 season will include several photography shows, all in 2010: Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970-1980 (Feb. 13-May 9); local photographer Thomas Schiff's Las Vegas 360 (April 3-July 18): and Walker Evans: Decade by Decade (June 12-Sept. 5).

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It's official: the Contemporary Arts Center today announced that hot Shepard Fairey retrospective currently at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art will be coming there for the 2009-10 season. Fairey, creator of the famous Obama posters, will also come when the show opens here to do public art and participate in CAC events.

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As the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) prepares for next Tuesday's announcement of its 2009-10 season, there is indication it will be bringing the big, nationally reviewed Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand show here from Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). The first museum retrospective for the popular and controversial street artist, Supply and Demand looks at his career up to his creation of the iconic Obama silk-screen posters, depicting the then-presidential candidate, head slightly and nobly uplifted, above the words "Progress" and "Hope."

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I went to high school in West Chester and, once I got a car, I discovered that I was a city mouse. I fell in love with Cincinnati around the time I fell in love with photography. Coming to Provident Camera was a pilgrimage for me. It was the first place I drove to in the city by myself, so it meant adulthood. It was a place filled with people (workers and customers alike) who had as much passion for photography as I did, so it meant I wasn't alone.

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