Dr. W. Gerald Austen, son of famed airship engineer Karl Arnstein, will speak about his father's career, his parents' longtime involvement in the Akron community and their passion for collecting original art prints in a free 2:30 p.m. talk Saturday in the Akron Art Museum's Charles and Jane Lehner Auditorium.

Austen, who changed his name during World War II, will offer insights and memories of his parents' long connection with the arts and their meticulous assemblage of a collection of fine art prints.

Collected in the 1950s and 1960s, the prints were carefully stored and never exhibited.

Works by such 20th-century masters as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall share space along with 16th- and 17th-century masterpieces by Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Rijn, influential images of war and its aftermath by Francisco de Goya, 19th-century post-impressionists Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Cezanne, expressionists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Egon Schiele and Emil Nolde, as well as powerful portraits by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Mary Cassatt.

An exhibit of works from their collection, Family Album: The Karl and Bertl Arnstein Print Collection, remains on view through June 1 in the AAM galleries named in their honor.

Born in 1887 in a small town outside Prague, Czechoslovakia, Arnstein became one of Europe's most gifted and sought-after engineers.

After World War I, he moved his family to the United States to become vice president and chief engineer of Akron's Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation (later Goodyear Aircraft Corporation), where he became known as the designer of state-of-the-art airships.

The Arnsteins began to collect original prints a few years after World War II.

The collection soon spanned the 600-year history of printmaking in the Western world, including outstanding examples of the processes of etching, engraving, woodcut, aquatint, drypoint and lithography.

The Arnsteins were quite active in the museum's history. Bertl Arnstein not only served as a trustee, but also was chosen as its first woman officer.

She was instrumental, over a 25-year period, in shaping the museum's collections and initiating innovative fundraisers, including the Masked Ball.

Austen's talk is made possible by gifts from friends of the Arnstein-Austen family. The exhibit, organized by the Akron Art Museum, is made possible by a gift from the Lehner Family Foundation.

For more information, call the museum, 1 S. High St., Akron, at 330-376-9185 or go to http://www.akronartmuseum.org.

$1 million mark met

As of the first of this week, the eighth of a 12-week campaign to raise $1.4 million for the arts, ArtsinStark, the County Arts Council, passed the $1 million mark, said Aultman CEO Ed Roth, chair of the 2008 Fund for ArtsinStark. He said the goal is to reach $1.4 million by the campaign deadline, May 22.

During the last three years, more than 100 nonprofit organizations have received $570,000 in new Special Project Grants from ArtsinStark, according to official reports.

Among them are the Minerva Community Theatre to present a drama workshop for children; Massillon Middle School to bring in a Holocaust survivor and novelist for a presentation to 300 seventh-graders; and the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce to introduce middle and high school students to African-American history through its ''Blues in the Schools'' project.

While hundreds of thousands of new dollars have gone out to smaller organizations, in 2009 the county's seven largest arts groups — Canton Ballet, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Canton Museum of Art, Canton Palace Theatre, Massillon Museum, Players Guild Theatre and VOCI (Voices of Canton) — will share over $900,000 in operating grants.

Friday

Mother's Day Sale — Bob Yost, potter and owner of Yost Tile and Middlebury Pottery and School, 1643 Massillon Road, Akron, is having a Mother's Day Pottery Sale and Open House from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. 330-734-0763.

Aviation Artist Arrives — William S. Phillips, a well-known painter of World War II aviation history, will be at Gallery One, 7003 Center St., Mentor, from 6 to 9 p.m. He will talk at 7 p.m. about his two books, The Glory of Flight and Into the Sunlit Splendor. A recipient of the Navy's Meritorious Public Service Award, Phillips has had his work displayed in a retrospective exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum. His work can be seen in books, limited-edition prints and on 20 Classic American Aircraft stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. Information: 440-255-1200 or 800-621-1141 or http://www.galleryone.com.

Art Talk — Abstract artist Mary Heilmann gives a talk at 5 p.m. in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater on the campus of the Ohio State University, 187 N. High St., Columbus. 614-292-3535.

Saturday

Peninsula Art Academy — 10 a.m. to noon Digital Camera Basics with Kurt Shaffer. $55 ($45 PAA members). Also, 5 to 8 p.m. Portrait Showcase meet-the-artists reception. Cast your vote for the people's choice award of $100. On view through June 22. 330-657-2248 at 16 W. Mill St., Peninsula, or go to http://www.peninsulaartacademy.com.

Raw Umber Benefit — From 7 to midnight at the Bratenahl Community Center, 10300 Brighton Road, Bratenahl Village, TRUE A.R.T. (Artist Recovery Team) presents a benefit for the Raw Umber Artists, whose work was stolen from a Cleveland gallery in January. Only eight of the 33 works in the gallery have been recovered. The benefit will help the artists with public support and financial aid. $15 donation at the door includes food, beverage, live music, raffle ticket. A trust fund has been set up at the KeyBank Corp. on Waterloo Road, Collinwood, under TRUE ART Fund. Information: Joanie Deveney at 216-383-9468

Art show deadline

Rubber City Show — The deadline to enter works in the Artists of Rubber City 18th Annual Juried Show is noon to 7 p.m. Monday at Mocha Maiden Art Gallery, 17-19 Maiden Lane, Akron. Entry fee for up to three works per artist is $25 ($20 ARC members). Judging is done from the actual works. This year's judges are Darice Polo of Kent State University and Laura Vinnedge of the University of Akron. The exhibit will be shown May 17 to June 13 at Mocha Maiden. For more information or an entry form, call 330-923-7450 or 330-865-7352.

Worth noting

Wooster Teacher Honored — Professional Quilter magazine has named Susan Shie of Wooster as the 2008 Quilt Teacher of the Year. The award was announced in the magazine's spring issue. Shie was one of 17 nominees, including teachers from Canada to South Africa. Nominated for the award by her students, Shie, a self-described outsider artist, is best known for suspending the rules while encouraging her students to find self-awareness and self-expression. Her own work consists of quilts as personal diaries, with themes focusing around the kitchen and family, St. Quilta the Comforter (a character she bases on her mother), astrology, tarot, peace and the environment, with much emphasis on compassion-centered politics. She will have her work on view in The Artist as Quiltmaker XIII May 18 to Aug. 2 at the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts, New Union Center for the Arts, 20 S. Main St., Oberlin.

Deadline for next year's nominations is Nov. 30. Information: 301-482-2342 or go to http://www.professionalquilter.com.