Art review: ‘Thinking With Animals’ on loose at Canton museum

"Thinking With Animals," on view through March 5 at the Canton Museum of Art is a huge show of over 50 artists who primarily work in clay. [...] This is a powerhouse of a show with a number of incredibly gifted artists.

Beth Cavener, in particular, has an innate ability to express ideas and emotions. Her influence is strong and her work is admired and collected around the world. 

Cavener’s “Shadow Partner”is a large-scale sculpture of a rabbit entwined with rope and presented on a steel stand. The rabbit, which is white with gray tips on its feet, ears and tail, has a knowing, almost-playful expression and the thick black rope helps create movement and tension. One of the most distinctive elements of a Cavener sculpture is the treatment of the surface. Here the artist creates a richly textured element that heightens the already expressive and idealized depiction of an animal doing something in a playful, evocative way.