Login | April 09, 2026
Summit County Domestic Relations Court Hosts Art Exhibit
Brian Donahue
Legal News Reporter
Published: April 9, 2026
On March 20, the Summit County Domestic Relations Court welcomed local students, families, art teachers, judges and magistrates to attend a unique arts presentation. Local students submitted pieces of art for display at the courthouse.
Administrative Judge Katarina Cook and Judge Kani H. Hightower hosted the event, which featured artwork from 13 schools across Summit County.
In all, 76 student artists participated, which was curated and managed by local artist Micah Kraus of Work Studio Ltd., an Akron-based studio.
This event was created from the imagination of Judge Cook.
“People that cross the threshold of the Summit County Domestic Relations Court -- be it staff, the attorneys, the victim advocates, the witnesses, the children and the parties themselves -- all have a certain level of anxiety upon entering the courthouse,” Judge Cook said.
“By providing spaces where people can rest their eyes upon something that they can contemplate – a pleasant distraction – provides another dimension to their experience.”
Students utilized a variety of mediums in their artwork, including painting, drawing, digital art, etching, watercolor, printmaking, Cyanotype, Lino print, oil pastel, photography and fashion design.
All of the art work was displayed on the walls in the third and fourth floors of the courthouse, professionally and strategically placed by Micah Kraus.
Judge Cook announced that all of the pieces will be on display through September. Nine pieces were selected for awards and their art will remain permanently displayed.
Awardees included Abby Battaglia (freshman, Hudson High School), Patricia Sands (eighth grade, Miller South), Illiana Quinn (freshman, STVM High School), Naillara Colter (sophomore, Firestone CLC), Autumn Bodnovich (junior, Nordonia High School), Kathleen Gray (senior, Cuyahoga Falls High School), Melanie Szugye (senior, Nordonia High School), Brynn Luke (senior, Nordonia High School) and Scarlet Blake (junior, Nordonia High School).
This event was paid for by a grant from ArtsForward, an ArtsNow program.
Judge Cook thanked the court’s grant writer Christine Lindeman for securing the funding.
She said the grant allowed court officials to purchase the artwork from students who received awards.
“I chose the theme ‘Children: In Their Best Interest’ because that is the primary consideration for any case that involves children in the room,” said Judge Cook. “We have to consider what’s in the child’s best interest.
“I thought it was important for the students, themselves, to express what that means to them as individuals,” Judge Cook said.
“It took well over a year from the initial idea to putting the pieces together to see this happen today,” said Kraus
“As we shaped the project, it kept coming back to this idea: how do we impact young people as they are here as visitors of the courthouse, and then as artists? How do we support them as artists?” he said.
He went on to say, “While putting the art on the wall, it was nothing but positive vibes. People who were in the lowest part of their lives at the time were so lifted, were so buoyed by seeing wonderful things being put on the wall.
“Art doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it needs to be compelling. It needs to connect with people,” he said. “It’s a touch of humanity that allows others to be reminded of what we’re capable of, and what the issues of the day are.
“That is what’s represented on this floor and the fourth floor,” said Kraus. “The skill, the creativity, the effort and the ideas of these young people which are the hope of our future.”
Judge Cook expressed the hope that this is only the beginning of such collaboration between local art students and the Summit County Domestic Relations Court.