The bold colors and muscular lines of works by Bahamian artist Maxwell Taylor added a visual punch to the high-energy lineup of the University of Akron’s 10^th annual JazzFest, which wrapped up last Friday night.

“I’m always drawing,” the soft-spoken Taylor told a group at a reception for his exhibition, casting a glance around the room as if scoping out a subject for his next composition.

Jazz musicians, most of all, are what capture the imagination of Taylor, who was born in Grant’s Town, New Providence, Bahamas and later spent 20 years in New York. The Akron exhibition features woodcuts, etchings, acrylics (including some in a Cubist vein), as well as ceramics — reflecting the time Taylor spent at Chelsea Pottery in Nassau.

The draw for the jazz lovers on Friday night was a collection of woodcuts of jazz musicians, captured up close with saturated colors that jump off the page like searing musical improvisations.

One arresting image was “Sax Man” a close up of a tenor saxophonist with his bell facing the observer, blasting us visually with yellow paint and heavy black lines. In another composition, the bass player turns his face toward the sky, absorbed in the music.

The UA Jazz Combo performed at the reception for Taylor, which preceded the final event of JazzFest 2012: “Samba, Bossa Nova, Brazil!” featuring Afro-Cuban percussionist Michael Spiro and Puerto Rican flutist Nestor Torres with UA faculty member Jack Schantz.

From March 21 through 23, Spiro and Torres performed in concerts with students and faculty on the UA campus. They also worked one-on-one and in rehearsals with the students as this year’s Bittle Jazz Artists-in-Residence, sponsored by two area residents: Edward L. and Frances Yates Bittle.

Maxwell Taylor Exhibition, at University of Akron’s McClain Gallery of Akron’s Black History and Culture; Buckingham Center, 220 Wolf Ledges Parkway, Akron; The exhibition runs through May 31. Admission is free.