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CAN Journal Volume 1 Issue 1 2012 - Zygote Press

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the north east ohio collective arts network<br />

BECAUSE WE cAN!<br />

can journal<br />

let’s make art work


Shaping Ohio’s Communities<br />

Through the Arts Culturally,<br />

Educationally and Economically.<br />

The only site you need for arts<br />

and cultural events in Ohio.<br />

Visit ArtsinOhio.com to search for thousands<br />

of performances, events, festivals and<br />

exhibitions that are sure to move you.<br />

Ohio Arts Council<br />

Rhodes State Office Tower<br />

30 E. Broad St., 33rd Floor<br />

Columbus, OH 43215-3414<br />

Phone: 614/466-2613<br />

Fax: 614/466-4494<br />

www.oac.ohio.gov<br />

ArtsinOhio.com is a<br />

collaboration between<br />

• Experience Columbus<br />

• Positively Cleveland<br />

• Cincinnati USA RTN<br />

• Ohio Arts Council<br />

CUYAHOGA ARTS & CULTURE IS PROUD TO SUPPORT<br />

ARTS COLLINWOOD • ART HOUSE • ART THERAPY STUDIOS • BAYARTS • CLEVELAND ARTISTS FOUNDATION •<br />

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART • LANDSTUDIO • HEIGHTS ARTS • ORANGE ART CENTER • THE SCULPTURE<br />

CENTER • SPACES • ZYGOTE PRESS<br />

WWW.CACGRANTS.ORG 216 515 8303<br />

THANK YOU<br />

Collective Arts Network <strong>Journal</strong> is published by <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> and the members of the Collective Arts Network, whose participation makes <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> possible.<br />

<strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> was conceived and launched by Liz Maugans, Executive Director of <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> in the interest of mutual and cooperative self-support for the region’s<br />

many visual arts organizations. Thanks to the Ohio Arts Council for start-up funds. Thanks also to Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, whose assistance<br />

was invaluable. The first issue is published in an edition of 10,000. Copies are available at member organizations.<br />

1POINT618 GALLERY<br />

ARTS COLLINWOOD<br />

ART HOUSE<br />

ARTSPACE CLEVELAND<br />

ART THERAPY STUDIO<br />

BAY ARTS<br />

BRANDT GALLERY<br />

CITY ARTISTS AT WORK<br />

CLEVELAND ARTISTS<br />

FOUNDATION<br />

CLEVELAND ARTS PRIzE<br />

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART<br />

VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM<br />

<strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> • 1410 East 30th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 • 216.621.2900<br />

CLEVELAND PUBLIC ART<br />

CONVIVIUM 33<br />

HEIGHTS ARTS<br />

KOKOON ARTS GALLERY<br />

KENNETH PAUL LESKO GALLERY<br />

SCREW FACTORY ARTISTS<br />

MORGAN ART OF<br />

PAPERMAKING<br />

CONSERVATORY<br />

ORANGE ART CENTER<br />

PRINT CLUB OF CLEVELAND<br />

PROxIMITY<br />

RED DOT PROJECT<br />

RIVER GALLERY<br />

THE SCULPTURE CENTER<br />

SPACES<br />

WILLIAM BUSTA GALLERY<br />

zYGOTE PRESS<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Publisher<br />

Liz Maugans<br />

Editor<br />

Michael Gill<br />

Designer<br />

JoAnn Dickey<br />

TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Welcome to <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4<br />

by Michael Gill<br />

1point618 Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5<br />

The Golden Rule in Gordon Square, by Mary Kay DeGrandis<br />

Arts Collinwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6<br />

Putting the Arts in Collinwood, by Ann Albano<br />

Art House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7<br />

Key Neighborhood Asset, by Deborah Pinter<br />

ArtSpace Cleveland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8<br />

ArtSpace: The Evolving Frontier, by Michael Gill<br />

Art Therapy Studios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9<br />

The Healing Process, by Cheryl Carter<br />

Bay Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10<br />

Busy in Bay, by Christy Gray<br />

Brandt Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11<br />

Going Solo, by Christopher Lynn<br />

City Artists at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12<br />

At Work in the City, by Vince Reddy<br />

Cleveland Artists Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13<br />

For the Record, by Hilary Aurand<br />

Cleveland Arts Prize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />

Honoring the Past, Informing the Future, by Michael Gill<br />

Cleveland Institute of Art Visiting Artist Program . . . . . . . . . 15<br />

by William Busta<br />

Convivium33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />

Feast Your Eyes, by Gina DeSantis<br />

Heights Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17<br />

A Village in the Heights, by Michael Gill<br />

Kenneth Paul Lesko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18<br />

The Road Show Comes Home, by Susan Kelly<br />

Kokoon Arts Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19<br />

Out of the Kokoon, by Michael Gill<br />

LAND Studio / Cleveland Public Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20<br />

The Art of Public Spaces, by Harriet Gould<br />

Legation, A Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21<br />

A Marriage of Art and Music, by Jean Brandt<br />

Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22<br />

Morgan Conservatory Occupies Cleveland, by Lane Cooper<br />

Orange Art Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23<br />

Nestled (and Growing) in the Woods, by Amy Craft<br />

The Print Club of Cleveland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24<br />

Intimate Contact, by Beth Whalley<br />

Proximity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25<br />

Cleveland is in Proximity, by Robert Maschke<br />

Red Dot Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26<br />

Playing the Part of Theo, by Peggy Spaeth<br />

River Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27<br />

A Compelling Combination, by Mark Yasenchack<br />

Screw Factory Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28<br />

Not Screwing Around, by Ross Lesko<br />

Sculpture Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29<br />

Site Specific, by Liz Maugans<br />

SPACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30<br />

It’s About the Ride, by Nancy Heaton<br />

William Busta Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31<br />

More of the Same, by Alenka Banko<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32<br />

<strong>Press</strong>ed into Action, by Karen Peterson<br />

Something Is Happening Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34<br />

by Douglas Max Utter<br />

Mapping <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> Galleries and Organizations . . . . 39


WELCOmE<br />

Working together, Northeast Ohio Arts<br />

Organizations Make Their Voices Heard<br />

By Michael Gill<br />

We the top of their lungs to try to get anyone—besides the<br />

are here, we are here we are here!<br />

that’s what Theodor Seuss Geisel’s “Whos” shouted at<br />

benevolent elephant Horton—to recognize their existence atop<br />

a tiny speck of dust. Indeed, they were shouting for their lives<br />

because apart from Horton, the other animals in the jungle of Nool<br />

were rallying to seize the dust speck and boil it –along with the<br />

entire Who population—in a vat of beezlenut oil.<br />

<strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> feels a little bit like that.<br />

It’s not that there’s a band of jungle animals waiting to boil the<br />

small visual arts organizations and independent galleries in any<br />

kind of oil—unless that’s how you think of the economy. On the<br />

contrary, in some ways Cleveland has rarely been such a friendly<br />

place for local artists to make and sell their wares. Indeed, the<br />

Community Partnership for the Arts and Culture’s years of<br />

research and persuasive argument have led to much more than a<br />

cigarette tax pumping millions annually into the arts economy. The<br />

public discussion that went along with it has certainly contributed<br />

to the success artists have had in revitalizing their neighborhoods<br />

and even building small businesses.<br />

And they have had plenty of success. All those exhibit spaces and all<br />

those working artists have produced a constant stream of shows that<br />

range from high concept to high craft. Rarely has the Northeast<br />

Ohio art audience had so much wonderful stuff to look at.<br />

Their success extends beyond the work itself. Whether by the<br />

sweat equity of individual artists in Tremont, or by organized and<br />

cooperative institutional investment in Gordon Square, or by small,<br />

arts-oriented small businesses rocking and rolling their synergy<br />

along Waterloo, artists and arts organizations have certainly had<br />

their impact on neighborhoods. These hives of activity exist all over<br />

PHOTO: AL FUCHS<br />

town. Especially in this long downtrodden economy, artists are<br />

working hard. All that, in addition to their work itself, has earned<br />

them some well-deserved respect.<br />

But in order for this ecosystem to be sustainable, artists depend on<br />

public discussion. They need to find new audiences, new customers,<br />

new influences, and new ideas. And therein lies a significant irony.<br />

Because just as the promise of all that artistic sweat equity and<br />

The first meeting of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> participants at BAYarts.<br />

investment is proving worthwhile—just as Cuyahoga County voters<br />

decided the arts are worthy of public support, just as individual<br />

artists have filled empty storefronts and factories at unprecedented<br />

rates—arts journalism around the region took a precipitous dive.<br />

What was once a lively public discussion met with the one-two<br />

continued on page 38<br />

1pOiNT618 gALLEry<br />

THE GOLDEN RULE IN GORDON SQUARE By Mary Kay DeGrandis<br />

architect robert maschke combines art and architecture in 1point618<br />

The rather enigmatic name of the gallery “1point618” might resound with anyone familiar with a basic architectural<br />

principle: it’s the Golden Rule—the proportion of height to width that is most pleasing to the eye .<br />

A sense of the “divine proportion” infuses the ethereally minimalist<br />

main gallery for single-artist exhibitions that also unobtrusively<br />

serves as the conference room for Robert Maschke Architects, as<br />

retractable blinds magically descend to surround the large table and<br />

chairs. The architectural studio and library occupy the second floor<br />

that opens to the gallery space below and the lower floor is a salon<br />

style gallery that exhibits 12 to 15 artists simultaneously.<br />

As managing director of 1point 618, with his architectural staff<br />

assisting in curatorial capacities, Mr. Maschke acknowledges that<br />

this fusion of an active architectural firm and a public gallery<br />

is unique in the region. It was born of the fact that he has been<br />

sourcing art to his clients for over 20 years. 1point618 is consistently<br />

patronized by architectural clients, but the inception of the gallery<br />

itself was geared towards the non-architectural clientele.<br />

A visionary, innovative architect, Robert Maschke carries the<br />

same sensibilities into his gallery. The clear, progressive aesthetic<br />

that fuels Mr. Maschke’s architectural designs—evident in the<br />

award-winning Brunswick University Center, the C-House, the<br />

Gordon Square Bus Shelters (to mention only a few)—affirms<br />

that he is above all an artist. His affinity for the beautiful and the<br />

iconoclastic led him to design, build, and manage an expansive<br />

gallery space at the headquarters of his architectural firm in<br />

the burgeoning Gordon Square Arts District. Mr. Maschke<br />

acknowledges that he is singular in this endeavor, combining<br />

his architectural practice with a gallery that features regional,<br />

national, international artists, open to the public.<br />

The intent has been met as since opening in 2005, 1point618 draws<br />

from not only the active Cleveland arts community but increasingly<br />

attracts national and international buyers. Mr. Maschke emphasizes<br />

that the design of the space allows the studio and the gallery to be<br />

one, but the gallery is its own entity.<br />

A true “urban pioneer” Maschke ventured into the Gordon Square<br />

area in 2000, well before its designation as an arts district. He<br />

presciently saw the commercial potential of the Detroit Shoreway<br />

neighborhood surrounding the Cleveland Public Theatre. He was<br />

one of the first to commit to the neighborhood, by acquiring a<br />

gutted, fire-damaged restaurant at Detroit and West 65th, and<br />

completely renovating it. The location has proven fortuitous,<br />

adjacent not only to Cleveland Public Theater, but too accessible to<br />

downtown, and to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. In turn, 1point618<br />

has enhanced Gordon Square as a true “arts” district.<br />

Mr. Maschke readily admits that he exhibits artists whose work he<br />

likes, pure and simple. He seems to favor the edgy but never the<br />

outrageous, and always goes for artists of technical virtuosity.<br />

1point618’s inaugural exhibition was devoted to the artist Christos<br />

Koutsouras. As part of a business trip, Mr. Maschke and his wife<br />

Xiao Yan met and befriended the artist on his native Greek island<br />

of Samos. The couple’s admiration for Mr. Koutsouras’ evocative<br />

figural paintings grew into a business partnership. More than 450<br />

enthusiastic art aficionados attended the opening reception.<br />

Location Gordon Square Arts District,<br />

6421 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44102<br />

Phone 216.281.1618<br />

Web 1 www.point618gallery.com<br />

Email robert@1point618gallery.com<br />

Facebook 1point618<br />

BUSINESS HOURS<br />

Tuesday through Friday 11am to 4pm<br />

All other times by appointment only<br />

MISSION<br />

Located within the Gordon Square Arts district of Cleveland,<br />

Ohio’s historic Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, 1point618<br />

emphasizes the display and representation of fine art that is<br />

superior in quality, and produced by artists of extraordinary<br />

talent .<br />

1point618 has shown numerous artists of regional, national,<br />

and international acclaim . These artists’s work has taken<br />

the form of a variety of mediums including painting,<br />

sculpture, and video . 1point618 is proud to represent<br />

established and emerging artists alike, and continually<br />

seeks out individuals who create compelling and original<br />

work . Additionally, 1point618 has expanded its offerings<br />

beyond the visual arts into design disciplines, with<br />

exhibitions that include designers of international repute<br />

in the fields’ architecture, furniture, and industrial design .<br />

1point618’s initial venture with an international artist was not its<br />

last. Maschke states that during the past six years, he has represented<br />

approximately one-third international, one-third national, and onethird<br />

regional artists. One who crosses such designations is Oberlin’s<br />

iconic John Pearson, whose Op Art works have been presented at the<br />

gallery in three major exhibitions.<br />

A look at another year’s exhibitions shows Maschke’s commitment to<br />

the best of Northeast Ohio artists. The sardonically representational<br />

canvases of the Cuban-born Augusto Bordelois populated the<br />

walls of 1point618 in August of 2006, as did Judith Brandon’s<br />

lyrically apocalyptic visual riffs on natural phenomena. The same<br />

year, Douglas Max Utter’s compelling landscapes and Giancarlo<br />

Calicchia’s sensuous wood-carved and bronze cast figures all graced<br />

the interior of 1point618.<br />

1point618 has become an established Gordon Square arts<br />

institution. And Mr. Maschke continues to be unfettered in his<br />

selection of artists, planning exhibitions well into the coming<br />

years. Indeed, boldly pushing—if not breaking—any prescriptive<br />

envelope, Maschke will hold an exhibition of custom motorcycles in<br />

June <strong>2012</strong>. The divine proportion will meet the roar of the engine—<br />

and the Cleveland arts community thrives because of it.<br />

Mary Kay DeGrandis is president of the Print Club of Cleveland.<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

1point618 opened in 2005 with its inaugural exhibition<br />

featuring the work of internationally renowned painter<br />

Christos Koutsouras . Since that time 1point618 has<br />

maintained an aggressive schedule which typically<br />

includes 5-7 shows per year . 1point618 individual artists’<br />

exhibitions are featured in a 3500 square foot first floor<br />

space . The gallery also features a lower gallery which<br />

houses a rotating collection of artists previously featured<br />

in the main gallery .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

February 24 – March 26: Amber Kempthorn<br />

March 30 - April 29: Jenniffer Omaitz<br />

May 4 - June 3: Antonia Reiner<br />

June 8 & 9: Cleveland Moto Works<br />

June 22 - July 22: Royden Watson<br />

August (dates to be determined) - Barry Underwood<br />

September (dates TBD) - Kathleen Loe<br />

November (dates TBD) - Audra Skoudas<br />

1point618 interior space.<br />

page four ::: north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page five<br />

PHOTO: 1POINT618 GALLERY


ArTS COLLiNWOOD<br />

PUTTING THE ARTS IN COLLINWOOD By Ann Albano<br />

Cleveland’s easternmost destination for the arts is the gritty, “rust-belt-and-we-like-it-that-way” Waterloo Arts District,<br />

in North Collinwood . The district has been cobbled together and pushed forward by its own stakeholders, including<br />

resident artists, the Beachland Ballroom, and Arts Collinwood .<br />

The neighborhood nonprofit Northeast Shores Development<br />

Corporation energetically promotes the Waterloo Arts District.<br />

Cooperating with the Community Partnership for the Arts and<br />

Culture, and with a $500,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation,<br />

the group encourages the sale of houses to artists—thereby helping<br />

those artists actually make a living right where they live.<br />

From the synergy of Arts Collinwood and the highly-respected live<br />

music venue, the Beachland Ballroom, businesses keep popping<br />

up along Waterloo Road. You’ll find a Rock and Roll culture of<br />

tattoos, vintage clothing, vintage records, and vintage toys and other<br />

unexpected, temporary pop ups of all sorts that keeps going late into<br />

the night and on Sundays. Waterloo will meet your quota of “arts<br />

in the raw.”<br />

Urban culture tourists and music lovers from all over the country<br />

have heard about the remarkable revitalization of this neighborhood<br />

and are coming to experience it for themselves. Once a Slovenian<br />

enclave North Collinwood is now home to many African<br />

Americans and recently (or not) transplanted artists of all races<br />

and socioeconomic backgrounds. To get there from downtown<br />

Cleveland, you just take a leisurely drive along the lake: Take<br />

Lakeshore Boulevard through the magnificent neighborhood of<br />

Bratenahl, or hop on Route 90 West and get off at East 152nd St.<br />

The Waterloo Arts District’s promoters say, “It’s just 10 minutes<br />

from anywhere.”<br />

Arts Collinwood was founded in 2002 by Nan and Miles Kennedy<br />

and their daughter Sarah Gyorki. It’s current executive director is<br />

Cheryl Carter, an artist with a long history of nonprofit experience<br />

who was a co-founder of Art House. Everyone involved with<br />

Arts Collinwood lives the belief that the arts can revitalize a<br />

neighborhood and be an economic engine for change.<br />

Arts Collinwood makes pluralism an art form in itself. With its<br />

Art Gallery, Café and Art Center, and by organizing arts-centered<br />

neighborhood events, the organization serves as the district’s<br />

informal welcome center and hub for all who are interested<br />

in the arts. Especially serving artists who want to settle in the<br />

neighborhood, it provides access to a wide variety of media, from<br />

poetry, to visual arts, music and film.<br />

Visitors can grab a bite and a beer, linger over a newspaper, and<br />

meet the regulars at Arts Collinwood’s unique Café. The Café<br />

was purchased by Arts Collinwood in 2010 to help fund their<br />

arts programs, provide a gathering place for art enthusiasts, and<br />

encourage neighborhood involvement. Exhibitions are curated<br />

by a group of well-known local artists and educators, from<br />

work submitted largely by Northeast Ohio artists. All artists,<br />

from anywhere, however, are welcome to apply to be included<br />

in exhibits. You can find the procedure on their website. The<br />

Gallery shows traditional media—painting, print making, and<br />

photography—as well as highly experimental, 3-D installations,<br />

and sculptures. The gallery’s goal is to exhibit work that is<br />

engaging and thought-provoking.<br />

On an evening visit to the Café and Gallery, you are likely to be able<br />

to listen to a poetry reading, an artist or writer’s talk, or music that<br />

ranges anywhere from classical chamber to blues. You might watch a<br />

seasonally themed movie, or just enjoy a glass of wine. In the spring<br />

and summer, there’ll be al fresco dining with entertainment on a<br />

new patio. And of course, there’s art. The patio will be enlivened by<br />

colorful decorative tiles designed by local ceramic artist Angelica<br />

Pozo, along with Collinwood neighborhood kids and seniors.<br />

Special events abound year-round at Arts Collinwood. In the pring<br />

the Arts Collinwood Gallery hosts the National Public Art Show,<br />

featuring works by Cleveland artists of all ages and skill levels.<br />

On the last Saturday of June, don’t miss the Waterloo Arts Fest, a<br />

surging street fair with 20 bands, 40 art vendors, and an interactive<br />

kids’ area. In the fall, the Ohio Independent Film Festival packs an<br />

old bank building up the street with a pop-up show of more than<br />

20 independent artists’ video screenings. Finally, in December, Arts<br />

Collinwood turns itself into a boutique of craft and art for its annual<br />

Holiday Art Sale.<br />

In addition to providing arts programs and events, Arts Collinwood<br />

partners with the City of Cleveland and the neighborhood schools<br />

to bring the arts to residents, including children. There are After<br />

School and Teen Programs, and a summer drama camp. Arts<br />

Collinwood also has eight artists’ studios for rent on the second floor<br />

of its multi-use building. For your special events, you can rent space<br />

in the café, the Gallery, and or the Nan and Miles Kennedy Art<br />

Center. All that together makes Arts Collinwood one of the most<br />

versatile centers in Cleveland.<br />

Ann Albano is Executive Director and Chief Curator at the<br />

Sculpture Center<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Location 15605 Waterloo Road, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.692.9500<br />

Web www.artscollinwood.org<br />

Email info@artscollinwood.org<br />

Facebook Arts Collinwood<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Thursday through Saturday, 11 a .m . – 11 p .m .<br />

MISSION<br />

Arts Collinwood believes that a flourishing arts<br />

community enriches a neighborhood’s quality of life,<br />

both economically and culturally . By partnering with<br />

local merchants, neighborhood associations, schools<br />

and artists, we encourage more artists to live and work in<br />

North Collinwood, and offer residents more opportunities<br />

to engage in the arts . Our goal is to support a stimulating<br />

arts environment and to encourage continuing<br />

education in the arts by offering a wide variety of cultural<br />

activities for residents of all ages .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Founded in 2002, Arts Collinwood strives to develop,<br />

support, and promote arts activities in the Collinwood<br />

neighborhood of Cleveland by providing arts education<br />

programs, exhibits, performance opportunities and<br />

facilities . We are committed to building a thriving arts<br />

community that nurtures individuals’ creative sensibilities<br />

and talents, insures access to a broad range of art forms,<br />

and enhances the overall quality of life in our community .<br />

Thanks in part to our efforts, Collinwood has become<br />

one of the city’s most important arts districts, attracting<br />

artists, musicians, and arts enthusiasts to live, work, learn,<br />

and play in the neighborhood .<br />

Arts Collinwood was founded on the interest and need<br />

for a strong visual arts organization in the neighborhood .<br />

Many of the region’s most accomplished painters<br />

and other artists have exhibited there, including Dan<br />

Tranberg, Randall Tiedeman, Douglas Max Utter, Tim<br />

Callaghan, Mark Keffer, and Harvey Pekar’s American<br />

Splendor collaborators, Laura and Gary Dumm . In its<br />

shows, Arts Collinwood emphasizes craftsmanship, and<br />

work that challenges the viewer to see the world in a<br />

new and original way .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

January 12-26, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Designs for The United Way and the Rock and Roll Hall<br />

of Fame’s Guitar Mania.<br />

Open to the public starting January 13th .<br />

February Black History Month show<br />

Van Monroe, local artist whose portrait of Barack Obama<br />

on sneakers is in the Smithsonian Institution .<br />

PHOTO: ARTS COLLINWOOD<br />

ArT hOUSE<br />

KEY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSET By Deborah Pinter<br />

art house builds community and creativity in brooklyn center<br />

Art House is a grassroots art center founded by local residents and artists who believed the arts and culture improve<br />

communities . They joined forces and established the organization in 1999, incorporated as a non-profit organization<br />

the following year, and in November 2001, the physical facility now known as Art House—a 3,000 square-foot Quonset<br />

building in the historic Brooklyn Centre neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland—was born .<br />

I sat down with Art House’s executive director, Amy Craft, to<br />

discuss their current programs, partnerships, audiences, and what is<br />

in the future for this twelve year old grassroots organization.<br />

True to the motives that launched the organization, Art House is all<br />

about the neighborhood. Programs are designed to serve the people<br />

who live there—especially the children. And when you walk into the<br />

building, you can see the evidence all around you.<br />

We began our discussion by talking about the Urban Bright Arts-in-<br />

Education Program. This award-winning artist-in-residency program<br />

began at nearby Denison Elementary, but has grown to serve other<br />

CMSD schools. The focus of the residencies is to provide students,<br />

grades 4-12, with meaningful, hands-on arts opportunities and<br />

exposure to local artists, methods, and materials. This grant-funded<br />

program allows students the opportunity to work as a team in an<br />

artistic environment. The experience cumulates with a year-end<br />

exhibition in late spring.<br />

Next, she told me about StudioGo, a fee-based program offering<br />

offsite classes and workshops to groups, organizations and schools in<br />

a range of media. Popular classes have included clay, printmaking,<br />

mixed media, murals, and enameling. StudioGo also provides<br />

activities for festivals and special thematic art events. The Art<br />

House staff is working with a corporate client, Willoughby-based<br />

Neundorfer Inc., to develop a team-building component to the<br />

StudioGo program.<br />

Then we discussed their newest program, Sippin’ in the Studio,<br />

which is designed for the adult interested in sitting back, relaxing<br />

and letting their creative juices flow while enjoying time with fellow<br />

art makers. Offered once a month, this program combines art<br />

making with a little wine tasting. Recognized Cleveland artists teach<br />

these workshops in a variety of media. A continuing list of adults<br />

classes offered throughout the year compliment this program and<br />

include ceramics on the wheel, painting, mixed media, printmaking,<br />

and enameling.<br />

To keep such beneficial, neighborhood-oriented programs going,<br />

Art House depends on a network of partnerships and funders.<br />

Councilwoman, Merle Gordon, secured the initial capital funding.<br />

The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, and the<br />

Ohio Arts Council were also key players in the beginning.<br />

Amy and the staff have continued to nurture many of these<br />

partnerships while adding a number of new and interesting<br />

collaborations to their directory. For instance, Old Brooklyn<br />

Community Development annually sponsors a number of events<br />

involving Art House, including Falloween, a favorite of children<br />

of all ages. Art House has also partnered with the Boys and Girls<br />

Club, Arts and Science Preparatory Academy, and Bellaire-Puritas<br />

Community Development to establishe three successful afterschool<br />

outreach programs. The Boys and Girls Club and the Arts and<br />

Science Preparatory Academy have been ongoing partnerships for<br />

three years. Their most recent partnership, initiated last August, is<br />

Location 3119 Denison Avenue, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.398.8556<br />

Web www.arthouseinc.org<br />

Email acraft@arthouseinc.org<br />

Facebook Art House<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Office hours: Tuesday – Friday 10:00 a .m . – 4 p .m .<br />

MISSION<br />

Our mission is to nurture involvement in arts and culture,<br />

providing opportunities for people to create, learn and<br />

communicate ideas while encouraging self-expression,<br />

thereby strengthening the community . Our purpose is<br />

to provide high quality visual and creative arts classes<br />

for people of all ages and skill levels . Our goal is to<br />

enrich the lives of those who live in our community, to<br />

encourage and strengthen the careers of local artists<br />

and to promote learning through the arts .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Art House Inc . was founded in 1999 by a group of local<br />

artists and residents dedicated to the belief that the arts<br />

enrich lives and create better communities . As a catalyst<br />

for neighborhood development, the organization<br />

was supported by councilwoman Merle Gordon who<br />

provided the funds to renovate its permanent home, a<br />

with the Brooklyn Center Naturalist (BCN). The BCN is facilitating<br />

the creation of a community dye garden on the Art House property.<br />

Art House will use the garden to teach students how to naturally<br />

create color from nature.<br />

We finished our discussion by talking about what is on the horizon<br />

for the organization and how these supporters will be kept informed<br />

of Art House’s dynamic activities. Introduction of a new website in<br />

October 2011 will continue to be the organization’s main focus for<br />

on-line marketing and communication. Art House staff will also<br />

continue, like most of us, to work on keeping their house in order.<br />

The primary focus in the coming year is to develop new partnerships<br />

for StudioGo and new programs for adults, especially patrons, who<br />

visit from as far away as Mantua and Willoughby. Art House staff<br />

will continue to offer art education programming for students of<br />

the Cleveland city schools, as well as outreach to the community.<br />

With the help of the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission, capital<br />

improvements—such as a new floor and roof—will be a priority.<br />

Like all Executive Directors, Amy Craft’s work is never done. It<br />

seems there are always ten more tasks she could complete before<br />

walking out the door. She and her staff work tirelessly to keep Art<br />

House fun, creative and energetic. If you have never been to Art<br />

House you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to experience<br />

a creative and vibrant neighborhood arts organization in the heart of<br />

Brooklyn Centre.<br />

Deborah Pinter is executive director of the Orange Art Center.<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

1948 Quonset Hut . Art House’s founding director, Sheryl<br />

Hoffman and founding board of director’s established<br />

the mission which remains the organization’s guide . Best<br />

known for its quality art education programs and classes,<br />

particularly in clay, Art House serves its neighborhood by<br />

offering free programs and events, fee-based programs,<br />

teaching opportunities for artist, and community<br />

outreach throughout Cleveland .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Urban Bright Year End Exhibition<br />

Thursday, May 17 through Friday, June 1, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Sippin’ in the Studio<br />

4th Thursday of each month<br />

Family Open Studio<br />

3rd Saturday of each month<br />

Free<br />

Arts Collinwood gallery.<br />

The kids in the neighborhood.<br />

page six : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page seven<br />

PHOTO: ART HOUSE


ArT SpACE CLEvELAND<br />

ARTSPACE: THE EVOLVING FRONTIER By Michael Gill<br />

connecting artists to live-work space across the decades<br />

With the recent attention paid to arts districts, it’s easy to forget that the dynamic of artists moving into inexpensive<br />

space and revitalizing it has been going on for a long time .<br />

Bill Gould and Harriet Gould, co-founders of ArtSpace Cleveland,<br />

can give some perspective. Just over a decade ago, Bill Gould—an<br />

architect and planner—worked with councilman Joe Cimperman<br />

to do something that sounds boring, but which has deep impact on<br />

Cleveland’s appeal to artists—especially those who would like to<br />

tap into the rust belt’s famous industrial-scale space. In 2001, the<br />

Goulds and the councilman created the “Live-Work overlay” to the<br />

city’s zoning code. The legislation allows artists to live and work<br />

within specified boundaries in the industrial buildings on the<br />

near-east side.<br />

The zoning code generally prohibits living in buildings zoned for<br />

industrial use. Thanks to that legislation, however, artists have been<br />

allowed to live and work in the former factories and warehouses<br />

along certain defined corridors. The area includes St. Clair, Superior,<br />

and Payne avenues between East 18th east and E. 64th streets, plus<br />

East 30th, 40th, 49th, and 55th Streets.<br />

Bill Gould’s efforts to connect artists to appropriate space goes<br />

back much farther than that. In 1963 he was retained by the<br />

Musical Arts Association to find a bucolic, bowl-shaped natural<br />

setting for the construction of a summer home for the Cleveland<br />

Orchestra: The result: the Cuyahoga Falls location that became<br />

Blossom Music Center.<br />

But in the seventies, it was the urban landscape that held his<br />

attention. As Bill Gould describes, buildings in Cleveland’s<br />

Warehouse District were being burnt down, or torn down then, to<br />

be replace by parking lots. The loss of architectural history was a<br />

major blow to the city’s infrastructure. The Warehouse District is the<br />

oldest part of the city.<br />

As Harriet Gould says, “the destruction was stopped” when<br />

Gould and Associates was hired by the City with funding from<br />

the National Endowment for the Arts to encourage artists to find<br />

housing there. They succeeded, attracting the likes of Stephen B.<br />

Smith, Laszlo Gyorki, and Ken Nevadomi, among others. SPACES<br />

Gallery was there at the time.<br />

But the live-work zoning had not yet been written, which meant,<br />

as Gould says, that the artists were living there illegally. “This<br />

was discovered, so they were kicked out.” Developers then began<br />

converting the warehouse space to residential apartments, which<br />

were too expensive for most artists. As Gould observes, it was the<br />

same story in New York’s SOHO, and in San Francisco, and other<br />

cities around the country.<br />

Harriet Gould says her husband “ruminated about this,” and in<br />

2001 he approached the Greater Cleveland Partnership (then called<br />

the Growth Association) with a proposal to help revitalize a different<br />

neighborhood—the industrial corridors of the near east side. The<br />

plan was to make live-work space legal in a neighborhood with<br />

buildings that had large spaces and other qualities –vestiges of their<br />

industrial past—that appeal to artists. That year, the GCP became<br />

the fiscal agent and a partner with ArtSpace Cleveland in the effort<br />

to connect artists to affordable, live work space in specific industrial<br />

neighborhoods of the city.<br />

They work with what they call “sympathetic landlords”—a<br />

collection of building owners who are interested in filling their space<br />

by leasing it to artists at an affordable rate. Gould says they field<br />

about a dozen inquiries per month from people looking for space.<br />

Gould says they help artists find the kind of industrial space that’s<br />

unavailable in the region’s other, more residential and retail-oriented<br />

arts districts. In 2008, ArtSpace-Cleveland expanded its mission<br />

to include an Artist Ownership Initiative. The yearly activities they<br />

pursue are a newsletter and an annual tour of the spaces.<br />

The Goulds exemplify the lifestyle they promote. They live and work<br />

in a 6000 square foot space in a four story mixed use building that<br />

houses artists and businesses, including Tastebuds and <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong>.<br />

Michael Gill is editor of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>.<br />

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Location 1400 East 30th Street, 4th Floor, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.241.4355<br />

Fax 216.241.5052<br />

Web www.artspacecleveland.com<br />

Email gouldloft@sbcglobal.net<br />

Facebook ArtSpace-Cleveland<br />

MISSION<br />

ArtSpace-Cleveland helps artists find spaces to live<br />

and work . Toward that end, the organization publishes<br />

a quarterly newsletter; meets monthly with artists, nonprofit<br />

organizations, and building owners; researches<br />

zoning and building codes to facilitate affordable space<br />

development; maintains a database and website;<br />

provides building owners with information on the needs<br />

of artists; and conducts an annual trolley tour of artist<br />

live-work studios .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Founded in 2001 with the support of the Greater<br />

Cleveland Partnership, ArtSpace-Cleveland founders<br />

Bill Gould and Harriet Gould played a key role in the<br />

creation of a Live-Work zoning overlay for industrial<br />

corridors on Cleveland’s near east side . Long committed<br />

to connecting artists to live-work space, in 2008 they<br />

launched an Artist Ownership initiative, whith the goal<br />

of helping artists build equity and develop long-term,<br />

stable presence in their neighborhoods .<br />

ArtSpace-Cleveland works in partnership with The<br />

Greater Cleveland Partnership, the St . Clair Superior<br />

Community Development Corporation, Dominion<br />

East Ohio, the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust, the<br />

Council of Small Enterprises (COSE) Arts Network, and<br />

the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture . Funding<br />

comes from block grants and corporate contributions .<br />

Sponsors include the City of Cleveland, Forest City<br />

Enterprises and the Ohio Arts Council . ArtSpace<br />

Cleveland welcomes new members .<br />

PHOTO: MICHAEL GILL<br />

ArT ThErApy STUDiO<br />

THE HEALING PROCESS By Cheryl Carter<br />

art therapy studio provides support, enables expression<br />

The founders of Art Therapy Studio came to the same place from different directions . One was a doctor . One was<br />

an artist . What they both knew was that the practice of making art could provide a therapeutic outlet for patients<br />

with a need to express themselves, to cope, or simply to relax .<br />

Art Therapy Studio was founded in 1967 by George Streeter, M.D.<br />

(a doctor with Tuberculosis) and Mickie McGraw (an art therapist<br />

with polio). They wanted to help others to cope with their serious<br />

illnesses in a creative and therapeutic manner. So Art Therapy<br />

Studio was born. Since then, the organization has grown to include<br />

programs led by Art Therapy professionals both at four studio<br />

locations, and out in the community. The clients are encouraged<br />

to feel free to choose their artistic path and enjoy a relaxing<br />

environment either in a group setting or individually.<br />

Serving individuals with a variety of special needs, Art Therapy<br />

Studio in Cleveland provides unique opportunities through artistic<br />

expression. Executive director Karen B. Peterson, MA, gave me a<br />

guided tour of the facility housed in the Fairhill Partners Building.<br />

Beautiful paintings, drawings and pottery lined the gallery on the<br />

way to the adjoining studios and offices. Each work of art had a<br />

story that gave the viewer insight into the work Art Therapy Studio<br />

does and the unique challenges faced by the artist who created it.<br />

Art Therapy Studio provides a way for people of all ages to come to<br />

terms with their various disabilities, emotional struggles and serious<br />

illnesses. All of those situations come with a need for courage many<br />

of us may never know.<br />

Art Therapy Studio offers a place of understanding, professional<br />

expertise in both art and therapeutic counseling as well as a “home<br />

away from home” where the clients can express themselves through<br />

artistic medium including painting, drawing, collage and pottery.<br />

The statement on Art Therapy Studio’s website sums it up: “Over<br />

the years, we have identified ways that art uniquely answers people’s<br />

needs. In a creative, supportive, activity-based environment, art<br />

provides an alternative outlet for feelings and ideas. The process and<br />

images speak for us when words are not enough.”<br />

Art Therapy Studio serves approximately 1,800 people annually<br />

and holds special event fundraisers such as the Dessert Competition<br />

Location 12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.791.9303<br />

Web www.arttherapystudio.org<br />

Email info@arttherapystudio.org<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Fairhill Studio: 10 a .m .–5 p .m . Monday–Friday<br />

MISSION<br />

Art Therapy Studio is a non-profit organization that<br />

provides therapeutic art programs for individuals<br />

and agencies throughout the greater Cleveland . Our<br />

programs are designed to improve and enhance the<br />

physical, mental, and emotional well-being of individuals<br />

and are based on the philosophy that art making is<br />

central to growth, healing, and wellness . Credentialed<br />

art therapists trained in counseling as well as fine art<br />

invite, guide, and encourage individuals to rediscover<br />

themselves through the art-making process . The<br />

emphasis is on the process of creating art, and control<br />

is left in the hands of the artist . Individuals with physical,<br />

emotional, or cognitive special needs often find art<br />

therapy to be a very rewarding avenue of expression .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Founded in 1967, Art Therapy Studio was established in<br />

collaboration with Highland View Rehabilitation Hospital,<br />

now MetroHealth Medical Center, as a creative arts<br />

program to help patients and their families cope with the<br />

life-changing effects of trauma, chronic illness, medical<br />

treatment, and permanent disability . The studio was<br />

a place to congregate, relax, and be involved in the<br />

creative process . In 1977 Art Therapy Studio’s mission<br />

to be held in the fall of <strong>2012</strong>. Sponsors and individuals are able to<br />

taste and judge a variety of delectable creations all while financially<br />

supporting the work of the studio.<br />

In addition to programs and classes, Art Therapy Studio also<br />

offers professional development workshops and employee wellness<br />

programs. Enhancing the lives of both children and adults who must<br />

face the struggles that accompany special needs, Art Therapy Studio<br />

uses art as a valuable, life changing tool unlike many art centers.<br />

They are a valuable resource for the Cleveland-area community.<br />

Cheryl Carter is executive director of Arts Collinwood<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

expanded to include community programming to serve<br />

patients after their release from the hospital, recognizing<br />

that people need a touchstone after release—a place to<br />

continue to have social interaction and learn new skills .<br />

Today Art Therapy Studio offers weekly “Discover the<br />

Artist Within You” classes at four community studios—<br />

two on the east side, two on the west side—for anyone<br />

who has special needs, is seeking wellness, or is simply<br />

interested in learning about art in a supportive setting .<br />

The organization also provides inpatient hospital services,<br />

on-site programs for community agencies, professional<br />

education workshops, and employee wellness programs .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Art Therapy Studio Staff Art Show<br />

Fairhill Studio (12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland, OH 44120)<br />

January - April <strong>2012</strong><br />

Opening Reception – Wednesday, January 25, 5-7 pm<br />

Ursuline “Discover the Artist Within You” Art Show<br />

Ursuline ArtSpace Studio (Ursuline College, 2600 Lander<br />

Road, Pepper Pike, OH 44124)<br />

February - April <strong>2012</strong><br />

Opening Reception – Sunday, February 12, 1-3 pm<br />

Summer Client Art Show<br />

Fairhill Studio (12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland, OH 44120)<br />

May – August <strong>2012</strong><br />

Fall Client Art Show<br />

Fairhill Studio (12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland, OH 44120)<br />

September - December <strong>2012</strong><br />

1400 East 30th Street, Cleveland.<br />

The power of expression.<br />

page eight : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page nine<br />

PHOTO: ART THERAPY STUDIO


BAy ArTS<br />

BUSY IN BAY By Christy Gray<br />

bay arts growing and evolving<br />

BAYarts lore includes the caboose of a railroad train, and an old house floated along the Lake Erie shore on a barge .<br />

But the arts center is much more than a collection of structures or bits of history . It’s part gallery, classroom, concert<br />

venue, store, coffee shop and meeting place . It is a place to look at art, learn about art, listen to live music, meet<br />

friends or enjoy a bit of solitude in the creative gardens . BAYarts is all these things and much, much more .<br />

Located in Cleveland Metroparks with views of Lake Erie,<br />

BAYarts is a community arts center, an informal meeting place for<br />

professional and aspiring artists and art appreciators alike. Located<br />

in the city of Bay Village, this is certainly a Westside destination.<br />

But it’s not exclusively about one community, or even the entire west<br />

side. The organization reaches an audience throughout Northeast<br />

Ohio, including all ages to all types of artists.<br />

Arriving at BAYarts, you encounter the historic Huntington House;<br />

the renovated Irene Lawrence Fuller House with welcoming wraparound<br />

porch (the one moved on the barge), the Station House, and<br />

a the aforementioned red caboose. Surrounded by the ever-changing<br />

trees and the beautiful gardens, you will find yourself physically<br />

relaxing as the staff welcomes you in the inviting space without an<br />

ounce of intimidation.<br />

There are two gallery spaces, each with a distinctive role. The Diane<br />

Boldman Education Gallery features the work of students and<br />

faculty that participate and teach the classes. The Sullivan Family<br />

Gallery represents the talents of artists throughout Northeast Ohio.<br />

Hosting two juried art shows and an emerging artist show each year,<br />

the monthly gallery openings are a mix of high quality work from<br />

artists of this region.<br />

The education gallery is also a working classroom. BAYarts prides<br />

itself on its diverse mix of classes ranging from ceramics and<br />

painting to jewelry making and photography, with offerings for<br />

children and adults. The classes fill every room and keep the place<br />

hopping six days a week. Innovative summer camps, Girl Scout<br />

programs and home school curriculum are popular with families.<br />

The ceramics studio program is thriving. Currently, the studio is<br />

located in an inherited space in the basement of the Huntington<br />

House. It is a functioning studio with a dedicated group of ceramic<br />

artists that participate in classes and curate an annual advanced<br />

ceramics show each year. Through private funding, BAYarts will<br />

upgrade the ceramics studio beginning in <strong>2012</strong>. This opportunity<br />

gives the staff and faculty a chance to create a pottery studio with<br />

careful consideration of how it should be built to best serve the artists.<br />

As a collaborative organization, BAYarts welcomes other groups for<br />

meeting space. <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> and Kendal at Oberlin have had gallery<br />

shows here in the past. Upcoming shows include one of works by the<br />

Ohio Watercolor Society.<br />

Located on Cleveland Metroparks property, BAYarts is an affiliate<br />

of the Metroparks. Rich in history, the BAYarts campus consists<br />

of three buildings. The John Huntington House is the home of the<br />

consignment shop, classrooms, The Diane Boldman Gallery, and<br />

administrative offices. The Red Caboose is a community landmark,<br />

restored by a local scout troop. The Irene Lawrence Fuller House—<br />

floated westward on Lake Erie in 1984, and renovated in 2010—is<br />

home to the Sullivan Family Gallery, Mojo’s coffee, classrooms and<br />

meeting spaces available to rent for weddings or parties. The Station<br />

House is home to Vento, a casual dining restaurant with a great<br />

patio to catch the summer concerts. Huntington Playhouse and<br />

Lake Erie Nature and Science Center—fellow Cleveland Metroparks<br />

affiliates—are within walking distance.<br />

Free summer concerts showcase a variety of regional musicians;<br />

using the lawn and porch, musicians perform for an audience<br />

arranged in folding chairs and picnic blankets with children chasing<br />

bubbles. You are just as likely to run into a neighbor as you are an<br />

artist or friend from Chagrin Falls or Cleveland Heights. An annual<br />

Art and Music Festival provides an affordable alternative for artists<br />

to sell their work; and the annual fall Moondance benefit has been<br />

labeled the west side’s “Party of the Year,” attracting hundreds of<br />

supporters for a great time under the stars.<br />

BAYarts is part gallery, classroom, concert venue, store, coffee shop<br />

and meeting place. A comfortable place to see, learn or discover<br />

something new and fresh.<br />

Christy Gray is project director for the Red Dot Project.<br />

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Location 28795 Lake Road Bay Village<br />

Phone 440.871.6543<br />

Web www.bayarts.net<br />

Email info@bayarts.net<br />

Facebook BAYarts<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

September – May: 9 a .m . to 5 p .m .<br />

Monday – Saturday; closed Sunday<br />

June – August: 9 a .m . – 5 p .m .<br />

Monday – Saturday; noon – 5 Sundays<br />

Closed major holidays; Open for Special<br />

programs on School Holidays<br />

MISSION<br />

The mission of BAYarts is to provide a<br />

welcoming lakeside environment to<br />

stimulate, encourage and support<br />

professional and aspiring artists of all<br />

ages through collaboration, education<br />

and exhibition<br />

HISTORY<br />

BAYarts was founded in 1948 as<br />

Baycrafters, by a network of creative<br />

homemakers who wanted to work on<br />

their art in a community of other artists .<br />

Orginally located in the basement of<br />

founders, the organization moved to<br />

Huntington Reservation in Cleveland<br />

Metroparks . The John Huntington<br />

House was donated to the Cleveland<br />

Metroparks when they purchased<br />

the land in Bay Village . The house<br />

became—and remains—Baycrafters<br />

home . The organization took the name<br />

BAYarts in 2007 to reflect a revitalization<br />

that had begun at the time . The Station<br />

House and Caboose were donated to<br />

the organization and relocated to the<br />

current site . In 1984 The Irene Lawrence<br />

Fuller House (circa 1892) was donated<br />

and made international news as it was<br />

floated on a barge along Lake Erie to its<br />

current site . Renovation began in 2009,<br />

and the house opened in 2010 .<br />

<strong>2012</strong> HIGHLIGHTS<br />

February<br />

Emerging Artists Show<br />

March<br />

<strong>2012</strong> Spring Juried Show and<br />

BAYarts Faculty Show<br />

May<br />

Annual Ceramics Show<br />

Annual Education Fundraiser<br />

June – August<br />

Summer Outdoor Concert Series<br />

Musician inquiries: concerts@bayarts .net<br />

Artistic by Nature Art and Music Festival<br />

June 16<br />

Artists inquiries: eileen@bayarts .net<br />

September<br />

Moondance Annual Fall Benefit<br />

September 15<br />

October<br />

50th Annual Juried Show<br />

November – December<br />

Holiday Consignment Shop<br />

Artist inquiries: Karen@bayarts .net<br />

More information on these and other<br />

events: www .bayarts .net<br />

PHOTO: BAY CRAFTERS<br />

BrANDT gALLEry<br />

GOING SOLO By Christopher Lynn<br />

Brandt Gallery focuses on individual artists, one at a time<br />

Artists spread like water—covering surfaces and seeking nooks to fill with their volume . As venues come and go,<br />

artists continue to spread to find new locations to fill .<br />

In 1990, Jean Brandt relocated her legal practice from the Leader<br />

building downtown to an office space on Kenilworth in Tremont.<br />

When faced with the dilemma of interior decorating, it was<br />

suggested to her that it may be easier and cheaper to just rotate<br />

artwork through her office rather than purchasing work outright.<br />

Little did she know how rewardingly wrong that advice was and the<br />

impending flood that was coming.<br />

At the time, Jean saw the Cleveland art scene as insular and closed—<br />

with artists in competition for exhibition platforms. She realized<br />

that if people were that defensive about space, there was probably a<br />

lack of space. She mustered up her energy and buckled down to the<br />

idea of using her office as a gallery.<br />

When she deliberated about which artist to show first in her new<br />

office, Jean recalled the intriguing work of Terry Durst she saw one<br />

year prior in an exhibition at SPACES, which at the time was located<br />

in the warehouse district. So, on September 28, 1990, Durst’s Olde<br />

Stuff became the Brandt Gallery’s first solo show. Since then, Jean’s<br />

space has been filled with over 200 exhibitions and performances by<br />

artists who are drawn to her and her gallery.<br />

Jean’s focus has always been on solo shows. Her 400 square-foot<br />

office is aptly sized for single-artist exhibitions, and she is able<br />

to fill a niche in the art landscape that was so focused on group<br />

exhibitions. A solo venue gives artists ample opportunity to see<br />

an idea to its end and display it for the public; group shows, in<br />

contrast, function more as samplers of the artists’ work, or they<br />

play more toward a curatorial concept. Brandt also wants to give<br />

an opportunity for younger artists to “cut their teeth” or more<br />

established artists the chance to execute an idea that would work<br />

well in her type of space.<br />

Since Brandt Gallery is not a non-profit nor is art sales her<br />

focus (unlike a commercial gallery), her office provides a unique<br />

platform to highlight work that would get overlooked by nonprofits<br />

and commercial venues. Brandt is guided not by aesthetics,<br />

but by ethos—it’s about ideas and work by regional artists, not a<br />

particular style. Although she does show work from artists outside<br />

of the region, they often have ties to Northeast Ohio. The nature<br />

of the work in the Brandt Gallery varies widely from traditional<br />

photography to performance art and poetry.<br />

Brandt recalls fondly a performance by Nancy Prudic in August of<br />

2004, during which the artist’s piece was interrupted by four figures<br />

in hazmat suits who tied her up and hauled her out of the gallery<br />

space. The audience sat dumbfounded and kept looking to Brandt<br />

Location 1028 Kenilworth, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.621.1610<br />

Web www.brandtgallery.org<br />

Email jeanmbrandt@gmail.com<br />

Facebook Brandt-Gallery<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Saturday: Noon – 6 p .m . (during exhibitions)<br />

other times by appointment<br />

During the Tremont Artwalk: 6 – 10 p .m .<br />

(the second Friday of the month)<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Started by Jean Brandt in 1990 as a way to surround her<br />

400 square foot law office in art, the Brandt Gallery was<br />

an early participant in the Tremont Artwalks and the<br />

neighborhood’s revitalization . After twenty-one years,<br />

the gallery is now one of Tremont’s longest-running art<br />

venues .<br />

Among the artists exhibiting there are Laila Voss, Peter<br />

Dell, Kathy Ireland Smith, Bruce Edwards, Daiv Whaley,<br />

Judith Brandon, Scott Pickering, Dana Depew, Dan<br />

Tranberg, Anastasia Pantsios, and Steven Mastroianni .<br />

In September, 2011, Steven Mastroianni and Dana Depew<br />

coordinated a 21-year retrospective that spanned both<br />

for a reaction and guidance. After a while, Prudic returned to the<br />

gallery and informed the audience that her friend Steve Kurtz, a<br />

Buffalo-based artist and member of the Critical Art Ensemble, was<br />

similarly hauled away by the authorities on slim-to-no-evidence for<br />

simply making his art. The figures in the hazmat suits were all part<br />

of the performance. Prudic wanted people to know what the rising<br />

paranoia in the United States had lead to, and she wanted to bring it<br />

closer to home.<br />

By day, Jean Brandt is a mild-mannered (not really) lawyer, but<br />

at night she teams with other heroes: artists who are part of our<br />

community here in Cleveland, who are our neighbors, who are<br />

building our social structure—to remind us of our humanity and<br />

goodness.<br />

Christopher Lynn is executive director of SPACES.<br />

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Brandt’s and Mastroianni’s galleries and included more<br />

than 50 artists . In its history, Brandt Gallery has featured<br />

more than 200 exhibitions .<br />

In addition to art exhibitions, the gallery also hosts<br />

poetry readings at 3 p .m . on the second Saturday of<br />

each month . The readings are held by Cleveland poet<br />

Russel Vidrick .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

January<br />

Cleveland School artists from the collection of the Thal<br />

Trust<br />

February<br />

Paintings by Craig Martin, drawings by Jeff Curtis<br />

March<br />

New work by Daiv Whaley<br />

Bay crafters grounds.<br />

Jean Brandt with works by Dana Depew.<br />

page ten : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page eleven<br />

PHOTO: STEVEN MASTROIANNI


CiTy ArTiSTS AT WOrk<br />

AT WORK IN THE CITY By Vince Reddy<br />

city artists at work highlights artists’ presence in the neighborhood<br />

For most of its history, City Artists At Work has presented a signature annual event—a weekend-long opening of artists’<br />

studios to the public . The sessions differ from art walks or gallery hops in that, rather than only seeing collections of<br />

finished works of art, visitors see the places where art-making takes place, and sometimes get to see art-making in<br />

progress . The organization—which is unincorporated, and runs without a formal governing board—is unusual in both<br />

the grassroots, collective nature of its composition and its focus on artists working in a particular part of the city .<br />

Now in its 14th year, City Artists at Work serves artists based in<br />

Cleveland’s Art Quarter, a district bounded approximately by Lake<br />

Erie to the north, Prospect Avenue to the south, and East 18th<br />

and East 40th Streets to the east and west. The neighborhood is<br />

attractive to artists looking for studios due to the inexpensive space<br />

afforded by its collection of older loft buildings—many of which<br />

have roots in Cleveland’s once-immense garment industry.<br />

According to artist Bill Jean, one of the CAAW’s founding<br />

members, the organization emerged around the time that the<br />

regional art and architecture-oriented New Organization for the<br />

Visual Arts (NOVA) was nearing the end of its run. Open-studio<br />

events were also among NOVA’s offerings, but the events had<br />

become scattered geographically. By limiting its scope to artists<br />

working in the relatively compact arts district that was emerging<br />

east of downtown, City Artists At Work was able to offer a more<br />

navigable tour for visitors and a steadier flow of traffic for the artists<br />

who’d opened their studios.<br />

The first CAAW open-studio weekend took place in October 1997,<br />

with 27 artists participating. In that first year, all of the participating<br />

studios were in one of three buildings—the Heller, Artcraft, and<br />

Shovelworks. The number of artists has grown over time, but not to<br />

an unmanageable degree. Neither have the CAAW events outgrown<br />

their original neighborhood. Still, the artists made adjustments over<br />

the years to prevent the annual tradition from becoming stale—<br />

including the addition of a spring event one year, and switching<br />

from a schedule that included Friday nights and Saturdays during<br />

the day to a Saturday-Sunday, daytime format.<br />

Mindy Tousley, another of CAAW’s founders, notes that, over the<br />

years, the group has drawn upon the talents of its members (which<br />

usually include 50 or so artists) to produce brochures and posters,<br />

as well as unique keepsake items that visitors were able to collect as<br />

they moved from studio to studio.<br />

In October 2011, CAAW took a new approach. Instead of opening<br />

their studios to visitors, 32 artists participated in a show at the<br />

Convivium 33 Gallery on East 33rd Street. Members’ works were<br />

selected by Cleveland Museum of Art associate curator of American<br />

painting and sculpture, Mark Cole. More than 600 people attended<br />

the opening on a Friday evening, and the weekend continued with<br />

similarly well-attended workshops on acrylic painting, maskmaking,<br />

printmaking, and creative card design.<br />

CAAW’s neighborhood, which covers parts of many contiguous<br />

and overlapping districts (including Midtown, the Campus District,<br />

St. Clair-Superior, and Asiatown), is in the part of town that many<br />

associate with Cleveland’s still-nascent live-work movement. Most of<br />

the artist-members, however, have studio space in the neighborhood<br />

and maintain their living quarters elsewhere. Still, the revival of<br />

the Tower <strong>Press</strong> Building several years ago has brought a number<br />

of live-work units into the area, and Artspace Cleveland—which<br />

works to create opportunities for artists wanting live-work space<br />

in Cleveland—is one of City Artists at Work’s many partner<br />

organizations.<br />

The studio tours conducted by CAAW are not to be confused<br />

with those offered through the Downtown Cleveland Alliance’s<br />

geographically more extensive Sparx City Hop, though its activities<br />

are often scheduled to coincide with the Sparx events.<br />

By keeping its mission uncomplicated, CAAW has been effective<br />

and remains viable today. But the organization doesn’t only call<br />

attention to a community of artists that is not obviously apparent to<br />

passersby. By bringing to light some of the ways artists contribute<br />

to city life, and by entertaining questions about artists’ roles in<br />

revitalization and gentrification of city neighborhoods, City Artists<br />

at Work also sheds light on how Cleveland works as a city.<br />

Vince Reddy, AICP, is a project manager at Cleveland Public Art.<br />

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Location 2218 Superior Avenue, Cleveland<br />

Phone 440.238.5674<br />

Web www.cityartistsatwork.com<br />

Email wmjean@aol.com<br />

Facebook City Artists at Work<br />

MISSION<br />

City Artists at Work is a grassroots organization of artists<br />

whose mission is to educate the public by exposing them<br />

to what artists do, and where and how they do it . The<br />

public, in turn, provides the artists with critical analysis<br />

and in some cases unusual insight . . The vehicle to<br />

accomplish this has been Open Studio Tours, wherein the<br />

artists interact with the public one-on-one and receive<br />

immediate feedback on work in progress . City Artists At<br />

Work’s secondary mission is economic: we bring people<br />

from the suburbs (and most of our visitors are from outside<br />

the city of Cleveland), and in some cases from outside of<br />

Ohio into the city where they buy art, dine and generally<br />

leave with the impression that the city is not so scary after<br />

all . Our third priority is political: we are a community, and<br />

as such can band together to accomplish things, such<br />

as the branding of the Art Quarter .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

City Artists at Work is a grassroots organization, founded<br />

by painter William Martin Jean in 1997 . Jean and other<br />

artists, including his co-chair Mindy Tousley, were<br />

responding to both the closure of another organization<br />

representing the interests of the region’s visual arts<br />

(NOVA, the New Organization for the Visual Arts), and<br />

also to the number of artists who were at the time moving<br />

into the neighborhood now known as the Campus<br />

District .<br />

The organization now represents more than 60 individual<br />

artists and organizations whose studios or live/work<br />

spaces are located in that neighborhood . In addition<br />

to its open studio weekend events, the group presents<br />

annual exhibits of work by member artists in the nearby<br />

offices of the Plain Dealer.<br />

PHOTO: CITY ARTISTS AT WORK<br />

CLEvELAND ArTiSTS FOUNDATiON<br />

FOR THE RECORD By Hilary Aurand<br />

Cleveland Artists Foundation collects, documents, and shows NEO art of the 20th Century<br />

The Cleveland Artists Foundation (CAF) was founded in 1984 by Cleveland-based artists, patrons, and collectors . The<br />

first location was in University Circle, on Bellflower . The organization moved to the Beck Center for the Arts on the near<br />

west side in Lakewood in the late 1990s . The Cleveland Artists Foundation is dedicated solely to examining regional art<br />

and architecture, and is supported by regional art patrons, collectors and the families of the artists . It is a collecting<br />

institution that rotates four major exhibitions a year . The organization is supported through cash and in-kind contributions<br />

of many individuals, foundations, corporations, and through state funding, memberships, and fundraisers .<br />

The Cleveland Artists Foundation develops all shows with a<br />

balance between old and new, including artists both living and<br />

who have passed on. CAF has had a number of significant shows,<br />

with major retrospectives on Cleveland artists such as painter Paul<br />

Travis, painter Carl Gaertner, and glass sculptor Edris Eckhardt.<br />

Although the core of the CAF collection dates from the early<br />

twentieth-century, and is focused around the Cleveland School<br />

artists, executive director Lauren Hansgen and her programming<br />

committee lately have been focusing on artists whose careers have<br />

spanned the 20th century. A retrospective on Joseph O’Sickey<br />

was shown in 2007 and most recently “The Way of All Flesh”, an<br />

exhibition on the works of Shirley Aley Campbell.<br />

In 2011, CAF presented its first ever members’ show, “Cleveland<br />

Creates”, which featured work created by more than 60 member<br />

artists. Works included paintings, prints, drawings, photographs,<br />

sculpture, and ceramics. The gallery begins the new year with “August<br />

Biehle in Zoar,” an exhibit of works the artist completed in Ohio,<br />

which were influenced by the Germanic traditions he developed while<br />

studying in Munich. It’s open through March 9, <strong>2012</strong>.<br />

As a collecting institution, the Cleveland Artists Foundation<br />

publishes catalogues that coordinate with each exhibit. Research<br />

for these catalogues is collaborative, involving regional scholars and<br />

other educational institutions. Often these catalogues are the most<br />

thorough documents published on the artists being shown. The<br />

exhibited artists were well known in their day on a regional context,<br />

and CAF respects that and has given much of their work<br />

a permanent home.<br />

As Lauren Hansgen says, “the organization is inspired by the<br />

personal nature of the art that we exhibit. It is fundamental that the<br />

local public can connect with the history of this region. Many of the<br />

CAF board members and visitors are regional collectors, so there is a<br />

vested interest in what’s on the walls at CAF.”<br />

Regional art work is important in that it is unique to its specific area.<br />

CAF has a mission to raise the profile of regional art and continue<br />

archiving, because so many of the resources are quickly disappearing.<br />

For instance, Lauren referred to a box full of cassette tapes that<br />

need to be digitized. These cassettes, recorded in the 1970s, contain<br />

interviews with regional artists –oral histories of their works and<br />

processes. Some of them are all that is left of the artist’s personal<br />

message. This is just one of the many projects Lauren is working on<br />

Location 17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood<br />

Phone 216.227.9507<br />

Web www.clevelandartists.org<br />

Email laurenhansgen@clevelandartists.org<br />

Facebook Cleveland Artists Foundation<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

1 p .m .–5 p .m . Tuesday through Saturday<br />

1 p .m .–8 p .m . Fridays and Saturdays when Beck Center<br />

for the Arts has performances on stage<br />

MISSION<br />

The Cleveland Artists Foundation preserves, researches,<br />

collects, exhibits, documents, and promotes the<br />

significant visual art and architecture of the Northeast<br />

Ohio region .<br />

HISTORY<br />

The Cleveland Artists Foundation was founded in 1984<br />

by Cleveland-based artists, patrons, and collectors . It<br />

has become the premier center for the art of Northeast<br />

Ohio—owing both to its significant collecting initiative,<br />

and to its commitment to creative exhibition planning<br />

and educational outreach .<br />

Initially, the Cleveland Artists Foundation’s mission<br />

focused primarily on a group of artists known as the<br />

“Cleveland School” who were active from 1900 to 1950 .<br />

so that the Foundation becomes not only a resource for regional art,<br />

but also for important records, profiles, documents and photographs.<br />

Lauren joined the Foundation in the summer of 2007 as part of her<br />

internship through Case Western Reserve University, where she was<br />

earning her Masters in Museum Studies and Art History. She began<br />

working as the gallery director in 2008, and has since become the<br />

director extraordinaire.<br />

The Cleveland Artists Foundation is taking ambitious steps to keep<br />

the record and work of significant northeast Ohio accessible and<br />

alive. Steps include photographing and digitally cataloguing the<br />

entire collection so that it can be viewed on the website. Catalogs<br />

printed for CAF’s past shows will be visible on the website as well,<br />

and the content will all be updated. In the next year goals also<br />

include a re-branding project that will better describe the mission<br />

of the organization, as Cleveland Artists Foundation continues to<br />

promote the significant visual art and architecture of Northeast Ohio.<br />

Hilary Aurand is co-director of legation, a gallery<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

In recent years, CAF has broadened its historical scope<br />

to integrate the contributions of artists who were active<br />

before and since the Cleveland School . In particular,<br />

CAF now devotes attention to the achievements of the<br />

most significant artists in Northeast Ohio whose period of<br />

productivity has encompassed all or part of the last 50<br />

years . By broadening its earlier scope, CAF has created a<br />

forum that encourages a more comprehensive discussion<br />

of artistic traditions and innovations in Cleveland .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

August F. Biehle, Jr. in Zoar<br />

January 13 – March 9, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Artists of Cowan Pottery Studios<br />

March 23 - May 5, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Mieczkowski in Black and White<br />

(MA student thesis exhibition)<br />

May 18 – July 28, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Tom Balbo Retrospective<br />

and exhibitions sponsored by Octavofest <strong>2012</strong><br />

September 7 – November 17, <strong>2012</strong><br />

The Kisvardai Collection<br />

December 7, <strong>2012</strong> – February 16, 2013<br />

Open studios.<br />

John Hay High School students view work of architect Don Hisaka.<br />

page twelve : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page thirteen<br />

PHOTO: CLEVELAND ARTISTS FOUNDATION


CLEvELAND ArTS prizE<br />

HONORING THE PAST, INFORMING THE FUTURE<br />

the cleveland arts prize takes up the challenge<br />

For Cleveland, that catalytic moment came in 1960—just over half<br />

a century ago—when the late Klaus Roy was presenting a lecture to<br />

the Woman’s City Club. Recruited to Cleveland by the legendary<br />

conductor George Szell to serve as the Cleveland Orchestra’s<br />

program annotator, the Vienna-born writer and composer<br />

challenged the women in his audience to create a way for Cleveland<br />

to acknowledge and honor its artists—just as European cities do.<br />

It would take a pillar of the Cleveland arts community to marshal<br />

the effort. Martha Joseph—a native Clevelander educated at the<br />

Sorbonne and the University of Dijon, and the wife of longtime<br />

Musical Arts Association president Frank Joseph—was just the<br />

person. For some perspective on her persona, look no further than<br />

the fact that the French government would eventually award her<br />

the title Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, for founding<br />

another local arts institution—the Cleveland International<br />

Piano Competition.<br />

Martha Joseph championed the Cleveland Arts Prize as a program<br />

of the Woman’s City Club for its first 30 years, and led a drive to<br />

establish an endowment to fund it. Under the tenure of Mary Louise<br />

Hahn, who chaired the organization from 1990 to 2000, CAP<br />

commissioned an Arts Prize medal, launched a scholarship program,<br />

and established the tradition of holding an annual awards event in<br />

cultural venues throughout the city. The organization codified and<br />

published its selection criteria and became an independent nonprofit<br />

organization under the leadership of Diana Tittle, who was a prize<br />

recipient for writing in 1997 and led the organization from 2000 to<br />

2004. Former Tri-C Jazz Festival director Terri Pontremoli led the<br />

By Michael Gill<br />

Honoring the artistic past sounds like something worth doing, but for that to be anything more than a platitude<br />

takes a catalytic moment . And if the honor is to weave its thread through history, creating a record of what fine<br />

work our people have done, it takes dedicated effort, sustained across the years .<br />

organization in 2005, and then in 2006 turned over the reigns to its<br />

current executive director, Marcie Bergman.<br />

Now the oldest award of its kind in the United States, the Cleveland<br />

Arts Prize is a testament to the standard of excellence and quality<br />

of artists in Northeast Ohio. In addition to artists, the Arts<br />

Prize honors individuals who have expanded the community’s<br />

participation in the arts and helped make the region more hospitable<br />

to creative artistic expression.<br />

It’s a project launched under Bergman’s leadership that brings<br />

the prize into the digital media age. Ms. Bergman is particularly<br />

excited about the Documentary Shorts Video Series, a collaboration<br />

with film maker Ted Sikora, designed to promote and archive<br />

the incredibly talented recipients of the CAP and document their<br />

work. In stunning videos, Sikora has captured CAP recipients in<br />

frank discussions on their art and in surprisingly intimate moments<br />

creating their work. Some of the artists are interviewed while at<br />

work in their studios, which allows for revealing and unpretentious<br />

discussion of their work and background. Accessible by the click of a<br />

mouse through the CAP website and through CAP’s Vimeo channel<br />

(http://vimeo.com/channels/artsprize), the videos have attracted<br />

many national and international viewers.<br />

A brief promotional video featuring snippets of artists recognized<br />

in the Award series’ first fifty years gives a peek into the native<br />

Cleveland talent that would inspire such far-ranging interest: Jazz<br />

singer Jimmy Scott, the “famously dyspeptic” writer Harvey Pekar,<br />

the “boldacious” choreographer Dianne McIntyre, painter Joseph<br />

O’Sickey, and designer Victor Schreckengost all talk about their<br />

work, inspiration, and key moments in their careers.<br />

Bergman says new videos are being uploaded to the site as they are<br />

completed. The goal is to release approximately 50 videos by 2013.<br />

CAP is also seeking sponsorship of videos. Information on how to<br />

become a sponsor is available on the CAP website.<br />

Another new program also stirs Bergman’s enthusiasm. This year<br />

will see CAP commission art for the first time. Each piece, to<br />

be created by a CAP visual art recipient, will be unique, made<br />

in a limited series and offered for sale through the CAP. Again,<br />

the project is inspired by the goal of promoting and recognizing<br />

Cleveland artists.<br />

In addition to honoring the past, the Cleveland Arts Prize enables<br />

the artists of the future with four scholarships available to students<br />

pursuing arts disciplines at Cleveland institutions.<br />

The John Paul Miller Scholarship is awarded annually to a student<br />

at the Cleveland Institute of Art; the Klaus Roy Scholarship<br />

is awarded to an orchestral student at the Cleveland School of<br />

the Arts; the Literature Scholarship is awarded to a student at<br />

Cleveland State University; and the Kathryn Karipides Dance<br />

Scholarship is awarded to a graduate student in dance at Case<br />

Western Reserve University.<br />

Michael Gill is editor of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>.<br />

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Location P.O. Box 21126, Cleveland<br />

Phone 440-523-9889<br />

Email info@clevelandartsprize.org<br />

Web clevelandartsprize.org<br />

Facebook Cleveland Arts Prize<br />

MISSION<br />

The Cleveland Arts Prize mission is two-fold: First, to identify,<br />

reward, publicly honor and promote those creative artists whose<br />

original work has made Northeast Ohio a more exciting place<br />

to live, and whose accomplishments have set a standard of<br />

excellence to which other artists can aspire .<br />

And second, because artists are essential to a healthy<br />

community, and because the arts need a supportive<br />

environment and an engaged public, it is also the mission of The<br />

Cleveland Arts Prize to recognize the contributions of individuals<br />

and organizations that have expanded the community’s<br />

participation in the arts and helped make the region more<br />

hospitable to creative artistic expression .<br />

Artists, art professionals and the general public are encouraged<br />

to nominate artists for the prize . Nominations can be made<br />

on-line at the CAP website . The nominations deadline for <strong>2012</strong><br />

Awards is February 29th, <strong>2012</strong> . Winners will be announced around<br />

May 1st and will be honored at the 52nd Annual Awards Event,<br />

June 30, <strong>2012</strong> at the Cleveland Museum of Art .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

In 1960, Martha Joseph took up a challenge issued by visiting<br />

composer Klaus Roy to acknowledge and honor Cleveland’s<br />

artists . For 30 years, Joseph guided the Cleveland Arts Prize as a<br />

program of the Club, and led a drive to establish an endowment .<br />

Marcie Bergman became executive director of the Cleveland<br />

Arts Prize in 2006, and under her leadership the organization has<br />

not only managed the nomination of artists and performers, but<br />

has also created companion programs, scholarships, and events .<br />

Among the organization’s programs are a series of documentary<br />

short videos (vimeo .com/channels/artsprize), and in <strong>2012</strong>, for the<br />

first time ever, an annual commission for a work by a CAP visual<br />

artist which will be available for sale in a limited edition .<br />

The Cleveland Arts Prize supports four scholarships for students:<br />

The John Paul Miller Scholarship<br />

annually to a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art<br />

The Klaus Roy Scholarship<br />

to an orchestral student at the Cleveland School of the Arts<br />

The Literature Scholarship<br />

to a student at Cleveland State University<br />

The Kathryn Karipides Dance Scholarship<br />

to a graduate student in dance at Case Western<br />

Reserve University .<br />

PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL JOSEPH<br />

CiA viSiTiNg ArTiST prOgrAm<br />

MODELING ACCESS AND BALANCE By William Busta<br />

the cleveland institute of art visiting artist program opens doors<br />

Every Friday during the school year at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Lunch on Fridays program offers formal and<br />

informal presentations and conversations with artists engaged with active careers .<br />

The program brings together many of the artists who visit CIA each<br />

year for all lengths of time. Some have been invited for a day by a<br />

particular department, while others are in residence for an entire<br />

semester as part of a major institutional initiative. The Artist in<br />

Residence Programs is supported in part by the George P. Bickford<br />

Fund for visiting artists, which was established in 1968 with the<br />

charge of bringing artists of note to CIA for the students and for the<br />

community at large.<br />

Lane Cooper, visiting artist coordinator, describes Lunch on<br />

Fridays as an opportunity for students to get an idea of the<br />

possibilities of different models of professional activity, to get an<br />

idea of how they might develop their own careers. “It is a way to see<br />

something different, to see art as something beyond the classroom,<br />

and it gives the students an opportunity to ask the questions that<br />

they want to ask.” Those questions include “how the artists balance<br />

studio practice with the practical parts of their profession, such<br />

as sending out proposals or teaching, or what fuels their creative<br />

engines—what the artists think about and how they maintain<br />

excitement in their work.”<br />

The public is also invited to Lunch on Fridays. It is a way that<br />

CIA provides to make artists and art accessible and part of<br />

the community.<br />

While the direct experience of a work of art might be the best way<br />

to understand it, sometimes it is not enough—especially if new<br />

or unusual or from an unfamiliar cultural context. Museums and<br />

art centers try to make up the difference by “educating” the public<br />

about art—which often consists of talking to rather than talking<br />

with. Sometimes this works. But for many—perhaps most—people,<br />

having some sense of personal familiarity with the artist tells as<br />

much. There can be much more of a window to understanding when<br />

the viewer is able to hear how an artist talks about their work. Just<br />

by knowing the artist a little, the art makes sense—it is intelligible<br />

and even transcendent, in its dialogue with who the artist has been<br />

in their formative years, with who the artist is in an illuminating<br />

present, and what the artist’s potential might be.<br />

Among the artists who will be featured in Lunch on Fridays this<br />

year will be artists in residence from the Cuba Project, which<br />

is bringing five noted Cuban artists to live, teach and create in<br />

Location 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.421.7000<br />

Web cia.edu/visiting_artists<br />

Email lcooper@cia.edu<br />

Facebook The Cleveland Institute of Art<br />

MISSION<br />

The Cleveland Institute of Art strives to nurture the<br />

intellectual, artistic, and professional development of<br />

students and community members through rigorous<br />

visual arts and design education, and in so doing to<br />

advance culture, community, and global quality of<br />

life . Our success is derived from a pursuit of excellence,<br />

the fostering of community, a holistic approach to<br />

education, a culture of accountability, and freedom<br />

of inquiry .<br />

CIA’s Visiting Artist Program serves this mission by making<br />

accessible artists and scholars of local, regional, national<br />

and international significance to the Institute’s internal<br />

community and the greater Cleveland community of<br />

which we are a part . Lunch on Friday’s, a regular venue<br />

for presenting artists and scholars is one means by which<br />

the Institute achieves this . It takes place in CIA’s Gund<br />

Building on every Friday at lunchtime, 12:15 pm, of the<br />

regular semester and is free and open to the public .<br />

RECENT HISTORY<br />

A few of the artists who were featured as part of Lunch<br />

on Fridays last year included: Sculptor and public artist<br />

Brinsley Tyrrell, whose sculpture livens several Cleveland<br />

Cleveland—two during the past fall, and three in <strong>2012</strong>. CIA<br />

describes the project as “seeing the culture of a nation weave through<br />

generations as emerging and established Cuban Artists Share their<br />

talent and vision. This year’s artists include Alex Hernandes, painter<br />

and video artist; Jose Angel Toirac, painter and installation artists;<br />

and Meira Marrero, art historian.<br />

The lunch on Fridays programs is also a way of encouraging<br />

interaction between students and the interested arts community<br />

of Cleveland. The events are free to both students and the public.<br />

And—not to forget the lunch—CIA provides beverages and pizza.<br />

Lunch on Fridays happens Fridays at 12:15 in CIA’s Gund Building.<br />

Most take place in Ohio Bell Auditorium. The series is jointly<br />

sponsored by the Liberal Arts and Foundation Environments with<br />

additional support coming from other Cleveland Institute of Art<br />

Environments.<br />

William Busta is director of William Busta Gallery.<br />

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neighborhoods, and whose enamel landscapes were<br />

recently exhibited at William Busta Gallery; Joe Kelly and<br />

Jay Crocker, who have created real-time animations<br />

to real-time music using home made instruments and<br />

sound making devices from found objects, including<br />

discarded toys; and, as part of the ongoing Cuba<br />

Project, Alejandro Aguilera (who works through sculpture<br />

installation, drawing, and improvisational mechanisms to<br />

explore his relationship to art and history as they relate<br />

to him as an immigrant) and Osmievy Ortega, whose<br />

work revitalizes the print medium to represent scenes of<br />

subcultures, social margins and identity .<br />

COMING EVENTS<br />

The Bickford Visiting Artist Series lectures are free and<br />

open to the public, and take place in CIA’s Aitken<br />

Auditorium of the Gund Building at 11141 East Boulevard .<br />

Feb 15, 7pm – Nick Cave<br />

on fashion and sound<br />

Strategies of Performa: Scene and Unseen<br />

Reception in Gund lobby before lecture<br />

Mar 15, 7pm – Clarence Morgan<br />

on painting and abstraction<br />

Inspiration from a Painter’s Notebook<br />

Apr 6, 7pm – Marek Cecula<br />

on ceramic art<br />

Industrial Interventions<br />

Cleveland Arts Prize founder Martha Joseph.<br />

Cuba Project visiting artist Alejandro Aguilera.<br />

page fourteen : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page fifteen<br />

PHOTO: ROBERT MULLER/CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART


CONviviUm 33<br />

FEAST YOUR EYES By Gina DeSantis<br />

convivium33 revives church building as place to “celebrate and feast”<br />

Throughout Cleveland old factories, lofts and other buildings have been converted in artist studio spaces and<br />

galleries . Convivium33 Gallery has something in common with that trend, but is rare in that it reuses not an industrial<br />

space, but the former St . Josaphat Roman Catholic Church .<br />

The church was originally built in 1915. However, due to economic<br />

hardships it was forced to close its doors in 1998. The community<br />

was unable to support necessary renovations to the building. It<br />

was de-sanctified by the Catholic Diocese, and religious artifacts<br />

were removed. Then, in 2001, Alenka Banco bought the building<br />

and began renovations. Alenka’s passion for buildings is evident<br />

in her background which includes working for a local non-profit<br />

in commercial development, managing an arts building and<br />

opening a small gallery in Tremont (Eddie Moved) which she also<br />

renovated . Alenka is currently pursuing her Masters degree in<br />

Historic Preservation. She opened the stately edifice 2005, with<br />

Convivium33 Gallery located in the former church’s nave.<br />

Alenka greets me as I enter Josaphat Art Hall. She makes sure to<br />

speak with everyone who visits, offering insight into the history<br />

of the space and its current exhibition. A retrospective show by<br />

Shirley Aley Campbell hangs on the walls. Her five foot by seven<br />

foot portraits fit comfortably throughout the nave—not the least<br />

bit overwhelmed by the architecture. Alenka’s goal is to create a<br />

professional and unique experience for each visitor. Her appreciation<br />

for this space, along with Cleveland and its artists is apparent<br />

through her approach and the exhibitions she presents throughout<br />

the year. Alenka feels the artists who live and work in Cleveland are<br />

the city’s greatest asset.<br />

Location 1433 East 33rd Street, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.881.7828<br />

Web www. http://josaphatartshall.com<br />

Email convivium33@josaphatartshall.com<br />

Facebook Convivium33 Gallery at Josaphat Arts Hall<br />

MISSION<br />

It is the personal relationship between art, space and<br />

self that is the foundation for Convivium33 Gallery, which<br />

is located in the nave of the former church . Proprietor<br />

Alenka Banco asks, “So, what are four walls anyway?<br />

They are . . . .what they contain .” Josaphat Arts Hall is<br />

unique and special in many ways . The sacred structure<br />

which will house the new Convivium33 Gallery will also<br />

be the new location for several art business studios .<br />

The economic benefits which enrich communities<br />

through the arts are recognized . A visit to the building<br />

can introduce a guest to the arts through interactive art<br />

opportunities . Private classes, workshops and lectures<br />

are now being offered in the individual studio businesses .<br />

Included are stained glass, painting, web design, glass<br />

fusion and slumping .<br />

Interested artists are encouraged to visit studio residents,<br />

or e-mail properties@josaphatartshall .com for more<br />

information .<br />

She named Convivium33 for a Latin term that means “to celebrate<br />

and feast.” The gallery continues to act as a community gathering<br />

space and celebrates the work of talented regional artists. Only<br />

three to four exhibitions are hosted throughout the year, including<br />

both solo and group shows. Alenka feels the large space is best<br />

suited to accommodate an entire portfolio or retrospective. This<br />

gives seasoned artists the opportunity to show close to home. The<br />

gallery launched with the work of painter Thomas Frontini. Other<br />

significant solo exhibitions include photographer and mixed-media<br />

artist Christopher Pekoc, photographer Michael Levy, printmaker<br />

Phyllis Seltzer, sculptor -painter Clarence Van Duzer and Outsider<br />

artist Reverend Albert Wagner.<br />

Alenka also has a tradition of shows assembled by guest curators,<br />

including the painter and critic Douglas Max Utter (whose essay<br />

appears in this issue of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>), and Cleveland Museum of<br />

Art associate curator Mark Cole. This year, the noted Cleveland<br />

photographer Herb Ascherman will curate an exhibit which will<br />

make its way to Paris Photo <strong>2012</strong>. Also this year, Convivium33 will<br />

present a show of the late Cleveland artist and CIA graduate Scott<br />

Miller. On the occasion of his death, Miller was described by curator<br />

William Busta in a Plain Dealer story as “certainly one of the<br />

most important artists in Cleveland in the late 20th century.” The<br />

painter exhibited his work around the world, including galleries in<br />

New York, Los Angeles, Key West, Fla., Toronto, Paris, Tokyo and<br />

Amsterdam. He passed away in 2008.<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Facing declines in its congregation and revenue, St .<br />

Josaphat Roman Catholic parish closed its doors in<br />

1998 . After running a gallery called “Eddie Moved” in<br />

what had been the former home of a Tremont crack<br />

dealer, Alenka Banco came upon the space that was<br />

to become Convivium33 just as movers were removing<br />

its furniture . The former St . Josaphat Church was up for<br />

sale, and she immediately saw its potential as a gallery .<br />

It wasn’t until years later, in 2001, that she bought the<br />

de-sanctified church from the Catholic Diocese of<br />

Cleveland . After two full years of almost continuous<br />

renovation, including the installation of a new roof and<br />

heating system, she opened Convivium33 .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

Scott Miller (1955-2008), curated by Alenka Banco<br />

May 25-June 29, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Paris Photo<strong>2012</strong> CLEVELAND, curated by Herb Asherman<br />

September 12-September 16<br />

Pulp Imaging, curated by Lynn Sures<br />

October 17-October 21, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Thomas Frontini, curated by Alenka Banco<br />

December 7-January 11<br />

Josaphat Arts Hall refers not only to Convivium33, which occupies<br />

the church’s nave, but to the entire building – which includes office<br />

space, a basement, and other quarters. In addition to the gallery,<br />

the Hall houses several artist studios. Working within its walls are<br />

glass artists, furniture makers and painters. The working artists<br />

occasionally open their studios during the gallery events. The gallery<br />

hosts events in addition to the exhibitions. Alenka also donates the<br />

space to non-profits for fundraisers.<br />

Alenka’s preservation and transformation of St. Josaphat Roman<br />

Catholic Church has given the community a new place to gather.<br />

It separates itself from other venues with its architecture, which<br />

merges seamlessly with art that hangs on its walls. Thanks to<br />

the renovations, Convivium33 Gallery has received awards from<br />

both the AIA Cleveland, American Institute of Architects and<br />

the Cleveland Restoration Society. Originally built as a gathering<br />

space, Convivium33 Gallery carries on the building’s history and<br />

mission with great success and one of Cleveland’s most foremost<br />

exhibition spaces.<br />

Gina DeSantis is a ceramic artist and coordinator of the Screw<br />

Factory Artists.<br />

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PHOTO: CONVIVIUM 33<br />

hEighTS ArTS<br />

A VILLAGE IN THE HEIGHTS<br />

heights arts focuses on the community<br />

If ever the stars have aligned for a group of people that wanted to do a good thing for their community, it was for<br />

the people who launched Heights Arts .<br />

It was the year 2000. A group of Cleveland Heights residents<br />

including Peggy Spaeth, Greg Donley, David Budin, Cathy Culp,<br />

and Steve <strong>Press</strong>er invited Community Partnership for the Arts and<br />

Culture CEO Tom Schorgl to meet with them in Spaeth’s family<br />

room. Their purpose was to talk about how a new organization<br />

in town might support the many artists and performers who<br />

live in Cleveland Heights, and simultaneously help the city’s<br />

neighborhoods stay strong.<br />

Simultaneous with that discussion, the City had embarked upon<br />

a visioning process to plan for the future. And through CPAC,<br />

Schorgl had begun building an argument for public funding to<br />

support the arts in Cuyahoga County. A keystone in that argument<br />

was how the arts could play a key role for communities—supporting<br />

both quality of life and neighborhood economies.<br />

“We had about a dozen people, and came up with a laundry list of<br />

ideas,” said Spaeth, who is now executive director of Heights Arts.<br />

The list included a gallery—because, for as many high quality visual<br />

arts who call Cleveland Heights home, there was at the time no<br />

year-round art gallery in the city. They wanted music programming.<br />

They wanted to support poets. And they wanted to use public art to<br />

improve the streetscape.<br />

All that energy resulted in Heights Arts, which quickly established<br />

itself as a major force for artists and neighborhoods in the region.<br />

In 2002 space became available in a storefront adjacent to a popular<br />

independent movie theater on Lee Road. They organized a “pop-up”<br />

holiday store that proved so successful that they signed a lease for a<br />

full-time gallery. In 2010 the small gallery expanded into an adjacent<br />

storefront and now includes a space for classes and workshops.<br />

It’s a small amount of physical space, which serves the organization<br />

well by keeping expenses down.<br />

Indeed, Heights Arts focuses on four program areas, only one of<br />

which depends on committed physical space. That’s the art gallery<br />

itself, which presents six exhibitions each year.<br />

In addition to the gallery, Heights Arts collaborates with the City<br />

of Cleveland Heights on its poet laureate program. Supported<br />

by Cleveland Orchestra violinist and Heights Arts trustee Isabel<br />

Trautwein, a chamber music series presents four house concerts a<br />

year, which consistently sell out.<br />

But the organization’s biggest visual impact probably comes from<br />

its public art installations, and collaborations with neighborhood<br />

groups on the design of public space.<br />

“We facilitated public art projects, both permanent and temporary,<br />

for several business districts—Cedar-Fairmount, Coventry, Cedar<br />

Lee, Larchmere, and Cedar Center,” Spaeth said. “Those projects<br />

have included signage, murals, benches, the iron fences on Coventry,<br />

“Fencepiration,” and “Knitscape”—the temporary installation of<br />

colorful, form-fitting, knitted covers for parking meters, trees, and<br />

other features of the streetscape in selected neighborhoods.<br />

Spaeth believes in grass-roots, community level activity, which<br />

is what Heights Arts is all about. “There’s an awful lot to be said<br />

for the ‘village’ concept,” she says. “We have wonderful large<br />

cultural institutions, but we also need smaller organizations in the<br />

community that deliver art on a daily basis. The arts should not be<br />

apart from life, but a part of life.”<br />

Michael Gill is editor of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>.<br />

Convivium 33 on opening night.<br />

Heights Arts’ “Knitscape” public art installation.<br />

page sixteen : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page seventeen<br />

By Michael Gill<br />

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PHOTO: HEIGHTS ARTS<br />

Location 2175 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights<br />

Phone 216.371.3457<br />

Web http://www.heightsarts.org/<br />

Email heightsarts@heightsarts.org<br />

Facebook Heights Arts<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 10-5<br />

Thursday, Friday 10-9:30<br />

Saturday 1:30-9:30<br />

Closed Sunday<br />

MISSION<br />

Heights Arts is a nonprofit community arts organization in<br />

Cleveland Heights, Ohio . Heights Arts cultivates a strong,<br />

diverse, and collaborative arts community by inspiring<br />

people of all ages to engage in the arts; supporting<br />

the arts through education; providing exhibition and<br />

performance opportunities; and fostering public<br />

appreciation for the arts .<br />

Heights Arts Gallery’s mission is to present significant<br />

art to the community; emphasize regional artists, with<br />

special attention to Heights artists; collaborate and<br />

foster collaboration among area artists and institutions;<br />

advance the arts and artists; and stimulate wider art<br />

appreciation .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Heights Arts was founded in 2000, as a result of grassroots<br />

leadership in collaboration with the city . Since<br />

then Heights Arts has created a place rich with artists,<br />

performers, art educators, administrators and others<br />

who make their livelihood in the performing or visual<br />

arts . We contribute to the region’s artistic vitality<br />

by showing regional artists at Heights Arts Gallery,<br />

facilitating public art and design projects, presenting<br />

chamber music and other concerts in intimate settings,<br />

nominating and supporting the Cleveland Heights Poet<br />

Laureate, and having classes and workshops in the<br />

arts . As a multidisciplinary arts organization, we tap<br />

into the potential of our creative residents to enrich<br />

community life .


kENNETh pAUL LESkO<br />

THE ROAD SHOW COMES HOME By Susan Kelley<br />

the historic and the contemporary mingle at kenneth paul lesko gallery<br />

Standing outside the Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery on the second floor of 78th Street Studios you are immediately<br />

taken by the mix of clean, industrial style metal and glass fixtures with the warmth of the wood detailing—beginning<br />

with the most intriguing, oversize Italian art glass door handles you’ve ever seen in your life .<br />

The gallery itself invites exploration, exuding a sense of strength and<br />

elegance: minimal furniture and fixtures (apart from those glass<br />

door handles) maximizes the art on display. The art is the star of the<br />

show, and the Leskos have done everything possible to make that the<br />

focus of your experience.<br />

Owners Kenneth Paul Lesko (Executive Director) and his son Ross<br />

Lesko (Gallery Director) work hard to achieve quality with every<br />

exhibition. Between the two of them, they have more than 60<br />

years of experience in the art world. Ross literally grew up in the<br />

business of dealing in significant art at shows and auctions around<br />

the country. For decades, most of their business was done on the<br />

road. Originally dealing in historical Modernist artwork (painting,<br />

sculpture, decorative arts, etc.) and vintage Italian art glass (1870-<br />

1970), their shared passion has lately expanded into a combination<br />

of historical and contemporary artwork.<br />

With an international reputation for dealing in high quality art, they<br />

could have settled anywhere and been successful. But, being from<br />

the Cleveland area, they felt that the quality of arts and culture here<br />

could match any other major city. So when they decided in 2003 to<br />

open a gallery as permanent exhibit space, Cleveland was the only<br />

choice. They have been at 78th Street Studios longer than any other<br />

gallery in the building.<br />

Since opening the gallery, they have added “Cleveland School”<br />

Artists (early to mid-20th century artists connected to Cleveland) to<br />

their historical collection and have launched six Cleveland School<br />

exhibitions. They have also added contemporary Cleveland artists to<br />

their collection and exhibition schedule, including Cleveland artists<br />

in solo, two-person, and group exhibitions.<br />

What the Leskos bring to Cleveland is a unique glimpse of Modern<br />

historical and contemporary art from around the world, matched<br />

whenever possible with the work of local artists. This also affords<br />

out-of-town visitors to see the quality of work being produced in<br />

Cleveland. A good example of this is their annual Cinema Exhibition<br />

(designed around the idea of cinema as a translated medium). Of the<br />

18 artists (from eight cities and two countries) featured in Cinema<br />

01, eight were from Northeast Ohio. The following year, in an exhibit<br />

that featured 17 artists from 12 cities and four countries, four of the<br />

artists were contemporary Clevelanders.<br />

The galley is open Wednesday through Saturday and well worth<br />

the visit. If you visit their website kennethpaullesko.com, a click on<br />

“Previous Exhibitions” will give you an idea of the high quality and<br />

varied range of art work available at the Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery.<br />

Susan Kelley is office manager at the Morgan Conservatory.<br />

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Location 1305 West 80th Street, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.631.6719<br />

Web www. kennethpaullesko.com<br />

Email gallery@kennethpaullesko.com<br />

Facebook Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Wednesday-Saturday, 12:00pm-5:00pm<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery opened in 2003, after<br />

exhibiting at Modernist venues around the country for<br />

more than 20 years . Executive director Kenneth Paul<br />

Lesko and his son, gallery director Ross Lesko have lived<br />

in the Cleveland area for most of their lives, and decided<br />

to open the gallery in Cleveland as an experiment . In the<br />

intervening years, they have had significant exhibitions of<br />

historical and contemporary paintings and sculpture, by<br />

both Cleveland artists and artists from around the world .<br />

Other exhibitions include Vintage and Contemporary<br />

Photography, Tribal Art, American Studio Pottery and<br />

Contemporary Glass, as well as their annual international<br />

exhibitions of Cinema Inspired Artwork .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

(subject to change)<br />

Judith Brandon [Cleveland, OH]: Solo Exhibition<br />

Director’s Choice <strong>2012</strong>: Historical & Contemporary<br />

Gregory Lowell Smith [Banner Elk, NC]: Solo Exhibition<br />

Jane Millican [London, UK]: Solo Exhibition<br />

Troy Gua [Seattle, WA]: Solo Exhibition<br />

Cinema 03: International Group Exhibition<br />

Kasumi [Cleveland, OH]: Solo Exhibition<br />

PHOTO: ROSS LESKO<br />

kOkOON ArTS gALLEry<br />

OUT OF THE KOKOON By Michael Gill<br />

in the past, present, and future: exhibiting the drive to break free<br />

Kokoon Arts Gallery got its name from old Cleveland lore . The original Kokoon Arts Club—founded by early 20th<br />

century Cleveland artists & lithographers Carl Moellmann and William Sommer—was active from 1911 to the 1940s .<br />

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the group became known not only for seeking new forms<br />

of expression (as alternatives to the conformity of academic art), but also for “extravagant parties that featured<br />

unconventional costumes, exotic dances, opening processions, enormous props and clashing decorations, and<br />

unpredictable ‘stunts’ throughout .”<br />

The old Kokoon Arts Club has had a bit of attention recently, thanks<br />

to Henry Adams and Lawrence Waldman’s book, Out of the Kokoon,<br />

published in 2011 in conjunction with an exhibit at the Cleveland<br />

Public Library.<br />

If that makes William Scheele’s Kokoon Arts Gallery sound like it<br />

emphasizes the past, that’s only partly true. In fact, Scheele’s gallery<br />

is equally informed by the Kokoon Arts Club’s drive to press onward<br />

into a future of ever expanding creative possibilities.<br />

Scheele is certainly grounded in twentieth century art from<br />

Cleveland. In 1984 he founded and directed the Cleveland Artists<br />

Foundation, which initially focused on early twentieth-century<br />

artists of the Cleveland School. Scheele’s father—a painter of<br />

imagined scenes from the natural history world (who became<br />

Director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1949) was<br />

a strong influence.<br />

But the other nonprofit organization Scheele founded—the New<br />

Center for Art and Technology, or NewCAT—looked toward the<br />

future. The organization’s 2002 inaugural exhibition brought an<br />

international collection of computer graphic art called The Digital<br />

Hall of Fame to Cleveland. It was the first time the work had ever<br />

been exhibited in the United States. Over the next four years,<br />

NewCAT presented work from the annual Macworld Digital Art<br />

Gallery; produced a forum and exhibition on Creative Industries at<br />

CASE University; and participated in the first Ingenuity Festivals.<br />

“One of the interesting things that happened at NewCAT is that<br />

many people came to our exhibitions out of curiosity for the<br />

newness,” Scheele said. “People were aware of digital art, but didn’t<br />

know how it was done. It was like when the camera was new. People<br />

had to realize that technology doesn’t just make art. That requires<br />

an understanding of the machine. Making art requires human<br />

intervention.”<br />

Both currents have a strong presence at Kokoon Arts Gallery. “What<br />

interests me is work that spans the ages—looking at how historic<br />

artists may treat a subject matter, and how contemporary artists are<br />

dealing with it,” he adds.<br />

Location 1305 West 80th Street, Cleveland<br />

78th Street Studios<br />

Phone 216-832-8212<br />

Web www.kokoonarts.com<br />

Email williamscheele@gmail.com<br />

Facebook Kokoon Arts Gallery<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Friday & Saturday 11 am to 4 pm<br />

or by Appointment<br />

MISSION<br />

The gallery shows historic and contemporary local<br />

artists, along with artists from around the country and<br />

world . Areas of artistic exploration include natural<br />

history, spirituality & mysticism, local Kokoon Arts Club<br />

& Cleveland School history, photography & computer<br />

graphics . In that Spirit, Kokoon Arts Gallery presents<br />

quality artwork from Traditional to Digital Media .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

William Scheele established Kokoon Arts Gallery in<br />

October 2007 in the 78th Street Studios facility . The gallery<br />

continues the tradition established in 1911 by the Kokoon<br />

Arts Club to promote a more modernist approach to<br />

producing art, believing that artistic creativity should not<br />

be limited by any conventional ideas or laws . Artists must<br />

Scheele has run galleries exhibiting traditional and digital media<br />

steadily since 1988, beginning in Cleveland Heights. His current<br />

gallery is located in the 78th Street Studios.<br />

By showing digital media in the same venue as historic Cleveland<br />

School artists and illustrators of the natural world, Scheele draws a<br />

broad cross section of art aficionados, and commonly exposes people<br />

to work that stretches the limits of their appreciation.<br />

“Sometimes I do see skepticism of new media,” he says. “There are<br />

still people who are very stodgy. This is why I deal with everything<br />

from traditional art techniques to computer graphics and video. To<br />

me it is all intriguing. To me it is the human creative spirit that is<br />

really interesting, and I love to show different ways to see the world.<br />

That is why I remain in the business. I work from a passionate<br />

standpoint. If I were in this for the money, I wouldn’t be here. This<br />

is a labor of love.”<br />

Michael Gill is editor of <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>.<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

always be free to explore new concepts, techniques and<br />

creative tools . Therefore Kokoon Arts Gallery will always<br />

revere and honor historic traditional media, but believes<br />

the evolution of artistic creativity is never ending . .<br />

<strong>2012</strong> EXHIBITIONS<br />

Nature Revealed: Wildlife & Environments<br />

January 20 through April 14, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Michael Nekic: Altered City<br />

Michael Prunty: Recent Watercolors<br />

Gary Spinosa: Temple of the Spirits<br />

Randall Tiedman: InScapes<br />

Andrea LeBlond & Donna Webb: Ceramics<br />

Ernie Horvath, Susan Squires, Karen Kunc & Darren<br />

Waterston: In Search of the Miraculous<br />

Kenneth Paul Lesko gallery.<br />

Kokoon Arts gallery.<br />

page eighteen : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page nineteen<br />

PHOTO: WILLIAM S . SCHEELE


LAND STUDiO/CLEvELAND pUBLiC ArT<br />

THE ART OF PUBLIC SPACES By Harriet Gould<br />

cleveland public art and parkworks join forces as land studio<br />

The organization formerly known as Cleveland Public Art begins a new chapter in the new year, as it joins forces<br />

with ParkWorks to create a single entity called LAND Studio, (LAND being an acronym for the combined entity’s<br />

areas of focus Landscape – Art – Neighborhoods – Development) . The new organization will continue the work of its<br />

parent organizations–creating places and connecting people through public art, sustainable building and design,<br />

collaborative and dynamic programming .<br />

The merger makes a good occasion to look back at the work<br />

Cleveland Public Art has done to improve public spaces in the<br />

city. By creating specific works and collaborating with other<br />

organizations on their plans, Cleveland Public Art shaped the<br />

experience of being in public places around Cleveland.<br />

Founded in 1985, Cleveland Public Art completed many significant<br />

projects that enhance public buildings, improve streetscape design,<br />

and have bring new life to vacant lots, parks, hiking/biking trails,<br />

and neighborhood centers.<br />

The group always has—and will continue to—emphasize<br />

collaboration. Community leaders in the city’s diverse<br />

neighborhoods contact them for help identifying and creating<br />

projects that will enhance their community’s vacant land,<br />

playgrounds, and other features. Each project reflects the<br />

neighborhood where it is located, resulting in artwork that is part of<br />

each community’s identity. To ensure that all interested artists have<br />

the opportunity to collaborate, the organization maintains a registry<br />

of artists interested in working in the public realm. When projects<br />

come together, all artists on the list are invited to submit proposals.<br />

Many of Cleveland’s most delightful and iconic public spaces were<br />

created or enhanced in collaboration with Cleveland Public Art.<br />

The Eastman Reading Garden at the Cleveland Public Library is<br />

one of Cleveland Public Arts most notable projects. The Garden is<br />

a remarkable open urban space located between the Louis Stokes<br />

wing and the original main library building. In the summer months<br />

people flock there to meet friends, read a book and enjoy their lunch<br />

in the beautiful outdoor space. Playful bronze figures by sculptor<br />

Tom Otterness are scattered around the garden. They mischievously<br />

rearrange and steal letters from its bronze gate. Continuing the theme<br />

of words and meanings, sculptor Maya Lin created an L-shaped<br />

fountain and reflecting pool. The title, “Reading a Garden,” can only<br />

be read correctly if seen as a reflection in the water.<br />

The organization’s reach extends into Cleveland’s neighborhoods.<br />

The trailhead to Slavic Village’s Morgana Run trail is visible from<br />

a distance thanks to Rotoflora, a 35-foot flower sculpture made<br />

from steel, including recycled bicycle wheels, and illuminated with<br />

energy-efficient LEDs.<br />

Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks were already collaborating in<br />

2002, when they created the Orchard Park School playground, in<br />

Ohio City. The project included 560 linear feet of fencing created<br />

by sculptor Brinsley Tyrrell. Each 10-foot long, hand-forged<br />

section of the fence depicts groups and individuals in motionrunning,<br />

dancing, and wheeling their way around the playground.<br />

After the installation, a multiple-vehicle accident damaged the<br />

fence. The artist incorporated the crash into one of its scenes. The<br />

artwork has become a community asset, adding vibrancy and<br />

interest to the neighborhood.<br />

In conjunction with the City of Cleveland’s recently launched Food<br />

Cart Initiative, Cleveland Public Art has begun a program that pairs<br />

the food cart operators with local artists to visually enhance the food<br />

carts and boldly express each vendor’s offerings. . Making the food<br />

carts into mobile works of public art is an immediate way to create a<br />

brand for each new business.<br />

Cleveland Public Art also provided consulting services to many of<br />

the city’s civic investments, including RTA’s Euclid Corridor, the<br />

Gateway Sports complex, the Cleveland Public Library’s downtown<br />

expansion and the Medical Mart Downtown Mall project.<br />

The non-profit frequently gives lectures, serve on panels, make<br />

referrals from the artist database, and coordinates artist-selection<br />

processes for organizations. Cleveland Public Art includes many<br />

people and groups into the planning process to create a public<br />

partnership project. They create synergies and relationships with<br />

community development corporations, artists, foundations, other<br />

non-profits and organizations to integrate art into the community.<br />

The merger of Cleveland Public Art with ParkWorks to create<br />

LAND Studio ensures that their efforts to beautify and improve<br />

public spaces in the city will continue.<br />

Harriet Gould is co-director of ArtSpace-Cleveland<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Location 1939 W 25th St, Ste 200, Cleveland, OH 44113<br />

Phone pending the new organization’s number<br />

Web www.land-studio.org<br />

Email gpeckham@land-studio.org<br />

MISSION<br />

LAND studio’s mission is to create places and connect<br />

people through public art, sustainable building<br />

and design, collaborative planning, and dynamic<br />

programming .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

LAND studio was formed in 2011 through the merger<br />

of Cleveland Public Art (CPA) and ParkWorks, two of<br />

Cleveland’s leading non-profit organizations focused<br />

on enhancing public spaces .<br />

Historically, CPA had accomplished this through<br />

stimulating public art and ParkWorks through the<br />

creation and care of inviting greenspaces . But each<br />

organization evolved over time to embrace larger<br />

roles in the envisioning, planning, designing, building,<br />

and programming of Cleveland’s public spaces .<br />

And this evolution was a collaborative one, with both<br />

organizations working together more frequently on<br />

multiple projects citywide .<br />

Eventually, the two parent organizations came to the<br />

conclusion that by becoming more than occasional<br />

partners, they could accomplish even greater work<br />

for Cleveland . Thus, after a thoughtful merger process,<br />

LAND studio was born .<br />

PHOTO: CLEVELAND PUBLIC ART<br />

LEgATiON, A gALLEry<br />

A MARRIAGE OF ART AND MUSIC<br />

legation, a gallery combines two loves<br />

Legation a gallery opened in 2009, with “Anatomy of the Barnstorm: black and white photography by Daniel Mainzer,”<br />

an exhibit of Mainzer’s Joe Walsh album art, candid and audience shots, as well as his documentation of the Akron<br />

Firestone Plant . Thus began this union of art and music, the vision of wife and husband Hilary and John Aurand .<br />

The name legation once was a diplomatic term, referring to someone<br />

other than an ambassador. The Aurands define it as “the sending<br />

forth of one person to act for another.” A gallery, or an agent, for<br />

example, might act as a legation for an artist.<br />

John says his resolve to make the gallery a reality comes from “not<br />

wanting to regret the things you don’t do.” The Aurands decided to<br />

open the gallery when circumstances aligned: They were looking for<br />

a place to live, and at the same time, Hilary needed studio space.<br />

So rather than buy a house in a tough economy, they moved into<br />

the 78th Street Studios –specifically, into a space that once housed<br />

American Greetings Creative Studios.<br />

John, once a financial planner, turned to planning events, from live<br />

music performances to gallery exhibits. Instead of investing money,<br />

he was investing sweat equity in the renovation of the space, and the<br />

programming therein. What began as three empty rooms is now one<br />

open space full of activity.<br />

They chose space in the 78th Street Studios in part due to its<br />

proximity to Gordon Square Arts District. (eliminate this and<br />

particularly its Theaters: Cleveland Public Theater, and Capitol<br />

Cinemas.) Since moving there, the two have become active leaders,<br />

and a primary force in the promotion and success of the 78th Street<br />

Studios third Friday openings, which now draw hundreds of visitors<br />

each month. While legation’s exhibits run the continuum from<br />

traditional to conceptual, the Aurands say what is most important<br />

is that the audience is comfortable. Creating an ambience of a very<br />

open and relaxed space is key. An artist herself, Hilary is particularly<br />

sensitive to difficulties artists can have approaching galleries for a<br />

show. She found that Cleveland can be just as intimidating as larger<br />

cities in this regard. She wants legation to help artists network with<br />

the market and to provide greater opportunity for emerging and<br />

established artists. Hence, the name.<br />

In addition to being a resource to local artists, the gallery also gives<br />

back to a community in Kenya, East Africa, with 10% of proceeds<br />

from art sales donated by legation to the Victory Gospel Church.<br />

John brings similar passion to the presentation of music. He likes<br />

the intimate setting their 3,000 square feet can provide. Bands are a<br />

part of the opening night events at Legation. The gallery and living<br />

space also present occasional house concerts. The flexibility of the<br />

relationship between the visual and musical components of legation<br />

has also helped the Aurands book special events.<br />

Jean Brandt is director of Brandt Gallery.<br />

“Rotoflora” sculpture at the Morgana Run trailhead in Slavic Village.<br />

Legation, A Gallery.<br />

page twenty : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page twenty one<br />

By Jean Brandt<br />

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PHOTO: HILARY ARNOLD<br />

Location 1300 West 78th Street<br />

Phone 216.650.4201<br />

Web www.legationagallery.com<br />

Email legation1300@gmail.com<br />

Facebook legation, a gallery<br />

MISSION<br />

Our mission is to engage artists, designers and<br />

musicians in a professional networking environment in<br />

Cleveland’s largest art center, the 78th Street Studios .<br />

Our 3,000-square-foot space can host art exhibtions,<br />

musical performances and can be rented for other<br />

events such as business or networking meetings, fashion<br />

shows and wedding ceremonies or receptions . A portion<br />

of all donations and proceeds go to Victory Gospel<br />

Church in Kenya, East Africa to benefit a mission for<br />

orphans and widows . For more details or to set up a<br />

show, please call Hilary Aurand at 216 .650 .4201or email<br />

legation1300@gmail .com .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Derek Gelvin & Jim Leach, sculpture and installation<br />

January 20 – February 25<br />

Hilary Aurand & Dawn Tekler/ paintings and photography<br />

March 16 – April 20<br />

Dott Schneider “The Missing Piece”, interactive installation<br />

April 20 – May 5<br />

Jason Byer, new paintings<br />

May 18 – June 2<br />

Meghann Snow, new performance paintings<br />

June 15 – July 7<br />

Additional W . 78th Street Studios 3rd Fridays:<br />

August 17<br />

September 21<br />

Sarah Curry & Hadley Conner, paintings & photography<br />

October 19<br />

November 16<br />

December 21


mOrgAN ArT OF pApErmAkiNg CONSErvATOry<br />

MORGAN CONSERVATORY OCCUPIES CLEVELAND<br />

making paper by hand in midtown is the opposite of greed<br />

If Occupy Wall Street’s goals are to challenge the paradigms of greed and self-involvement, then the Morgan Art<br />

of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation has something in common with the political movement .<br />

Its mission and practice are an antidote to those corporate vices . But the Morgan came first .<br />

Conceived by artist and papermaker Tom Balbo in 2006, the<br />

nonprofit organization is dedicated to handmade papermaking<br />

and the arts that extend from paper such as printmaking and<br />

book arts as well as hosting exhibitions celebrating these forms.<br />

The Conservatory provides remarkable resources that introduce<br />

the broader community to the unique and beautiful qualities of<br />

handmade paper while providing artists with the facilities to explore<br />

this form to a depth and degree few other institutions can match.<br />

Adding to this commitment to the art of paper is a commitment to<br />

green practices and community enrichment. The Morgan stands<br />

as one of Cleveland’s truly important creative engines bringing the<br />

aesthetics of the handmade paper to a reality of Urban renewal.<br />

The Conservatory even maintains a small grove of “giving trees” in a<br />

tenderly cared-for garden. The Kozo trees were planted from cuttings<br />

brought from the University of Iowa the year after the organization<br />

was founded. They thrive behind the former machine shop the<br />

Morgan calls home. Beginning in 2006,the industrial building was<br />

slowly transformed through the sweat equity of many local artists<br />

Location 1754 East 47th Street, Cleveland, OH 44103<br />

Phone 216.361.9255<br />

Web www.morganconservatory.org<br />

Email program@morganconservatory.org<br />

Facebook Morgan Conservatory<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a .m . – 4 p .m .<br />

MISSION<br />

The Morgan is a non-profit art center dedicated to the<br />

preservation of hand papermaking paper arts and the<br />

art of the book . The Morgan pursues its educational and<br />

charitable purposes by serving the greater community<br />

locally, nationally, and internationally with sustainable<br />

practices in an innovative green environment .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Tom Balbo and many other local and national paper,<br />

book and print artists and educators saw the need to<br />

preserve these art forms as they were disappearing<br />

from art schools and colleges . Beginning operations<br />

in October, 2008 in a repurposed 15,000+ sf machine<br />

shop the Morgan offers workshops in handmade<br />

papermaking, paper and book arts, and offers 5 to 6<br />

national/international exhibitions each year in its 1,540<br />

expandable gallery space . Among those have been the<br />

“”War as Art / Art As War Combat Paper exhibit, which<br />

presented works made on paper created by soldiers from<br />

and volunteers bringing Balbo’s remarkable vision to fruition, and<br />

fulfilling the mission of the trust established by a gift from the late<br />

Charles Morgan.<br />

Every year running from May to September, the Morgan provides<br />

workshops on a variety of paper and bookmaking topics. In<br />

2011 these included sessions such as “Animated Pop-Ups,” Paper<br />

Casting, “ Books on Brass Boards” and “Big Ass Papermaking.”<br />

The Conservatory is also a destination for area school fieldtrips and<br />

often provides instructors for in-school workshops. The Morgan has<br />

facilities capable of producing paper made following Eastern and<br />

Western practices. The organization itself exists as an inviting hub<br />

of creative energy attracting people from diverse backgrounds to this<br />

urban neighborhood.<br />

Further extending this outreach will be the <strong>2012</strong> International<br />

Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists/Friends of<br />

Dard Hunter Conference, running October 17 – 22, the event<br />

will be hosted by the Morgan. The conference will bring an<br />

estimated 300 to 350 paper artists from around the world to<br />

their old uniforms; “Bad Boys, Magic Ladies, and Timeless<br />

Masters” which featured contemporary American block<br />

printers – at least one of which used a steamroller as a<br />

tool for the transfer of ink; and the annual Abecedaria<br />

show, organized by Artist Books Cleveland .<br />

UPCOMING<br />

CIA Steamroller Prints<br />

Winter, 2011<br />

John Adams/Clare Murray-Adams (Drawing/Mix Media/<br />

Encaustic)<br />

March, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Rebecca Cross (Shibori on Handmade Paper)<br />

May, 20112<br />

Don Lisy (Drawing)/Qian Li (Drawing)<br />

July, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Snail Mail/Paper Trail (Art Auction – invited artists create<br />

paper on Morgan Paper)<br />

September, <strong>2012</strong><br />

“Colossal, Vast, Enormous” and Members Exhibition<br />

(Watermarks <strong>2012</strong> Conference exhibition)<br />

Friends of Dard Hunter and International Association of<br />

Hand Papermakers & Artists<br />

October, <strong>2012</strong><br />

By Lane Cooper<br />

Cleveland. Founded in 1986 in Düren, Germany, the IAPMA is an<br />

international organization and has been a leader in promoting paper<br />

as an art medium. Partnering in the conference is The Friends of<br />

Dard Hunter a group which is committed to education and social<br />

connection in the field of papermaking and which promotes interest<br />

in the Dard Hunter Collection which is housed in the Robert C.<br />

Williams Paper Museum in Atalanta, GA. Nine Cleveland area<br />

galleries will work with the Morgan to host supporting exhibitions<br />

and workshops. The Dard Hunter/IAPMA Conference represents<br />

a notable event for the Morgan firmly situating the Conservatory<br />

within a growing international papermaking community.<br />

Lane Cooper is assistant professor, head of the Painting program, and<br />

Visiting Artist program coordinator at the Cleveland Institute of Art.<br />

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PHOTO: MORGAN CONSERVATORY<br />

OrANgE ArT CENTEr<br />

NESTLED (AND GROWING) IN THE WOODS<br />

orange art center makes a place for the arts in Pepper Pike<br />

Nestled in a tranquil, wooded setting, the Orange Art Center is the center of creativity for Pepper Pike and the<br />

surrounding areas . Making its home in a century-old house adjacent to the Cuyahoga County Library’s Orange<br />

Branch, the Center offers a perfect environment for making art . Its outdoor environment sets the stage for its indoor<br />

activity by offering a feeling of calm and contemplative thought .<br />

The Orange Art Center traces its roots to 1968, when a group of<br />

dedicated community members established the Orange Community<br />

Arts Council as a way to promote cultural events in their<br />

community. The next year, 800 people attended the first Barefoot in<br />

the Parlor House Tour and Garden Fare. This confirmed the support<br />

of cultural programs for the community, and by 1980 the council<br />

provided the funds to establish the Orange Art Center. Throughout<br />

its history, OAC has expanded with the addition of gallery space,<br />

instructional space, and a state of the arts ceramic studio, thereby<br />

doubling in size.<br />

Today OAC thrives, offering extensive visual arts classes yearround<br />

to adults, teens, and children. Additional programs include:<br />

community partnerships, exhibits and events, and financial<br />

assistance and programs to students in the Orange School District.<br />

The Center’s dedicated staff of two, Executive Director, Deborah<br />

Pinter and Executive Assistant, Gina DeSantis receives support in all<br />

its programs from its impressive list of faculty.<br />

Orange Art Center’s class listing can readily be found online. OAC’s<br />

class offerings focus on painting, jewelry, ceramics, mixed media<br />

and crafts. By no means, however, are these the only classes offered.<br />

A visit to their website whets the appetite. Orange faculty include<br />

well know professional artists who exhibit regularly throughout the<br />

region and are also included in local collections. Four class sessions<br />

are planned annually, encouraging participants to learn something<br />

new or continue expanding in their area of interest. While the<br />

OAC audience encompasses the greater Cleveland area and Eastern<br />

Pennsylvania, its primary audience is local retired adults.<br />

Director Deborah Pinter remarked during our interview “Orange<br />

Art Center has a unique spirit of family. It has dedicated patrons<br />

and supporters, some going back thirty years, who remain involved<br />

with the organization. These patrons have given of their time by<br />

volunteering or remaining active in classes. Through this long<br />

standing connection of repeat customers, a wonderful commitment<br />

to the OAC has been established.”<br />

This family environment is evident through the other programs<br />

offered by the center. Core to its mission, OAC is committed to<br />

helping students further their artistic development, nurturing<br />

artistic expression in all its participants, and delivering high quality<br />

cultural entertainment to the community. For example, the Orange<br />

Art Center mentors two to four high school seniors annually,<br />

offering them the opportunity to complete their senior project at the<br />

Center. Through this program, students can take as many classes<br />

and workshops as they like during the month of May at no cost. The<br />

$500 Orange Art Center/Charlene Power’s Award is awarded to an<br />

Orange High School junior each year. Younger students in grades<br />

K-5 can participate in after school classes, selecting from pottery,<br />

drawing, and painting.<br />

Through an ongoing partnership with New Directions, a treatment<br />

facility for chemically dependent teens, the Orange Art Center<br />

provides a nurturing environment whereby clients can experience<br />

pottery classes once a week throughout the year.<br />

Location 31500 Chagrin Boulevard<br />

Pepper Pike<br />

Phone 216.831.5130<br />

Web www.orangeartcenter.org<br />

Email dpinter@orangeartcenter.org,<br />

gdesantis@orangeartcenter.org<br />

Facebook Orange Art Center<br />

OFFICE HOURS<br />

Monday-Friday 9:30am-4:00pm<br />

MISSION<br />

The mission of the Orange Art Center is<br />

to offer educational opportunities, which<br />

encourage the practice and appreciation<br />

of the fine arts among people living in the<br />

Orange School district and surrounding<br />

areas by: Operating classes for children<br />

and adults that develop and nurture<br />

artistic expression; Providing educational<br />

and social programs, which inform and<br />

entertain; Providing financial assistance<br />

and programming in the Orange School<br />

District; Sponsoring art exhibits and fine<br />

art performances for the community;<br />

and collaborating with other community<br />

organizations .<br />

The Orange Art Center has three exhibitions a year. The spring<br />

faculty exhibition highlights the amazing accomplishments of<br />

OAC’s very talented artists and teachers. Each June, for more<br />

than 25 years, the annual Student Show has presented the work of<br />

class participants and offers juried prizes. OAC’s annual Animals<br />

in Art Exhibition, known by many in the local arts circles,<br />

is a collaboration that supports artists, a local animal rescue<br />

organization, and the Orange Art Center. This unique collaboration,<br />

created by OAC’s director Deb Pinter, is an exhibition and art sale<br />

that showcases 30-40 local artists. For one week the exhibition<br />

spotlights works of art with an animal based theme. The OAC’s<br />

director, a practicing artist herself, feels it is important the event<br />

gives back sixty percent of the proceeds to the participating artists,<br />

with the remaining proceeds being split between, this year’s partner<br />

(the spay-and-neuter clinic PetFix of Northeast Ohio) and the<br />

Orange Art Center.<br />

The Orange Art Center exceeds its goal of successfully encouraging<br />

the practice and appreciation of the fine arts among people living in<br />

the Orange School District by serving it community and the local<br />

Cleveland area through quality programs. Their small and talented<br />

staff continues moving the organization forward as they reach out to<br />

the community, continue to have a presence at community events,<br />

and maintain their welcoming family environment within the center.<br />

Amy Craft is executive director of Art House<br />

Bookmaking at the Morgan.<br />

Live figure painting.<br />

page twenty two : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page twenty three<br />

By Amy Craft<br />

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PHOTO: ORANGE ART CENTER<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

The Orange Community Arts Council<br />

(OCAC) was incorporated January 17,<br />

1968 as a community group who visualized<br />

creating a Summer Campus of the Arts for<br />

the Orange Community . In March of 1969,<br />

800 community members attended the<br />

first Barefoot in the Parlor House Tour and<br />

Garden Faire .<br />

The OCAC worked on their goals in three<br />

Phases, Phase I (1967-1970), Performing Arts,<br />

Phase II (1970-1979), The Interim Periods of<br />

Classes and Scholarship; and Phase III<br />

(1979-currently), the Visual Arts/Art Center .<br />

In 1980, OCAC established the Orange Art<br />

Center in an 83-year-old house nestled in<br />

the woods near the Cuyahoga County<br />

Public Library-Orange Branch . Capital<br />

campaigns over the years have more than<br />

doubled the size of the original building<br />

by enhancing the instructional spaces,<br />

expanding exhibit areas and building a<br />

state-of-the-art ceramics studio . Over<br />

the years the purpose of the Orange Art<br />

Center and the type of programming have<br />

shifted its focus primarily to Phase III, the<br />

Visual Arts component . With the continuing<br />

support of the board, staff and community,<br />

the Center has become one of the area’s<br />

most prestigious community art centers in<br />

its area .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Faculty Exhibition: March 16-30, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Opening and Patron Party: March 16, <strong>2012</strong><br />

from 6-9pm<br />

Student Exhibition: June 4-June 8, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Opening: June 3 from 3-5pm<br />

Adult Classes and Workshops<br />

Winter Session: January 15-March 9, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Spring Session: April 2- May 25, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Summer Session: June 25-August 3, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Fall Session: September 10-November 16,<br />

<strong>2012</strong><br />

Children’s Classes<br />

Winter Session: January 23-March 9, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Spring Session: April 8- May 25, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Summer Camps: Weekly, June 11 – Aug . 17<br />

Fall Session: October 1-November 16, <strong>2012</strong>


ThE priNT CLUB OF CLEvELAND<br />

INTIMATE CONTACT By Beth Whalley<br />

the print club of cleveland helps members get in touch with fine art<br />

As artmakers, gallerists and art enthusiasts, many of us are accustomed to seeing art hung on walls, with plenty<br />

of white space surrounding it to provide optimal viewing free from “distraction” by things like doors, light switches,<br />

and other artwork . It’s not that way at the Print Club of Cleveland’s Fine Print Fair, an annual event I attended last<br />

year at Tri-C’s Corporate College East .<br />

The Fine Print Fair is by far the largest and most popular event<br />

organized by the Print Club of Cleveland. Attended by college<br />

students, seasoned collectors and everyone in between, it was<br />

encouraging and interesting to see such diversity in the room.<br />

Prints were literally everywhere – on the tables, hung on moveable<br />

walls, in racks on the floor, and leaned up against the wall. The<br />

sheer number of prints and the ability to handle the work breeds<br />

a familiarity with and appreciation of the prints that just can’t be<br />

achieved in a gallery setting. Walking around the fair, I saw people<br />

discussing the prints and processes. The room had a buzz of energy<br />

as members, attendees, students, dealers, friends and curators<br />

expressed their shared love of the medium.<br />

There is a definite intimacy involved in handling prints and, though<br />

they were all matted to protect the image on the paper, the viewer<br />

has a significant responsibility handling the work.<br />

And with fourteen vendors from around the country, there was a<br />

great diversity of artwork in the room as well. From 18th century<br />

European to 19th century American to contemporary Mexican or<br />

Japanese prints, the breadth of time and geography represented at the<br />

fair made it really enjoyable to move from dealer to dealer. With just<br />

as large a range in prices, this event makes art collecting accessible to<br />

anyone who wants to start or build a collection of their own.<br />

The Print Club of Cleveland is an established organization with 91<br />

years behind it, only six years younger than The Cleveland Museum<br />

of Art. In fact, the Print Club is an affiliate of CMA, and roughly<br />

one-third (or 18,000 works!) of CMA’s print collection have been<br />

gifts from the club and its members. The individual members<br />

share a love of print collecting and an appreciation for the varied<br />

printmaking processes. When considering the illustrious history of<br />

this organization you might make the assumption that the group<br />

is traditional rather than progressively eclectic, but you would be<br />

completely mistaken.<br />

Print Club President, Mary Kay DeGrandis very clearly loves<br />

her position and is a fountain of knowledge about not only the<br />

organization but the art of printmaking, the dealers at the fair, and<br />

the art museum. Mary Kay first became involved in the group when<br />

she attended a Fine Print Fair in 1988. She became a member in the<br />

year 2000.<br />

One of her favorite things about the club is its educational<br />

programming. This educational pursuit was evident at the Fine Print<br />

Fair, where <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> and the Morgan Conservatory presented<br />

printmaking and papermaking demonstrations in the atrium.<br />

Lectures by CMA leaders were also scheduled for each day. One of<br />

the lecturers, Dr. Jane Glaubinger, Curator of Prints at the Museum,<br />

is very involved in the group. Indeed, one of the many benefits of<br />

membership in this organization is having the opportunity to get to<br />

know the diverse membership that includes artists, collectors, and<br />

CMA leadership and staff. The group sponsors lectures throughout<br />

the year. There are other activities, too, including visits to members’<br />

homes to view their print collections.<br />

As the club continues its evolution, one of Mary Kay’s endeavors<br />

is to increase its junior membership and attract more members<br />

in their 30s, 40s and under. Moving into the 21st century, the<br />

club has a website, and Facebook page. They’ll continue to make<br />

select educational programs open to the general public, allowing<br />

nonmembers to participate, and perhaps to become members<br />

themselves. The Print Club of Cleveland is very unique in that it’s<br />

not defined by a physical space so much as it’s defined by the people<br />

who belong to it. As long as young people keep discovering this great<br />

organization and its active community, the club will continue its<br />

history and still be around in 3016!<br />

Beth Whalley is director of Proximity Gallery.<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Location 11150 East Blvd, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216-707-2579<br />

Web http://www.printclubcleveland.org/<br />

Email printclub@clevelandart.org<br />

Facebook The Print Club of Cleveland<br />

MISSION<br />

The Print Club of Cleveland’s purpose is to stimulate<br />

interest in an appreciation of old and contemporary<br />

prints, to augment (by purchases and gifts) the print<br />

collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art and to<br />

encourage private collecting of prints . The club<br />

annually distributes to its members a print which has<br />

been commissioned by the club .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

The Print Club of Cleveland was founded in 1919 by<br />

collectors of fine art prints and has continually been a<br />

source for print collectors in the Western Reserve since its<br />

inception . It is the oldest affiliate group of the Cleveland<br />

Museum of Art . The Print Club has hosted the annual<br />

Fine Print Fair since 1984 . The Fair invites 14 dealers from<br />

across the country, hand-picked by Cleveland Museum<br />

of Art curator of prints Jane Glaubinger . Each year a<br />

different dealer is invited for the 3 day fair . The dealers<br />

not only sell art but educate the fair visitor . Educational<br />

activities including, talks by curators, museum directors<br />

and print dealers continue throughout the weekend .<br />

Printmakers and paper conservationists from zygote<br />

<strong>Press</strong>, Morgan Conservatory, and the Intermuseum<br />

Conservation Association offer demonstrations . Almost<br />

1,000 people attend .<br />

Other Print Club events include gallery talks at the<br />

Cleveland Museum of Art, house tours of members’<br />

homes to view their collections, special lectures by<br />

curators, artists and printmakers and curator led trips to<br />

various museums and private art collections throughout<br />

the United States .<br />

Preparations for celebration of the club’s 100th<br />

anniversary are underway, including plans to partner<br />

with various galleries and printmakers throughout<br />

the city .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Fine Print Fair<br />

September 28, 29 and 30, <strong>2012</strong><br />

PHOTO: PRINT CLUB OF CLEVELAND<br />

prOximiTy<br />

CLEVELAND IS IN PROxIMITY By Robert Maschke, AIA<br />

beth whalley and alex kelly provide great art in proximity gallery<br />

With a vision to create a place where there is a level of comfortability amongst artists, patrons, and visitors when<br />

they stop by, artists Beth Whalley and Alex Kelly look to welcome you to Proximity gallery, the front room of their<br />

home located at 1667 East 40th Street in Cleveland’s St . Clair/Superior neighborhood .<br />

The gallery not only acts as an extension of Whalley and Kelly’s<br />

studio/residence, but of their personalities as well. Housed in the<br />

newly renovated Loftworks Building—a pleasantly repurposed livework<br />

warehouse building now home to residents and businesses—<br />

Proximity Gallery occupies a first floor storefront facing East 40th<br />

Street. It’s easily accessible, with surface and street parking to<br />

accommodate. The space is deliberately raw and sparse, but sets up<br />

well for displaying a diverse range of artists’ paintings, sculpture,<br />

installations, and talks.<br />

Whalley, a fiber artist and Kelly, a fine artist met as students at the<br />

Cleveland Institute of Art and looked to pursue an opportunity to<br />

establish an art gallery. Poised to relocate from Cleveland to new<br />

challenges and opportunities in Portland, Oregon, a serendipitous<br />

opportunity to occupy their current gallery and home space kept<br />

them from moving.<br />

Proximity opened in July 2010. Whalley and Kelly wanted to create<br />

a focus of emerging artists with the blending of more established<br />

ones (such as Royden Watson and Michael Levy, both of whom<br />

have exhibited during the inaugural year). The mix has quickly<br />

established Proximity as a capable destination gallery.<br />

Open to the public, Proximity shows four to five exhibitions per<br />

year with art openings on Fridays from 6:00PM to 10:00PM<br />

with regular hours Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 4:00PM<br />

or by appointment while the shows are being presented. During<br />

openings, beer and wine are provided within the gallery, and the<br />

vibrant Cleveland food trucks mobilize out front to offer a variety<br />

of dining choices.<br />

The current schedule of <strong>2012</strong> exhibitions has not been finalized, but<br />

is available at the gallery’s website. Cash, check and major credit<br />

cards are accepted for payment.<br />

Proximity emphasizes that there is not an established agenda for<br />

the gallery, just a passion to display and sell high quality work<br />

that Whalley and Kelly enjoy while expanding their reach. They<br />

Location 1667 E 40th Street, Suite 1A, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.262.8903<br />

Web www.proximitycleveland.com<br />

Email info@proximitycleveland.com<br />

Facebook Proximity Cleveland<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Saturday & Sunday: 12-4pm (during exhibition dates)<br />

Additional hours by appointment<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Proximity opened in July 2010, launched by artists Alex<br />

Kelly and Beth Whalley . In early 2010 they were looking<br />

to find a new apartment and learned that the storefront<br />

and adjacent living space in the Loftworks building<br />

was available . After a few years toying with the idea of<br />

opening an art gallery they decided that this was more<br />

than mere coincidence, so they acquired the space<br />

and started the gallery . Their most significant shows so far<br />

have been solo exhibitions of two established Cleveland<br />

artists: Mere Witness: Photographs by Michael Levy in<br />

June 2011 and So – Recent Works by Royden Watson<br />

in September 2011 . The gallery has shown a variety of<br />

mediums: drawing, painting, photography, printmaking,<br />

textiles, and sculpture .<br />

plan to continue showing more established artists blended with<br />

their consistent display of local, talented emerging artists. With<br />

this approach, the gallery looks to become another established arts<br />

anchor in the evolving St Clair/Superior neighborhood.<br />

Robert Maschke, AIA is managing director of 1point618 and principal<br />

of Robert Maschke Architects<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

MISSION<br />

Proximity is a “gallery without an agenda” that aims to<br />

show significant works of art in all mediums by both upand-coming<br />

and established artists .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

<strong>2012</strong> shows to be announced<br />

check www .proximitycleveland .com in early <strong>2012</strong> for<br />

a schedule .<br />

Examining prints at the Fine Print Fair.<br />

Proximity gallery.<br />

page twenty four : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page twenty five<br />

PHOTO: BETH WHALLEY


ED DOT prOjECT<br />

PLAYING THE PART OF THEO By Peggy Spaeth<br />

in the interior design marketplace, red dot project represents artists<br />

One of the complexities of being an artist is that you have to do it all: make the art, photograph it, market it, and<br />

try to sell it . Who has time for all of that?<br />

It’s not a rhetorical or flippant question. For all its cultural import,<br />

art is essentially a consumer product. In the case of nearly all other<br />

consumer goods, the making and the selling are viewed as different<br />

occupations, delegated and sub-delegated to paid professionals. But<br />

individual artists rarely have this luxury. Few of them have brothers<br />

like Theo Van Gogh, who promoted and sold Vincent’s work.<br />

So there is a missing link between the artist and the consumer that<br />

a gallery can fill, but because art is by nature a highly individualized<br />

product, each gallery tends to carry specific genre or families of art.<br />

In Northeast Ohio Red Dot Project has stepped in to fill the crucial<br />

need to match art and consumers with a highly personal service.<br />

Founded in 2005 by long-time art gallery owner and entrepreneur<br />

Joan Perch, Red Dot Project was inspired by Pierogi Flat Files in<br />

New York. The intent was to make original artwork available by<br />

storing a wide variety of media in flat files, and eventually online.<br />

Red Dot Project represents more than 100 Northeast Ohio artists<br />

in a wide variety of media, reflecting its mission to create economic<br />

opportunities for artists. Any artist may apply to be included in<br />

the collection. Artists the Red Dot Project represents are selected<br />

by a peer review process. Criteria for selection include the artist’s<br />

command of the material, and the overall quality of the art.<br />

Project Director Christy Gray—whose experience is both as an artist<br />

and an interior designer—provides a link between the artist and the<br />

client, typically a small or medium-sized business looking for art<br />

because they are moving or renovating. The client does not pay a fee.<br />

Like a commercial gallery, Red Dot earns a percentage of the sale<br />

price of the art.<br />

Even if art is viewed as a consumer product, selling it is unlike the<br />

sale of commodities, or impulse products. Selling art is a process.<br />

At RDP, the process begins when Gray meets with the client and<br />

assesses their needs. Factors under consideration are individual taste,<br />

space, and budget. Red Dot Project uses a searchable database that<br />

makes the art selection process easier and faster. Because Gray is<br />

familiar with a wide range of artists, sometimes she will suggest a<br />

commissioned piece customized to the client.<br />

In the summer of 2011, Red Dot Project provided the art for The<br />

Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Smart Home, a passive<br />

energy model home. The selected art was based on the fundamentals<br />

of sustainability. The pieces were made from natural or reclaimed<br />

materials, created in a studio where environmental processes were<br />

in place and/or reflected in content or theme views of our world and<br />

environment.<br />

Red Dot Project provides a very personal and crucial connection<br />

between the creative community and clients in Northeast Ohio.<br />

Peggy Spaeth is executive director of Heights Arts<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

Location 1900 Superior Avenue, Suite 117, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.664.9600<br />

Web http://updates.reddotproject.org/<br />

Email Christy@reddotproject.org<br />

Facebook Red Dot Project<br />

Twitter REDDOTProject<br />

MISSION<br />

RED DOT Project puts the work of Northeast Ohio artists<br />

together with clients who want to enliven their work and<br />

home environments . As a non-profit organization, we do<br />

more than just sell art . We build community relationships<br />

and develop new markets for artists as entrepreneurs .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Founded in 2005 by artist, gallery owner and arts<br />

entrepreneur Joan Perch, RED DOT Project maintains<br />

artists work in flat files and digital images, rather than<br />

space-intensive gallery displays . The flat and digital<br />

files can be easily viewed by clients who wish to take<br />

advantage of the region’s thriving creative class .<br />

Previously, Perch was owner of ArtMetro Gallery, and<br />

creator of the ARTcade—a collection of galleries that<br />

brought life to the otherwise mostly vacant Colonial<br />

Arcade in Downtown Cleveland . Christy Gray, now<br />

project director of RED DOT Project, has been involved<br />

with the organization since its inception . Gray’s textile art<br />

can be found in private collections throughout Northeast<br />

Ohio . Since its inception in 2005, RED DOT Project has<br />

provided real sales opportunities for visual artists and<br />

arts businesses totaling more than $500,000 .<br />

PHOTO: KEITH BERR<br />

rivEr gALLEry<br />

A COMPELLING COMBINATION<br />

river gallery has a passion for group shows<br />

River Gallery is a white wall gallery, representing emerging and established artists from the Cleveland area . The<br />

gallery is located on Old Detroit Road in Rocky River, a charming shopping area that was recently revitalized with<br />

a streetscape make over . The pedestrian friendly neighborhood is packed with restaurants and galleries . River<br />

Gallery and its neighbors Devout Home and Mitchell Sotka Ltd ., are the longstanding arts businesses in the Old<br />

River Shopping area .<br />

River Gallery’s current exhibit, Cleveland Craft Masters, features<br />

the work of David and Roberta Williamson, Pamela Argentieri,<br />

Matthew Hollern, William Brouillard, Judith Salomon and Brent<br />

Young. It’s the kind of exhibit, collectors can expect from the gallery.<br />

G. Ara Hamamjian, the gallery owner, is incredibly proud of the<br />

current exhibit, “This exhibit is a compelling combination of artists<br />

who have a long-time relationship with the gallery, plus two artists<br />

new to River Gallery,” he says. “All of them have impressive local<br />

reputations and all are nationally recognized.”<br />

A real labor of love, it is obvious that Hamamjian and gallery<br />

manager, Mark Yasenchack have a passion for curating group<br />

exhibits and providing established and emerging local artists with<br />

a finely tailored and professional presentation. “The relationships<br />

I have made with artists have been inspiring and incredibly<br />

rewarding.” Hamamjian adds.<br />

By Mark Yasenchack<br />

Founded in 1970 by his parents George and Sara Hamamjian,<br />

Ara grew up surrounded by art. After graduating from Ohio State<br />

University, Ara enrolled in the Picture Framing Academy in San<br />

Francisco, honing his skills and developing a love for the craft. An<br />

artist in his own right, Hamamjian dresses flyfishing flies. Both<br />

functional and decorative, they are ornaments of hook, fur and<br />

feather. He instructs fly-tying workshops at the Cleveland Museum<br />

of Natural History. Developed from his love of flyfishing he is also a<br />

guide on the Rocky River for other enthusiastic fly-fishers.<br />

In 1994 Hamamjian purchased the gallery from his parents and<br />

pursued a different course by focusing on independent studio artists,<br />

as well as establishing collaborative relationships with professors and<br />

alumni of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University, and<br />

Baldwin-Wallace College.<br />

The support and enthusiasm of River Gallery patrons is clearly<br />

evident in the success of the annual Ceramics Invitational Exhibit<br />

Location 19046 Old Detroit Road<br />

Rocky River<br />

Phone 440.331.8406<br />

Web www.rivergalleryarts.com<br />

Email rivergalleryarts@yahoo.com<br />

Facebook River Gallery<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

11 a .m . to 6 p .m . Tuesday through Friday<br />

11 a .m . to 5 p .m . Saturday<br />

Closed Sunday and Monday<br />

Or by appointment<br />

MISSION<br />

Exhibiting nationally recognized and emerging artists<br />

from the Cleveland area .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

River Gallery was founded in 1970 by George and Sara<br />

Hamamjian, . Their son Ara, the gallery’s current owner,<br />

therefore grew up surrounded by art . After graduating<br />

from Ohio State University, Ara enrolled in the Picture<br />

Framing Academy in San Francisco, honing his skills and<br />

developing a love for the craft . An artist in his own right,<br />

Hamamjian dresses flyfishing flies . Both functional and<br />

decorative, they are ornaments of hook, fur and feather .<br />

every April. Since 2005, this exhibit has grown to feature the work<br />

of over 30 ceramicists. The <strong>2012</strong> exhibit will open Saturday April<br />

28th, <strong>2012</strong>.<br />

The first exhibit of the <strong>2012</strong> season, will be the annual photography<br />

exhibit. This will feature new works by Mark Inglis, Jessica Maloney,<br />

Chad Gordon and Dan Morgan. These photographers have<br />

developed unique and inventive methods of creating compelling<br />

contemporary photography. This exhibit opens Saturday, February<br />

4th, <strong>2012</strong>.<br />

Both Ara and Mark enjoy the discovery of exciting new work by<br />

talented artists of the Cleveland area, and sharing that dynamic with<br />

River Gallery patrons.<br />

River Gallery seeks artists year-round.<br />

Mark Yasenchack is gallery manager of River Gallery<br />

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<br />

He instructs fly-tying workshops at the Cleveland Museum<br />

of Natural History . Developed from his love of flyfishing he<br />

is also a guide on the Rocky River for other enthusiastic<br />

fly-fishers .<br />

In 1994 Hamamjian purchased the gallery from his<br />

parents and pursued a different course by focusing<br />

on independent studio artists, as well as establishing<br />

collaborative relationships with professors and alumni<br />

of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University,<br />

and Baldwin-Wallace College .<br />

UPCOMING EXHIBITS<br />

Mark Inglis, Jessica Maloney, Chad Gordon, Dan Morgan<br />

Opening February 4, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Animal-Themed Art Exhibit<br />

Opening March 17, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Interested artists, please contact the gallery<br />

Annual Ceramics Invitational<br />

Opening April 28, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Interested artists, please contact the gallery<br />

Susan Danko, Dissolution, Nordson Corporation installation.<br />

River Gallery.<br />

page twenty six : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page twenty seven<br />

PHOTO: MARK YASENCHACK


SCrEW FACTOry ArTiSTS<br />

NOT SCREWING AROUND By Ross Lesko<br />

lakewood industrial space has become a haven for artists<br />

In recent years, an industrial space in the southeast corner of Lakewood has grown into a busy community of artists<br />

and craftspeople who cooperatively coordinate open houses and sales . Gallerist Ross Lesko spoke with ceramic<br />

artist and Screw Factory organizer Gina DeSantis .<br />

Ross Lesko: The Screw Factory is an expansive complex. Can you<br />

tell me how many artists currently have studios in the building?<br />

Gina DeSantis: There are currently more than 30 artists, working<br />

in a wide variety of media. But there are more studios being built to<br />

accommodate the demand.<br />

RL: What type of artwork would a visitor to the Screw Factory find?<br />

GD: We have painters, sculptors, and printmakers, but we also have<br />

artists working in ceramic, wood, metal, glass and textiles. There are<br />

also furniture makers and jewelry designers.<br />

RL: What goes on in The Screw Factory? Is it a place where<br />

“anything could happen” either on the walls or in the space?<br />

GD: Any artist in the building can propose and organize an event<br />

or exhibition, and individual artists sometimes have open houses,<br />

classes and demonstrations. But I think we’re best known for our<br />

quarterly events. We have Open Studios during the first Saturday<br />

of May and November. Artists open their studios to the public, and<br />

visitors have a chance to meet and interact with the artists. I think<br />

it gives visitors a context and a deeper appreciation for the artwork.<br />

There is also the Cleveland Handmade Last Minute Market, which<br />

is the last Saturday before Christmas.<br />

RL: Is the Last Minute Market an Open Studio event as well?<br />

GD: The Last Minute Market is organized in conjunction with<br />

Cleveland Handmade. It’s a combination of vendors and open<br />

studios. The event is in its third year. The first year, three thousand<br />

people attended—the second year, attendance grew to four thousand.<br />

RL: What role does the Screw Factory play in the Cleveland<br />

Arts scene?<br />

GD: We have a diverse bunch of artists here, from recent college<br />

graduates to artists who are retired from teaching. We have artists at<br />

every stage of their careers, working in every type of media.<br />

RL: What does the Screw Factory do that no one else does?<br />

GD: It’s an interesting balance of open studio events and classes—<br />

several artists in the building teach classes in their studios. Also, we<br />

are in a suburban location. We appeal to art-minded shoppers who<br />

wouldn’t necessarily go downtown, but still want to buy local art.<br />

There is a comfort level here that people might not experience in a<br />

gallery; it’s less intimidating. They can walk into a studio and see<br />

how things are made. They can walk into a ceramic studio, see the<br />

wheel and the kilns. They can meet the artists, see the process and<br />

ask questions. There are kilns in this building that are large enough<br />

to fit several people inside. Visitors enjoy seeing that. They get a<br />

sense of the process rather than just the final result.<br />

RL: Why would someone from out of state be interested in visiting<br />

the Screw Factory?<br />

GD: There’s an interesting history to this building. It was formerly<br />

the Templar auto plant, and in that regard, something has always<br />

been made here. I think an out of state visitor would be interested<br />

in seeing how our industrial spaces are converted and repurposed.<br />

I think that’s something Cleveland is known for; reusing these old<br />

buildings, often using them for the arts. We also have such a diverse<br />

group of artists and art, there’s really something for everyone.<br />

RL: What would you tell an out of state visitor about Cleveland?<br />

GD: Cleveland has a very diverse population, and that’s reflected in<br />

the art and artists as well. I think that’s one of the things that make<br />

Cleveland so great. There are so many people from so many different<br />

backgrounds, cultures and histories. We have every walk of life<br />

here—every demographic is represented. The affordability of studio<br />

space and the existence of a place like the Screw Factory shows that<br />

the Cleveland area supports the arts and artists and wants to keep<br />

creative people here.<br />

RL: By contrast, what would a local Clevelander get out of a visit to<br />

the Screw Factory?<br />

GD: Many of the artists who have studios at the screw factory have<br />

artwork at various galleries or shops around town, but visitors to<br />

those venues rarely get a chance to see the artists at work. At the<br />

Screw Factory, visitors get to meet the artists in person, and see the<br />

studios where the work is created.<br />

It’s nice to touch base with customers and meet people who are<br />

buying your artwork. That face to face relationship is really nice.<br />

There’s a personal aspect where everyone who walks through the<br />

door is going to meet a local artist and learn a little bit about their<br />

story, it’s little more than just artwork—it’s an experience.<br />

Ross Lesko is Gallery Director at Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery.<br />

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Location The Lake Erie Building,<br />

13000 Athens Ave, Lakewood<br />

Phone 216.521.0088 (Omni Management)<br />

Website www.screwfactoryartists.com<br />

Email screwfactoryartists@gmail.com<br />

Facebook Screw Factory Artists (group page)<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

By appointment along with four open studio events<br />

each year .<br />

MISSION<br />

The Screw Factory Artists is an artist-run collaborative that<br />

organizes events and otherwise enables resident artists<br />

to make, show, and sell their work . Quarterly Open Studio<br />

events and annual sales attract thousands of visitors,<br />

which enables Cleveland area artists to earn income<br />

and recognition from their work .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Initially built as the Templar Auto Factory, the massive<br />

industrial complex at 13000 Athens Avenue, in the<br />

Southeast corner of Lakewood, was the longtime<br />

manufacturing headquarters of the Lake Erie Screw<br />

Corporation . After LESC moved its headquarters out<br />

of the state, leaving the building largely empty, artists<br />

began to move in . The Screw Factory is now home to<br />

more than 30 working artists, producing works in glass,<br />

ceramic, wood, fiber, and other materials .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

Open Studios<br />

10 a .m . – 6 p .m . Saturday, May 5th<br />

10 a .m . – 6 p .m . Saturday, November 3rd<br />

10 a .m . – 6 p .m . Saturday, December 15th (in conjunction<br />

with the Cleveland Handmade Last Minute Market)<br />

Visit our website for additional events .<br />

PHOTO: MARTIN O’CONNOR<br />

SCULpTUrE CENTEr<br />

SITE SPECIFIC By Liz Maugans<br />

the sculpture center carves out a space for the continual evolution of 3-d art<br />

The busy Euclid corridor rattles with the excitement of new cultural propositions among the historic fixtures that<br />

anchor University Circle . This is the Sculpture Center’s neighborhood . Situated at the eastern edge of the Circle,<br />

among interconnecting, multi-purposed buildings, The Sculpture Center evolved through the vision of its founder,<br />

the noted sculptor David E . Davis .<br />

The Sculpture Center is one of the few venues in the country—<br />

and the only one in the Midwest—to exhibit only sculpture and<br />

installation work. The organization is also unique in its ongoing<br />

series of exhibitions focusing on sculpture by early career artists of<br />

the region. These shows provide a window to the concerns of upand-coming<br />

artists: the names of tomorrow.<br />

Indeed, the centerpiece of the Center’s exhibition schedule is the<br />

W2S (Window to Sculpture) Emerging Artist series. The series<br />

annually presents six solo exhibitions by early career artists who<br />

have Ohio roots. Four curated exhibitions and a thoughtfully juried<br />

group exhibition round out a year’s offering.<br />

Unlike venues that look retrospectively at artists’ past work, the<br />

Sculpture Center usually exhibits works made specifically for the<br />

venue. Because of this, the occasion of a Sculpture Center solo show<br />

often provides a new direction for the artist. The galleries may one<br />

season be filled with the metal sculptures of Richard Hunt that<br />

have never been seen outside his studio, and the next season with<br />

a startling array of mixed media pieces that are concerned with<br />

the darker side of consumerism, environmental damage, genetic<br />

engineering, and industrialization.<br />

Executive director Ann Albano and her bright, involved staff<br />

frequently guide visitors through the exhibitions and chime-in<br />

about the interpretive levels of the sometimes challenging work on<br />

view. Additional wall text and brochures are available and reveal<br />

more insights. The artists speak informally at every opening and are<br />

always impressed by the level of dialogue and connection people<br />

have to their work.<br />

The Sculpture Center advocates a philosophy of promoting fluid,<br />

open-ended programming with other collaborators to allow the<br />

greatest freedom of expression. For example, a series of concert<br />

performances by the FiveOne Experimental Orchestra (a group of<br />

sixteen composers and musicians with a ‘no-boundaries’ approach<br />

to music) offers music composed in response to works on exhibit,<br />

adding a new dimension to their visual output. Likewise, artists<br />

with solo exhibitions in the Euclid Avenue Gallery are encouraged<br />

to invite another artist to exhibit in an adjacent space (known as The<br />

Platform), which enables the audience to make connections with the<br />

artists interests and influences farther afield.<br />

The boom of new construction in University Circle, and the<br />

anticipated increase in tourism promise a great future for the<br />

organization. To complement that growth, the Sculpture Center<br />

is focused on expanding its presence in the region. They anticipate<br />

more collaboration with the Cleveland Institute of Art, MOCA<br />

Cleveland, and universities across Ohio.<br />

Beyond its own exhibits, the Sculpture Center aims to educate the<br />

public—and students, in particular—about art and sculpture in<br />

general, and Ohio sculpture in particular. For example, ceramic<br />

artist Elizabeth Emery facilitates 3D art making classes for after<br />

school programs at elementary schools in the Cleveland Municipal<br />

Schools District, Cleveland serving kids who otherwise have little<br />

access to the arts.<br />

Location 1834 East 123rd Street, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.229.6527<br />

Web www.sculpturecenter.org<br />

Email info@sculpturecenter.org<br />

Facebook The Sculpture Center<br />

HOURS<br />

Wednesday through Friday: 10 a .m . to 4 p .m .<br />

Saturday: noon to 4 p .m .<br />

Other weekday times by appointment .<br />

MISSION<br />

The Sculpture Center is a not-for-profit arts institution dedicated to the<br />

advancement of the careers of emerging Ohio sculptors, and to the<br />

preservation of Ohio outdoor sculpture as a means to provide support<br />

for artists and to effect the enrichment, education, enjoyment, and<br />

visual enhancement of the Cleveland community and greater region .<br />

HISTORY<br />

The Cleveland artist David E . Davis and his wife Bernice Saperstein<br />

Davis founded The Sculpture Center in 1989 . The two wanted to make<br />

a meaningful contribution to the cultural life of Cleveland and to<br />

help young Ohio sculptors stay in the state by giving support at the<br />

difficult time in their careers when they were starting to make a name<br />

for themselves . The Sculpture Center’s exhibitions now encompass<br />

sculpture, installation, and multi-media work by artists of the greater<br />

region of Ohio, contiguous states, and Ontario, Canada . The Sculpture<br />

Center has conserved, restored, and maintained 36 outdoor public<br />

The Sculpture Center’s website is another informative gem. Its<br />

content is well designed, and constantly updated with rich material<br />

about artist opportunities, event links, and on-line resources.<br />

Key among its reference features is the Ohio Outdoor Sculpture<br />

Initiative, an online registry of more than 1,000 sculptures around<br />

the state. The OOSI inventories sculpture in the large urban<br />

areas of Ohio with photos, as well as bibliographic details and<br />

documentation of their condition. An ongoing partnership with<br />

the CSU Michael Schwartz Library has made the database more<br />

accessible. Future plans include posting OOSI information on<br />

a Yahoo Flickr page to use crowd sourcing as a way to fill in the<br />

blanks, update images, and encourage information exchange. This<br />

WIKI-history will benefit scholars, teachers, librarians, and anyone<br />

curious about their community. With its strong emphasis upon<br />

preservation, OOSI supports the belief that public art adds to a<br />

community and gives us all a level of pride.<br />

The Sculpture Center is rare in its mission to showcase sculpture and<br />

installation art, which are not the easiest art forms to make, ship,<br />

install, exhibit, sell, and maintain. The organization continues to<br />

celebrate new, innovative, renegade works by our region’s emerging<br />

sculptors and installation artists while, at the same time, dedicating<br />

themselves to the great monuments and landmarks that are symbols<br />

of this town’s resilience and strength.<br />

Liz Maugans is executive director of <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong>.<br />

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sculptures in Cuyahoga County . It continues to offer the web-based<br />

Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory (OOSI) and occasional symposia<br />

on preservation as a public resource .<br />

COMING EVENTS<br />

<strong>2012</strong> W2S SERIES (Jan – May)<br />

Linda Ding: New Work<br />

Scott Stibich | Lauren Yeager: Familiar Machines<br />

January 20 – February 18, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Cozette Phillips: in-between<br />

Elizabeth Emery: New Work<br />

March 9 – April 6, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Sarah Paul: Little Miss Cleveland & the Flaming Sunset<br />

Lauren Herzak- Bauman: Passages<br />

Sarah Ann Baker<br />

April 27 – May 26, <strong>2012</strong><br />

“Ambassador Lanes,” oil on canvas, by Screw Factory artist Martin O’Connor.<br />

Euclid Avenue storefront.<br />

page twenty eight : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page twenty nine<br />

PHOTO: THE SCULPTURE CENTER<br />

Summer Exhibition<br />

June 8 – July 14<br />

Johnny Coleman: Procession: Song of the Underground Railroad<br />

September 8 – October 20<br />

Mario Kujawski: A life in Art<br />

November 2 – December 21


SpACES<br />

IT’S ABOUT THE RIDE By Nancy Heaton<br />

spaces takes artists and audiences on a journey<br />

SPACES was conceived as an alternative to the Cleveland’s traditional galleries, a place where artists could exhibit<br />

experimental work that might otherwise not be accessible .<br />

Founded in Playhouse Square in 1978, and moving to the<br />

Warehouse District in the 80s—at a time when the neighborhood<br />

was largely vacant, and buildings were being demolished to make<br />

parking lots, the gallery has always been a center of intriguing, even<br />

aesthetically challenging activity for its neighborhood. SPACES<br />

was known as the place in town to find the kind of art objects<br />

that fell outside the limits of traditional galleries. Installation art<br />

was a primary focus, complemented by exhibits of photographs,<br />

sculptures, drawings and works in other traditional media, often<br />

with a theme.<br />

The venue moved across the river in 1990, when it bought a building<br />

on Ohio City’s Superior Viaduct. The SPACES experience has<br />

shifted in recent years, but it continues to transform lives and the<br />

way people look at art.<br />

Today, as the way we experience art globally and personally has<br />

shifted, the making of art has become an interdisciplinary practice<br />

which overlaps into a wide range of other areas. SPACES embraces<br />

this expanding outlook by focusing on experiments which explore<br />

new directions with ideas through various media and disciplines.<br />

When you come to an opening, expect on- the-spot inventions<br />

and collaborations, with hands on and eyes open. As the audience<br />

you will be more engaged, the artist is given more freedom and the<br />

possibilities become endless and unknown.<br />

In other words, SPACES does not curate ART, but ARTISTS and<br />

the creative experience of experimentation. Being unrestricted by<br />

the traditional gallery structure allows artists a whole new range<br />

of artistic expression, with support that is often unheard of in<br />

traditional settings. There are still things on the gallery walls, but<br />

now artists working at SPACES have complete freedom and support<br />

to do more, to challenge themselves and the audience. The audience<br />

becomes involved in the process, leaving doors open to interpret,<br />

challenge and chime in, exciting the senses!<br />

A look at SPACES’ programs gives an idea how this all plays out.<br />

The R&D (Research & Development) program invites artists,<br />

curators and other cultural producers to articulate their research and<br />

development of ideas and objects through a supported exhibition<br />

or project. These exhibitions and projects may be group, solo, or<br />

collaborative endeavors.<br />

The Vault—a converted, walk-in safe that came with the<br />

building—functions as a digital media flat file: there audiences<br />

can experience a variety of video and audio art. Work is added on<br />

a rolling basis, and remains on view for approximately six months.<br />

Viewers have the remote control in their hands to select the work<br />

they would like to view.<br />

SPACES World Artists Program (SWAP) is a residency initiative that<br />

invites local, national and international artists to spend significant<br />

periods of time in Cleveland neighborhoods to create experimental<br />

work. SPACES provides SWAP artists with support for the creation,<br />

exhibition and discussion.<br />

What about artists who still use traditional media to make things?<br />

While the gallery’s programming is intended to mark a deliberate<br />

break from traditional galleries, as long as the artist’s focus is<br />

experimental and as long as it’s about pushing boundaries, there is<br />

space at SPACES: in the words of Executive Director Chris Lynn:<br />

“It’s about the ride, not the destination.”<br />

Nancy Heaton is executive director of BAYarts.<br />

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Location 2220 Superior Viaduct, Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.621.2314<br />

Web http://www.spacesgallery.org<br />

Email Contact@spacesgallery.org<br />

Facebook SPACES<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Noon to 5 p .m . Tuesday through Sunday<br />

Thursdays until 8 p .m .<br />

Closed Monday<br />

MISSION<br />

SPACES is the resource and public forum for artists who<br />

explore and experiment .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

SPACES was founded in 1978 by a group of artists looking<br />

to found “an interdisciplinary arena for the visual and<br />

performing arts with an interest in creating and presenting<br />

new art including individual and collaborative works .”<br />

Since then, SPACES has gone on to feature the work of<br />

over 9000 artists in varied formats .<br />

UPCOMING EVENTS<br />

Margaret Cogswell<br />

Christi Birchfield<br />

Marty Weishaar<br />

February 3 – March 30, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau<br />

featuring the work of Cleveland SGS, the Cleveland<br />

Urban Design Collaborative, Temporary Travel Office,<br />

and The Think Tank That Has Yet to Be Named.<br />

May 11 – July 13, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Please check www .SPACESgallery .org for the most upto-date<br />

information .<br />

PHOTO: SPACES<br />

WiLLiAm BUSTA gALLEry<br />

MORE OF THE SAME By Alenka Banco<br />

william busta gallery offers continuity for both artists and audiences<br />

William Busta says the gallery that bears his name is more about Cleveland than it is about art . William Busta Gallery<br />

is based on his conviction that art is one of the ways that we enter into dialogue with the past and in which we<br />

contribute to the future .<br />

The owner-operated gallery has called Cleveland home since it<br />

first opened in Cleveland’s Murry Hill neighborhood, back in<br />

1989. Having been located for a time in the Detroit Shoreway<br />

neighborhood, it’s now on Prospect Avenue in Cleveland’s Art<br />

Quarter. The gallery represents contemporary artists who live and<br />

work in Northeast Ohio, with one-person exhibitions. Busta then<br />

continues to represent each artist on an ongoing basis.<br />

Busta jokes, “If I look backwards, I am going to guess that I put up<br />

more works of art than anybody else…..except an elementary school<br />

teacher.” He estimates that he has installed more than 250 shows.<br />

Busta decided to open his first galley because he realized when<br />

he was Director of NOVA (the New Organization for the Visual<br />

Arts, a service organization for the visual arts) that there was a<br />

significant void in Cleveland galleries—a need to show works by a<br />

roster of individual artists with some frequency over time. It is that<br />

consistency that is the strength of his gallery.<br />

Busta believes this programming means the gallery is constantly<br />

developing with the artist: when an artist is only focused on one<br />

show, they gear up for that show and then take a sigh of relief. When<br />

an artist closes a show and has their next show scheduled, they<br />

bring a different attitude back to their studio. He believes that is<br />

essential in the creation of better art and better bodies of work. This<br />

relationship between artist and gallery gives an artist the time to<br />

develop an audience and then provides the audience the place to find<br />

the work on an ongoing basis.<br />

The key to Bill’s success is his complete devotion to the process of<br />

discovering the artist and of course the artists work. Busta says,<br />

“When a publisher lands Danielle Steel, all that they can say is that<br />

they have a deep pocket book. The real skill is in finding the next<br />

Danielle Steel.”<br />

He believes that the sense of discovery is in part what people<br />

come to the gallery for. He quickly adds that the discovery for the<br />

audience is only possible after the curator does his homework. The<br />

internet has made the research process much easier, but Busta feels<br />

that going to shows is an important part of the discovery.<br />

Fundamentally for Busta it comes down to choices. All sorts of<br />

reasons other than the work itself determine who he shows. He<br />

considers the artist as a whole career, rather than just individual<br />

things. “I curate the artist rather than individual pieces or individual<br />

bodies of work,” he says. Salability is never an issue for a first show.<br />

The beginning is always about the quality. Among the artists who<br />

have had their first shows at WBG are Hildur Jonsson, Derik Hess<br />

and Laurence Channing.<br />

Busta admits that he does not know exactly why people buy art, but<br />

he believes it deals with immortality. Art is a way that we speak. It<br />

Location 2731 Prospect Ave., Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.298-9071<br />

Web www.williambustagallery.com<br />

Email bustagallery@gmail.com<br />

Facebook William Busta Gallery<br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

11 a .m . to 5:30 p .m . Tuesday through Saturday<br />

or by appointment<br />

MISSION<br />

William Busta Gallery represents contemporary artists<br />

who live and work in Northeast Ohio . Mostly, the gallery<br />

presents one-person exhibitions, and then continues to<br />

represent the artist .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

William Busta Gallery originally opened on Murray Hill in<br />

Little Italy in January, 1989 . In all, it has operated in five<br />

locations, including on Detroit Avenue and its current<br />

location on Prospect .<br />

is a form of immortality, to have a voice through time. So whether<br />

it is the immortality of the person who is making a piece or possibly<br />

the person buying it, many devote their lives to the expressive object.<br />

The real audience for art is people who are engaged in the lives of<br />

new ideas. He feels that it is directly related to the relationship they<br />

build with the artist over time.<br />

All the galleries in the regional scene create a kind of Cleveland<br />

synergy. To have a gallery that shows specific artists’ work<br />

consistently gives the greater Cleveland audience the foundation to<br />

indelibly understand the art. Of all the exhibition places in greater<br />

Cleveland, there is a very complementary function in which we see<br />

the individual pieces, and in which people see the work in context.<br />

Busta points out that in the end, having buyers is also a necessary<br />

part of that synergy.<br />

So what is in the horizon for WBG? “More of the same” Bill<br />

continues. “My formulas and methodologies are down pat, and once<br />

you are sixty you pretty much don’t need to change anything. You<br />

are who you are.”<br />

Alenka Banco is director of Convivium33 Gallery.<br />

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UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

Michael Loderstedt, Menagerie<br />

Dimensional: Printed Works by Current and Former<br />

Students from Kent State<br />

January 6 to February 4<br />

Christi Birchfield<br />

Julie Weitz<br />

February 10 to March 10<br />

Derf, My Friend Dahmer<br />

March 2 to April 14<br />

Spaces exterior, Big Bang opening.<br />

Opening night, as seen from the sidewalk.<br />

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PHOTO: WILLIAM BUSTA GALLERY<br />

Christian Wulffen<br />

March 9 to April 14<br />

NOADA Art Expo<br />

(Northern Ohio Art Dealers Association)<br />

April 19 to 22<br />

Don Harvey<br />

Lane Cooper<br />

April 27 to June 2<br />

Susan Umbenhour<br />

Barbara Polster<br />

June 8 to July 31


zygOTE prESS<br />

PRESSED INTO ACTION By Karen Peterson<br />

zygote press creates opportunity and takes it to the streets<br />

In a funky factory space on E . 30th Street, zygote <strong>Press</strong> reflects the best of Cleveland with a hip international flair .<br />

“I love that this building stored artillery during World War II, then dinette sets in the 50s”, explains Liz Maugans, co-<br />

founder in 1995 and Managing Director since 2006 .<br />

Liz and the other three co-founders formed <strong>Zygote</strong> at a time when<br />

universities happened to be getting rid of their old presses. The<br />

founders jumped on this great opportunity to not only preserve<br />

historical presses, but also with an eye on sustainability, keeping<br />

these large iron pieces of equipment out of landfills.<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> (a single cell that divides and multiplies) got its name from<br />

twin facts: first, two of the organization’s founders are twins. And<br />

second, printmakers by nature are drawn to the power of multiples<br />

and multiplying creativity.<br />

After ringing the doorbell, you enter the enchanted gallery and print<br />

shop that Liz fondly refers to as a “weird runaway train” of worthy<br />

programs and classes. There is a real fluidity of participants between<br />

the programs offered at <strong>Zygote</strong>. Someone may start by participating<br />

in a class or renting one of the (very) reasonably priced studio or<br />

locker spaces, then they continue to grow and try other <strong>Zygote</strong><br />

offerings, becoming part of the fabric.<br />

Print shops by nature have a dynamic atmosphere. Liz personifies<br />

that, and has a true nature of getting other people excited about<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong>. “I believe that energy comes with neighborhood growth and<br />

development. I am a huge fan of Cleveland. I continue to explore<br />

how the arts can be an economic engine to Cleveland and how I can<br />

foster the unexpected spontaneous connections and creativities in<br />

our region.”<br />

The traditional presses and drawers (and drawers and drawers) of<br />

page thirty two : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal<br />

print-type are mixed with innovative and visionary concepts of<br />

printing. <strong>Zygote</strong> is proud to have a portable press in their collection<br />

that can run off a generator in a field (POW, the <strong>Press</strong> On Wheels);<br />

and they are in the process of designing and fabricating a bike press<br />

– allowing an artist to ride this specially designed bike anywhere,<br />

drop the kickstand, unfold a press, and get to work!<br />

Recent grads and mid-career artists with a passion for print-making<br />

find their way to <strong>Zygote</strong>. Empty nesters are also attracted since now<br />

they have the time to revisit their former artistic love. But the staff at<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> have also provided programs to retirement age people, as well<br />

as diversified their programs to younger kids. They have developed<br />

a handy set of “Show-N-Tell Suitcases” equipped with tools of the<br />

trade, archives of created works, technical information, curriculum<br />

ideas for teachers, and more.<br />

Creating community, true collaborative relationships, and a viable live/<br />

work space for artists is extremely important to Liz. Through <strong>Zygote</strong>,<br />

Liz has taken on a leadership role in creating the Collective Arts<br />

Network, responsible for the informative journal you are now reading.<br />

Liz has the infectious energy to implement and see ideas to fruition,<br />

like the Print Pony Gallop, a unique outreach machine fabricated<br />

from a toy rocking horse mounted to a pressure printing rocker: as a<br />

child rocks on the horse, they create prints!<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong>’s international flavor is provided by German artists involved<br />

in the 15 year old Dresden-Cleveland Residency Exchange Program.<br />

These artists, among others throughout the year, live in the ZPASS<br />

(<strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> Artist Space Share), a 1,500 square foot urban loft<br />

space just above <strong>Zygote</strong>’s print shop.<br />

Liz Maugans is a native of Lakewood, Ohio, and received her<br />

Bachelors of Fine Arts from Kent State University. She received her<br />

Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of<br />

Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She continued to develop her<br />

leadership skills as a participant in the highly desirable National Arts<br />

Media and Culture Leadership Program in Portland sponsored by<br />

The Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.<br />

She and her collaborators have created multiple points of access to<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong>: You can find them spreading the word about old school<br />

printmaking at area festivals, visit an exhibition in their galleries,<br />

take a class, or rent studio space. Come appreciate the history of<br />

the building and rich tradition of the presses; stay for the fresh<br />

friendliness, endorphin buzz, and the excited anticipation to see<br />

what vision will come to life next.<br />

Steve Jobs once said, “People with passion can change the world<br />

for the better.” I asked Liz if she was interested in politics,<br />

and she replied that many people have suggested she become a<br />

Councilwoman. I would vote for her!<br />

Karen Peterson is executive director of Art Therapy Studio.<br />

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Location 1410 East 30th Street,<br />

Cleveland<br />

Phone 216.621.2900<br />

Web www.zygotepress.com<br />

Email info@zygotepress.com<br />

Facebook <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong><br />

GALLERY HOURS<br />

Wednesday and Saturday: noon-4pm<br />

Other days: by appointment<br />

MISSION<br />

The mission of zygote is to enable<br />

artists to produce fine art prints within<br />

an atmosphere<br />

of collective exchange by providing<br />

them with affordable workspace and<br />

exhibition opportunities . zygote is a<br />

resource dedicated to increasing<br />

awareness<br />

about contemporary printmaking<br />

by creating active communication<br />

among<br />

artist-printmakers and the broader<br />

community .<br />

A BRIEF HISTORY<br />

Four printmakers—Liz Maugans, Joe<br />

Sroka, Bellamy Printz, Kelly Novak—<br />

founded zygote <strong>Press</strong> in 1996 . They<br />

were motivated by a common need<br />

among fine art printmakers—large<br />

presses and other equipment, and<br />

the space to house them . Those<br />

facilities are commonly available in<br />

university art departments, but once<br />

printmakers are on their own, the cost<br />

of such equipment and space can be<br />

prohibitive . So they coordinated their<br />

efforts and set up shop in a building<br />

on St . Clair at East 72nd Street . zygote<br />

<strong>Press</strong> moved to its current location in<br />

2006 . zygote <strong>Press</strong> gallery shows are<br />

commonly built on relationships with<br />

other organizations, and ongoing<br />

zygoge programs, including its Artist<br />

In Residence (AIR) Program, In-Turn<br />

(curated by interns from area arts<br />

organizations), its Foreign Affairs artist<br />

exchange with the Grafikwerkstatt in<br />

Dresden, Germany, and 4U, which<br />

features works from students and<br />

faculty from four universities around<br />

Northeast Ohio .<br />

UPCOMING SHOWS<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> Members Collect<br />

January 20 - February . 18<br />

Fellow Travelers: Prints by Noel Reifel<br />

and his students<br />

February 24 - March 30th<br />

100x100 Tax Relief Benefit Party<br />

April 13<br />

We Love Letterpress–Color My World<br />

Exhibition<br />

April 20–thru May 19th<br />

ArtsQuarter Block Party Social<br />

6-9pm June 1<br />

Juried Exhibition<br />

June 1–July 7<br />

IN-TURN (Summer Show)<br />

July 13–August 10<br />

Artist-in-Residence Johnny Coleman<br />

Opening September 7<br />

Dresden Exchange Program - Ohio<br />

Artists in Dresden<br />

September 24th to October 27th<br />

International Assoc. of Hand<br />

Papermakers and Paper Artists<br />

October 17-21<br />

Holiday Off-the-Wall Exhibition<br />

December 1 – 2<br />

PHOTO: LIz MAUGANS<br />

Screen prints by Jason Lehrer, drying at <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong>.<br />

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SOmeTHiNg’S HAppeNiNg Here<br />

North coastal sangfroid notwithstanding, it’s<br />

hard to deny that this is an exciting time to be<br />

an artist in northern Ohio, and especially in<br />

Cuyahoga County.<br />

After decades of uneven growth in what is<br />

sometimes referred to as the arts sector, activity is<br />

finally reaching critical mass. Much of this must<br />

be due to the $65 million in tobacco tax money<br />

distributed to County arts organizations and<br />

individuals since 2007. Cuyahoga Arts and Culture<br />

(CAC) reportedly has generated a whopping $280<br />

million in economic activity through the local<br />

organizations it supports, and their five thousand<br />

employees – all of this in a county whose population<br />

is 1.28 million.<br />

In 2011 alone, CAC working through the<br />

Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC)<br />

distributed twenty Creative Workforce Fellowships,<br />

nourishing talent with that rarest and most welcome<br />

of art supplies, cold hard cash, spreading around $400<br />

grand in smoking money to area artists out of a total<br />

annual disbursal of $15 million.<br />

The somewhat unbelievable fact that Cuyahoga<br />

County is now one of the top five arts funders in the<br />

nation has got to be having a warming effect on local<br />

morale, as well as hometown economics. Nearly every<br />

weekend gallery openings are featured around the<br />

city, from Collinwood to downtown, Tremont to Bay<br />

Village. Popular cooperative events like the West 78th<br />

Street Complex’s monthly Third Friday events attract<br />

thousands of visitors.<br />

At the upper end of the spectrum, The Cleveland<br />

Museum of Art is nearing completion of its seven year,<br />

$350 million renovation, and has further announced<br />

plans to open a branch for the first time on the west<br />

side in Ohio City in collaboration with nationally<br />

prominent Akron art collectors Fred and Laura<br />

Bidwell. Meanwhile the Museum of Contemporary<br />

Art has broken ground for its own new $26.7 million<br />

building in University Circle.<br />

In this almost convulsively regenerative context,<br />

the Collective Arts Network <strong>Journal</strong> project,<br />

bringing together twenty-eight small and midsize<br />

organizations, is one more instance of a cultural<br />

By Douglas Max Utter<br />

tide which, despite tough times here and elsewhere,<br />

is raising a lot of boats. And granting that <strong>CAN</strong>’s<br />

economic scale is more modest, surely this is the first<br />

time that so many disparate Cleveland-based arts<br />

businesses ranging from private galleries to print<br />

workshops and community arts centers have worked<br />

together. There is a sense that such proliferation and<br />

cooperation taken as a whole add up to an exciting<br />

new development in the region.<br />

Change is in the air, but how different is the reality<br />

of our corner of the art world compared to the state of<br />

things twenty or thirty years ago? One way of putting<br />

it all in perspective is to imagine the Cleveland art<br />

scene minus the current <strong>CAN</strong> members, and without<br />

the many others around town who aren’t part of its<br />

network. Say that the Cleveland Museum of Art and<br />

MOCA, for instance, were to stand alone – like the<br />

Terminal Tower and one or another of Cuyahoga<br />

County’s more up-to-date skyscrapers. What sort of<br />

view would we have?<br />

To answer that question, residents over fifty need<br />

only remember what the scene was like for artists,<br />

PHOTO: LAND STUDIO/CLEVELAND PUBLIC ART<br />

DECADES OF INVENTION, REINVENTION, AND REVIVAL<br />

collectors, and audiences in the late 1960s. Then as<br />

now there were galleries, though far fewer of them,<br />

run by people who believed in the power of art and in<br />

the potential viability of a local art scene.<br />

For a long time MOCA itself, founded as the New<br />

Gallery by Marjorie Talalay and Nina Castelli Sundell<br />

in 1968 in its original location on Euclid Avenue, was<br />

a small, struggling outfit, though linked (through<br />

Sundell’s father, gallerist Leo Castelli) to the larger<br />

world of contemporary art as it existed in New York at<br />

that period. And there was more, of course —actually<br />

much more.<br />

A partial account of the slow growth of SPACES<br />

from its beginnings in 1978, and the development of<br />

artist service networks like the New Organization for<br />

the Visual Arts (NOVA) during the 1970s and 1980s,<br />

plus ongoing contributions by a number of seemingly<br />

indestructible gallery owners and arts activists, can be<br />

found in William Busta’s 1998 essay, “Howling at the<br />

Edge of the Renaissance: SPACES and Alternative Art<br />

in Cleveland.”<br />

Busta himself is a member of <strong>CAN</strong>, and an ironclad<br />

survivor of Cleveland’s vicissitudes in his own right.<br />

In 1980 he was the young executive director of<br />

NOVA, and went on to open the first of his several<br />

ambitious galleries in 1989. His essay celebrating<br />

SPACES’ twentieth anniversary outlines the ebb and<br />

flow of contemporary art through the city during<br />

recent decades, naming many of the key players.<br />

Among the highlights were the Performance Art<br />

Festival, founded by James Levin and run by Thomas<br />

Mulready; the founding of Cleveland Public Art<br />

following a conversation at SPACES in 1984 between<br />

Don Harvey and Kathy Coakley; and the freeform<br />

exhibitions of the extraordinary Art Without Walls<br />

group during the early 1990s. Among its other virtues<br />

this brief history serves as a bracing reminder of just<br />

how severe our collective amnesia can be. A whole lot<br />

did indeed happen in the arts in Cleveland between<br />

the Kennedy administration and 9/11.<br />

Busta doesn’t shrink from the fact that the<br />

automobile had a lot to do with the development<br />

of the broad socio-economic area now referred to<br />

as Northeast Ohio, and the concomitant increase<br />

of communication between widely separated arts<br />

communities – a cultural expansion that began in<br />

earnest around 1961. That was the year, not long<br />

after the completion of the Ohio Turnpike, that<br />

Cleveland Museum of Art Director Sherman Lee<br />

expanded the geographic area for the Museum’s<br />

annual May Show. Instead of limiting eligibility to<br />

artists living in Cuyahoga County, the prestigious<br />

exhibit would accept works<br />

from anywhere in the<br />

Western Reserve – a strip<br />

of territory about 120 miles<br />

long that includes Akron,<br />

Kent, and Youngstown.<br />

During the 1970s Ohio’s<br />

Interstate Highway System<br />

neared completion, pulling<br />

these places ever closer<br />

together. For good or ill the<br />

impact was felt everywhere,<br />

and especially at the May<br />

Show. It’s probably fair<br />

to say that among the<br />

two hundred or so artists<br />

included every year in the<br />

exhibit, a disproportionate<br />

number continued to travel<br />

no farther than the half a<br />

block distance across Wade<br />

Park Oval, where instructors<br />

at the Cleveland Institute<br />

of Art made their art. But<br />

CIA wasn’t the only art<br />

school anymore. Kent State<br />

University’s art department<br />

became a major player<br />

in the region, supplying<br />

inspiration, art, and board<br />

members to the fledgling<br />

SPACES organization in<br />

Image by Sara E. Darby.<br />

particular. When Cleveland<br />

State University hired its<br />

own young faculty in the<br />

early 1970s, was a deliberately unstable hybrid, part<br />

late 1970s the city began to develop a whole new performance, part intervention, packed full of ideas<br />

community of serious younger artists, bolstered also about time and change, and perhaps about revolution.<br />

by the then vibrant Cooper School of Art.<br />

In any case, less than five months later the infamous<br />

Many of these new artists were interested in<br />

Kent State shootings took place, and shortly afterward<br />

exploring ideas (as much or more than making someone painted the words “MAY 4 KENT 70”<br />

objects) and there was considerable cross-fertilization above a window of the slowly collapsing out-building,<br />

from art worlds outside the northern Ohio<br />

creating a makeshift memorial that lasted for more<br />

microcosm. One example was Robert Smithson’s than two decades.<br />

“Partially Buried Woodshed,” made with a backhoe I dwell for a moment on Smithson for two reasons—<br />

and the help of several enthusiastic sculpture<br />

to underline how many connections there have been<br />

students in January of 1970 on the KSU campus. between the Cleveland area art scene and artistic<br />

The thirty-two year old pioneer of post-minimalist developments elsewhere, and also because as I re-read<br />

environmental sculpture (who died three years later “Howling at the Edge of the Renaissance” I was struck<br />

in a plane crash) had been invited by the students by the prominent part that very innovative alternative<br />

to lecture at the University, during which time he art forms, especially performance and installation,<br />

stayed at the home of Brinsley and Lillian Tyrrell. His have played in the history of Cleveland art over the<br />

“Woodshed,” like much conceptually based art of the past forty years. For whatever reason, in an always<br />

page thirty four : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page thirty five<br />

PHOTO: SARA E . DARBY


shrinking, often conservative city, Cleveland has<br />

produced formidable number of avant-garde events<br />

and venues. This has been so even though both CMA<br />

and CIA long ignored such innovation; and despite its<br />

origins in the ferment of the 1960s , The New Gallery<br />

/ Cleveland Center for Contemportary Art / MOCA<br />

was also slow to host<br />

improvisational or<br />

performance-related<br />

works. But from the<br />

beginning SPACES<br />

made performance,<br />

installation, and<br />

conceptual art forms<br />

an integral part of its programming, alongside<br />

traditional two and three dimensional media.<br />

Cleveland Public Theater was another crucial source<br />

of inspiration for artists seeking to expand their<br />

expressive range into a theatrical, public dimension.<br />

A further, interestingly populist tendency that also<br />

represented its own broad constituency among local<br />

Classes for kids at Art House.<br />

page thirty six : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal<br />

artists has been the two decade run of The People’s<br />

Art Show at Cleveland State University’s gallery.<br />

Resolutely unjuried and committed to freedom of<br />

exhibition, PAS was from the beginning a progressiveregressive<br />

public event that defied all categories and<br />

often left local pundits scratching their heads.<br />

At this point it should be noted that CMA’s<br />

conservatism wasn’t always a bad thing. It’s<br />

unfortunate that younger artists can no longer<br />

remember what the Museum did accomplish in<br />

respect to the local scene prior to 1990, because in fact<br />

it was long the backbone of Cleveland’s art economy,<br />

crucial to its self-image for seventy years.<br />

Mainly that was due to CMA’s<br />

yearly May Show, which was the most<br />

distinguished of Ohio’s several spring<br />

time museum exhibits (Cincinnati,<br />

Columbus, Toledo, and Dayton all<br />

had their own, plus Canton’s All<br />

Ohio Show and the Butler Museum’s<br />

National Midyear Exhibition in<br />

Youngstown). Every year it took up a<br />

quarter of the Museum’s exhibition<br />

schedule, and a corresponding<br />

percentage of the budget for traveling<br />

exhibitions. It was an elegant and<br />

respectfully presented selection of as<br />

many as three hundred works of art<br />

by around half that number of artists<br />

selected from a pool of as many as<br />

1000 by a variety of distinguished<br />

jurors, often recruited from around the<br />

nation. The jurors tended to consult<br />

with museum staff familiar with the<br />

ins and outs of the local scene, and<br />

the result was a comprehensive salon<br />

which audiences and collectors used<br />

to keep track of both up-and-coming<br />

artists and established figures, serving<br />

as a professional benchmark, and as a<br />

key marketplace in its own right for<br />

the sale of contemporary art.<br />

Startling—at least to those used<br />

PHOTO: ART HOUSE<br />

to the modest attendance figures typical for fine arts<br />

events, including non-blockbuster museum shows—<br />

were the sheer numbers attracted to this old-fashioned<br />

exhibition: in the 1980s the May Show’s yearly<br />

attendance regularly reached 100,000 visitors. That’s<br />

hard to beat, and in fact nothing has come close to<br />

"Political climates change, funding ebbs and wanes, galleries die, and<br />

newspapers run out of ink and subscribers, but artists continue their work ."<br />

filling the hole left in the Cleveland art scene’s heart by<br />

the exhibit’s cancellation in the early1990s. It would<br />

be interesting indeed to see just what would happen<br />

in northern Ohio’s newly vigorous scene if CMA put<br />

out an open, thirteen county-wide call for entries,<br />

perhaps in the spring of 2013, to celebrate architect<br />

Raphael Viñoly’s expansion. Such an event would<br />

certainly break the ice with both the arts community<br />

and wider audiences after a long seven years, during<br />

which time much of CMA’s magnificent collection was<br />

unavailable.<br />

For some of this article I’m drawing on knowledge<br />

gained as a writer who covered local arts events<br />

for more than twenty years, and also on my own<br />

experience as an occasional participant situated<br />

somewhere off-center in respect to the city’s art life.<br />

I was twenty-two in 1973, when I submitted an oil<br />

on canvas study of a Braque-like nude male figure<br />

to a show mounted at NOVA’s little upstairs gallery<br />

located at Huron and Prospect Avenues. The work<br />

was accepted, hung around for a month, and then<br />

I fetched it – an anti-climactic routine I would get<br />

used to in later years. I made a second foray in 1982,<br />

entering a Matisse-influenced, brightly colored<br />

acrylic painting of figures in an interior to another<br />

second-tier exhibit held in downtown Cleveland. “The<br />

Great Lakes Art Exhibit” was organized from time<br />

to time by the Valley Arts Center and in 1982 was<br />

arrayed around an enormous sales floor in the former<br />

Higbee’s department store on Public Square. Not too<br />

surprisingly, nothing much came of that experience,<br />

either.<br />

My efforts will sound familiar to any artist in<br />

Cleveland who has worked at it for more than a<br />

decade or so. While all the excitement at SPACES,<br />

was going on, I got married. We had two children,<br />

and I continued to paint. Every March I dragged the<br />

Letterpress printing at the Morgan.<br />

latest canvases out of my basement studio and took<br />

slides of them in our thawing back yard, in what my<br />

partner laughingly called my “May Show dance.”<br />

Then in 1986 a work was finally accepted; things<br />

began to look up. I rented a studio downtown in<br />

the Artcraft building on Superior Avenue, was one<br />

third of a three person show (which included Anna<br />

Arnold and Brian Azzarello) at SPACES in its Bradley<br />

Building incarnation in January 1988, and in 1989<br />

had my first solo show at Bill Busta’s new gallery on<br />

Murray Hill Road. This followed a 1988 one-person<br />

at Joyce Porcelli Gallery, Busta’s predecessor in the<br />

same space. It also took place in the wake of a 1987<br />

solo show at Tommy’s restaurant on Coventry, which<br />

was a lot of fun. And by 1989 I had begun to write<br />

occasional art critiques for Dialogue Magazine in<br />

Columbus and New Art Examiner in Chicago. I was<br />

pleased to show several more times during those years<br />

both at the May Show (which finally ended in 1993)<br />

and at Busta’s until his closing at that location in<br />

1997. Both Dialogue and New Art Examiner also went<br />

extinct, but I continued writing for other publications<br />

based in Cleveland and out of town, and showing<br />

at other area galleries, like the late, lamented Dead<br />

Horse Gallery in Lakewood. One of my favorite<br />

highlights of the past ten years was a 2004 residency<br />

and show at <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong> as their 2004 A.I.R. artist.<br />

And I’m especially proud to have received one of those<br />

CAC Fellowships myself this past year.<br />

If I’ve learned anything from the ongoing saga of<br />

death and resurrection that is Cleveland and its art,<br />

it would be a series of lessons about the necessity of<br />

optimism. Political climates change, funding ebbs<br />

and wanes, galleries die and newspapers run out of<br />

ink and subscribers, but artists continue their work<br />

and, remarkably, often multiply – despite surrounding<br />

conditions. Having said that, I believe strongly that<br />

current conditions are right for a true renaissance (or<br />

the completion of a century-long, first-time birth) in<br />

northern Ohio. The “howling” phase of Cleveland art<br />

may finally be over.<br />

Douglas Max Utter is an artist and freelance art critic in<br />

East Cleveland.<br />

PHOTO: MORGAN CONSERVATORY


WELCOmE<br />

continued from page 4<br />

punch of the devastated economy and the decline of print media.<br />

So all those working artists simply don’t get as much coverage as<br />

they once did. Consider what the NEO arts scene has lost just in<br />

roughly the last decade: Dialog Arts Midwest, Northern Ohio Live,<br />

Angle, ARTefakt, Urban Dialect, The Free Times, and Avenues—all<br />

of which dug deep into the local arts scene—are gone. For a while,<br />

all those existed in addition to what we have now. Shows and<br />

performances—even in small galleries—got covered. Previews were<br />

written. Personalities were explored.<br />

Consider that the Plain Dealer once led public discussion about the<br />

Arts and the Economy, with a daily arts section, including reviews<br />

and features as well as real arts news reporting. Indeed, for a time<br />

a reporter was dedicated to covering the Arts and the Economy.<br />

The editors seemed to agree with the voters in their conviction that<br />

Cleveland’s own ecosystem of artists and galleries mattered.<br />

It’s not like that anymore. Sure, digital media has had a<br />

democratizing effect, and if you consider all the individual artists’<br />

blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts,there are certainly many, many<br />

more outlets now than ever before. And people are certainly learning<br />

to use those methods to promote themselves. But they lack critical<br />

mass. Individual artists typically focus their blogs and social media<br />

on their own work, or that of a small circle of friends. They don’t exist<br />

in the physical world. Therefore they don’t develop broad audiences.<br />

People don’t stumble upon them. They can’t cross pollinate.<br />

And that brings us to <strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong>. What you’re holding in your<br />

hands is the product of collective, not-for-profit, bootstrap self help.<br />

The arts organizations once served so well by all that media have<br />

banded together to do something about what they’ve lost. Led by<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong>, 28 of the region’s small-ish visual arts organizations<br />

got together to help spread their own word about who they are and<br />

what they do—in short, to collectively shout, “We are here!”<br />

With seed money provided by a grant from the Ohio Arts Council,<br />

they each kicked in their own contributions to the cause. Indeed,<br />

they kicked in more than money. As you read through these stories,<br />

you’ll see that most of the bylines are those of the executive directors<br />

of the organizations. More than simply throwing money at the<br />

problem, they invested their time to conduct an interview, and to<br />

write about another organization’s work. In addition to stories,<br />

they’ve provided preview listings of what’s to come in their venues<br />

for the coming year.<br />

There are non-profit galleries, as well as commercial galleries.<br />

There are organizations whose purpose is to show art, as well as<br />

organizations whose purpose is to help artists. This is by no means<br />

an exhaustive list. But it’s a pretty good start.<br />

“we are here! we are here! we are here! we are here!”<br />

page thirty eight : : : north east ohio collective arts network journal<br />

<strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> was built as an annual publication that introduces<br />

readers to the diverse range of galleries and other organizations that<br />

fuel the NEO arts scene. As it grows in coming years, the stories will<br />

evolve. How that happens will depend largely on the organizations<br />

who have pitched in to make this happen.<br />

We expect the roster of organizations to grow and evolve. Whether<br />

you’re reading this as an arts consumer, presenter, or an individual<br />

artist, we hope you’ll grow along with us, and make your voice<br />

heard, too.<br />

6<br />

23<br />

THe NOrTH eAST OHiO cOllecTive ArTS NeTWOrK<br />

9<br />

<strong>CAN</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> Map Key<br />

1. 1point618 Gallery<br />

6421 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland<br />

2. Arts Collinwood<br />

15605 Waterloo Road, Cleveland<br />

3. Art House<br />

3119 Denison Avenue, Cleveland<br />

4. ArtSpace Cleveland<br />

1400 East 30th Street, Cleveland<br />

5. Art Therapy Studios<br />

12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland<br />

6. Bay Arts<br />

28795 Lake Road, Bay Village<br />

7. Brandt Gallery<br />

1028 Kenilworth Avenue, Cleveland<br />

8. City Artists at Work<br />

2218 Superior Avenue, Cleveland<br />

9. Cleveland Artists Foundation<br />

17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood<br />

10. Cleveland Arts Prize<br />

P .O . Box 21126 , Cleveland<br />

24<br />

14,15,17<br />

1<br />

12<br />

4<br />

8 28<br />

21<br />

22 18<br />

26 27<br />

16 7<br />

3<br />

11. Cleveland Institute of Art Visiting Artist Program<br />

11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland<br />

12. Convivium33<br />

1433 East 33rd Street, Cleveland<br />

13. Heights Arts<br />

2173 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights<br />

14. Kenneth Paul Lesko<br />

1305 W 80th Street, Cleveland<br />

15. Kokoon Arts Gallery<br />

1305 West 80th Street, Cleveland<br />

16. LAND Studio / Cleveland Public Art<br />

1939 West 25th Street, Suite 200, Cleveland<br />

17. Legation, A Gallery<br />

1300 D West 78th Street, Cleveland<br />

18. Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory<br />

1754 E . 47th Street, Cleveland<br />

19. Orange Art Center<br />

31500 Chagrin Boulevard, Cleveland<br />

20. The Print Club of Cleveland<br />

11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland<br />

11 25<br />

20<br />

5<br />

2<br />

13<br />

21. Proximity<br />

1667 E . 40th Street, Cleveland<br />

22. Red Dot Project<br />

1900 Superior Avenue, Suite 117, Cleveland<br />

23. River Gallery<br />

19046 Old Detroit Rd, Rocky River<br />

24. Screw Factory Artists<br />

13000 Athens Avenue, Lakewood<br />

25. Sculpture Center<br />

1834 East 123rd Street, Cleveland<br />

26. SPACES<br />

2220 Superior Viaduct, Cleveland<br />

27. William Busta Gallery<br />

2731 Prospect Avenue East, Cleveland<br />

28. <strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong><br />

1410 East 30 th Street, Cleveland<br />

19<br />

north east ohio collective arts network journal : : : page thirty nine


Saturday, September 15th, <strong>2012</strong><br />

Art Galleries & Artist Studios | Historical Walking<br />

Tours | Free S idewalk Concerts | Festivals | & More<br />

For more information, log onto<br />

downtowncleveland.com/sparxcityhop<br />

.<br />

11:00am-9:00pm<br />

<strong>Zygote</strong> <strong>Press</strong><br />

Artist Space Share<br />

LAUNCH<br />

February <strong>2012</strong><br />

quarterartsdistrict.com<br />

<br />

FEB<br />

<strong>2012</strong><br />

ABOUT ZPASS<br />

A Residency-Retreat-Community space, ZPASS launches in<br />

February! Just upstairs from the shop, in a 1,500 square foot<br />

space, we’ve created an exciting new residence and<br />

multifunctioning artist-studio space.<br />

ZPASS has four components:<br />

» It will be home to a new <strong>Zygote</strong> Residency program, as well<br />

as host our ongoing annual Dresden Residency Exchanges<br />

» Provide a space for Artist Retreats for residence and print<br />

shop access<br />

» Be a shared arts community space and studio (providing<br />

other visual arts organizations with an intercity, long or short<br />

term stay residence option)<br />

» Allow <strong>Zygote</strong> to restructure its current Intern/Apprenticeship<br />

program as this new space develops<br />

ZPASS<br />

Z y g o t e P r e s s<br />

1410 East 30th Street<br />

Cleveland, Ohio 44114<br />

216 . 6 2 1.2 9 0 0<br />

zygotepress.com<br />

Visit the<br />

Quarter …<br />

the heart and<br />

soul of<br />

Cleveland’s art<br />

community.<br />

We’re bringing<br />

industrial<br />

buildings back<br />

to life.<br />

We’re setting a<br />

bold new<br />

direction for<br />

Cleveland’s<br />

contemporary<br />

art scene.<br />

We’re building<br />

a community<br />

of dreamers<br />

and innovators.<br />

And we hope<br />

you’ll join us.

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