Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, April 29, 2022
NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance
TALKING
Spring 2022
VESSELS
Diane Therese Pinchot's Sculptures Search The World For What's Sacred
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On view At the Maltz Museum May 11 On view At the Maltz Museum May 11
WHERE KIDS CAN TOUCH THE ART! WHERE KIDS CAN TOUCH THE ART! Join us for the Chagall Launch Event on May 15 Join us for the Chagall Launch Event on May 15 Join us for the Chagall Launch Event on May 15
Chagall for Children is aa multi-sensory, multi-sensory, hands-on hands-on exploration exploration Chagall for Children is is a multi-sensory, hands-on exploration of of the the work work of of twentieth twentieth century century artist artist Marc Marc Chagall Chagall of the work of twentieth century artist Marc Chagall Explore Explore art art principles principles such such as as color, color, composition, composition, light light and and texture texture through through 14 14 Explore art principles such as color, composition, light and texture through 14 multi-sensory multi-sensory exploration exploration stations stations featuring featuring reproductions reproductions of of Marc Marc Chagall’s Chagall’s works. works. multi-sensory exploration stations featuring reproductions of Marc Chagall’s works. Presented Presented by: by: Presented by:
Created Created by: by: Created by:
2929 2929 RICHMOND RICHMOND ROAD, ROAD, BEACHWOOD BEACHWOOD ||| 216.593.0575 216.593.0575 ||| MALTZMUSEUM.ORG MALTZMUSEUM.ORG 2929 RICHMOND ROAD, BEACHWOOD 216.593.0575 MALTZMUSEUM.ORG
On-view On-view On-view
APRIL 26th APRIL 26th APRIL 26th Through Through Through
JULY 24th, 2022 JULY 24th, 2022 JULY 24th, 2022
Witness to The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii introduces a modernist painter who left left aa remarkably Witness to Wartime: Wartime: The PaintedDiary who Witness to Wartime: The Painted of Takuichi Fujii introduces a modernistpainter painter who leftremarkably a remarkably comprehensive visual record of his experience during World War II as a Japanese American American detainee. detainee. comprehensive visual record comprehensive visual record of his experience during World War II as a Japanese American detainee. Fujii’s daily life life of of inmates inmates forced forced Fujii’sillustrated illustrated diary diary spans spans the years from 1942 to 1945, taking viewers inside the daily
Fujii’s illustrated diary spans theThe years from 1942 to 1945, taking viewers inside the along daily with life ofseveral inmates into exhibition includes ink drawings oil forced intothe the incarceration incarceration camps. camps. and watercolors, along with several oil intopaintings the incarceration camps. The exhibition includes ink drawings and watercolors, along with several stunning body body of of work workoil sheds paintings and and sculptures, sculptures, notably notably a carved double portrait of Fujii and his wife. This stunning sheds paintings and sculptures, notably a carved double portrait of Fujii and his wife. This stunning body of work sheds light salient today. today. lighton on events events that that many many Americans Americans did not experience, but whose lessons remain salient light on events that many Americans did not experience, but whose lessons remain salient today. Curated Exhibitions,Pasadena, Pasadena,California. California. Curatedby byBarbara BarbaraJohns, Johns,Ph.D.; Ph.D.;Traveling Travelingexhibition exhibition is organized by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions,
Curated by Barbara Johns, Ph.D.; Traveling exhibition is organized by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Pasadena, California. The
Hoover The Foundation Hoover Foundation
c a n t o n a r t . o r g / 1001 Market Ave N.
c a n t o n a r t . o r g / 1001 Market Ave N.
20
Pop Iconoclast
The delightful, disturbing disruptions of Erykah Townsend
6 Editor’s Note
Amanda Koehn shares some background on this issue of Canvas
8 On Deck
Noteworthy upcoming openings and events around Northeast Ohio
10 Dust to Rainbow
FRONT International triennial to embrace art as therapeutic process
14 Talking Vessels
Diane Therese Pinchot’s sculptures search the world for what’s sacred “Bitter Sweet” by Erykah Townsend. Sheetrock, acrylic paint, gold paper foil, velvet fabric, Poly-fill and faux sprinkles on panel. Photo courtesy of the artist.
20 Pop Iconoclast
The delightful, disturbing disruptions of Erykah Townsend
24 ‘Silent Partner’ Shines
INSIDE
Roderick Lawrence’s short film tackles effects of microaggressions
26 The Great Pivot of 2020
Local performers explore new professions during the pandemic
32 Festivals Featured
Summer art fests return to Cleveland, some after pandemicrelated hiatus
Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, April 29, 2022
NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance
TALKING
Spring 2022
VESSELS
Diane Therese Pinchot's Sculptures Search The World For What's Sacred
On the cover
“Earth In Balance Series: Wounded Tree Transformed” by Diane Therese Pinchot. White stoneware, pit fired, pigment, acrylic medium. Photo by Amanda Koehn
36 Events calendar and listings
Spring and summer arts events and program listings
38 Curator Corner
“Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” by Namsa Leuba at Cleveland Museum of Art
39 Listings
Local listings for museums, galleries, theaters and more
4 | Canvas | Spring 2022
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Editor’s Note A
ttending gallery and museum openings is one of the highlights of being the editor of Canvas. While it’s never easy to decide which to attend, I always enjoy the shows I go to and meeting artists and other art fans there. It’s especially fun to meet someone I’ve talked with on the phone but never met in person, or an artist who is new to me and would make a good feature story. Both occurred ahead of this issue. Several months ago, I met ceramics artist Diane Therese Canvas Editor Amanda Koehn, center, meets Pinchot at her Article gallery artists Diane Therese Pinchot, left, the subject of a profile in this magazine, and Kimberly Chapman, studio during a Walk All Over right, who was featured in Canvas in 2019. Photo Waterloo event. We quickly connected over our shared courtesy of Chapman. interest in environmentalism, as well as her artwork, and I made sure to keep her business card handy. It turns out, our initial conversation barely scratched the surface of her fascinating life and career. I’m excited to share her profile in this issue. During my reporting, I visited her show opening at the Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. There, my other favorite thing happened – I met an artist who was previously featured in Canvas but I hadn’t met in real life. That artist, Kimberly Chapman, was actually inspired by Pinchot, adding another layer of connection. And I should note, while I look forward to meeting people in person, we also appreciate any story pitches for future Canvas features, whether on a specific artist, a new show or even a trend in the art world. In addition to our print magazine, we also email a biweekly e-newsletter for which I’m almost always seeking information on upcoming art openings. Pitches can be sent to editor@canvascle.com. You can subscribe to our free e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup. Also in this issue, we profile Erykah Townsend, a young conceptual artist. Townsend is becoming well-known in the local arts scene for her distinctive commentary on pop culture and we are excited to share her story. And, we preview the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, to open its second iteration this summer, checking in on how it has shifted with the state of the world since the first event in 2018. In this issue we also share the story of a Cleveland native whose first short film is on the festival circuit and his plans for expanding his work on a very important subject – how racism and microaggressions impact mental health and selfperception. Also on the performing arts front, we talk with three performers who explored new work while venues were closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Their stories are an intriguing and often funny peek into how creative people adapted when necessary and found meaning and curiosity in new ventures. And, as is typical for our spring issue, we preview a few local arts and entertainment festivals coming this summer. We also include a more comprehensive list of major upcoming arts events via our Canvas events calendar. I certainly hope to see you at some of these events this summer. If you recognize me, come say hi, and if you have a story, don’t hesitate to pitch it!
Amanda Koehn Editor
6 | Canvas | Spring 2022
Editor Amanda Koehn editor@canvascle.com Design Manager Stephen Valentine
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JazzFest Tri-C
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JUNE 23-25
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ANTHONY HAMILTON TRI-C JAZZFEST ALL-STAR BIG BAND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN CLAYTON JOHN PIZZARELLI | EDDIE PALMIERI BRIAN CULBERTSON | CYRILLE AIMÉE | DOMINICK FARINACCI AND TRIAD | GHOST-NOTE RAUL MIDÓN | SEAN JONES QUARTET | JOE LOVANO AND DAVE DOUGLAS: SOUND PRINTS TOOTS THIELEMANS CENTENNIAL TRIBUTE BY KENNY WERNER AND GRÉGOIRE MARET
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Upcoming openings and events from around Northeast Ohio Event details provided by the entities featured. Compiled by Meghan Walsh MASSILLON MUSEUM “Un-settling: A Story of Land Removal and Resistance” | Through May 22 “Un-settling: A Story of Land Removal and Resistance” is a visual accompaniment to the memories and stories that parallel the words of Joy Harjo, U.S. poet laureate and Native American, in her award-winning book, “An American Sunrise.” In celebration of “An American Sunrise,” the contemporary Native American artists featured in “Un-settling” add their own reflections on removal and resistance. Artwork by Native American artists across the country is exhibited: Dakota Mace, Gregg Deal, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Jesse Cooday, Melanie Yazzie, Natani Notah, Norman Akers and Will Wilson. It is co-curated by Shana Klein and Marissa Tiroly of Kent State University. The exhibition is in the Massillon Museum’s Aultman Health Foundation Gallery at 121 Lincoln Way E. in Massillon. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m., and closed Mondays. : massillonmuseum.org
Above: “This Is Not a Commercial” by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie. Courtesy of Massillon Museum.
AKRON ART MUSEUM “Responsibility to Reveal: 30 Years of The Knight Purchase Award for Photographic Media” | Through June 5 The Akron Art Museum celebrates art photography through this exhibit surveying the history of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Purchase Award for Photographic Media. In 1991, the museum purchased six black-and-white photographs by Harry Callahan. This was the first in a series of acquisitions made possible by the award, established in 1990 through a gift from the Knight Foundation. The award is given roughly once a year to a living artist working with photographic media. “Responsibility to Reveal” surveys the 22 artists recognized with the award thus far. Collectively, they cover an expansive range of perspectives and subject matter, representing the best of photographic creativity over the past 30 years. Akron Art Museum is at 1 S. High St. in Akron. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. : akronartmuseum.org
Left: “Loba V” (Paris, 2019) by Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of Akron Art Museum. MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND First 2022 series of exhibitions | Through June 5 The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is aiming to amplify a diversity of creative voices within this season, unveiling new solo exhibitions and collaborative projects. The presentations reinforce the importance of sharing the love of art through collaboration and advancing the practice of artists within marginalized communities, according to a news release. Among the artists featured this season are Jerome AB, J.J. Adams, Robert Banks, Dexter Davis, Aram Han Sifuentes, Dana Oldfather and Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo). Also on view at moCa is the exhibition “Where We Overlap,” co-curated by the Museum of Creative Human Art and local artist Davon Brantley. “Where We Overlap” is up through May 29. MoCa is at 11400 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland. It is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. : mocacleveland.org
Right: “At Once Terrifying and Equally Freeing,” (still) (2021) by Jerome AB. HD video, color, sound, 9 min. Courtesy of the artist / moCa. Editor’s note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, museums and galleries may change how exhibitions are able to be seen. Visit their websites for updated information regarding exhibition visitation prior to visiting.
8 | Canvas | Spring 2022
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CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART “Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure” | Through June 12 Co-organized by the Fondation Giacometti in Paris and the Cleveland Museum of Art, “Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure” features masterpieces focusing on Alberto Giacometti’s (1901-1966) major achievements of the postwar years (1945-66). Combining all media – sculpture, painting and drawing – the show of 60 works draws upon the deep resources of the artist’s personal collection and examines a central aspect of his oeuvre: his singular concern for the human figure. The touring exhibition opens in Cleveland. Widely acclaimed as one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Giacometti owes his fame to his invention of a unique style of rendering human figures. The exploration of an elemental body, its placement in space and its relationship with the plinth are among the issues Giacometti confronted in trying to solve essential questions for modern sculpture in his continuous creative struggle. The process led him to create iconic human forms informed by a broad range of philosophical issues, as the exhibition reveals through the display of such masterworks as “The Nose” (1947-49) and “Walking Man I” (1960). CMA is at 11150 East Blvd. in Cleveland. It is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and closed on Mondays. : clevelandart.org
Left: “Walking Man I” (1960). Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901-1966). Bronze, 180.5 x 27 x 97 cm. Fondation Giacometti. © Succession Alberto Giacometti / ADAGP, Paris, 2022. SUMMIT ARTSPACE Five new exhibitions | Through June 25 Summit Artspace hosts five new exhibitions: “Cycling,” a solo exhibition by local artist Micah Kraus; StarBurst Juried Regional High School Exhibition; National Collage Society 25th Annual Small-Format Exhibition; “Unnatural Fibers,” a group exhibition; and “When We Share Our Wounds” by Nick Lee. Cleveland-based painter Lee was selected for Summit Artspace’s inaugural funded solo exhibition for BIPOC artists. “When We Share Our Wounds,” explores the presentation of traditionally underrepresented people throughout the history of Western art. Lee is a graduate of Kent State University. As a Japanese-American artist, he strives to make American portraiture more inclusive by representing minorities. Lee has shown work in the United States, England and Germany, and has multiple printed publications, including Defunkt Magazine and local Kent State magazines. Summit Artspace is at 140 E. Market St. in Akron. It is open Fridays from noon to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Right: “New Expectations” by Nick Lee. Courtesy of Summit Artspace. : summitartspace.org
CANTON MUSEUM OF ART “Witness to Wartime” and “Asian Voices From the CMA Collection” | Through July 24
Above: Minidoka, doctor treating Fujii for tick (another incident) by Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964). Watercolor on paper. 5 x 6.25 inches. Courtesy of the collection of Sandy and Terry Kita.
“Witness to Wartime: The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii” introduces artist Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964) whose work reflects his experiences of life in America during World War II. In a climate of increasing fear and racist propaganda, he became one of 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast forced to leave their homes and live in incarceration camps. In the midst of these experiences, Fujii began an illustrated diary that spans the years of his forced removal from May 1942 to October 1945. The diary is comprised of nearly 250 ink drawings, depicting the camps and the daily routines and pastimes of inmates. Fujii also produced more than 130 watercolors, and oil paintings and sculptures, included in the collection. The museum also opened “Asian Voices From the CMA Collection,” an exhibit of work by Asian artists from its collection whose voices speak to the fluidity of an individual’s sense of place and self. Juxtaposing traditional Asian subject matter with modern Western influences, this multimedia exhibition features works from contemporary artists from Taiwan, Japan and China, as well as those whose families migrated to the U.S. Featured artists include Yuko Kimura, Ban Kajitani and Patti Warashina. Canton Museum of Art is at 1001 Market Ave. N. in Canton. It is open Tuesdays through Fridays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. : cantonart.org
ROE GREEN GALLERY “If You Thirst for a Homeland” | May – December 2022 Inspired by nature, the art of Dafna Kaffeman conveys the complexities of life in modern Israel. Kaffeman creates crafted plant specimens using flame-worked glass, reflecting the natural world of the artist’s homeland. The glass plants are combined with words printed or embroidered on soft white fabric, including handkerchiefs, which are often associated with Jewish cultural practices of celebration, commemoration, sacrifice and mourning. Each plant the artist renders in glass has its own cultural and historical meaning. An open house and artist talk will be held at 1 p.m. May 22, featuring Kaffeman and co-curators Carolyn Swan Needell and Trudy Wiesenberger. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Federation’s Cleveland Israel Arts Connection and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va. The Roe Green Gallery is at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland at 25701 Science Park Drive in Beachwood. The gallery is open by appointment and exhibit open house hours are to be determined. Visit the gallery’s website to learn more. : jewishcleveland.org/involved/arts
Right: Flame-worked glass, plants, black letter set and white felt as part of Dafna Kaffeman’s “If You Thirst For A Homeland” exhibit. Courtesy of Dafna Kaffeman.
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Spring 2022 | Canvas | 9
DUST ➯ RAINBOW
FRONT International Triennial’s second edition to embrace art as therapeutic process Jacolby Satterwhite (b. 1986, Columbia, S.C.; lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.), “Dawn,” (2021). HD color video and 3D animation with artist-designed wallpaper on masonry wall, Cleveland Clinic, as part of FRONT International. Photo courtesy Cleveland Clinic. By Becky Raspe
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his summer, the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art aims to be a rainbow of sorts – an exhibition of brightness and healing across Northeast Ohio following a very hard storm.
Launched in 2018, FRONT will return to welcome international artists to 20 Northeast Ohio sites on July 16, running through Oct. 2. Titled “Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows,” the second iteration of the contemporary art festival aims to approach and embrace art as an agent of transformation, a mode of healing and a therapeutic process. The name is in homage to a 1957 poem, “Two Somewhat Different Epigrams” by Langston Hughes: “Oh, God of dust and rainbows, help us see. That without dust the rainbow would not be. I look with awe upon the human race. And God, who sometimes spits right in its face.” Prem Krishnamurthy, artistic director of the 2022 FRONT triennial, says the theme and title of this year’s triennial dates back to 2019, after copious research and several visits to
10 | Canvas | Spring 2022
regional artistic hubs like Cleveland, Akron and Oberlin, visits with institutions and partners in those communities, artists and other historical or contemporary sites that seemed important to the curatorial team. “It came out of thinking about the history of the region, and the kind of industrial production that produced prosperity and wealth, but also had negative effects on the environment and on social infrastructure,” Krishnamurthy says. “And also the very fraught and challenging relationships that do exist in Cleveland and the region between different kinds of communities.” FURTHER SHAPING OF ‘OH, GODS’ After the theme was announced in January 2020, Krishnamurthy says full-scale planning for a 2021 event began. But, little did anyone know what the next two years would bring, and how the theme would remain relevant – almost too much so – he adds. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FRONT was postponed until 2022. “What has been important is to think about how art works in all of these different time frames,” Krishnamurthy says. “That fact that art making, exhibition making and triennial making are all longterm processes that do not emerge in a day. At the same time, there are these ways in which art can create pleasure and joy and bring people together around shared
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aesthetic experiences, which can happen very quickly. Almost like a rainbow – they’re very fast, but can quickly produce a sense of community and belonging between people who don’t know each other.” Following two years of limited physical interaction and collaboration, Krishnamurthy says one of FRONT’s priorities was to tap into the local aspect of the triennial, working closely with area venues to create an “exhibition of exhibitions.” That sets FRONT 2022 apart, to some extent, from the inaugural event in its effort to ensure artwork by international artists fits with existing collections at each local institution. “With each partner institution, we have been in conversation for about three years now trying to find artists who make sense within their program and resonate with the people who are already there,” Krishnamurthy says. “We’ve worked with them to present a set of artists who are living in Cleveland alongside artists who aren’t in Cleveland but whose work can be seen in dialogue. It’s become a rich dialogue between the venues and us – which is a bit of a change from the first FRONT. Each venue will be a rich experience.” The pandemic experience also brought about an interest in public artwork, Krishnamurthy explains. One example to be exhibited is “Dawn” by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist Jacolby Satterwhite, who worked with local contributing artists RA Washington and LaToya Kent to ask residents of Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood to describe and draw their version of utopia. This exhibition will be on display at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the University Circle neighborhood as a virtual reality arcade and as a freestanding sculptural screen outside of the Cleveland Clinic’s new BioRepository building in the Fairfax neighborhood. “Jacolby’s work is a good example of non-traditional
exhibitions and installations happening at museums or art venues, but also at non-art venues and even in public spaces,” Krishnamurthy says. “I think that is important because ultimately, FRONT is a free, open art event meant to invite and engage as many people as possible.” TAPPING INTO FAIRFAX As Satterwhite’s first public artwork in collaboration with Cleveland communities, “Dawn” uses a combination of traditional and digital media to explore the ideas of contentedness and utopia from the perspectives of 100 Fairfax residents who contributed drawings to the project. Kent, who lives on Cleveland’s east side, and Washington, who lives in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, first became involved following a community meeting announcing the project, hosted by Cleveland Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin, Cleveland Clinic and FRONT International. “I thought (Kent and I) should get involved because you need a fine touch to get the community to participate,” Washington says. “I thought it was right up our alley and that we could help deliver these interesting stories from the community. We wanted to serve as emissaries.” Kent, who previously worked in the community at a transitional house for formerly incarcerated women, says she noticed the neighbors had a lot of interesting stories, in part due to the neighborhood’s foundation built over generations. “It felt a strong sense of family and solidarity,” she says. “I found a lot of people, once they knew what we were doing, they were getting on the phone and telling other people to get involved. You saw this interconnectedness within the neighborhood and the residents.” As the project continued, Kent says she noticed some of
Cooking Sections exhibition, “CLIMAVORE: On Tidal Zones,” (2017 to ongoing) Isle of Skye. Photo / FRONT
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Spring 2022 | Canvas | 11
CAN Triennial returns to grapple with concept of time, place Running in conjunction with the FRONT Triennial, Collective Arts Network’s CAN Triennial will also return from July 8 to Aug. 31, featuring 125 artists from seven Northeast Ohio counties. The CAN Triennial was first held in 2018, along with FRONT, with an aim to further highlight the Northeast Ohio arts community. The artists selected will exhibit in 19 venues in six neighborhoods. They will contend with the theme “You Are Here,” which calls artists and viewers to focus on their understanding of the concept of time and place, and our relationship to it as individuals, says Michael Gill, executive director of CAN. Developed before the pandemic and revisited almost a year later, Gill says the concept felt even more poignant than before. “When we reconvened, our curatorial team went right back to that subject,” he says. “We began this as a regionally-focused show. (The theme) has that geographic implication, but I think in the past year, the other appeal was living in the present tense and all of
the things going on in our world right now.” The theme also remained relevant because artists inherently create in response to their experiences, Gill says. “Artists respond to the world around them in all different ways – from overtly to more obliquely or symbolically,” he says. The first CAN Triennial was held only at the 78th Street Studios, but Gill says it was time to further highlight the strength of Cleveland’s art scene beyond the Detroit-Shoreway arts complex. This year, in addition to the 78th Street Studios, participating venues include Praxis Fiber Workshop, Waterloo Arts, the Galleries at CSU and Graffiti HeArt. Additionally, for the first triennial, the curatorial team worked as a committee, ending up with “sort of an amalgam” of ideas, Gill says. This year, curators broke down into smaller committees to choose art and venues within their assigned neighborhoods. “This allowed them to frame their vision and interpretation of ‘You Are Here’ within the neighborhood they’re focusing in,” he says. “We have
the submissions reflected that residents felt their current living situation was their definition of utopia. This was evident in participants who came from the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings held across the street from where they were set up, who Kent says had a “beautiful inspiration from their experience there.” “It wasn’t some distant fantasy,” she says. “It isn’t a stretch from what they desired. It seemed that being able to be supported in their neighborhood seemed like something beyond their dreams in a way. I felt a sense of euphoria from that group of people – they were being served properly, and all of us want to be seen, served and respected.” EXHIBITS TAP INTO COMMUNITY, OFFER INTERNATIONAL MESSAGES That concept of being seen, served, respected and involved permeates through many of FRONT’s 2022 exhibitions, Krishnamurthy says. Other exhibits on that theme will include Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s community-driven explorations at the Cleveland Public Library. Her project will be anchored by a generative prompt like “Tomorrow, there will be ...”. Rather than content, the artist provides a protocol for engagement. Renée Green’s “Contact,” a sprawling exhibition occupying all of moCa Cleveland’s public spaces, seeks to interweave conversation around other participating artists’ works. At Transformer Station in the Ohio City neighborhood, Sarah Oppenheimer and Tony Cokes are developing a large-scale participatory installation that combines tactile and interactive interventions into architecture with videos that investigate representations of race, gender and class using text and music.
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Gill | Photo / Bob Perkoski intentionally chosen neighborhoods where there are clusters of things you can get to easily, and even walk from one venue to another. Choose a neighborhood and just go.” For more information, visit cantriennial.org. - Becky Raspe
“Some of these projects are almost like rainbows,” Krishnamurthy says. “They’re things that are more ephemeral and fleeting, but might bring together a certain community at a certain time for a certain purpose. I think the experience of visiting FRONT, whether from out of town or from Cleveland, is a little bit like a treasure or a rainbow-spotting adventure.” Similar to karaoke, Krishnamurthy says he wants visitors to approach the 2022 triennial as sharing joy with strangers – the “aesthetic pleasure of art can bring people together across differences.” “It’s not just the color of a beautiful painting or something that strikes you as pleasurable or fun,” he explains. “It’s things that kind of slow you down, that are actually complex and make you think about or experience things in ways you haven’t before. I want people to come out of this with a sense of being moved. To feel like they don’t have to just sit or stand in front of a painting, but are whole bodies. And that something happens by experiencing art in a space with other people.”
ON VIEW
Installations and exhibitions for FRONT International 2022 Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art will be on view from July 16 through Oct. 2 at 20 venues around Northeast Ohio. The exhibitions and experiences will be centralized throughout five regions: Cleveland’s Ohio City, downtown and University Circle neighborhoods, Akron and Oberlin. FRONT’s opening weekend will be July 16-18, with more information about its opening gala to be announced. For a full list of venues and artists, visit frontart.org.
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Chagall for Children On view at the Maltz Museum in Beachwood from May 11 to August 28, 2022
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he Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage announces the highly anticipated Cleveland premiere of “Chagall for Children,” which explores the work of one of the bestknown and best-loved artists of the 20th century, Marc Chagall. This special exhibition offers 14 multi-sensory exploration stations specifically designed to engage children ages 2 to 12. Each station features a high-quality reproduction of one of Marc Chagall’s works and encourages exploration of art principles such as color, composition, light and texture. This unique exhibition was created by Kohl Children’s Museum and features over a dozen Chagall masterpieces, all accompanied by hands-on interactive elements that allow children to express their own creativity. “Chagall was such a whimsical artist,” says KCM President & CEO Sheridan Turner. “Young children immediately pick up on the fanciful and unusual aspects of his work. He really appeals to children’s senses of wonder and fantasy.” Each piece of artwork includes an audio recording that gives guests information about the piece. After learning some background information about the work, they can take part in a hands-on activity related to the artwork. These imaginative activities are as varied as Chagall’s works. For example, a fabric rendition of Chagall’s “The Rooster” lets children rearrange the bird’s colorful tail feathers. A bas-relief of “The Birthday” allows guests to make rubbings of the artwork to take home. “The Poultry Yard” offers various soft-sculpture animal parts that children can mix and match to create their own fantastical animals. At different stations throughout the exhibition, guests can create mosaics, weave tapestries, use touch screens to digitally alter Chagall’s masterpieces, conduct symphonies, and – through the magic of video – even insert themselves into one his paintings. After these hands-on experiences, guests can curl up in a reading nook stocked with children’s books about Chagall’s life and work.
Ways to Explore
In-person: Visitors can tour the “Chagall for Children” exhibition in-person at the Maltz Museum, Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance at maltzmuseum.org or by phone at 216-593-0575. Masks are not required for entry. General admission: $12; students & seniors: $10; children 5 to 11: $5; children under 5 and Maltz Museum members: free.
Public Programs
This summer, to accompany the special exhibition, the Maltz Museum will host unique programming for all ages. The “Chagall for Children” kick-off event will offer fun for the whole family, and one Sunday a month the museum will host a unique artistic workshop for artists ages 1 through 101. Young families will be invited to join the Maltz Museum and its partners for a “Stay and Play Storytime” every Thursday morning. Finally, for adult audiences the museum will offer a series of lectures examining Marc Chagall’s art in the context of 20th century history and, partnering with Spirit of Clay studio, three pottery workshops for adults.
About the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage Located approximately 20 minutes from downtown Cleveland in the suburb of Beachwood, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is housed in an award-winning building crafted from Jerusalem stone, uniquely set into its landscape. Offering two permanent collections plus a gallery dedicated to presenting world-class special exhibitions, the Maltz Museum is rooted in the Jewish value of respect for all humanity, telling universal stories of hope and resilience to educate and inspire a more just, civil and inclusive society. Family programs are offered monthly at a low cost of $5 per person.
TALKING VESSELS
Diane Therese Pinchot’s sculptures search the world for what’s sacred
Story and photography by Amanda Koehn
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or Diane Therese Pinchot, art talks back. Collective and personal experiences, the spirit of the organic material, the creation process, our diverse cultures and shared dialogue, and the Earth below us all collect to create something sacred. The ceramic artist’s work is informed by the world and those around her, those far away and those who have died. It’s informed by injustices around the continent and beyond. It’s the latter that has been getting her into trouble. “My whole life, I was in trouble,” she says with a laugh during an interview with Canvas at Article/Art in Cleveland gallery, where her studio is located. “I try to behave. I’m still trying to behave.” Pinchot, who first saw success at art shows early in her career, recently shifted to working as an artist full time after completing a career as an art professor at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike. Almost everything she’s making is selling. An Order of Saint Ursula nun, Pinchot has long been inspired by the Earth and protecting it, as well as drawing attention to and fighting human rights abuses. She went to federal prison after protesting nonviolently at an American military school that’s trained killers in El Salvador and at the U.S. border with Mexico. All connected, her current work draws attention to the challenges our Earth and exploited groups specifically face as a result. “She’s a gem – I’ve never met anyone like her before,” says ceramics artist Kimberly Chapman. “She has such a calming
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presence and a calming influence on everybody she comes in contact with.” Pinchot’s work appears and feels organic, like it is part of the natural world and not separate from it. At 76, she continues to push toward new artistic challenges while constantly asking, what makes art sacred? And if something is sacred, how do we protect it? CORE CONNECTIONS Pinchot grew up in the Euclid projects as one of six children and enjoyed playing in the woods in her backyard. Her mother would have her play with finger paints at the kitchen table as a way to keep her out of trouble. “I say I like to practice nonviolence and all of that, but I can be pretty agitating. … I’m always checking myself, and I really got into trouble with my mouth,” she says, reflecting on her childhood. “I still do.” After graduating from Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School in 1963, she joined the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland. Prior to graduating from Ursuline College in 1968, she won her first art show and repeated the win in 1969. She then pursued graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Institute of Art and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., in the midst of her teaching career. Initially, she focused on metals, but saw those working with clay at CIA “were having a whole lot more fun.” She earned her final graduate degree in ceramics from Ohio University in Athens in 1990.
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“I know they called it the party school, but I never saw the light of day,” she says of her time at OU. As an early-career artist, she was in about 185 shows, she says, then going by Sister Fidelis Pinchot (she changed her name to distinguish herself from her biological sister, who also became a nun with the same name). In her first graduate clay show with National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Cincinnati, she says she was shocked to find her work displayed at the front of the exhibition and considered a top piece. “I never thought I was ready for this. … It caused me to know that I could do this and I could be a competitor,” she remembers. While studying, she was focused on making items like altars and crosses for the Catholic Church. Eventually, she was faced with a question by OU faculty that shifted her perspective – what makes these items sacred, beautiful, holy and mystical in a way that’s “any different than a bar table?” To come up with an answer, she studied history and art from around the world. “I realized it was really about the beauty of the culture and the people, and what the people really do to be beautiful in their lives,” she says. “Most everything I saw was connected to the Earth in some way.” There was no single answer, but rather, you know it when you feel it. “I thought ... there are multiple answers to this, so I’ll just stick with the things I know when I feel that chilling in my body,” she says. “That’s how I know that’s where it is. ... But if you haven’t had that experience, you wouldn’t be able to explain it to many people.” INTO THE VILLAGE After graduating from OU, Pinchot secured tenure at Ursuline College. As department chair and superior of the college nuns, she says she “wasn’t getting any time to think because people were at my door at 3 o’clock in the morning.” She moved out of her community to Cleveland’s Little Italy, taking a cue from Angela Merici, the founder of Pinchot’s order, who advised nuns to “live in the village, with the people.” Pinchot was the first in her community to live by herself. Around that time, she went to El Salvador to build an altar on the spot where four Catholic missionaries were found after being raped and murdered by members of the El Salvador National Guard in 1980. Pinchot knew and was inspired by one of the women who was murdered, Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel. When Pinchot first went to El Salvador in 1992, she saw the ravages of war firsthand – how it leads to the destruction of people and the destruction of the Earth, she says, and it “completely changed” her. She also found out Kazel’s murderers were trained by School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, an American army school at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. “It was absolutely awful, and if you knew (Kazel), you would want to do something about it,” Pinchot says. “She was powerful.” Pinchot began to attend protests against the School of the Americas, which have since shifted into protesting the training it does for military at the U.S.-Mexico border and the human rights abuses that occur there. At one nonviolent protest at the military base, she was arrested for trespassing and sentenced to two months in federal prison. She was one of six arrested and who went to prison in 2009. During her trial, a friend brought a piece of Pinchot’s called “Shallow Grave” to show the judge. The judge carefully looked at the piece, which had gotten into a national ceramics
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Above: “Earth in Balance Series: Feeling the Pierced Earth” by Diane Therese Pinchot. Raku stoneware, pit fired, pigment and acrylic medium. Opposite page: Pinchot at her show opening at Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights with her vessel, “Earth In Balance Series: The Vanishing Landscape.” show, she says. “I took it out, showed him (and said), ‘This is Dorothy,’” Pinchot says. “I was supposed to get six months and I only got two.” Serving in a West Virgina work prison, she could see the mountains during walks she was allowed to take. “What sustained me in prison was being able to walk outside,” she says, adding she worked in the kitchen there, washing floors and dishes. “The mountains around the whole prison were absolutely magnificent. So it gave me a lot of food for thought.” Still, she met “really, really good people” there, some of whom she’s remained friends with. It wasn’t a wholly terrible but powerful experience, she says. “When I got into the van when the nuns picked me up,” Pinchot says, “I was quiet for quite a while, and they said ‘So what now?’ I said, ‘Everyone ought to experience this.’ They
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Above: Sculptures by Diane Therese Pinchot at her Article/Art in Cleveland gallery studio. laughed hysterically.” She went back to Ursuline, but was burned out, she says. She continued taking part in demonstrations and teaching, and her artwork took a back seat. INSPIRING OTHERS Pinchot continues to hold dear her teaching career and the dialogue she’s had with her students. “I was their teacher and I taught them things that I really appreciated,” she says. “And they, in turn, taught me things too. It was the same way I handle art – the back and forth.” While teaching at Ursuline, she met Chapman in the early 2000s. At one point, Chapman, who was marketing director at the college, invited her over for lunch and Pinchot gifted a “beautiful raku pot in deep jewel colors,” Chapman recalls. “It was still warm from the firing,” Chapman says. “It was so beautiful and it produced such an ache in my heart to want to do ceramics again that after the lunch, I called the Cleveland Institute of Art and decided to become a full-time student and went back to school.” Chapman has since become a noteworthy local artist in her own right, creating delicate porcelain sculptures that revolve around the dark themes of what women endure and injustices they experience. She’s had solo shows around Northeast Ohio in recent years and has two in Athens this spring and summer. She was also profiled in this magazine in 2019. “She inspires so many people though,” Chapman says of
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Pinchot. “... Being at Ursuline kind of opened my eyes to the whole social justice thing.” Pinchot’s art and teaching also tends to revolve around women, Chapman adds, such as her altars honoring the female missionaries killed in El Salvador or a raku mask-making project she led for women staying at a homeless shelter. Another artist, Janus Small, who also graduated from CIA, hadn’t made new work in 20 years while focusing on her career in nonprofit leadership and teaching. Her daughter had bought her nice colored pencils to help her get creative again. But Small says it was Pinchot who said something that clicked: “Just sharpen the pencils.” SACRED FORMATIONS Upon retiring as professor emeritus after 51 years as a teacher – 38 of which she taught college art at Ursuline – Pinchot started making art full time in 2019. In addition to her Ursuline sisterhood, she formed new family-like connections in the local arts community, namely at Article/Art in Cleveland gallery in the Waterloo Arts District. Louis Ross of Article first met Pinchot through the late artist Kathy Skerritt about three years ago. He quickly saw Pinchot’s work was high caliber and offered her studio space, he says, and began to learn more about the social justice and environmental subject matter she covers. “She brought some expertise with curating and showing shows, and public awareness and social causes,” says Ross,
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Israeli Musicians, Actors, Visual and Street Artists in Cleveland this Summer! “IF YOU THIRST FOR A HOMELAND” flame-worked glass by Dafna Kaffeman
Presented by
SIVAN MAGEN, harpist
Presented by ChamberFest Cleveland
Thursday evening, June 30
Cleveland Institute of Music, 11021 East Blvd, Cleveland
Curated by Trudy Wiesenberger
Community Opening Sunday, May 22 @ 1 – 3 pm
Roe Green Gallery, Jewish Federation of Cleveland Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building 25701 Science Park Dr, Beachwood Dafna Kaffeman, a second-generation sabra, is mindful and moved by the historic and ongoing conflicts between the Israeli and Palestinian people in the land that both seek to call home. Her work speaks to life in a troubled part of the world and offers hope and resolution for the future.
Born in Jerusalem, Sivan Magen is the only Israeli to have ever won the International Harp Contest in Israel. He transforms the harp into an expressive, colorful and virtuosic instrument, moving it to center stage through the exploration of the standard repertoire, the commissioning of today’s composers and his new adaptations to the harp of some of the greatest music of the last three centuries. Tickets and information: chamberfestcleveland.com or 216-471-8887
Culture Fix CLE
“OASIS”
Healing Our Community Through the Arts
Presented by BorderLight Festival
July 20 - 24
Playhouse Square, Cleveland “Oasis,” an award-winning monodrama, received the Award for Best Actor (Amir Peter) and Best Show at Teatronetto Festival in 2019, and the Prize for Best Fringe Performance in the 2020 Kipod Hazahav. The year is 1956. Paris, the city of lights, is still recovering from World War II. The war drums seem far away. Noël, a young painter, lives in Montmartre, paints on the banks of the River Seine, and falls in love. He served as a paratrooper, and, like many others his age, he’s been sent to fight Algerian rebels in the Sahara Desert. Tickets and information: borderlightcle.com or 216-356-6485 Coming this Fall
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Saturday, November 12 @ 8 pm
Severance Music Center, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland Founded in 1936 by famed Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, the globally recognized IPO returns to Cleveland on their international tour. Ticket information will be available this fall.
In collaboration with FRONT
July 16 – October 2 Throughout Greater Cleveland
Tel Aviv-based Street Artist, Dede created Culture Fix in 2020 in response to an acute loss of culture during the covid pandemic. He created a series of images reflecting the process artists shall undertake to heal and reconnect with the community. Dede’s Culture Fix is a physical manifestation of healing. By embracing local creators with his signature imagery of Band-Aids, Dede begins the process of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. The Cleveland installation will feature local visual artists, musicians, dancers, and actors with the belief that we can heal and restore our community through the arts.
For updates, join the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection Facebook group | israelarts@jewishcleveland.org
ROE GREEN FOUNDATION is generously sponsored by
The Leonard Krieger Fund of the
Above: Artwork by Diane Therese Pinchot in various states of formation in her studio at Article/Art in Cleveland gallery. who has run Article on Waterloo Road with his wife, Susan, for 11 years. The Rosses are also both artists. “That’s been great for us ... we need it on the street.” Pinchot’s work has evolved and expanded during her three years working at Article, Ross says. In 2020, the gallery hosted a show about the experiences of living at the margins, where Pinchot focused her work on the human destruction at the U.S.Mexico border, she says. Although the show didn’t go as planned because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all her pieces in it sold. “It was the same thing again – being in the cold of Arizona, seeing those graves in the desert where people died and where people put crosses up,” she says. “It was the same stuff all over again as what was happening in El Salvador when we saw those graves everywhere. Again, it was about the Earth and the destruction of people and how they were buried in the Earth and how they dehumanized everything.” Her work in recent years has addressed climate change more specifically, considered injustice as it relates to marginalized people experiencing its worst effects now and in the future. Pinchot has also shown at Bonfoey Gallery in Cleveland and is among its roster of artists. Chapman says Pinchot’s often vessel-like ceramic creations have an ethereal effect on people – one which is inseparable from the artist herself. “You look through those eyes and you are seeing into somebody’s soul basically,” Chapman says. “She’s an amazing teacher, and her art is just so soulful. I mean, everything she does has such meaning.” Pinchot is also president and co-chair of the board of the InterReligious Task Force on Central America – an organization she wanted to give back to in retirement to honor the way Kazel would have given back, had she lived, Pinchot says. She’s finishing up a busy three-year term on the working
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board, causing her to get to her studio at around 2 p.m. most days and working on her artwork until around 9. Various elements related to aging – caring for family and physical ailments, noting an eye condition that affects her vision – also slow things down. “I’m very slow at making (art),” she says, adding her artistic process often involves making detailed drawings and smaller iterations before larger pieces, while the dialogue is forming. “I’m very reflective.” Speaking at a gallery opening at Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, she describes how she connects to the Lakota phrase “Mitakuye Oyasin,” meaning “all my relations.” Pinchot incorporates this idea that all natural beings are part of the web of life, and even her relatives, into the artwork. It gives it much to say. She tells Canvas, “It becomes final at the last stage, when I realize, ‘Are you done talking to me?’”
ON VIEW
• Diane Therese Pinchot has work on view at the Nicholson B. White Gallery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, through May 15. Also featured in the show are Northeast Ohio artists Nancy Lick, Robert Muller and Bess Rodriguez Richard. For more information, visit stpauls-church.org/gallery. • Pinchot regularly has work on view at Article/Art in Cleveland gallery, 15316 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, including during the Walk All Over Waterloo art walks the first Friday evening of each month. Her studio is also open during events. For information, visit facebook.com/artincle or call 440-655-6954.
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Visit
Fifteen galleries exhibiting many hundreds of artworks representing myriad styles and periods.
Richard Andres (American, 1927-2013) L.S.F., acrylic on canvas, 48.5 x 70 inches Exhibited: Cleveland Museum of Art, May Show, 1975
May Show at WOLFS | Opening Thursday, May 5th, 5-8pm Richard Andres: Selected Works 1950 - 1975 | Summer 2022
wolfsgallery.com 23645 Mercantile Road, Beachwood, Ohio | 216-721-6945
POP ICONOCLAST The delightful, disturbing disruptions of Erykah Townsend
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By Carlo Wolff
he conceptual artist Erykah Townsend is blunt, has a distinctive approach to pop culture, and is on a roll. The 24-year-old Cleveland Institute of Art graduate wrapped up her first solo show, “Bitter Sweet,” at SPACES. The rest of her 2022 dance card is full, with a show starting in early June at Abattoir Gallery in the Fulton-Clark neighborhood and a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland starting this summer. The Abattoir show, which Townsend will share with artist Alex Vlasov, is called “Cheap Thrills,” and it will vamp on ready-mades, the detritus of pop culture brands leave behind. A birthday card destined for the trash after the birthday date has passed is a readymade. Townsend loves ready-mades. They’re often the seed of her witty and cutting cultural critiques. The moCa residency, which will
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culminate in October with a show of her new work, provides a $4,000 creative budget, a $2,000 stipend and $500 for travel. Also in Townsend’s moCa war chest: $1,000 for related public programs. Her works sell for $800 to $4,000, and a part-time job as a design assistant for an artificial plant company in Cleveland’s Asiatown buttresses her bottom line.
Because Townsend, who is also known as E.T., finished college in 2020, during the pandemic, her virtual graduation ceremony was unsatisfying to her. The Feb. 12 “Bitter Sweet” opening at SPACES, a gallery in the Hingetown neighborhood of Cleveland, “felt like my BFA because I didn’t have that experience,” she tells Canvas. The works in “Bitter Sweet,” which occupied the main gallery at SPACES,
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were awash in ambiguity and duality. No matter how complex her message, Townsend’s presentation is in your face yet entertaining. Like candy, it romances the brain’s taste buds. Like candy, it harbors the threat of decay. Here are a few snapshots from “Bitter Sweet,” which closed March 26. “Sweet Trap” presents an unfinished, oddly questing wall made of cardboard bricks, sheet rock, fake sprinkles, gift wrap and duct tape, anchored with what looks like a gift-wrapped bomb. “We Like Explosions,” an assemblage of gold and red ribbons and bows, evokes a party – a violent one. “Kill Shot” boasts nine weapons and tools, garishly decorated for a deadly night out. Made of toys, implements, balloons and spray paint, this particular wall hanging targets artists who lack talent. “Copycats must die!” is Townsend’s peer-directed caption for “Kill Shot.” “E.T. is one of the most wildly inventive artists I’ve ever worked with,” says Lane Cooper, associate professor in CIA’s painting department. “I’m not saying ‘student’ here because I don’t mean student, I mean artist. Her work is fearless. “She reminds me a bit of Andy Warhol but for this moment, right here, right now. I think she makes work about the things that she loves, pop culture. She amplifies the things she thinks are beautiful – but running underneath the choices she makes, you can’t help see that’s she’s pulling back the curtain on the consumer culture that’s driving everything. … This moment is surreal and her work calls attention to that. You don’t just see it through her work, you experience it.” MIXING MESSAGES Townsend’s playful, ominous work plunders concepts and materials from pop culture, creating what could be called antisocial media. People think of mixed media as “one piece with a bunch of mediums,” Townsend says. “I just work in different mediums.” The media she uses vary from piece to piece, and “basically, I just do whatever I want,” she says. Mixed media “doesn’t mean I’ll take my phone and put it on a canvas. I will work with photography one day, and one day I’ll probably just do readymades. … It’s not mixed media as in the work itself; mixed media means the whole aspect of working in different
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Above: “Kill Shot” by Erykah Townsend, on view at SPACES. Canvas Photo / Carlo Wolff Opposite page: Erykah Townsend. Photo / McKinley Wiley media.” She’s currently into a kind of digital painting in which she uses Photoshop on canvases she sends to be stretched and so changed yet again. Besides actual outlets, Townsend has a virtual one in QTVC LIVE!, a shopping channel invented by Chicago artist Julia Arredondo. Designed to blur the line between art and commerce, it offers art by Cleveland’s Antwoine Washington and Chicago-based fiber artist Vanessa Viruet. An episode highlighting Townsend’s art is set for June. Townsend, who gets around by bus and foot, is also literally on the move, eager to settle into a studio-living space in the same building as Abattoir. Not much of a “people person,” she prefers to work by herself in her studio. Is pop culture an alternative reality or reality itself? “I think it’s both, because it is an alternative reality but it becomes so embedded into us that it becomes real in a way,” she says. “People spend so much on Mickey Mouse merch they make him real. People live off of pop culture.” Disney and its subsidiary Marvel have taken over, Townsend says with neither irony nor anger. Her work is commentary on pop culture, which she sometimes loves and at other times
deplores. She also uses pop culture “to criticize a main political topic, or something.” But her approach, Townsend suggests, is indirect. ON HER OWN TERMS The youngest child in her family, Townsend has three sisters and a brother. As the only artist in the Townsend household, she discovered her talent in preschool at Iowa-Maple Elementary School in Cleveland, when the kids had to draw “like, a Dr. Seuss picture, and I remember going overboard.” She didn’t know when to stop and she didn’t want to. Her artistic fearlessness made her a winner in 2015, when she was a senior at the Cleveland School of the Arts and was awarded a full, four-year scholarship to CIA. “It was one of those things where you can’t believe it happened to you,” she says of her CIA full ride. “It was great. The only thing I didn’t like is people would, like, envy me – not like a freak, but like I got everything handed to me.” To her detractors, favoritism created her fortunate situation, not talent, she suggests. Townsend prefers her art be judged on its own merits. Her view of her academic experience is not exactly sunny.
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During critiques in which she was praised, one CIA student would regularly tear her down, Townsend says. And when she criticized the school, she got pushback. She liked the facilities and the art at CIA, and as for the teachers, “it was 50-50.” Her fellow students? Not so appealing. Another teacher enthusiastic about Townsend is Zachary Smoker, manager/ adjunct faculty at CIA’s Fabrication Studios. He met Townsend when she was a sophomore, and even then, “E.T. was fearless through her play and experimentation in the studio, always pushing both her own technical ability and the limits of the material itself,” he writes in an email. “I feel like there was always something new, exciting and unexpected happening in the work. The breadth of mark and strategy she employs is reflective of this tenacity. “This aggregate of surfaces, textures, colors and pop-culture references is a hallmark of E.T.’s work. In a lot of instances, it seems it’s this playful material invention that’s driving both the conception and reception of the work’s tactility.” Where Smoker applauds Townsend’s artistic sprawl, some pundits would like to box her into a “Black aesthetic,” she says. She doesn’t like the term, saying it segregates both in the larger society and within the Black community. “I’m not the same as another Black person,” she says. “We’re all different.” She recalls a Black school mate from the suburbs who acted as if he were from the “hood.” “That’s not your story,” she scolded him. “You know how I was saying I was a misfit because if I did anything not Black, I was called white,” she says, citing listening to rock music as an example. “Whenever you don’t do a stereotypical thing Black people do, even Black people will call you, like, white.” Townsend is not afraid to speak her piece. Count on her to continue creating testy, absorbing art that challenges the viewer to think twice – at least.
“Sweet Trap” by Erykah Townsend, on view at SPACES. Canvas Photos / Carlo Wolff
“E.T. is one of the most wildly inventive artists I’ve ever worked with. I’m not saying ‘student’ here because I don’t mean student, I mean artist. Her work is fearless.” - Lane Cooper, associate professor, CIA
ON VIEW
• “Cheap Thrills,” featuring Erykah Townsend with Alex Vlasov, is on view starting in June at Abattoir in the Hildebrandt Building, 3619 Walton Ave., Cleveland. • Townsend’s moCa residency will culminate with a show in October. MoCa is at 11400 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
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“We Like Explosions” by Erykah Townsend, on view at SPACES.
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Witness to Wartime: The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii Canton Museum of Art April 26 – July 24, 2022
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he exhibition Witness to Wartime: The Painted Diary of Takuichi Fujii introduces an artist whose work opens a window to historical events, issues and ideas far greater than the individual. Fujii (1891 – 1964) bore witness to his life in America and, especially, to his World War II experience. Fujii left a remarkably comprehensive visual record of this time and offers a unique perspective on his generation – shedding light on events that most Americans did not experience, but whose lessons remain salient today. Fujii was 50 when war broke out between the U.S. and Japan. With increasing racist propaganda, he became one of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast forced to leave their homes and live in geographically isolated incarceration camps. He and his family, together with most ethnic Japanese from Seattle, were sent first to the Puyallup temporary camp at Washington State Fairgrounds, and in August 1942 were transferred to Minidoka Relocation Center in southern Idaho. Confronting such circumstances, Fujii began an illustrated diary, spanning 1942 to 1945. In nearly 250 ink drawings, he detailed the incarceration camps and the inmates’ daily routines. He also produced over 130 watercolors that expand upon the diary, plus several oil paintings and sculptures, notably a carved double portrait of Fujii and his wife. After the war Fujii moved to Chicago, home to a large Japanese American community, under the government’s resettlement program. He continued painting, and later produced a series of boldly gestural black-and-white abstract expressionist paintings. These, and his 1930s American realist paintings, frame the wartime work that is his singular legacy and remains relevant today.
Train to Minidoka, n.d. Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964). Watercolor on paper. 6.5 x 5.25 inches. Collection of Sandy and Terry Kita.
On view through July 24, 2022 at the Canton Museum of Art | cantonart.org | Curated by Barbara Johns, Ph.D.; Exhibition Organized by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Pasadena, California.
Minidoka, doctor treating Fujii for tick (another incident), n.d. Takuichi Fujii (1891-1964). Watercolor on paper. 5 x 6.25 inches. Collection of Sandy and Terry Kita
Orange grad’s ‘Silent Partner’ shines at CIFF, festival circuit Roderick Lawrence’s first short movie tackles effects of microaggressions on Black professionals By Amanda Koehn
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hen his shows closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, actor Roderick Lawrence was in Cleveland and had time to think. Without plays and other acting jobs keeping him busy, the Northeast Ohio native began exploring his own mental health journey and challenges he’s faced throughout his life. Not only did he realize that for Black men, mental health is “not something that anybody really dives into,” but also the constant negative power microaggressions have on his state of mind, emotions and even success at work. He found out the same subtle yet powerful, harmful racist slights he’s experienced throughout his career are relatively common for Black people working in nearly every industry, he tells Canvas. “I wanted to tell an authentically Black story about struggles that young, affluent, educated, brilliant Black couples and people are going through,” Lawrence says. Lawrence – who graduated from Orange High School and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea before moving to New York City in 2011 – channeled that experience into a 16-minute film that showed at the Cleveland International Film Festival in April. “Silent Partner,” the film he co-produced, co-wrote and starred in, has not only led to festival success near and far, but a new company to create productions illustrating aspects of the Black experience. NORTHEAST OHIO BEGINNINGS Lawrence, 33, says he became interested in acting around the end of high school, after playing football and dabbling in playing guitar and singing growing up. A 2007 Orange graduate (who then went by Roderick L. Ingram Jr.), his parents encouraged him to apply to musical theater schools like Baldwin Wallace. He’s performed on Cleveland-area stages including Playhouse Square, Cain
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Roderick Lawrence and Salma Qarnain attend a screening of their film “Silent Partner” at the Cleveland International Film Festival April 7. Photo / Amanda Koehn Park, Cleveland Public Theatre, Great Lakes Theater and Dobama Theatre, according to a news release, and starred in plays and musicals in New York City and elsewhere. He’s also appeared in TV shows such as Comedy Central’s “Broad City,” in which he played “hot lawyer” in the 2015 episode “Citizen Ship.” He’s also done voiceovers for the National Basketball Association and played Simba on stage in Disney’s “The Lion King.” “Silent Partner” marks the first time Lawrence has taken on a producing and writing role. After coming up with an idea for a film, he partnered with Salma Qarnain, who he previously worked with on an off-Broadway show and who “has a background in producing and literally everything,” he says. The pair got to work on the short film, which shot in February 2021 in New York City and Weston, Conn.
Editing wrapped around the end of May 2021 in preparation for the upcoming film festival circuit. MICROAGGRESSIONS AND WORSE “Silent Partner” takes the audience through a dinner party from the perspective of a Black trial attorney – played by Lawrence – who is about to be named partner at a white-shoe law firm. After successfully defending a white woman charged with murdering a Black teen, the main character begins to question his promotion and the microaggressions – and worse offenses – he’s willing to put up with for the job. The aim was to take the microaggressions Black professionals face across different industries and narrow in on one fictional story, he says. “We talked to so many different Black
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“Silent Partner” by Black Man Films. people – and so many very rich, very well-off Black people,” Lawrence says. “Many of them had been to dinners like this – and so many of them.” The film is chilling. The dinner party gives a sense that at the slightest misstep of the main character, something very bad could happen. Besides the main character and his wife, the characters give off a creepy/icky vibe as they spew racist stereotypes. As Lawrence says, “the horror in it is that it’s real.” Some have said the film reminds them of “Get Out,” the Oscar awardwinning 2017 horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele, Lawrence says. He gives credit to the “phenomenal” actors and “unbelievable” director, Aristotle Torres, who worked to make “Silent Partner” as strong as it is. It debuted at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival last August. The Cleveland International Film Festival was the 10th festival “Silent Partner” was featured in, and the third Oscar-qualifying one. Lawrence says on top of meeting the film’s goal of making people feel seen and heard in an authentic way, being selected for the major film festival in his hometown made its success even sweeter. “If I can premiere my first film in my hometown at an Oscar-qualifying festival, in front of my family, friends and all that, that would be a huge blessing,” he says. The film’s production included several others with Northeast Ohio connections: associate producer Ike Mbanefo (a graduate of University School), associate producer Ankur Garg (a graduate of Case Western Reserve University), associate producer and
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gaffer/drone operator Derryl Strong (creative director at Adcom), assistant director and script supervisor Tiffany Beacham, and production assistant Marcus Martin (a graduate of Baldwin Wallace). Lawrence, whose parents still reside in Northeast Ohio, says he was adamant about making those local connections. “I wanted to keep the production team as minority filled, Black filled as I possibly could, the artistic team, all of it,” he says. “And I also wanted to get a lot of Cleveland hometown people involved because if we are going to create jobs and opportunities, then why not create it for (Cleveland) people?” BLACK MAN FILMS As interest began to stir up for “Silent Partner,” Lawrence and Qarnain considered best strategies for getting it out to the public. Qarnain suggested starting a production company. Lawrence says he hadn’t thought about starting one before, “but if the name Black Man Films is available, let’s do it.” It was available, and “Silent Partner” became Black Man Films’ first production. Looking to the future, there’s talk of making “Silent Partner” into a featurelength production, Lawrence says. A couple other ideas in the vein of mental health, social issues and the like are also being fleshed out, and Lawrence adds that collaborators have approached him about working together. He hopes to keep the momentum going. In addition to his producing and writing work with Black Man Films, Lawrence says at his core, he’s still a working actor, calling it his “job, love
and everything.” While acting in “Silent Partner,” he used the same process as he would for any other acting job as not to take away from the skill needed to deliver the best performance possible, he says. He took himself out of the editing process to retain the ultimate vision of a movie that allows Black people specifically to feel seen, and with an ending that kicks. “For me, it was just giving the message that the film has to fill our souls,” he says, careful not to give away any spoilers. “Obviously, we work so hard to get these promotions and do things, but at what cost do we want to give these things away? So the end was huge for me and huge for us, and it was probably the only thing that didn’t change throughout.”
ABOUT ‘SILENT PARTNER’ Trailer: vimeo.com/581822008 Run time: 16 minutes Year: 2021 Director: Aristotle Torres Producers: Salma Qarnain, Roderick Lawrence, Celeste WatkinsHayes, Rejji Hayes Screenwriting: Story by Roderick Lawrence, Aristotle Torres; written by Aristotle Torres, J.J. Johnson Cinematography: Eric Branco Editing: Taylor Levy Principal Cast: Roderick Lawrence, Kara Young, Michael Park, Maia Guest, Jeff Ryan More information: silentpartnerfilm.com
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The great pivot of 2020 and beyond Local artists, performers explore new professions during the pandemic By Bob Abelman
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he arts were devastated in the wake of COVID-19. Since the initial shuttering of venues in March 2020, it has been reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that over 1.4 million arts related jobs nationwide were lost. And according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Business Pulse Survey, arts, entertainment and recreation enterprises are among the most likely to take longer to recover from the pandemic due to the in-person nature of their programming. “To non-theater lovers,” wrote Cleveland-born actor Joel Grey in an opinion piece in The New York Times shortly after the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic,
“lamenting the closing of Broadway in the face of so much widespread suffering may seem, at best, frivolous. But for many of us, this tragedy has been made that much more devastating by having to face the nightmare without the laughter, tears and sense of community that a night in the theater delivers.” Because the show couldn’t go on, many performing artists found interim work outside their chosen profession that not only paid the bills, but were an intriguing application of their innate creativity and well-honed artistic talents. Canvas asked some members of the local arts community about their pivot during the pandemic. Here are a few of their stories.
Stuart Hoffman, actor/baker Going from starring roles to cinnamon buns CANVAS: Before the pandemic, you were an itinerant actor specializing in intriguing characters in small plays performed in the intimate spaces of convergence-continuum in Tremont, Seat of the Pants in Canton and the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, among others. When COVID-19 changed all this, you pivoted and became a professional baker. How did that happen? Stuart Hoffman: I was introduced to baking as a kid. My mom was one of those mothers who baked for every school event and as holiday gifts for my teachers. She allowed me to help in the kitchen and I discovered that cookie dough tasted so much better than Play-Doh. I occasionally worked as a baker before the pandemic, but once the theaters closed, I dedicated myself to laminated pastries – croissants and tea biscuits, mostly – for The Stone Oven in Cleveland Heights. And then I worked at Luna (Bakery) at its Cleveland Heights and Moreland Hills locations. I get genuine pleasure making something from scratch, delivering it to eager customers and giving them pleasure. CANVAS: Sort of like acting. Hoffman: I never sat down to think of it like that, but yeah. I really love the creative process of both acting and baking. The early stages of both start with a written recipe that needs to be followed, and there’s comfort and structure in that. And once those key ingredients and instructions that make up a play and a pastry are mastered, there’s a certain degree of interpretation and freedom of expression to make the work my own. CANVAS: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet (“Glengarry Glen Ross”) hated actors interpreting his words. In his book “Theatre,” he noted that actors “need only say their lines and get out of the way of the play.” And then there’s playwrights like Eric Coble (“The Velocity of Autumn”), who trusts actors, directors and designers with his scripts. In a previous Canvas interview, Coble – a Cleveland Heights
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Stuart Hoffman as Archie in the 2016 production of “Birds of Paradise” at Gordon Square’s Blank Canvas Theatre. Photo / Andy Dudik resident – noted: “If I’ve done my job right in the writing, what I intended will end up on stage. But this is a collaborative process.” In terms of your baking, are Stone Oven and Luna more like Mamet or Coble? Hoffman: Definitely more like Mamet. They have a brand to protect.
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CANVAS: What’s also interesting about this parallel between baking and acting is that most of the hard work is done behind the scenes and in isolation – in a back kitchen or a rehearsal studio. Hoffman: Which is also something I really enjoy. Both are largely solitary activities until the final product is eventually put on public display. CANVAS: Just curious – are you more popular with your friends when delivering scones or Shakespeare? Hoffman: Most of my friends are actors and you never hear complaints when providing actors with free food. Hoffman has also returned to live performance, most recently appearing in Blank Canvas Theatre’s production of “Cabaret” this past December. Stuart Hoffman with fresh donuts. Photo / Nichole Vencl
Stefanie Cohn, musician/product manager Doing the math about making music In the sci-fi action thriller “Divergent,” a post-apocalyptic society is divided into five factions that reflect people’s natural inclinations: Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the kind), Erudite (the intelligent), Abnegation (the selfless) and Candor (the honest). The film revolves around one young woman who defies the norm and the law by fitting into them all. Lakewood resident Stefanie Cohn’s story is similar, sans the CGI and dystopian overtones. She’s a professional musician by nature and nurture, playing second oboe and English horn with both the Ashland Symphony Orchestra and the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra. But her ear for music is complemented by a proclivity for and a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University in math. So, with performance opportunities were canceled, Cohn started work as an analytical product manager for the tech startup CHAMPtitles. This might seem like an odd fit, since musicianship tends to tap the right side of the frontal cortex – which is used for visual and spatial skills, imagination and emotion – and product analysis and management tend to tap the left side – which is used for rationality and logical tasks. But according to the journal Brain and Cognition, Vanderbilt University psychologists found that professionally trained musicians more heavily and effectively use a creative technique called “divergent thinking,” which means they have elevated use of both brain hemispheres. The reason is that instrumental musicians are asked to integrate different melodic lines with both hands into a single musical piece. Also, they have to be good at simultaneously reading musical symbols (left hemisphere) and integrating the written music with their own creative interpretation (right hemisphere). In short, musicians think differently than the rest of us. “So working in the tech industry certainly makes sense,” Cohn says. “And when you factor in the immense discipline, hard work and dedication that goes into making music, musicians make the best employees.”
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Stefanie Cohn with her oboe. Photo / Christophe Genty Photography To hear her tell it, Cohn has been able to pursue these two disparate interests with equal determination and drive. After COVID-19 hit, she began making use of qualitative and quantitative product user interface and experience data by day. By night, she diligently practiced études, orchestral excerpts and solos until opportunities to perform returned. Cohn is now back performing with both the Ashland
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Symphony Orchestra and the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, and is teaching oboe at Cleveland State University in addition to pursuing her tech career. It’s not clear whether either activity necessarily informs the other in any concrete ways – it isn’t as if creative and analytical problem solving is going to help her circular breathing technique or embouchure – but both are certainly expressions of who she is. Stefanie Cohn at work as an analytical product manager. Photo courtesy Stefanie Cohn
Marc Moritz, improv artist/restaurant host High-stake improv at an aged steak eatery A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar. If that bar happened to be inside the Capital Grille steakhouse in Lyndhurst, chances are good that an array of perfectly timed punchlines – some more blasphemous and bluer than others – would be coming from funnyman and improv artist-turned-restaurant host Marc Moritz as he sat them at a table. In the late 1980s, Moritz was the founder/director of the Clevelandbased Giant Portions Improv Troupe, after having done stints at central Chicago’s famous ImprovOlympic. He has since taught acting and improv at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and CAP21, among other professional training programs. And he has performed on stages throughout Cleveland – most recently in Karamu House’s production of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – and across the United States, including the former Alvin Theatre in the original New York City Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” That is, until the pandemic forced the closure of clubs and other entertainment venues. Hence the gig at the Capital Grille, which was a challenging albeit short-lived professional pivot for Moritz. More like a pirouette. “It’s a great restaurant and a wonderful place to work. For anyone
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Marc Moritz, left, as Al Lewis and George Roth as Willie Clark in the 2011 production of “The Sunshine Boys” at Cuyahoga Falls’ Porthouse Theatre. Photo / Bob Christy but me,” he says. Moritz quickly came to realize his tendency to find the funny in everything was not particularly conducive to the serious job of greeting and seating customers at a high-end establishment and guaranteeing them a delightful dining experience. “I think they hired me for my outgoing personality and improvisational instincts, which included
being able to read a room,” he says. “But every night there would be a situation – a cantankerous diner or some minor mishap in the kitchen or on the floor – that called for a mature and professional response. For me, each was a ‘yes, and’ improv opportunity waiting to happen or in desperate need of a truly great one-liner, which I had in abundance.” To keep his comedy chops in check,
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Marc Moritz at the Capital Grille. Photo / Marc Moritz
Moritz took his breaks in an empty restaurant restroom and, while looking in the mirror, gave himself a dialect (say, Brooklynese) and a complication (you are presenting the evening’s entree specials to a table of business executives but cannot use the letter “m”) and did some mental short-form scene work to get it out of his system. He would suggest to himself three simultaneous psychoses (an intolerance of people chewing food, not being able to touch things made of paper, an inability to stand up for more than a few seconds at a time) and play them out in his head before returning to his post, purged and with a straight face. “A sense of humor wasn’t a requirement for the job,” says Moritz, “but it sure served as a survival strategy on the job,” which lasted all of three months. And what would have happened if a priest, a rabbi and a minister actually walked into the bar? “I wouldn’t have made it to two months.” Since leaving Capital Grille, Moritz has performed improv for the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, portraying injured and sick patients to help train their medical staffs.
Canvas writer turns theater fact into fiction
A
s a local critic and sometimes actor, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, I continued to write about theater – just not reviews and not for a newspaper. A few years ago, I performed in the Cleveland Play House production of “Yentl” so I could write about the experience for the Cleveland Jewish News, Canvas’ sister newspaper. Why not turn the series of behind-the-scenes articles into a memoir, just as journalist George Plimpton had done when he transformed a few Sports Illustrated stories about taking some snaps as the Detroit Lions’ quarterback into the autobiography “Paper Lion”? Renegade chef Anthony Bourdain did the same when he converted his The New Yorker essay “Don’t Eat Before Reading This” into a game-changing, best-selling memoir “Kitchen Confidential.” But three chapters in, I realized there really wasn’t much of a story to tell. The production of “Yentl” was … fine. My fellow actors were generous. The audience was appreciative. Not the stuff of a tell-all page-turner. And so, I decided to give my realworld experiences a makeover with a hard-candy coating of fabrication, thereby turning my serious memoir into a humorous, fictionalized semiautobiography. The pleasant experience of “Yentl” was swapped out for a terrifying misadventure in Shakespeare’s
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“As You Like It.” And my avatar – a better looking but less functional version of me – found iambic pentameter petrifying and had to live out the nightmare of sharing the stage with the thin-skinned classically trained actors he had just panned in the press. In the book, fellow critics angered by the traitorous breach of the proscenium arch circled like sharks on opening night. My novella “All The World’s A Stage Fright: Misadventures of a Clandestine Critic” was published eight months into the pandemic and has found an audience. With the continued cancellation of theatrical productions due to the coronavirus variants, the sequel “Murder, Center Stage” – an Agatha Christi-like whodunit set in a production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” – hit bookstores late last year. Here’s hoping that in 2022, there’s no need for a trilogy.
-Bob Abelman Above: Bob Abelman at downtown Cleveland’s Hanna Theatre with fellow critic Gwen Kochur. Photo / Gwen Kochur Right: Bob Abelman at a Fireside Book Shop signing in his hometown of Chagrin Falls. Photo / Judy Abelman
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Festivals Featured Summer art, performance fests return to Cleveland
By Jane Kaufman
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paces in Northeast Ohio will be bathed in color, surrounded by sound and wafting with aromas of freshly cooked food this summer. People will dance in the street under the iconic chandelier at Playhouse Square during the Tri-C JazzFest. Artists and craftspeople from across the country and locally will converge to present their wares, play and sing. As Canvas looks ahead to upcoming festivals, we talked with several event leaders about what attendees can expect for 2022. TRI-C JAZZFEST After moving to a virtual platform in 2020 and to Cain Park in Cleveland Heights on a smaller scale in 2021, Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland will be back at Playhouse Square June 23 to June 25. “This is our homecoming,” says Terri Pontremoli, director of the Tri-C JazzFest. “We’re excited about the fact that we’re going to be in the theaters – the beautiful theaters again with our national acts – and outdoors, we will have the stage and under the chandelier and people dancing. And we will feature probably somewhere between 16 and 19 local jazz bands.” Headlining the festival will be John Clayton, conducting an all-star big band, vocalist and guitarist John Pizzarelli, and Anthony Hamilton, who will perform a night of rhythm and blues, along with Brian Culbertson, known for smooth jazz. Pontremoli says festival goers can expect to hear a wide range of styles that are related to jazz. There will be food trucks and a cooking tent called the jazz kitchen, which will feature local chefs doing food demonstrations with the help of jazz musicians, she says. There will also be interviews with writers and musicians. “It’s going to feel pretty much like it used to feel,” she says. The festival will also feature 85-year-old Eddie Palmieri,
whom Pontremoli described as “one of the finest pianists.” She says Palmieri is “so much fun and so energetic.” Northeast Ohio natives Joe Lovano and Sean Jones are also headlining. “Both of these players are terrific, wonderful players, great musicians,” Pontremoli says. “We haven’t had them at our festival for some years. It seemed really fitting that in our homecoming, we brought them back.” The JazzFest also features Dominick Farinacci, whom Pontremoli refers to as “an artist-in-residence for us.” He is from Cleveland, now lives in New York City and teaches at Cuyahoga Community College. Farinacci will play with his group, Triad, and will perform in a double-bill concert also featuring French vocalist Cyrille Aimée. Ghost-Note will deliver a funk-inspired concert, and New Mexico singer-songwriter Raul Midón will also take the stage. And as an educational component, the Tri-C JazzFest Academy is offered to students ages 11 to 18, where at the end of its summer academy they perform at the festival. “They come here, they interact with all the artists that we bring in for master classes throughout the year and also at the festival,” Pontremoli says, adding those students often go to other cities to make their careers. “But we make sure that they come back, they perform and they teach. … It’s like the circle of life. It’s beautiful.” Connections are sometimes made at the JazzFest with lifechanging implications for those young musicians. Pontremoli relates that Farinacci met jazz musician Wynton Marsalis at the JazzFest when Farinacci was 15, after someone literally pushed Farinacci into Marsalis’ dressing room and told him to play. Marsalis was impressed and eventually landed Farinacci a four-year scholarship to The Juilliard School, when Marsalis was running its jazz program. Because of that educational intent, JazzFest aims to be accessible to those of all ages and income levels, with some free
Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland. Photo / Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland
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Art by the Falls. Photo / Michael Steinberg components. “Our mission is to bring world-class jazz to Cleveland to provide educational opportunities for students of all ages, and from all walks of life,” Pontremoli says. “We really take that very seriously. And then to serve our community. So that’s why having free components is really important – because not everybody can afford to buy tickets.” ART BY THE FALLS Valley Art Center’s 38th annual Art by the Falls returns to Riverside Park in Chagrin Falls June 11 and June 12, for the first time since 2019. “In 2020, the festival had to be canceled along with everything else that was happening with the pandemic,” recalls Rebecca Gruss, executive director of Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls. “In 2021, the festival was reimagined because of the pandemic still going on.” Artists in 2021 popped up at two locations at farmers markets at Triangle Park in Chagrin Falls and at Geauga Fresh Farmers’ Market in South Russell. “So, 2022 is the first year that we’re really bringing it back post-pandemic and full force,” Gruss says. With more than 120 artists committed to exhibit at the juried show, some will be international, including Kenyatta Ray from Heverlee, Belgium. There will also be a children’s art tent and an interactive public art experience, specifically a mural designed by muralist and festival exhibitor Pam Spremulli of Chagrin Falls. “We’ll have live music and delicious fare from some of the finest eateries around,” Gruss says. “From an art perspective, we’ll have everything from large sculptures to jewelry, painting, pottery and mixed media, there’s so much that’s coming this year.” In addition, the festival will include a demonstration tent, where artists will present their process for festival goers, and a raffle where the prize is original art by one of the exhibitors. “I think what really makes this festival so unique is its location in this charming setting by the waterfall in the center of historic Chagrin Falls,” Gruss says, including its proximity to shops and restaurants. “It’s walkable.” The show is supported by more than 100 volunteers. “We just know it’s going to be good weather,” Gruss adds. Valley Art Center is a nonprofit organization that provides art classes year-round to children and adults by more than 30 instructors. It holds at least five exhibits per year and has a gift shop featuring local artists.
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Art in the Village. Photo / Legacy Village ART IN THE VILLAGE Howard Cohen, co-founder and president of Howard Alan Events in Jupiter, Fla., is orchestrating the 31st annual Art in the Village with Craft Marketplace outdoors at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst June 4 and June 5. The show took place in both 2020 and 2021, with protocols for COVID-19 in place. It features about 100 artists, with part of the show juried and part featuring affordable crafts. “We want to offer both because some people want to buy expensive art, some people just want to buy affordable stuff,” Cohen says. “So we found in Cleveland, the best thing to do is to cater to both groups.” Traveling exhibitors, he says, are often career-changers. “We have former doctors, lawyers, teachers, college
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Cain Park Arts Festival. Photo / City of Cleveland Heights
professors, retailers, etc., who gave up their secure jobs to do what they love, their passion, their art, and they love sitting there in their booth all day long, talking about it, discussing how they created it, what inspired them to make it,” he says. He adds that children who come to the Northeast Ohio show are unusual in their level of interest and knowledge. “They’re very astute,” he says. “In most places we go around the country, kids are into technology. … In Cleveland, they’re more interested in the art.” Cohen, who stages art shows from Fort Lauderdale to Aspen, also speaks of a unique symbiosis among Cleveland patrons of the arts and the traveling artists. “Not only do they buy from the artists, they open their doors and they have them stay there for the weekend instead of staying at a hotel,” Cohen says. “Nowhere else but this show do I hear that, where the people living in the area want to be part of this whole art scene, and they invite the exhibitors to stay in their homes.” CAIN PARK ARTS FESTIVAL At Cain Park, which canceled its festival in 2020 and scaled it back in 2021, the annual arts festival will be held at a larger scale this year, though not quite as large as it was pre-pandemic, says George Kozmon, director of Cain Park Arts Festival. “We’re still wanting to give a little bit more breathing space for everybody,” Kozmon says, adding the Cleveland Heights city-sponsored arts festival will host up to 120 visual artists rather than the pre-pandemic number of about 145. In 2021, when there were 85 artists, audience feedback was “almost uniformly positive,” Kozmon says. At Cain Park Arts Festival, which is from July 8 through July 10 at the Cleveland Heights park, children are particularly invited to help create a mural of their own design, which has been done for the past few years. “It’s a pleasure to see kids and families interacting, painting on a wall, which is, I don’t know, 100 feet long or something like that,” Kozmon says. “That’s something we’re going to be doing again to really reach out to the community and engage them.” Works by students from the Cleveland Institute of Art
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will be curated into a month-long exhibition at Cain Park’s Feinberg Art Gallery. Performances will take place at both its Alma Theater and Evans Amphitheater during the festival, including by Charlie Mosbrook, Morgan Mecaskey and Friends, Kulture Kids, Spyder Stompers, the Juggernaut Jug Band, the Labra Brothers, Liz Bullock with Gavin Coe, and Jeff Varga and Friends. “Part of it is the affirmation of what art brings to the table, what community brings to the table, what social gathering brings to the table, and I think we’ve sorely missing that this last two years, as a society,” says Kozmon, a working artist. “And I think art has a power that unifies. It’s the best of what human culture can do.”
IF YOU GO
• Art in the Village with Craft Marketplace is from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 4, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 5, outdoors at Legacy Village, 25001 Cedar Road in Lyndhurst. Free admission. For additional information and updates, visit artfestival.com. • Cain Park Arts Festival is from 3 to 8 p.m. July 8, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 9, and noon to 5 p.m. July 10 at Cain Park, 14591 Superior Road in Cleveland Heights. Free admission. For additional information and updates, visit cainpark.com. • Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland starts with an 8 p.m. show June 23, and runs from 3 p.m. to midnight June 24 and June 25, all at venues in Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland. Free outdoor events; ticketed events at indoor venues. For passes, visit jazzfest2022festivalpass.eventbrite.com. For tickets to individual events contact Playhouse Square box office at 216-241-6000. For additional information and updates, visit tri-c.edu/jazzfest. • Valley Art Center’s Art by the Falls is from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 11 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 12 at Riverside Park in Chagrin Falls. Free admission. In addition, Canvas will host a booth at Art by the Falls on both days. For more information and updates, visit valleyartcenter.org.
CanvasCLE.com
Bob Abelman
Like an Agatha Christie whodunnit set to a Stephen Sondheim score
cjn.org/books
On view through June 10
We Want Everything, a hands-on exhibition that features work by Josh MacPhee, delves into printmaking’s connection to political activism and media.
July 16–October 2, 2022
Solo exhibitions by Jacolby Satterwhite, Dexter Davis, Loraine Lynn and Alexandra Noel will be on view at CIA during the 2022 FRONT Triennial.
Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows Cleveland Institute of Art Reinberger Gallery cia.edu/exhibitions
@CanvasCLE
11610 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106 216.421.7407
Exhibitions and programming are generously supported by CIA’s community partners. Visit cia.edu/partners
Spring 2022 | Canvas | 35
Presented by
Events Calendar
JazzFest Tri-C
CLEVELAND
JUNE 23-25
Playhouse Square
Editor’s note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, arts events are subject to change. For scheduling purposes, visit the entities’ websites or social media pages for updated information. For additional events and updates, sign up for the free Canvas e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup. MAY 6-7 GroundWorks DanceTheater spring performance series: groundworksdance.org/spring2022 21-22 Cleveland Asian Festival: clevelandasianfestival.org/2022
MONTHLY ART WALKS AND EVENTS • Canton First Friday: facebook.com/firstfridaycanton
ANTHONY HAMILTON
• Walk All Over Waterloo (first Fridays): facebook.com/WaterlooArtsDistrict
TRI-C JAZZFEST ALL-STAR BIG BAND UNDER THE atDIRECTION OF JOHN CLAYTON • Third Friday 78th Street Studios: facebook.com/78thstreetstudios JOHN PIZZARELLI | EDDIE PALMIERI JUNE JULY 3-5 Little Italy Summer Art Walk: littleitalycle.com | CYRILLE | GHOST-NOTE 8-10 Cain Park Arts Festival: cainpark.com BRIAN AIMÉE DOMINICK FARINACCI AND TRIAD 3 –CULBERTSON July 29 LakewoodAlive Front Porch Concert | Series: 8 – Aug. 31 CAN Triennial: cantriennial.org lakewoodalive.org/frontporchconcerts 9 Jazz underDAVE the StarsDOUGLAS: concert: ormaco.org Kent Art &|Wine Festival: mainstreetkent.org RAUL4MIDÓN SEAN JONES QUARTET | JOE LOVANO AND SOUND PRINTS 9-10 WonderStruck: wonderstruckfest.com 4-5 Art in the Village with Craft Marketplace (Lyndhurst): 9-10 YSU Summer Festival the Arts: ysu.edu/sfa artfestival.com TOOTS THIELEMANS CENTENNIAL TRIBUTE BY KENNY WERNER ANDof GRÉGOIRE MARET 9-17 Medina County Arts Week: medinacountyartscouncil.org
9 – Oct. 20 BAYarts Thursday Market: bayarts.net/events/market 11 Cleveland Museum of Art Summer Arts Fest: clevelandart.org 11-12 Valley Art Center’s Art by the Falls: valleyartcenter.org 12 Bath Art Festival: bathartfestival.com 43RD 18 Cleveland Juneteenth ‘Freedom Fest’: juneteenthcle.com ANNUAL 23-25 Tri-C JazzFest: tri-c.edu/jazzfest 25 Larchmere PorchFest: larchmereporchfest.org 25 Wildwood Fine Arts & Wine Festival: facebook.com/WildwoodCulturalCente
• Walkabout Tremont: facebook.com/ WalkaboutTremont
16 Headlands Beach Fest: bit.ly/3cTuu3z 16 Willoughby ArtsFest: willoughbyartsfest.com 16 – Oct. 2 FRONT International Cleveland Triennial: frontart.org 17 Art in the Park: medinacountyartleague.com/art-in-the-park 20-24 BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival: borderlightcle.org 21 - Sept. 18 The Art of Banksy exhibit: banksyexhibit.com/cleveland
Get tickets and passes at tri-cjazzfest.com
36 | Canvas | Spring 2022
CanvasCLE.com
Events Calendar AUGUST 6 Lakewood Arts Festival: lakewoodartsfest.org 6 Jazz under the Stars concert: ormaco.org 7 Chardon Square Arts Festival: chardonsquareassociation.org 27 Waterloo Arts Fest: waterlooarts.org 27 Jazz under the Stars concert: ormaco.org 27-28 Cleveland Garlic Festival: clevelandgarlicfestival.org 27-28 Hudson Art On the Green: hudsonsocietyofartists.com SEPTEMBER 2-5, 9-10 Cleveland Oktoberfest: clevelandoktoberfest.com 8-18 Cleveland Jewish FilmFest: mandeljcc.org/filmfest 10-11 Kent Art in the Park: bit.ly/3uDES8e
Presented by
SEPTEMBER (cont.) 11 Berea Arts Fest: bereaartsfest.org 17 FireFish Festival: firefishfestival.com 17 Rocky River Fall Arts Festival: rrparksandrecfoundation.com 17-18 Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival: facebook.com/tremontartsandculturalfestival OCTOBER 5-9 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival: chagrinfilmfest.org 6-9 Stan Hywet Ohio Mart: stanhywet.org/ohio-mart
ONLINE
Dates of events listed here and on previous page are subject to change by the organizer. To stay connected with frequent updates about events, museum exhibitions and gallery receptions, sign up for the free biweekly Canvas e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup.
GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER 13125 Shaker Square, Suite 102, Cleveland P: 216-751-0088 : groundworksdance.org Northeast Ohio’s premier contemporary dance company presents a triple bill of WORLD-PREMIERE works from acclaimed guest choreographer Peter Chu and GroundWorks artist in residence, and Cleveland native, Antonio Brown. LatinUs Blackbox Theater at Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression, 2937 W. 25th St., Cleveland. Tickets: $25, groundworksdance.org/spring2022.
NORTHCOAST PROMOTIONS, INC. P.O. Box 609401, Cleveland P: 216-570-8201 : northcoastpromo.com Northcoast Promotions specializes in arts and handmade crafts events, farmers markets and festivals. Join us this season at Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios, Walkabout Tremont on second Fridays, The Old Firehouse Winery Memorial Day - Labor Day, Tremont Farmers Market on Tuesdays, Pinecrest Farmers Market on Wednesdays, Old Brooklyn Farmers Market on Saturdays, Little Italy Art Walk in June and the Cleveland Oktoberfest Labor Day weekend. Visit our website for more details and events.
VALLEY ART CENTER 155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-7507 C: 216-978-1440 Fax: 440-247-5803 : valleyartcenter.org Valley Art Center is the hub of the visual arts in Chagrin Falls! VAC offers classes for all ages and in every medium including painting, jewelry design, drawing, clay and more. VAC also presents five gallery exhibitions annually and the iconic Art by the Falls outdoor art festival in June each year.
@CanvasCLE
Spring 2022 | Canvas | 37
CURATOR CORNER “Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” by Namsa Leuba By Courtney Byrnes
A
s part of “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” exhibit on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art May 8 through Sept. 11, “Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” by Namsa Leuba captures more than just a young Black woman wearing Nigerian designer Tannenbaum clothing in front | Photo / Andrew of a swirling, McAllister bright and colorful backdrop. The photograph, like others in the collection, combines art and fashion and has influences from the West and PanAfricanism. As told to Lisby Canvas by CMA | Photo / David curators Barbara Burstein Photography Tannenbaum, curator of photography, and Darnell Lisby, assistant curator, “Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” is part of a series by Leuba called “Next Generation Lagos,” produced during the artist’s residency with Art Twenty One, a contemporary art space in Lagos, Nigeria. Lagos is the second-most populous city in Africa with a population of 15.4 million. It has become a center for the movie, music and fashion industries, taking the fashion scene specifically to the international stage with Arise Fashion Week in 2007. With influences from different African cultures, the model wears an ensemble by Nigerian designer Ituen Basi Torlowei, who integrates wax print fabrics and indigenous techniques to symbolize a new era of West African fashion separated from colonialism. Her shirt shares subtle nods to the Mangbetu culture in the current Democratic Republic of the Congo, showing an elongated head and an intricate braided hairstyle, and various Guinean cultures, Lisby says. Canvas: What makes this piece noteworthy? Tannenbaum: In the gallery, your eye is immediately caught by Namsa
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Leuba’s stunning, vivid image of a chic young Black woman with bright yellow lips, posed in front of a psychedelic landscape of swirling colors and dark green foliage. The photographer was born and raised in Switzerland to a Guinean mother and Swiss father. Curator of “The New Black Vanguard” Antwaun Sargent wrote that Leuba “explores her own biography by looking at Africa through a Western lens.” The artist spent much of 2012 to 2017 on what she has called a “journey back” to her African roots, researching African culture and history and traveling around the continent. She has stated, “I am inspired by my origins and by new creative exchanges, infusing reality with my own sensitivities and experiences.” Canvas: What response or emotions does it evoke? Tannenbaum: Responses to art can be personal and vary from viewer to viewer. For me, this image takes the restrained, static profile format found in some Italian Renaissance portraits of nobles and blasts it with energy, sensuality and motion through swirling patterns and melting colors. Canvas: How might this photograph be influential in the world of art or fashion? Lisby: This photo is representative of a creatively transformative period throughout the African continent and diaspora that included the emergence of new fashion centers from Lagos and Marrakech to Johannesburg. This blossoming encouraged new generations to use fashion and style to take the continent into a new future, unhindered by its colonial history. Many of these creatives over the past 20 years have worked to develop fashionable identities unique to their homelands and to defy the impoverished tropes that belabor the continent’s public persona. Photographs (such) as this represent the resilience and creative newness that African designers and creatives bring to the forefront, challenging the Eurocentric view of fashion. There are now so many African natives – such as Cameroonians Claude Kameni and Imane Ayissi, Nigerian native Duro Olowu, or South African rising star Thebe Magugu – whose creative identity not only expands and shapes their community, but also the European and American fashion markets
“Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” (2015) by Namsa Leuba. Image courtesy of Aperture, New York, 2019. © Namsa Leuba from Haute Couture Week in Paris to fashioning the style of former First Lady Michelle Obama. Canvas: How does this photograph fit into the New Black Vanguard collection? Tannenbaum: Leuba is one of a number of young Black photographers located around the world whose work fuses art and fashion photography to open conversations around the representation of the Black body and challenges the idea that Blackness is homogeneous. Sargent, the exhibition’s curator, has termed these artists the New Black Vanguard.
ON VIEW
“Sarah, Lagos, Nigeria” Artist: Namsa Leuba Year: 2015 Find it: The photograph is on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” exhibit from May 8 through Sept. 11.
CanvasCLE.com
LISTINGS GALLERIES ARTICLE/ART IN CLEVELAND 15316 Waterloo Road, Cleveland P: 440-655-6954 : facebook.com/artincle Article/Art In Cleveland gallery, studio and classroom in the Waterloo Arts District provides local artists a supportive community environment for creative growth and artistic development. Visit our gallery shows and open studio evenings each first Friday of the month during “Walk All Over Waterloo.” Check our Facebook page for gallery openings and art activities. Artist studio spaces now available.
100 YEARS OF
Discovery A MUSEUM'S PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-7000 : cia.edu : @cleinstituteart CIA’s Reinberger Gallery features emerging and established national artists and hosts popular exhibitions by faculty, students and alumni, and CIA’s Cinematheque is one of the country’s best repertory movie theaters, according to The New York Times. Learn more and view upcoming programming at cia.edu/exhibitions and cia.edu/ cinematheque. CLEVELAND PRINT ROOM
2550 Superior Ave., Cleveland P: 216-802-9441 : clevelandprintroom.com : facebook.com/ClevelandPrintRoom
The Cleveland Print Room advances the art and appreciation of the photographic image in all its forms by providing affordable access to a community darkroom and workspace, gallery exhibitions, educational programs and collaborative outreach. LEE HEINEN STUDIO 12402 Mayfield Road, Cleveland P: 216-921-4088, 216-469-3288 : leeheinen.com : facebook.com/leeheinen This beautiful child is a slight departure from my usual flattened figurative pieces. It seemed some definition was required “Innocence,” to portray the subject. Ours is a working 16 x 16 inches, oil studio. To visit, you may call ahead for on canvas. Artwork an appointment or take your chances and by Lee Heinen. drop by. LOGANBERRY
13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights P: 216-795-9800 : loganberrybooks.com
Loganberry Books Annex Gallery features a monthly rotation of local artist exhibitions, with an opening reception on the first Wednesday evening of the month.
NOW THROUGH
SEPTEMBER 18 You’ll experience some of the most awe-inspiring moments in our history and get a preview of what the future will hold. PLAN YOUR VISIT AT CMNH.ORG
GENEROUS SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
S TAT E O F OHIO
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Spring 2022 | Canvas | 39
@CanvasCLE CMNH_CanvasAd_3x9.indd 1
4/18/22 11:09 AM
LISTINGS M. GENTILE STUDIOS
1588 E. 40th St., 1A, Cleveland P: 216-881-2818 : mgentilestudios.com
A personalized art resource for individuals, collectors and businesses. We offer assistance in the selection and preservation of artwork in many media. Our archival custom framing services are complemented by our skill in the installation of two- and threedimensional artwork in a variety of residential and corporate settings. WOLFS GALLERY Visit
23645 Mercantile Road, Beachwood P: 216-721-6945 : wolfsgallery.com Fifteen galleries exhibiting many hundreds : @wolfsgallery of artworks representing Visit WOLFS’ 15 galleries myriad exhibiting many hundreds of artworks styles and periods. representing myriad styles and periods. Tour our generous space Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment. Buying and selling fine art in Cleveland since 1975.
MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS PIANO CLEVELAND 20600 Chagrin Blvd., Suite #1110, Shaker Heights P: 216-707-5397 : clevelandpiano.org : facebook.com/pianocleveland A nonprofit arts organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the future of piano music. We bring meaningful music experiences to local, national and international audiences through competitions, concerts and community-based programming.
PORTHOUSE THEATRE P: 330-672-3884 E: porthouse@kent.edu : porthousetheatre.com : @porthousetheatre Porthouse Theatre, Kent State University’s summer professional theatre on the grounds of Blossom Music Center, presents its 2022 season: “Little Shop of Horrors” (June 16 – July 2), merican, 1927-2013) “Godspell” (July 7 – 23), and “West Side Story” (July 28 – Aug. 14). anvas, 48.5 x 70 inches nd Museum of Art, May Show, 1975 and tickets at 330-672-3884 or porthousetheatre.com. Subscriptions
MUSEUMS AKRON ART MUSEUM 1 S. High St., Akron P: 330-376-9185 : akronartmuseum.org
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 87 N. Main St., Oberlin P: 440-775-8665 : oberlin.edu/amam
Lynd Bu L Villa •W G ICN Be
ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1834 E. 123rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020 : ArtistsArchives.org : facebook.com/ ArtistsArchivesoftheWesternReserve
May 19 – June 25, 2022 The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve presents “The Life of Objects: Roy Bigler & Terry Durst” on view in the Archives Gallery, “Super Water the inaugural exhibition for assemblage Chestnuts”(2002) by artists Terry Durst and Roy Bigler. The Roy Bigler, collection exhibition also includes collaborative work of the AAWR. between Durst and fellow artist Jon Gott. THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown P: 330-743-1107 : butlerart.com
CANTON MUSEUM OF ART 1001 Market Ave. N., Canton P: 330-453-7666 : cantonart.org
CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND 3813 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-791-7114 : cmcleveland.org
L
CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN 11030 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-1600 : cbgarden.org
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FRIENDS OF CANVAS
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May Show at WOLFS | Opening Thursday, MayCONNECTION 5th, 5-8pm CLEVELAND ISRAEL ARTS Jewish Federation of Cleveland Richard Andres: Selected Works 1950 - 1975 | Summer 2022 E: israelarts@jewishcleveland.org : jewishcleveland.org/israelarts
The Cleveland Israel Arts Connection Spring/ wolfsgallery.com Summer 2022 Season features the finest in Israeli 23645 Mercantile Road, Beachwood, Ohio | 216-721-6945 film, documentary, theater, dance, music, visual art and literature. A digital copy is available at jewishcleveland.org/israelarts. Please join the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection Facebook page for additional opportunities to experience Israeli arts.
40 | Canvas | Spring 2022
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Loganberry Books Annex Gallery
13015 Larchmere Blvd Shaker Heights, OH 44120 www.loganberrybooks.com gallery@logan.com 216.795.9800
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LISTINGS CLEVELAND HISTORY CENTER
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
LAKE VIEW CEMETERY
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
MALTZ MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE
10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 : wrhs.org
11150 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-421-7340 : clevelandart.org
1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland P: 216-231-4600 : cmnh.org
COLLEGE OF WOOSTER ART MUSEUM 1220 Beall Ave., Wooster P: 330-263-2495 : wooster.edu/arts/museum
CRAWFORD AUTO AVIATION COLLECTION The History Center in University Circle 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 : wrhs.org
GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland P: 216-694-2000 : greatscience.com
Rockwell Hall, 515 Hilltop Drive, Kent P: 330-672-3450 : kent.edu/museum
12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-2665 : lakeviewcemetery.com
2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood P: 216-593-0575 : maltzmuseum.org
The Maltz Museum introduces visitors to the beauty and diversity of that heritage in the context of the American experience. It promotes an understanding of Jewish history, religion and culture, and builds bridges of appreciation and understanding with those of other religions, races, cultures and ethnicities. It’s an educational resource for Northeast Ohio’s Jewish and general communities. MASSILLON MUSEUM
121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061 : massillonmuseum.org : facebook.com/massillonmuseum
“Un-settling: A Story of Land Removal and Resistance” (through May 22); “Missing History of Massillon: Unheard African American Stories” (June 11–Nov. 9); “Michael Gill: The Grownups Keep Talking/Nobody Knows Why” (through June 1); “Tiger Legacy: The Story Continues” (through July 10). Free admission. MCDONOUGH MUSEUM OF ART
525 Wick Ave., Youngstown P: 330-941-1400 : ysu.edu/mcdonough-museum
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND 11400 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-8671 : mocacleveland.org
THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-781-ROCK (7625) : rockhall.com
THE SCULPTURE CENTER 1834 E. 123rd St., Cleveland P: 216-229-6527 : sculpturecenter.org : thesculpturecenter THE SHAKER HISTORICAL MUSEUM 16740 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights P: 216-921-1201 : shakerhistory.org
Listings are provided by advertisers and as a courtesy to readers.
42 | Canvas | Spring 2022
CanvasCLE.com
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Creativity Takes Center Stage at Hawken Given that Hawken School has always been a haven for creative minds, it’s no surprise that opportunities for students to participate in the arts abound. While many other schools are forced to cut funding for the arts, Hawken’s programming continues to grow and thrive, enabling students to participate at various levels no matter what their age or experience.
Given that Hawken School has always been a haven for creative minds, it’s no surprise that opportunities for students to participate in the arts abound. While many other schools are forced to cut funding for the arts, Hawken’s programming continues to grow and thrive, enabling students to participate at various levels no matter what their age or experience. A designated arts wing on Hawken’s Lower and Middle School campus featuring four classrooms designed for exploration, creation and performance represents a physical manifestation of Hawken’s commitment to the arts. Beginning in early childhood, music educators work with students to reinforce a love of music and to provide a basis for the development of musical concepts and skills. In third grade, students are introduced to the soprano recorder; in fourth and fifth grade, students select a string, woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument for musical study; and from third through fifth grade, students can opt to participate in Lower School Choir, which presents an annual musical production. In the Middle School, chorus, strings and band are offered as part of the curriculum. Students also have the opportunity to be part of the Jr. Hawken Players’ Society through participation in the annual musical either on stage, behind-the-scenes, or in the pit orchestra. At Hawken’s Upper School, students can select from a wide variety of music, dance and theater courses including Acting Fundamentals, Advanced Acting, Chorale, Concert Band, Creative Movement, Jazz Band, Global Rhythms, Stage Craft and String Ensemble. Outside of the academic day, small performing groups like Hawken Harmony provide additional opportunities for students interested in musical performance. One of the most popular clubs at Hawken is The Hawken Players’ Society (HPS), which produces at least one play and one musical each year. Open to all students at both the Mastery School of Hawken in University Circle and the Upper School in Gates Mills, HPS productions are largely student-driven. Under the guidance of adult mentors, students are given the latitude, tools and responsibility to take full ownership of their role as an artist, whether in set design and construction; props, costumes or makeup; marketing and graphic design; acting, singing, dancing; and even assistant directing.
Hawken School also places great value on the visual arts, often in collaboration with the performing arts department. An annual Early Childhood Art Show, a Visiting Artists Program, the annual Evening of Art and Music, the creation of artwork to accompany the fourth and fifth grade musical, middle school set design, and the Biomimicry Art and Science Forum mark just a number of the many highlights of visual arts programming on Hawken’s Lyndhurst campus. Visual Arts offerings for Upper School students include Art Fundamentals, Art and Design Principles, Graphic Design, Drawing and Painting, History of Western Art, Photography, Sculpture, Ceramics, AP Studio Art, Animation, as well as several advanced courses in these subjects. Stirn Hall academic building at the Upper School campus, with its Media and Communications Lab and Fabrication Lab, has opened up a whole new world of creative, interdisciplinary possibilities. The Creative Movement class has worked with Groundworks Dance Company on a collaborative project, which took students to Playhouse Square to perform. In addition, numerous classes including the Design and Engineering and Comedy classes have utilized the new spaces for creative, hands-on projects. The Goldberg Innovation Lab on the Lyndhurst campus provides even our youngest students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the art of creative design. Visit hawken.edu to learn more about the full menu of arts options available at Hawken. To learn more about visiting our campus, go to hawken.edu/admission or call 440-423-2955.
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K–12 Private School in Ohio
Get ready to do school differently!
On-campus and virtual tours are available.
We are offering in-person individual family tours and virtual tours for all campuses. To schedule, call 440.423.2950 (Lower & Middle School), 216.251.2321 (Birchwood School), 440.423.2955 (Upper School), or 440.423.8801 (Mastery School).
COEDUCATIONAL, TODDLER – GRADE 12 Lyndhurst
hawken.edu
Cleveland–West
Gates Mills
University Circle
