Canvas, Winter 2022

NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance Winter 2022

Animals have been subjects in art and ceramics throughout history and across all cultures. Animals provide a universally are a diverse representation of gender identity, culture, backgrounds, and careerstages. Likewise, their art, in wide range of ceramic techniques, uses the animal form to contemplate various concepts including society, gender and sexuality, current events, memory, and the human condition.

The Hoover Foundation

Souvenir, 2018 19. Lindsay Pichaske. Stoneware, porcelain, mason stains, hair. 32 x 28 x 17 in Image © Alan Wiener, courtesy Greenwich House Pottery

Editor’s Note

It’s no secret that Who’s Next is one of my favorite Canvas features. This year’s series of profiles on emerging artists focuses on five artists who are relatively early in their careers but making a splash with their skills and hard work, locally and beyond. I’m excited to introduce you to Sydney Nicole Kay, Nick Lee, Julia Milbrandt, Meagan Smith and Derek Walker. Each was nominated by members of the local arts community, and I wouldn’t be shocked if you were already familiar with them as they’ve had work shown at a range of local galleries this past year.

I’m always impressed by the thoughtfulness with which the featured artists describe their work and interests, and I also noticed a couple themes this year.

Some of the artists you read about in these pages discuss how part of why they focused in their artistic media deals with the idea that people of color are underrepresented in artwork throughout art history. They studied art history in school, and noticed that people who looked like them were absent. Moreover, history as shown through art is incomplete in that sense. Now, these artists are illustrating people who share their ethnic and cultural backgrounds for current and future art appreciators.

Another theme I noticed was a few of the artists in this issue have day jobs within the art world, meaning they do much of their own artwork on nights and weekends. For example, one artist works full-time at a gallery within a local corporation, another does full-time content production work at an advertising agency, and another teaches part-time at an art college. Another recently left a retail job to pursue his own art fully, and another is still in college. They are all busy people, and I’m certainly glad they each took the time to share so much with us about their art and lives.

Also in this issue, we visit the Cleveland Museum of Art’s performing arts department through the eyes of its new director, Gabriel Pollack. After running the Bop Stop music club for several years, Pollack took his musical and management vision to CMA in October. While Canvas hasn’t highlighted these programs extensively in the past, I’m glad we were able to dive deep into the music scene through these top-tier institutions that call our city home.

Additionally, we check in with Lakewood’s Beck Center for the Arts in the midst of a major renovation and as it is about to celebrate its 90th birthday. This story fits well in the Who’s Next issue as the Beck Center has trained and helped inspire so many emerging artists in Northeast Ohio over its storied history.

We also visit the Akron Art Museum for a peek at an interesting new traveling exhibition there. “State of the Art: Constructs” is on view through Feb. 26, 2023, includes two Cleveland artists and shouldn’t be missed. And for the holiday shopping season, we ask some local galleries for noteworthy gift suggestions that support local creators and businesses. As always, I hope you’ll consider shopping within the local arts and small business community this year. Local makers not only rely on our support to continue their practices, but you’ll also get a truly unique and memorable gift in the process.

We at Canvas wish you a happy holiday season, and we look forward to sharing so many more interesting and unique stories in 2023 about the people and places that make the Northeast Ohio arts scene what it is today. Until then, please visit us on our website, canvascle.com, or our Instagram, @Canvascle, for more stories from the Northeast Ohio arts community. And, I encourage you to subscribe to our free e-newsletter – a biweekly preview of upcoming shows and exhibitions, art news and features, and more – by visiting canvascle.com/signup.

Amanda Koehn Editor

Editor Amanda Koehn editor@canvascle.com

Design Manager

Stephen Valentine

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, @CanvasCLE. Sign up for Canvas’ free e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup.

President, Publisher & CEO

Kevin S. Adelstein

Vice President of Sales

Adam Mandell

Managing Editor

Bob Jacob

Controller Tracy DiDomenico

Digital Marketing Manager

Cheryl Sadler

Columbus Bureau Chief Stephen Langel

Events Manager

Gina Lloyd

Editorial

Courtney Byrnes, Jane Kaufman, Becky Raspe, Meghan Walsh

Contributing Writers

Ed Carroll, Carlo Wol

Custom Publishing Manager Paul Bram

Sales & Marketing Manager

Andy Isaacs

Advertising

Marilyn Evans, Ron Greenbaum, Adam Jacob, Nell V. Kirman, Sherry Tilson

Designers

Jessica Simon, Ricki Urban

Digital Content Producers

DeAnna MacKeigan, Megan Roth

O ce Administrator

Abby Royer

Accounting Assistant

Amanda LaLonde

Subscription Coordinator

Julie Palkovitz

Display Advertising

216-342-5191 advertising@canvascle.com

Canvas is published by the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, 23880 Commerce Park, Suite 1, Beachwood, OH 44122. For general questions, call 216-454-8300 or email info@cjn.org.

EMPOWERMENT

The

At Hathaway Brown, girls become their best selves as we prepare them not for school, but for life.

Now accepting applications.

For more about our Learn for Life Signature Approach, go to www.myhbgirl.com

Or contact our admission team at admissions@hb.edu or 216.320.8767

ON DECK

Upcoming openings and events from around Northeast Ohio

Compiled by Jane Kaufman

THE SCULPTURE CENTER

“Julie

Schenkelberg:

CURRANT”

| Through Dec. 16

Large-scale installation artist Julie Schenkelberg is taking over the corner building of 12210 Euclid Avenue as both the first artist to show in The Sculpture Center’s newly acquired space and its first artist-in-residence.

Titled “Currant,” Schenkelberg’s show and installation is a play on the word “current.” Currant also refers to the violet-colored berry which can provide assistance in fearful situations, especially when facing the self in being truly alone. Schenkelberg weaves imagery of her own history through an archaeological collection of castings of plants, religious symbols, abandoned buildings, family dishware and tombstones in Cleveland’s Lakeview Cemetery. Born and raised in Cleveland, Schenkelberg received a bachelor’s degree in art history from the College of Wooster and a master’s of fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Also on view through Dec. 16 at The Sculpture Center is the exhibition “Sara Dittrich: In slowness there is fullness.”

The Sculpture Center is at 1834 E. 123rd St. in Cleveland. sculpturecenter.org

EMILY DAVIS GALLERY

“Mark of Empowerment” |

Through Dec. 20

The power of print has not only changed the course of history, but has revolutionized the way people engage with their imaginations. The exhibition “Mark of Empowerment” features 22 artists and honors the incredible legacies that inspire communities to stand up for their rights and freedoms. Curated by Roberto Torres Mata at the Emily Davis Gallery at the University of Akron, the exhibit is part of the 2022 Mid America Print Council Biennial Conference. It reflects on how printmaking allows for speaking out through activism. Artists included in the exhibitions are: Marco Sánchez, Faisal Abdu’Allah, Barbara Justice, Adriana Barrios, Juana Estrada Hernández, Enrique Chagoya, Ernestro Yerena Montejano, John Hitchcock, Guerrilla Girls, Christie Tirado, Israel Campos, Kathryn Polk, Kill Joy, Monty Little, Dakota Mace, Ash Armenta, Derick Wycherly, Jennifer Mack, Elizabeth Jean Younce, Chema Skandal, Carlos Barberena and Emily Arthur.

In addition to regular hours, the gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 7 and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 8 for the annual Myers School of Art Holiday Shop.

Emily Davis Gallery is at the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art’s Folk Hall at 150 E. Exchange St. in Akron. uakron.edu/art/galleries

KSU DOWNTOWN GALLERY

“Now and Then: Seven Decades of Kent State Ceramics” | Through Jan. 14, 2023

The School of Art Collection and Galleries at Kent State University has a new exhibit, “Now and Then: Seven Decades of Kent State Ceramics,” featuring work from current and former faculty and notable alums. It includes a juried selection of ceramic works from an alumni call for entries juried by artists Matt Wedel and April D. Felipe. Artists included in the exhibition are: Miska Petersham, John Gill, Kirk Mangus, Eva Kwong, Peter Christian Johnson, Michelle Summers, Andrea Gill, Tom Bartel, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, John Balistreri, Laura Kukkee, David JP Hooker, Sam Hoffman, Laura Dirksen, Rhue Bruggeman, Craig Hartenberger, Tirzah Legg, David Kruk, Jennifer Masley, Cammi Climaco, Brian Sarama, Kirstin Willders and Gabriel John Poucher.

KSU Downtown Gallery is at 141 E. Main St. in Kent. kent.edu/galleries

Sculpture by John Gill. Photo courtesy of Kent State University.

“Currant” (2022) by Julie Schenkelberg. Mixed media, found furniture and objects, sailboat sail, fabric, plaster, acrylic paint and LED lights. Photo / Jacob Koestler

“Mujer Mariposa” (2022) by Christie Tirado. Linoleum print with watercolor, 18 x 18 inches. Photo courtesy of Emily Davis Gallery

TRANSFORMER STATION

“19 Winters / 7 Springs” | Through Feb. 5, 2023

Transformer Station presents “19 Winters / 7 Springs,” a solo exhibition by Gregory Halpern. Halpern, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., and resident of Rochester, has photographed his home county over the past 20 years in between numerous other books and projects. This midcareer survey is the largest museum show for the photographer to date. An ode to the social landscape of this corner of post-industrial America, the work expands upon Halpern’s distinctive documentary style rooted in both the real and the sublime. The exhibition at the art museum in Cleveland’s Ohio City Hingetown district will present a range of 50 color prints in varying sizes, along with a series of new free-standing sculptures drawn from the Buffalo landscape. Transformer Station is at 1460 W. 29th St. in Cleveland. transformerstation.org

“Untitled” (2022) by Gregory Halpern from “19 Winters / 7 Springs.” © Gregory Halpern

CANTON MUSEUM OF ART

“Thinking with Animals” | Nov. 25 – March 5, 2023

Animals provide a universally understood way to examine ideas that may be difficult to discuss or understand in any other form. Creatures have been used as symbols, archetypes and to speak to the human relationship with nature. With a diverse representation in terms of gender, culture, background and career stages, the more than 50 artists in Canton Museum of Art’s “Thinking with Animals” exhibition used slip casting, paper clay, solid building, hollow building, wheel throwing and mixed media to create pieces. Exhibiting artists include Molly Allen, Crista Ames, Pavel Amromin, Rebekah Bogard, Kelsey Bowen, Ariel Bowman, Hannah Lee Cameron, Beth Cavener, Mya Cluff, Linda Cordell, Sarah Davey, Alanna DeRocchi, Natasha Dikareva, Shelsea Dodd, Morel Doucet, Lukas Easton, Shauna Fahley, Alessandro Gallo, Julia Galloway, Steven Godfrey, Donald Guidoboni, Richard W. James, Ben Jordan, GV Kelly, Gunyoung Kim, Bethany Krull, Ben Lambert, Malia Landis, Calvin Ma, Kate MacDowell, Gustavo Martinez, Kelly McLaughlin, Peter Morgan, Nathan Murray, Emily Nickel, Sharon Norwood, Susan O’Byrne, Kyungmin Park, Adelaide Paul, Lindsay Pichaske, Taylor Robenalt, George Rodriguez, Erika Sanada, Sara

“Asunder” (2018) by Shauna Fahley. Ceramics, paint, 6.5 x 4 x 4.5 feet. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Torgison,

An opening reception with the artists will be held from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 2, to coincide with Downtown Canton’s First Friday. The museum will offer free admission that day as well.

The Canton Museum of Art is at 1001 Market Ave. N. in Canton. cantonart.org

KINK CONTEMPORARY

“Desire Paths” | Jan. 6 – Feb. 5, 2023

The solo exhibition “Desire Paths” represents Avery Mags Duff’s personal exploration of the erotic, described by Audre Lorde as “a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.” In this body of work, the artist uses imagery from their travels and explorations as a metaphor for how the erotic is woven through their life. Duff grew up in Akron and has been making art their whole life. They are a graduate of the University of Akron with bachelor’s degrees in painting and Spanish. Duff is also active in urban farming, fermentation, foraging and experimental music.

An opening reception will be held from 5-9 p.m. Jan. 5 and a closing reception will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Feb. 5.

KINK Contemporary is at 15515 Waterloo Road in Cleveland. kinkcontemporary.com

“Mast Year: American Persimmon” (2022) by Avery Mags Duff. Black walnut ink, watercolor, pastel and colored pencil on paper, 11 x 15 inches. Photo / Em Poor

Jason Walker, Stephanie Wilhelm, Travis Winters, Russell Wrankle and Wesley Wright.

Publisher’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 protocols prior to visiting.

On planet • place • self

“Highground” by Amy Casey (2019), featured in the “planet” section of “State of the Art: Constructs” at the Akron Art Museum. Acrylic on cradled ampersand claybord panel, 30 x 30 inches.

Akron Art Museum ruminates on ‘State of Art’ with new exhibit

By Becky Raspe

The Akron Art Museum is currently home to a section of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s “State of the Art” exhibition, on view through Feb. 26, 2023.

“State of the Art: Constructs” at the Akron Art Museum features 21 of the 61 total artists in the exhibition, with works meant to expand on how contemporary art created throughout the country reflects the present time and how those moments connect to one’s sense of self, the place they live and planet we all inhabit.

Jeff Katzin, associate curator at the Akron Art Museum, tells Canvas the show created by Bentonville, Ark.-based Crystal Bridges Museum was first created and organized in early 2020 as a traveling exhibition. Crystal Bridges, which was founded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton, had three curators travel the United States, seeking “art that would best

Photos / Crystal Bridges Museum / Akron Art Museum

represent the moment and what’s being made in the United States” both within major cities and in communities “off the beaten path,” Katzin says.

The Akron Art Museum exhibition features three Ohio artists, and two are from Cleveland – Lori Kella and Amy Casey. The third, Alice Pixley Young, is based in Cincinnati. To travel the show, Crystal Bridges broke the exhibit into three parts featuring 20 artists, 20 artists and 21 artists. Katzin adds the museum primarily chose the “Constructs” section because of the Ohio connections.

CONNECTING MICRO TO MACRO

Pulling from the intellectual idea of a construct, or a collection of small ideas that build into one large concept, Katzin says broader ideas are what drives the show –especially larger, intangible concepts like happiness and morality.

“It’s really about these big ideas that govern everyday life and how people relate to each other,” he says. “That’s the sense of the word ‘Constructs’ in the title. It is apt for this section of the traveling show because the word does seem to suggest there are big ideas that factor into our everyday lives. And if we, as humans, have the power to build these ideas, we also have the power to take them apart, examine them and maybe even rebuild them to create a future for ourselves.”

Within that general ethos, three sub-themes permeate the exhibition: planet, place and self. Katzin notes exploring that journey from the macrocosm to the microcosm shows it’s all a connected experience.

“As it turns out, those things are all somewhat interwoven because of the way we think about ourselves,” he says. “Living on a planet that we depend on has ramifications on how we think of ourselves as individuals. It’s that sense of smallness, that feeling you get from looking at a starry sky and thinking about it all. You can travel from macrocosm to microcosm very quickly. So, while the themes are perhaps seemingly different, there is a nice continuity between them.”

CLEVELAND CONTRIBUTIONS TO ‘CONSTRUCT’

Both Cleveland artists, Casey and Kella, have work on display in the “planet” section. Kella, who resides in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, has been creating art professionally for over 20 years. She recalls getting a visit from the Crystal Bridges Museum’s curators in 2019 and being interested in the exhibit’s concept as it relates to her work.

“A lot of my work is about world-building, in which I can use the miniature scale to think about larger global issues,” says

“Euclid’s Mirror” by Lori Kella (2019), featured in the “planet” section of “State of the Art: Constructs” at the Akron Art Museum. Archival pigment print, 30 x 45 inches.

Casey Katzin Kella

Photos / Crystal Bridges Museum / Akron Art Museum

Kella, who works mostly with paper dioramas that she then photographs as though they’re real scenes. “I am looking at the environment and using my photographs to think of that, especially in Cleveland’s Euclid Creek area. What is great about the exhibition is your work as an artist can have this individual take on the theme, but when you’re looking at it as a whole and seeing your work in a larger context, finding that common thread is exciting and interesting.”

Kella has shown at the Akron Art Museum before, most recently in its “Continuum: Historical Resonances in Contemporary Art” show that ran from July 15, 2021 to Feb. 27, 2022. Katzin says having her in the museum again for “Constructs” made sense.

“She creates meticulously constructed dioramas and makes them strictly to be photographed,” Katzin says. “On one hand, her images are very convincing and perfectly to scale with really creative uses of natural materials. But at the same time, her work is essentially monochromatic. The idea is not to fool you into thinking you’re looking at the real thing, but to display a balance between what is controlled by people, like constructing your own environments, and what isn’t, like natural growth and the general flow of nature – and how the natural world can be as fragile as a paper diorama.”

Casey, who also lives in Cleveland and has been a professional artist for over 20 years, says her visit from the traveling curators was exciting, especially since the exhibit allows her work to be shown with “a lot of interesting artists.” Casey’s paintings are detail-oriented, mostly of fantastical buildings and larger-than-life foliage and surrounding nature.

“One of the paintings I know is in the show is a long, narrow piece called ‘A Force of Uncertain Things,’ which was created at the end of 2019 and very much inspired by the uncertainty of the times,” Casey recalls. “Though it was made at the end of 2019 and feels like a tranquil time in comparison, it was still very exhausting to live it and think about my place in it all.”

While Casey says she doesn’t show work in Northeast Ohio often, Katzin says having her work in “Constructs” allows viewers to think outside of the box.

“(Casey) can be very exacting as a painter and very detail-oriented,” he says. “That really lends itself well to paintings of building and architecture, which became the characters in her work. In many of her pieces, there is a sense of movement and narrative you wouldn’t normally get out of architecture. The scale is inverted and the buildings seem very tiny, and the trees, mosses and grasses are gigantic in comparison. It reverses the usual relationship between what is built and what is natural.”

The other artists in the exhibit hail from all across the U.S., specializing in mediums like painting, sculpture, performance art, video, weaving and photography. With such a wide swath to experience, Katzin says he hopes visitors come away with an understanding of art and how it can relate to the current moment in history.

“I hope that we help to bring our community examples of the country’s best contemporary art, to inspire people in our community to push themselves, to push their art making and to keep it right on par with anything else that someone might think is cutting edge,” he says. “We have this moment that I hope is enriching and brings a sense of optimism. Art isn’t dead. It remains very responsive and vibrant. It continues to add in new materials and techniques, and that is something really exciting to be involved in.”

Above: “In a Day, She Became The Master of Her House” by Ronald Jackson (2019), in the “self” section of “State of the Art: Constructs” at the Akron Art Museum. Oil on canvas, 65 x 55 x 1 3/4 inches.

Below: “Darwin” by Su Su (2018), featured as part of the “self” section of “State of the Art: Constructs” at the Akron Art Museum. Oil on canvas, 34 x 50 x 2 inches.

ON VIEW

“State of the Art: Constructs” is on view at the Akron Art Museum through Feb. 26, 2023. The museum is at 1 S. High St., Akron. For more information, visit akronartmuseum.org.

To read a 2014 Canvas profile of Amy Casey, visit canvascle.com

Photos / Crystal Bridges Museum / Akron Art Museum

Opening Reception

Student Independent Exhibition 2023

Now in its 77th year, the Cleveland Institute ofArt’s Student Independent Exhibition (SIE) is an honored tradition that’s never conventional. Organized entirely by students, who choose the jurors and mount the exhibition, SIE offers fresh—and sometimes surprising—approaches to contemporary art. SIE is on view through March 19, 2023.

Cleveland Institute of Art Reinberger Gallery 11610 Euclid Avenue | Cleveland, OH 44106 cia.edu/exhibitions | 216.421.7407

OUR VISION

DEREK WALKER

By Amanda Koehn

Derek Walker’s ability to challenge himself with new painting styles – despite the success of his past works, and still being a college student – has him moving toward a promising future.

The Cleveland Institute of Art senior and Maple Heights native was a finalist for a leading U.S. student art competition in 2021, saw his first solo show this year and received several other recent accolades for his paintings.

He pushes himself toward new genres, now experimenting with pieces where the end result is not as planned as his previous work.

“For these types of paintings,” he says, pointing to a couple of portraits from 2021, in his art studio at CIA, “I got too comfortable with it after about three years of just doing these styles, where I knew what I was going to paint from the very beginning.”

Now working on his Bachelor of Fine Arts project, he’s combining the realism of his earlier work and the cartoonish qualities of his more recent art with new narratives and ideas.

Walker’s first solo show, “Let The Cape Fly,” at the Art Studio Gallery at Case Western Reserve University in May comprised naturalistic portraits. In them, “The figure is kind of tricking the viewer as if they’re in the room with them,” he says.

The show specifically explores the durag, a hair covering commonly used to protect Black hairstyles. Consistent across his work, he incorporates symbols relating to Cleveland, such as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, a hip hop group from Cleveland, and the RTA logo.

Age: 21 • Lives: Maple Heights

Creates: Cleveland • Learns: Senior painting major at Cleveland Institute of Art

“Faulty Printer” (2022). Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Walker chose to focus on the durag because of its cultural ties to the Black Diaspora, he says, and to display it within portraits and figurative art, which historically lack representation of Black people and culture.

“I kind of wanted to celebrate it through a naturalistic rendering, and like ideas of representation because seeing art historical portraits, I didn’t really see any figures that were Black,” he says. “I kind of wanted to do my own take on that and insert figures that are Black into these painting conventions.”

“Let The Cape Fly” was developed through CIA’s Creativity Works internship, where students organize their own project with a community partner over a semester.

“It’s an amazing program because I got to pretty much do everything from scratch and really learn the ropes,” Walker says. “Now I have under my belt the idea of organizing a show.”

For his first painting for that series, “Remain Myself,” Walker says he “kind of spent my entire quarantine (during COVID-19) painting it. That took about four or five months.” In the 2021 Student Independent Exhibition at CIA, it won both the show’s Board Grand Prize and The Gwen Cooper ’63 Award.

Another piece, “30 Wave Caps,” was a finalist for the AXA Art Prize – a leading national student art competition. Walker traveled to New York City in November 2021 to see it on view at the Wilkinson Gallery at the New York Academy of Art. He was among 40 finalists chosen from 600 submissions.

After that series, Walker began to dive into a comic book style of painting, he says, pointing to two pieces in his studio at CIA. And now working on his BFA project, the works so far are painted in a scale of black, gray and white, depicting people and symbols in scenes across Cleveland.

While the story is not explicitly written out like in a comic book, there’s most definitely a narrative. The artwork dabbles in afrofuturism, he says, an aesthetic movement focused on the intersection of the Black Diaspora culture and science and technology.

ON VIEW

• “MIND, BODY, SPIRIT & SOOOUUUL,” an exhibition featuring art by Derek Walker, is on view at the Streetlight Guild, 1367 E. Main St. in Columbus, through Nov. 26 For more information, visit bit.ly/3T0LJli.

“I’m pulling from afrofuturism, but I’m looking at it from a standpoint of Cleveland commuters,” he says, pointing to a piece titled “Late Bus” that shows two commuters waiting in the rain, and includes a Cleveland Guardians logo. It shows o his comic style but with a sense of dystopia. He jokes he got “a little festive” working on it around Halloween.

For the BFA project, he’s scouted locations around Cleveland, with “Late Bus” taking place at a bus stop near E. 55th Street and Broadway Avenue. In future paintings, he’s hoping to depict more of Cleveland’s iconic buildings and dip into more experimental areas of fashion, he says.

Walker says he’s often inspired by music and narratives in songs. He will draw an idea in his sketchbook, and then considers who to photograph that will fit his vision – often family or friends. He’ll edit the photos in Photoshop to complete the scene, and then will get to work on the painting, he says.

This past year, he also had work on

view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in the exhibition, “Where We Overlap,” curated by Davon Brantley, who was featured in Canvas’ Who’s Next in 2020. Walker is currently showing at the Streetlight Guild in Columbus in an exhibit where Ohio artists explore their psyche and how it communicates with the world around them. The Streetlight Guild show is curated by artists Nina “9” Wells & Khamall Jahi.

Looking to graduation in the spring, Walker says he can see himself in a creative role at a company like Marvel, balanced with freelance and selling paintings.

Growing up, Walker played baseball in addition to making art, and thought he would pursue a career in one of them. But when it came time for high school, he chose Cleveland School of the Arts, which didn’t have a baseball team –meaning he had to decide between the two fairly early.

“I think it was a good decision,” he says.

“(Walker’s) fearlessness plays out at every level. Some artists, student or not, get really comfortable in the work they’re making, especially if they feel like they’ve become known for it. This can mean that the work kind of shuts down, stops developing. Derek is very self-aware as an artist and he’s not afraid to try new strategies, processes or techniques. If the work isn’t doing what he wants it to, he’s not afraid to change it and he’s got the painting chops to do it. Derek’s the real deal.”

Lane Cooper, associate professor of painting, Cleveland Institute of Art

Above: “Remain Myself” (2020). Acrylic on wood panel, 39 x 72 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. Opposite page: Derek Walker in his art studio with “Fendi’s Ballad” (2021, oil on canvas, 58 x 36 inches) to his left, and “Late Bus” (2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches) to his right. Photo / Amanda Koehn

Cooper

MEAGAN SMITH

By Amanda Koehn

Meagan Smith has spent the better part of the last few years learning about the infinite possibilities of digital weaving. Since the medium is not widely accessible – digital looms are costly and can be di cult to access – her mission to make brightly colored, often wavy and complex patterned weaves took her to Norway this year.

Back from three summer residencies in Norway, where digital weaving was founded, she’s working on new weaving projects that explore themes like fragmentation.

Smith, who has a background in painting, drawing and ceramics, is drawn to bold colors, specifically shades like “puke green” and “electric yellow” – “colors that just make you vibrate inside,” she says. A former collegiate swimmer, she also draws inspiration from movements bodies make in the water, like splashes, ripples and reflections.

She notes one digital weaving can take from 60 to 80 hours.

“It can be overwhelming knowing how many possibilities there are,” she says of the practice, showing many vibrant pieces in her new Cleveland Asiatown art studio, which includes a floor loom and computer to build digital projects. “It’s like a beautifully painful thing.”

Digital weavings are developed in Photoshop, where pixels correspond to threads on a loom. Artists tell the computer how to create the piece by controlling the threads, Smith says. Once drafted, they send the design to the digital loom to make the weaving.

“You can combine di erent complex patterns together that you can’t do on the floor loom,” Smith says, showing an example of a hydrangea silhouette she made with beads

Age: 29 • Lives: Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland • Creates: Asiatown neighborhood of Cleveland Learned: MFA in textiles from Kent State University and BFA in painting & drawing from The University of Akron

“Stretching Across 2” (2022). Hand woven on TC2 loom, painted warp, cotton and synthetic threads, 15.25 x 13.5 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

embellishing it. She also sometimes paints on threads to create “surprise” elements, she says.

A Houston native, Smith lived in Atlanta and Denver growing up. She moved to Ohio after being recruited for swimming by the University of Akron.

After two-and-a-half years though, she stopped swimming for the school and shifted her focus to art – two practices that are more similar than one might think. Both swimming and art making are based around “structure and rhythm and technique, and some of the same even bodily movements,” Smith says.

After completing her bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing in 2015, she worked “loosely as an art therapist,” she says, adding she didn’t know what exactly she wanted to do after college. She also took ceramics classes at Cuyahoga Community College, and continued to make work.

“I started cutting up my paintings and then sewing them back together,” she says. “I was really just fascinated by lines and instead of making a stroke with a paintbrush, I wanted to do that with threads. So, I started sewing into my pieces, and it just activated the lines a lot more.”

She took a weaving workshop at Praxis Fiber Workshop in Cleveland’s Waterloo Arts District and visited the “NEO Geo” exhibit at the Akron Art Museum, where she first saw digital weaving work by Janice Lessman-Moss, a textiles professor at Kent State University. Smith applied to Kent to work with LessmanMoss – her now-mentor who retired from Kent recently – and graduated with her master’s degree in 2021. As a student, she traveled to Japan to study patterns in nature for a month.

After working at Praxis Fiber Workshop for a year, Smith went to Norway this summer for three months for three digital weaving residencies. There, she got to explore the medium in a more in-depth way, she says.

“That was something I wanted to do for the past two-anda-half years,” she says, adding she had applied for a Fulbright scholarship to study in Norway previously, but didn’t make it to the final round. “Going there and starting anew, continuing this body of work and trying to continue to find access to this tool has been a challenge, but also a success.”

Back in Cleveland, she doesn’t have a digital loom, as they are quite expensive – the loom she’s eying costs around $60,000. In 2023, she’ll be raising funds to buy one.

This past February, Smith showed her work at KINK Contemporary in Cleveland – her first solo show after graduate school. Smith also teaches foundation classes as an adjunct professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Currently, she has work on view at Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls and in the CIA 2022 Faculty Exhibition, as well as in a major European textile exhibition, Young Textile Art Triennial, in Lodz, Poland. Next year, she’ll have a show at Capacity Contemporary Exchange in Louisville, Ky.

While her MFA thesis drew from her history in swimming, Smith is now interested in exploring glitches in the flow –

ON VIEW

• Valley Art Center’s 51st annual juried art exhibition includes work by Meagan Smith, on view through Dec. 14 at 155 Bell St., in Chagrin Falls. For more information, visit valleyartcenter.org.

• The Cleveland Institute of Art 2022 Faculty Exhibition includes work by Smith, on view through Dec. 22 in Reinberger Gallery at 11610 Euclid Ave. For more information, visit cia.edu.

• Summa Health’s Behavioral Health Pavilion at 45 Arch St. in Akron will open Jan. 14, 2023, where Smith’s work is part of its permanent collection and a show celebrating the opening through April 4

“creating balance in something that seems like it’s broken or twisting and kind of moving,” she says.

Specifically, she’s intrigued by what comes when a given structure is broken, noting she thinks about the current political environment a lot in creating her work.

“Lately, I’ve been interested in the fragmentation of it and how that distorts and warps and becomes something inverted, or entirely new,” she says. “... I’m always finding myself trying to balance this distorted, kind of fragmented, broken, beautiful thing.”

Janice Lessman-Moss, emeritus professor of textiles, Kent State University

“Meagan is a lovely, caring individual who exudes a quality of dynamic energy and generous spirit that makes her a welcome addition to the creative community in Northeast Ohio. Her weavings harness this energy in engaging choreographies of color and pattern.”

Opposite page: Meagan Smith at her floor loom in her studio. Photo / Amanda Koehn. Above: “Chroma” (2019). Hand woven on TC2 loom, painted warp and cotton, 20 x 13.5 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. Below: Weavings by Meagan Smith in her studio.

Photo / Amanda Koehn

Lessman-Moss

NICK LEE

By Amanda Koehn

The turning point that led Nick Lee to become a painter was a trip to experience modern art in New York City in 2019. At the time, the Kent State University junior was majoring in art education.

But in New York, he saw a show by Amy Sherald soon after she debuted her National Portrait Gallery painting of Michelle Obama.

“Seeing her work was really life changing, and it allowed me to think of who can do what,” Lee says. “I kind of changed my path in a way.”

He listened to Sherald, known for depicting African American experiences through intimate painted portraits, discuss how she wanted to reflect Black people so they feel represented within art history.

“When you have a reflection, you know you’re not a monster,” Lee explains. “... I think of, what could I add to art history as well? And when I was looking at the portraits, there was a lack of representation for Asian people. It just clicked that that’s something I could do to add to art history.”

He soon switched his major to painting, graduating in 2021. This year, Lee had his first post-college solo show at Summit Artspace in Akron, and has two more he’s preparing to open.

Known for his vivid portraits that incorporate symbolic and political messages, Lee continues to seek inspiration from art history in conceptualizing his paintings. He often references Japanese culture. For example, he notes wooden bird carvings Japanese Americans created while forced into internment camps during World War II. He’s included them in his paintings as a symbol of Japanese American strength.

Age: 25 • Lives and creates: Akron

Learned: BFA in painting from Kent State University

“Osaka” (2021). Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches.

Left: Nick Lee. Above: “An Ox outside the China Shop” (2022). Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches. Photos courtesy of the artist.

One painting, “Sympathy for the Caged Bird,” shows a boy holding a bird in a cage. It symbolizes “repeating of history,” he says, tying when Japanese Americans were blamed for World War II to when Asian Americans were blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Hate crimes rose and former President Donald Trump repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus.” Donald and Melania Trump are in the painting’s background, Lee explains.

A graduate of Green High School, Lee says as a child, he liked drawing people.

“I’ve always drawn and I’ve always been attracted to art – even though for my family, it’s like foreign to them,” he says.

It wasn’t until college that becoming an artist became a realistic goal, he says. A Kent State painting professor, Charles Basham, taught him how to use bright, saturated colors in his paintings, he adds.

After college, he worked at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibition when it came to Cleveland, and did an artist residency there last year. It was a good experience for working in an artistic environment, he says, and he made and sold his work at the exhibit – giving him exposure to a wide, diverse pool of visitors. Afterward, he took a job at a Lowe’s home improvement store.

So far, the biggest challenge he’s faced in his art career has been the financial aspect, he says. Since the beginning of August, he’s pursued art full time.

Another turning point came when Lee was selected for Summit Artspace’s first funded solo exhibition for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, or BIPOC, artists. His show, “When We Share Our Wounds” – which sought to heighten representation of Japanese Americans in portraiture – was on view from April 8 through June 25.

“It meant a lot to me because it was my first solo show after my degree,” he says, adding he created the work for his senior thesis, but it was shown as part of a KSU group show at the time. “It was nice to have that work secluded from like all the other students’ work.”

ON VIEW

•Nick Lee’s show at Negative Space Gallery, 3820 Superior Ave. E., second floor in Cleveland, is on view starting Nov. 26, with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit is on view until Jan. 20, 2023

•Heights Arts will host a solo show by Nick Lee, on view at 2175 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights from Jan. 13, 2023 through March 12

Lee’s profile has only grown since.

His painting of professional tennis player Naomi Osaka was printed to hang in the storefront of Velvet Vintage Boutique in downtown Akron. He also was part of a show at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood earlier this fall.

This season, he will have a solo show at Negative Space Gallery in Cleveland’s Asiatown starting Nov. 26. The show, six portraits of Asian Americans from the Cleveland area, was developed with support from SPACES’ Urgent Art Fund Cycle 3 – an initiative where the Cleveland gallery o ers project-based support

And opening Jan. 13, 2023, he’ll have a solo show at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. Lee says that show “fell in my lap,” after he pitched an idea and the gallery quickly agreed.

“I am really passionate about the LGBTQ community, so I wanted to make a show dedicated to them,” he says of the new Heights Arts project.

“I’ve sprinkled in queer people throughout my portraits, but I haven’t had a show dedicated to queer people.”

to Cuyahoga County artists, supported by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

“Nick’s spring 2022 solo exhibition at Summit Artspace, ‘When We Share Our Wounds,’ facilitated important conversations about who is represented in our media and artwork, and who is missing or systematically erased. The stories his portraits tell are vibrant, complex, compelling, humorous and painful at once. Nick’s work offers so many points of entry, challenging us to reconsider the assumptions we carry about people, culture and race.”

Heather

Meeker, executive director, Summit Artspace

“Sympathy for the Caged Bird” (2021). Oil on canvas, 28 x 38 inches.

Meeker

SYDNEY NiCOLE KAY

By Amanda Koehn

Mixed-media artist and photographer Sydney Nicole Kay’s work often builds from vivid images of people to explore ideas surrounding consumerism and race.

Incorporating bold, contrasting colors and intricate cutouts, she tries to let her work come naturally and allows those around her to inspire it.

“I kind of like sitting on things and just letting them marinate, and just kind of doing a lot of passion projects,” Kay says.

For the 2021 Cleveland Institute of Art graduate, those “passion projects” have led her into shows that would be pursued by artists much farther in their careers.

Kay grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she has childhood memories of wanting to be an artist. While she always liked drawing, her mother was “like the queen of taking pictures everywhere,” which led Kay to do so, too, she says.

“I kind of knew I wanted to do art, but I didn’t know exactly what,” she says. “I think most people, when you think of artists, you just think of the typical fine artist and not really all the other spaces you can branch out to.”

In high school, she was motivated by her art teacher to pursue a career in the field. When it came time to choose a college, she says she first learned about CIA when a representative visited her relatively small high school to share information about its programs. She liked it, as did her parents, and she initially started at CIA as an animation major.

Kay switched to photography, but she says, ironically, now she does more animation at her full-time job as a content production assistant at Marcus Thomas, a locally headquartered

advertising agency.

For her Bachelor of Fine Arts project, she incorporated screen printing and video into her photography work. The project, in part, analyzed the dynamic between advertisers and consumers, and the consumers’ role in determining what ultimately gets marketed.

“(It showed) what our role as the consumer is in figuring out what the advertisers market,” she says. “… If we want more representation, then we must demand that because I feel like the consumer doesn’t really act like we have as much power as we really do in trying to ask for what we want.”

For the project, she cut out human models from her photos. They leave the viewer to consider who might fit into the spaces based on the outfits and hair left in the image, she explains, and people may have di erent ideas based on their own backgrounds. Playing with “what I can take out,” of photos has also been a consistent theme in her work – filling spaces which seem random, but aren’t, with something completely di erent.

After graduating in 2021, she began her job at Marcus Thomas. Doing her own artwork on nights and weekends primarily since, she’s stayed busy and has gotten attention for it.

In 2021, she was part of “Cross Generations; bridging the gap of artists,” a show at the Morgan Conservatory in collaboration with the Museum of Creative Human Art. Less than a month after she graduated, the show aimed to amplify local artists of color across ages and disciplines.

Kay says that show helped lead to another project she did this year at the Cleveland Print Room. She was an inaugural recipient of the Stephen Bivens Fellowship/Residency there, creating and

Age: 23 • Lives and creates: Cleveland Learned: BFA in photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art

Sydney Nicole Kay at her “Reaching Paradise” show at the Cleveland Print Room. Photo / McKinley Wiley

showing her exhibition, “Reaching Paradise,” on view this past August and September.

Her project at the Print Room covered di erent generations and their relationships to success and adversity, she explains. Focusing on people of color – from Baby Boomers to Generation Z – she explored how areas of success like power, wealth, knowledge and happiness are defined and achieved di erently across generations, and each generation’s unique issues faced.

She paired that idea with photographic mediums – an iPhone, digital camera and large format camera – to depict and represent the generations with which they best align. Paralleling the exhibit’s exploration of generational challenges, di erent challenges come with each photographic medium, which she sought to understand. The large-format photos were a challenge in their own sense as she’s allergic to photo chemicals, she notes.

Her own family also served as inspiration for that project, specifically her great-aunt turning 100 years old, she says. And in her idiosyncratic style, she cut out spaces in the images and filled them with other items, like newspaper print, that also reflect di erent generations.

“It’s more like kind of comparing the (generational) issues and how (they build) on each other,” she says, adding that the show aimed to address if society could get to a place where there are no major issues a ecting people because of their race. “... I’d like to get to a place where racism isn’t a factor, but we still aren’t there.”

The kind of person who always does things “110%,” Kay

explains she’s struggled with overworking herself and getting burned out. She’s trying to work in moderation in that sense, joking that she gets maybe an overly strong work ethic from her parents. To keep things manageable, her goal is to be in one art show each year. She’s still considering where that might be in 2023.

“I kind of am also a workaholic ... to be honest with myself,” she says. “I don’t really like to sit still.”

“(Kay’s) insight for things is always a new perspective. Especially in this most recent show at the Print Room, when she was talking about generational wealth and how that translated to the mediums she was using, and also the mixed-media collagetype stuff she was doing, I had never thought about any of that stuff that way. ... I think (her work is) very striking. Usually, she uses a lot of really bold, contrasting colors. So even if you’re not totally understanding the full picture of the concept, it’s just awesome to look at.”

Kaliban Zehe, teaching artist and dark room technician, Cleveland Print Room, and photographer/performer

A 16 x 20 inch digital inkjet print that was part of Sydney Nicole Kay’s BFA project in 2021. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Zehe

An 8 x 10 inch digital inkjet print that was part of Sydney Nicole Kay’s 2021 BFA project. Outfit designed by Cierra Boyd. Photo courtesy of the artist.

JULiA MiLBRANDT

Age: 25 • Lives:

By Amanda Koehn

For Julia Milbrandt, inspiration may come from something so minute you may overlook it. But if you do notice it – perhaps a balloon floating through the sky, a box of confetti or a pop music lyric – it might bring a tinge of happiness.

“I get my inspiration from my everyday life,” she says. “I’m really interested in small moments of like wonder and joy and awe that kind of take us out of our everyday mundane experiences.”

She’ll snap a photo to document the moment and make a note in her phone, eventually to become art.

The Bu alo, N.Y. native first moved to Northeast Ohio to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art and graduated in 2019. Now, she works a day job as a preparator at Progressive, where she installs art, brings in new acquisitions and ships artwork around the county.

During her nights and weekends though, Milbrandt can be found either drawing in her studio – an extra bedroom in her South Euclid apartment – or printmaking at her alma mater, where she is an artist-in-residence. At CIA, she works with students and assists with departmental projects, she says, and has the benefit of using the college’s printmaking workshop.

“Stone lithography is my jam in print, and that is totally something you can’t do at home,” she says, noting the process using limestone, gum arabic and nitric acid requires a special facility to avoid danger.

Milbrandt says she’s always created things and in middle school became serious about fine arts. Choosing CIA for its feel

“Do You Ever Feel (Like a Plastic Bag)” (2019). Lithograph installation, 38 x 60 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

and proximity to home, she pursued printmaking for the first time and chose to double major in it with drawing. She valued the chance to learn from Karen Beckwith, a local artist and a Tamarind Master Printer – the title for one who completes the elite lithography program at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico.

“I got to learn litho from Karen, who’s one of the highest trained people in the country,” she says of Beckwith, who was technical specialist at CIA before she retired.

In 2018, when Milbrandt was a junior, she took part in a Creativity Works internship program at CIA that challenged

South Euclid

Creates: South Euclid and Cleveland Institute of Art • Learned: BFA in drawing and printmaking from CIA

her to build her own solo show. It also involved the realworld work of pitching herself to galleries and helped build her confidence, she says. While she faced some rejection, she showed at the Gordon Square Arts District o ce at the 78th Street Studios.

“That really challenged me professionally, and kind of socially because I still am pretty introverted and timid,” she says. “It really pushed me that like in order to make it happen, I had to email these galleries, I had to meet these people that I was nervous to talk to.”

While Milbrandt says she’s always been drawn to bright color, reflective objects, and the way light moves and defines spaces and things – a style she pursued in school – after graduating she sought to explore new themes. The COVID-19 pandemic began less than a year later, which also influenced her work. She had more free time, she says, as she moved back in with her parents in Bu alo for a few months after the places she worked at the time shut down temporarily.

Initially, she found she lacked inspiration because she couldn’t go out to see and experience things that would normally lead to artistic ideas. And once she did create, it was di erent.

“It was a lot more of the abstraction-based stu ,” she says. “I was trying to pause people and make them stop and look and pay attention to small things in the everyday.”

She points to a screen print she made of a balloon sign that says “Oh what fun,” where the word “fun” has deflated and fallen some.

“It’s kind of looking at the moments after that peak moment of excitement,” she says, adding it’s a natural shift for finding momentum after the big milestone of earning her BFA.

And she is gaining momentum. This summer, she had a drawing on view at Praxis Fiber Workshop as part of the CAN Triennial. It was based on a box of confetti pieces and “little bits of memories” of stu the box once held, she says.

“We hold on to these little memories – whether that be physical or like a photo in our phone, or just like a little memory in our brain,” she says.

The piece is titled “Look At This Stu , Isn’t It Neat?” – a reference to “The Little Mermaid.” Pop culture and music often influence her work as well. A big Taylor Swift fan, her lyrics show up in Milbrandt’s titles.

At Future Ink Graphics’ “Women Who Print” show earlier this year, a print of hers hung with Beckwith’s. Milbrandt was also in a recent exhibit at MetroHealth and part of the 2022 Mid America Print Council Conference, hosted by Kent State University with CIA as a partner institution.

And after a busy year, now it’s time to “literally go back to the drawing board” to determine what’s next, she says.

Meanwhile, her work on Progressive’s art collection also fuels her, she says. Since December 2020, she’s installed artwork that employees can experience and learn from in their work environment, which aligns with her own artistic practice.

“There’s a huge educational component to our collection,” she says. “It’s really great to get to engage with people that aren’t trying to engage about art, but it’s in their everyday life. The same thing (with) working at CIA – it’s like getting to help students and other artists, even just on a technical aspect to make their work, it like fuels my brain a bit. ... I like to help make art happen in the world, whether that be my own or bringing other people up.”

“Julia’s excitement about a project increases with each new level of technical difficulty. This excitement, a bubbly effervescence, translates into the festive imagery of her art. Julia’s work holds these two things, technical virtuosity and giddy representation, in tension, creating compelling artwork.”

Sarah Kabot, associate professor and chair of drawing department, Cleveland Institute of Art

Left: “When The Fun Has Ended” (2021). Screenprint, 22 x 15 inches. Center: “Look At This Stuff, Isn’t It Neat?” (2022). Gouache and colored pencil on embossed paper, 30 x 22 inches. Right: “Typhoon Lagoon” (2019). Lithograph, 30 x 22 inches. Photos courtesy of the artist. Opposite page: Julia Milbrandt in her South Euclid art studio with some inspiration for her work. Photo / Amanda Koehn

Kabot

Promising Transitions

By Carlo Wolff

The former manager and director of the Bop Stop since 2014, Gabriel Pollack hopes his experience helps make the Cleveland Museum of Art as top of mind for lovers of musical diversity as it is for lovers of the fine arts. Imagine jazz concerts in museum galleries. Visualize lunching at the museum’s Provenance restaurant while a modern classical group performs. These are among the ideas Pollack is considering as he transitions from running a

pristine listening room best known for jazz to director of performing arts at CMA, a role he assumed Oct. 17.

“I want someone looking for music in Cleveland to start considering the museum’s calendar,” Pollack says in an interview at the Bop Stop at The Music Settlement, the nationally recognized, 100-seat nonprofit venue in the Hingetown district of Ohio City that he ran for nearly eight years.

For now, Pollack is charged with overseeing performing arts at the museum and its branches,

A City Stages world music performance in 2018, put on by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Photo / Scott Shaw Photography

Gabriel Pollack wants to make the Cleveland Museum of Art a musical magnet

Pollack

Photo / Sharon Hughes

Transformer Station in Hingetown and the Community Arts Center on West 25th Street. He is responsible for MIX, a social and musical event in the CMA atrium the first Friday of each month; Solstice, the big CMA party every June; and City Stages, summer concerts of world music and dance outside Transformer Station.

“Gabe brings a unique combination of skills to his role at the CMA,” says his boss, Heather Lemonedes Brown, the museum’s deputy director and chief curator. “As an Oberlin-trained trumpeter, he’s got a deep appreciation for the arts. At the same time, he’s also developed entrepreneurial experience as the manager of the Bop Stop. His academic history, coupled with his practical experience, give him an understanding of both the art form and the business of managing the art form, which makes him perfectly suited to lead our performing arts program.”

BOP STOP BENEFITS

Born in the Philadelphia suburb of Swarthmore, Pollack entered Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in 2006, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in jazz entrepreneurship with a concentration in jazz trumpet performance. Instead of a senior recital, he wrote a business plan for a club –which he submitted to the Music Settlement as part of his job application.

Pollack’s first job out of Oberlin was with Jim Wadsworth Production Agency, helping to book and work with acts.

“That was a great intro to the music business,” Pollack says. “I’d spend my mornings working for Jim’s booking agency, and I was East Coast and Midwest agent for all of Jim’s acts and Steve Frumkin’s acts on the roster.” He booked tours for groups like the Four Freshmen, Cyrille Aimée and Freddy Cole, and was schooled in negotiating dates and handling riders, or special stipulations, like a certain type of backstage food and beverage that an artist might demand.

At night, Pollack would go to the Cleveland Heights restaurant/nightclub Nighttown to run sound “and take care of the artist, get them fed, pick them up from the hotel, airport runs, all that sort of thing,” he says.

“All of that work translated directly to the Bop Stop. I would not have gotten the Bop Stop job without that experience,” he adds.

He was planning to return to the

Philadelphia area when the Bop Stop job was posted, calling him to stay. When he got it, he bought a house in Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District. He and his partner will stay on the west side, he says.

BUSINESS TO BUILD ON

At CMA, Pollack succeeds Tom Welsh, who left after 15 years to be managing director of Big Ears, a culture and arts organization in Knoxville, Tenn. Pollack heard about the CMA opening this summer during the National Independent Venue Association Conference in Cleveland, where the Bop Stop won the award for Best Innovation by a Club, Venue or Festival.

For Pollack, the move was natural –and overdue.

For the first year-and-a-half at the Bop Stop, he was a staff of one –running sound, manning the kitchen, tending bar and driving artists from airport to hotel.

“You start your days at 10, 10:30 in the morning, you’re here through a show, and yeah, it’s five or six 12-hourplus days a week,” he says, noting the Music Settlement, his employer, gave him a free hand otherwise.

His job at CMA, which he accepted after rejecting another offer and dropping another promising lead, is more 9 to 5, and he has backup so he won’t have to cancel a show if he goes on vacation.

“I always felt pressure to push myself so our numbers would do well, but at the same time, balance my personal life. That was always a challenge for me,” Pollack says.

Not only did he rise to that challenge, Pollack brought the Bop Stop national attention by presenting some 300 concerts a year, developing innovative ventures like the “Live at the Bop Stop” radio program and podcast, and earning accolades like Best Jazz Club in America from readers of the online magazine All About Jazz in 2019. He notes jazz is the club’s signature but 20% of its offerings involve other kinds of improvisation-based music.

Pollack is particularly proud of Terence Blanchard’s Blue Note recording, “Live,” a smoking album the prolific trumpeter-composer and his E-Collective band recorded at the Bop Stop over two nights in 2017.

He’s also pleased that outside of the state of Ohio-mandated COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the club has

remained open. In fact, from July 2020 to July 2021, the Bop Stop presented about 260 shows, almost as many as pre-COVID.

The pandemic actually spurred new business.

Student wannabes came seeking college auditions, rendered virtual by the lockdown. The Bop Stop, which acquired streaming equipment in 2020, ended up recording a lot of college audition tapes – effective ones. “I can’t take credit because the kids were talented, but the track record of students getting into their No. 1 or No. 2 schools with auditions that were recorded here is impressive,” Pollack says.

During that period, the Bop Stop also produced events for Cleveland-area firms like Moen and Fairport Wealth. “All these companies wanted to do virtual holiday parties,” Pollack says. “It would be crazy – we would have these rentals, there would be nobody here, but they were very lucrative nights.”

Such resilience attests to the spirit of collaboration Pollack aims to further in his new post.

“One thing that made the Bop Stop successful, especially on a small budget, was our partnered concerts,” he says. “I would love to be partnered with more community organizations to help bring

Gabriel Pollack introduces an act at the Bop Stop. He became director of performing arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art in October. Photo / Carlo Wolff

their audiences to CMA.”

The museum wants to be more accessible to a greater number of people and present an even more diverse array of programs – not only musical but also, perhaps, theater and film – in more contexts, Pollack suggests.

Among the reasons CMA found him appealing was his knack for “balancing really artsy productions with some that are a little more mainstream, so that financially, everything evens out,” he says. He has balanced the books at the Bop Stop while creating a space known for “creative jazz improv music,” but that won’t say no to something mainstream.

“What’s appealing to me is that the museum has these goals, and they’re looking for me to create the road map on how to reach those goals,” he says.

Lemonedes Brown says, “Our performing arts program expands far beyond MIX, Solstice and City Stages. We have a regular repertoire of programs throughout the year spanning from chamber music to new wave artistry. These programs are an incredible way for us to engage with new and diverse audiences in a way that introduces those people to the CMA and helps us hear back from them.”

IN GOOD HANDS

Bryan Kennard, who is at least as credentialed as Pollack, is the new director of the Bop Stop. He spent part of August and most of September shadowing Pollack to learn the club’s ropes, saying he couldn’t imagine assuming the post without that crash course.

“I don’t think I would have really been able to run this club without that five-week grace period,” says Kennard, who officially started on Sept. 7.

Not only has Kennard, an accomplished flutist and composer, seen many concerts at the Bop Stop, he has performed there. A Cleveland native, he has master’s degrees in flute performance from Youngstown State University and in jazz composition from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in music technology from the University of Miami.

Kennard also cuts a figure similar to Pollack’s. Both are slim, lightly bearded and quietly charismatic. Kennard jokes that the resemblance was a job requirement.

Once Pollack nailed down the CMA job, he urged Kennard to go for the Bop Stop directorship. Kennard has a “great ear,” Pollack says. In addition, Kennard handled bookings professionally and he’s able to “work the lifestyle.”

“The Bop Stop has become the place for musicians to look to, an opportunity to explore their own musical ideas,” Kennard says. “And the venue is just set up so beautifully for that reason. It’s obviously a listening room when you walk in just because the attention is always on the stage.”

“I love the Bop Stop and I’ll miss it,” says Pollack. “But I felt like I was ready for the next step.”

Lemonedes Brown Photo / CMA Kennard

The Cleveland Museum of Art’s 2022 MIX: Oktoberfest event. Photo / Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Starts Here Package

Tour de Circle Package

BECK CENTER

REVITALIZED

By Ed Carroll

One of Northeast Ohio’s most respected arts centers is turning 90 in 2023.

An institution in Cleveland’s art scene, particularly on the west side, the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood will enter the milestone in strong shape. After weathering the uncer tainty of the COVID-19 pandemic – and completing a number of needed renovations while taking advantage of stay-at-home orders and smaller crowds – the Beck Center now has updated theaters and rehearsal spaces, and expanded accessibility so even more people can access and enjoy a variety of performing arts.

The story of the Beck Center goes back further than 90 years –to February 1931, says Lucinda “Cindy” Einhouse, president and CEO of the Beck Center. That year, Lakewood’s Junior Chamber of Commerce started a performance project known as “The Guild of the Masques.” The project was part of a period known as the Little Theater Movement, where people sought to express themselves more. As a result, small companies began to form, bringing experimental and more intimate theater to people, often in non-traditional settings such as someone’s home.

“People were basically putting on plays for each other in

small venues around the country,” Einhouse says.

The guild incorporated on May 16, 1933 as the Lakewood Little Theater, with Richard Kay as director. Einhouse says the Beck Center bases its anniversary around this incorporation, and the Lakewood Little Theater’s first performance was “The Queen’s Husband” by Robert Emmet Sherwood. Einhouse says the Beck Center still has many of the playbills from early shows, including that very first performance of “The Queen’s Husband.”

Fast forward many decades, and one of the reasons the Beck Center has remained both successful and beloved is it offers so much more than theater. In the last couple years it has expanded its spaces and accessibility, while also continuing to be a staple in the Northeast Ohio arts scene and helping grow that community through its outreach and educational efforts.

“This was truly an evolution over time,” Einhouse says. “Education has actually grown up to be a bigger part of our business today, but at the time when the Lakewood Little Theater incorporated, they started almost immediately classes for adults because they were teaching diction and stage movement, and all these things that would be helpful to people putting the shows on the stages.”

The Lakewood arts mainstay transforms, continues its stage presence and mission as it approaches 90 years

Right: “Elf the Musical” at the Beck Center in 2021. It sold out then, and will be performed again this year from Dec. 2-30. Photo / Steve Wagner. Previous Page: “The Scottsboro Boys” was performed as a Beck Center collaboration with the Baldwin Wallace Musical Theatre Program in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Photo / Roger Mastroianni.

CREATING HISTORY

The Lakewood Little Theater moved into its home in 1938. Before settling into what was then known as the Lucier Movie Theater at 17823 Detroit Ave., the group performed at venues and living rooms around the area. The theater group eventually purchased the building outright in 1947, according to the center’s website.

The Lakewood Little Theater began offering adult theater classes in 1936, and eventually formalized its education program for children by incorporating the Lakewood Little Theater School in 1948. Einhouse says teaching dance followed not too long after, as many of the performances involved some aspect of dancing.

In December 1975, the company broke ground on the Lakewood Little Theater/Kenneth C. Beck Center for the Cultural Arts, after a fundraising campaign and a matching donation by businessman Kenneth Beck. It expanded around the original theater, adding among other things, a new dressing room, a museum and a 500-seat auditorium, according to the website. After dropping the Lakewood Little Theater from the name in 1976, the center also purchased an adjacent National Guard armory in 1979, further increasing its space.

Among other advancements, one of the most notable changes occurred in the late 1990s, when the center’s board decided to become a professional theater and begin paying its actors, the website says. The Beck Center then merged with Riverside Music Academy to further enhance the center’s music education and creative therapy offerings in 2001.

Einhouse says for many years, the visual arts were a bit more ancillary to the theater’s operations, but they started in the 1950s and really formalized after the merger with Riverside Music Academy.

After flirting with the idea of moving from its longtime home, the theater recommitted to its established location in 2006, and formally changed its name to the Beck Center for the Arts on Aug. 26, 2011, Einhouse says.

REVAMPING IN THE COVID-19 YEARS

Things were more or less stable for the Beck Center until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. The pandemic hit the performing arts and live theater especially hard as necessary restrictions made in-person shows a rarity and group education difficult.

Einhouse credits the faculty and staff of the Beck Center for not just managing with the changes, but thriving with them.

“I think that the staff and faculty here have demonstrated an extraordinary adaptability that I don’t think any of us knew we had,” she says. “Within a week of being shut down, we had classes online.”

As music classes are one-on-one with students, it was a bit easier to connect online for those programs, Einhouse says. With group classes, “it took a little more maneuvering, especially like dance,” she adds, as dance teachers were clearing out rooms in their homes to teach students.

But Einhouse knew it was important for the Beck Center to not only keep going, but to be there for the community as well,

she says.

“In a really uncertain time, people turn to the arts and need it even more,” she says. “We did a lot of free programing at first, and at the same time, our management team went full force into trying to figure out what was out there in the way of pandemic relief funding. We went 100% at pandemic relief funding and went to every source we could find.”

She says additionally, the center’s board made a “huge” decision to continue a capital fundraising campaign for renovations, which included improvements to the education wing, the oldest part of the Beck Center complex.

“As it turns out, that was the greatest, greatest thing that we did that because nobody was in the building” Einhouse says. “It was noisy, it would have been impossible for us to have our regular number of people for classes. So we got that out of the way. Then, when pandemic protocols were eased somewhat and people started coming back, we had this brand-

Dancers attend ballet practice in the Beck Center’s dance studio, which was renovated in 2021. Photo / Beck Center for the Arts

new place for people to come back to, and that made people much more excited and eager to come back.”

She says among the renovations were expansions to make the spaces inside the Beck Center more accessible and in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The age of the building had made some areas of the center previously practically inaccessible for people who use wheelchairs.

Phase one of the renovations were completed March 10, 2021 –purposely a year to the date after starting the capital campaign. Phase two officially finished a year later on March 10, 2022.

Phase three of the renovations has started with tearing down the annex building in the front of the center. Einhouse says this will let the Beck Center reconfigure the landscape to have a drop-off center in front and add a marquee to the front doors, among other changes. These renovations are scheduled for c ompletion during the 90th anniversary celebration in 2023.

“It’s all with an eye towards the customer experience,” she says. “It’s not necessarily about creating more space, but making the space that we have more functional and enjoyable.”

THE BECK CENTER EFFECT

While the Beck Center is known for delighting its fans with performing and visual arts, one reason it’s remained beloved is the connection it has with students and faculty, and some of these connections have remained strong for decades.

Ali Cassidy of Sheffield Lake has experienced the Beck Center from both sides – first as a dance student and now as a member of the faculty who teaches dance to students who were just like her. She first came to the Beck Center after the dance teacher at her local YMCA left. Her second teacher at the Beck Center was Melanie Szucs, who is still at the center today as associate director of dance education, along with ballet teacher Anna Roberts.

Cassidy continued taking classes until she left for college at The Ohio State University in Columbus, and admitted she never thought she’d be teaching. However, she took a dance

education course her junior year that sparked her interest.

She decided to come back to teach at the Beck Center, in addition to her role as an elementary dance teacher in Lorain City Schools, because she still had a close relationship with Szucs and the other teachers, she says.

Cassidy says she appreciates that the Beck Center has created such a sterling reputation for itself all throughout Ohio. She also says the work the Beck Center does in the community is one reason it stands out from other performing arts centers.

“I would say what’s special about the Beck Center as a whole is the amount of outreach that they do,” Cassidy says. “I have taught some of the outreach programs in the summertime before, when different camps or day cares would come in and take classes. I think that was very nice, there were a lot of kids that said they always wanted to do dance or always wanted to do art but never signed up, so it was a nice intro for them.”

And ultimately, Cassidy says her familiarity with the Beck Center is comforting to her.

“I think the Beck Center just always gave me a sense of home, and I appreciate being able to come back to it whenever I need to or wanted to,” she says.

Students draw in the Beck Center’s renovated education space. Photo / Beck Center for the Arts

Roe Green, Honorary Producer FILM

PICKS FOR PRESENTS

Galleries share ideas for gifts that support local artists and shops

By Courtney Byrnes

The holiday season is a time for friends and families to come together, often to enjoy a nice meal and exchange gifts. As you search for the perfect gift for the special people in your life, consider embracing the season of giving further by looking to support local artists and small businesses. After all, handcrafted gifts are often the best types of presents to receive, and where better to look than a local gallery or bookstore? Canvas asked some local galleries and shops about their best gift ideas, and here’s what they recommend for the 2022 holiday season.

Heights Arts

2175 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights • heightsarts.org

“(I) started the Heretic Toy Company after noticing how quickly plastic toys started to fill up and clutter (my) home after becoming a father. (I) wanted (my) child to play with toys that weren’t made overseas in sweatshops or laden with harmful plasticizers. Further, (I) wanted (our) living space filled with aesthetically pleasing toys that were handcrafted and ethical. Noticing that there was an abundance of wooden toys for toddlers but none for older children, (I) decided to create them,” writes sculptor and painter Bedel Tiscareño.

“(We) make custom jewelry, wedding bands and small sculptures in bronze, silver and gold. Each piece is first hand carved and then cast in solid metal. (We) are motivated by material permanence while exploring hand-wrought forms with ritual, emotion and function. (We) both studied at Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Institute of Art briefly with concentrations in studio art and sculpture,” write Bobby and Danielle Allen, the husband and wife duo behind The Circle Craft. They reside and work from their home studio in Cleveland Heights.

“Buddy Robot” wood sculpture by Bedel Tiscareño, founder of Heretic Toy Company. Photo / Bedel Tiscareño

Assorted gold rings by Danielle and Bobby Allen of The Circle Craft. Photo / Danielle & Bobby Allen

Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green 1936 South Green Road, South Euclid • sanctuaryongreen.com

American-made beeswax candles displayed on a handloomed table runner from Sweden. Photo / Victoria Koehn

“A beautifully handloomed or printed dishtowel is also a gift for everyone, and we have styles for any interior,” Koehn says.

“A light of a candle warms every heart, every day, not just holidays, so it is a gift that keeps on giving,” says Victoria Koehn, owner of Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green.

Artisans’ Corner Gallery

11110 Kinsman Road, Newbury artisanscornergallery.com

“Functional and beautiful pottery with designs to go with anyone’s home decor,” says Monica Glasscock, manager of Artisans’ Corner Gallery.

Husband and wife Zach and Joy Ingram run Brown Bear Pottery out of their in-home studio in Newbury, designing a variety of functional beauty items from bowls, platters, mugs and butter keepers to wine chillers and spoon rests. Photo / Artisans’ Corner Gallery

Swedish dishcloths are popular at Koehn’s Sanctuary and make great hostess gifts. Photo / Victoria Koehn

Loganberry Books

13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights • loganberrybooks.com

“‘All Creatures Weird and Dangerous’ is a nod to James Herriot’s ‘All Creatures Great and Small,’ following Otterson’s personal experiences as a traveling veterinarian,” says Devon Overley, the local voices coordinator for Loganberry Books. “Otterson offers readers a twist through detailing his (fictitious) run-ins with various cryptids. He cares for Bigfoot, Nessie and a mermaid in this entertaining narrative.”

“All Creatures Weird and Dangerous” by Timm Otterson makes a great gift for adult and young adult readers.

Photo / Loganberry Books

“Zivkov offers children a meditative picture book with nature-based affirmations,” Overley says. “The book features beautiful full-page illustrations of the wonders of nature. Zivkov gives children the time and space to breathe and feel connected to the world.”

Valley Art Center

155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls • valleyartcenter.org

“Whether purchased individually or as a stackable set, soothing stones are the perfect gift for those who need a relaxing sensory experience,” says Rebecca Gruss, executive director of Valley Art Center. “Additionally, they offer a great way to celebrate or honor the accomplishments of your loved ones, being gifted as literal ‘milestones,’ showing a visual representation of what one has experienced.”

Polymer clay soothing stones by Lynn Vail are one-of-a-kind pieces created by blending together colors of polymer clay into unique designs. Photo / Valley Art Center

“Mindful Wonders: A Book About Mindfulness Using the Wonders of Nature” by Michelle Zivkov is a great gift for children interested in reading and nature. Photo / Loganberry Books

Holiday Gift Guide

EVENTS

CITYMUSIC

Cleveland Chamber Orchestra 12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland P: 216-632-3572

: citymusiccleveland.org : facebook.com/citymusiccleveland

From a joyful Baroque trumpet concerto to coloratura opera arias, CityMusic’s “Festive Sounds” program is full to the brim with beautiful melodies and musical cheer. Dynamic soprano Chabrelle Williams and virtuoso trumpeter Jack Sutte join internationally renowned conductor Stefan Willich for these stellar concerts. Admission is free – bring a friend! Masks required.

Dates: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at The TempleTifereth Israel, Beachwood; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at Lakewood Congregational Church, Lakewood; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 at Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus, Cleveland; and 3 p.m. Dec. 11 at Federated Church, Chagrin Falls.

MORGAN MARKET/ MORGAN CONSERVATORY

1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland P: 216-361-9255

: morganconservatory.org : instagram.com/morganpaper

Our annual holiday market is your onestop shop for all things unique and one-ofa-kind this holiday season. Our market consists of handmade wares from our membership base. Come out and support local artisans from Nov. 22 through Dec. 22. The Morgan Conservatory is the largest arts center in the United States dedicated to every facet of papermaking, book arts and letterpress printing, and to cultivating the talents of established and emerging artists. An international destination that is free and open to the public, the Morgan Conservatory is a working studio, gallery and gathering place for the community.

GALLERIES

ARTISANS’ CORNER GALLERY

11110-6 Kinsman Road, Newbury P: 440-739-4128

: artisanscornergallery.com : facebook.com/ artisanscornergallery

Artisans’ Corner Gallery features 100 Ohio and regional artisans, near Punderson State Park, featuring original artwork, unique gifts, and custom framing. ‘Tis time for the holidays and all through the store. The gifts are ready for loved ones and more. They’re ready to wrap and be festively tied, all giving great joy for what’s inside.

Handcrafted in Ohio and uniquely beautiful, come see for yourself, we’d be so grateful!

Holiday hours: Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. –5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.; December 2, Open House, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Morgan Conservatory.

Unique one-of-a-kind gifts.

Presented by:

Content provided by CANVAS advertising partners.

Photo submitted by Cuyahoga Community College

Holiday Gift Guide

GALLERIES

ART/SHOP AT VALLEY ART CENTER

155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-7507

: valleyartcenter.org

: instagram.com/valleyartcenter

Valley Art Center is the hub of the visual arts in the Chagrin Valley.

Each year, we offer over 400 classes and workshops for all ages in every medium including drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, jewelry, metalwork and more. VAC hosts five exhibits annually at the Bowen Gallery and hosts outdoor festival Art by the Falls each year. We’re thrilled to launch our revamped Valley Art/Shop, the place to find holiday gifts and décor in hundreds of unique original pieces of art for sale. We will be hosting a Grand re-opening of Valley Art/Shop from noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 3.

CLEVELAND

INSTITUTE OF ART

11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

P: 216-421-7000

: cia.edu/events

: @cleinstituteart

Two beloved shopping events will return to CIA this holiday season: the Student Holiday Sale and the 100 Show + Sale. At the 2022 Student Holiday Sale, shop for creative handmade gifts in glass, metal, ceramics, illustration and other media – all of which will be made by CIA’s talented students. During the 100 Show + Sale, works by faculty, students and friends of CIA will be sold for $100 each (or denominations of $100). Both sales take place from 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 2 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3.

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. Opening December 10 is an exhibition by Aja Grant entitled free body, a show featuring portrait-based photographic and printmaking works exploring different poses, expressive body language and engaging compositions. Highlighting grace, different bodily elements, and reflection in this growing thematic body of work, Grant says, “I’m continuing to photograph my immediate community, and this time looking a bit deeper to uncover their hidden language.”

KOEHN SCULPTORS’/ SANCTUARY ON GREEN 1936 S. Green Road, South Euclid P: 216-691-1936

: sanctuaryongreen.com

: facebook.com/sanctuaryongreen

Celebrating our 43rd Annual Open House & Christkindlmarkt from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, through Dec. 27. We are Northeast Ohio’s destination gift shop showcasing thoughtfully created sculptures from our studio, and gifts and ornaments from around the world – an unparalleled shopping experience. We feature: exquisite ornaments of wood, blown glass and metal; German nutcrackers, smokers and pyramids; candles; giftware; toys; handmade jewelry, scarves, purses; nativities, angels and everything imaginable for the holidays. Year ‘round you’ll find jewelry, clothing, purses, cards and stationary, yard decor and distinctive hand-carved sculptures. We invite you to enjoy a personalized shopping experience in our century home.

“Dancer” (detail) by Norbert & Victoria Koehn. Bald cypress wood, 80 inches tall.

LEE HEINEN STUDIO

12402 Mayfield Road, Cleveland P: 216-921-4088, 216-469-3288

: leeheinen.com : leeheinenstudio

During Covid-19, I produced a series focused on what may be going on in our heads. On the positive side, many of us upped our gardening skills and spent more time in nature. These small paintings address a variety of topics, from cooking to therapy. This is an original painting, although I have a selection of large, limited edition prints available at a reasonable price (22 x 22 inches for $225). Ours is a working studio in Little Italy. To visit, you may call ahead for an appointment or take your chances and drop by.

TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/ GALLERY 2026 Murray Hill Road, #202, Cleveland P: 216-559-6478

: triciakamanboutique.com : facebook.com/ TriciaKamanStudioGallery

Holiday Art Walk and Open House: Dec. 2, 3 & 4. Hours: Fridays 5-9 p.m.; Saturdays: noon-9 p.m.; Sundays: noon-5 p.m. Featuring Original Oil Paintings, Giclee Prints, Framed Mini-Prints, Note Cards, and Gift Certificates by artist Tricia Kaman. Also, featuring Street Scene Paintings of Little Italy by artists Toni Fiderio, Judy Pezdir and Ann Dumont.

“Athena” by artist Lee Heinen. Oil on canvas, 16 x 16 inches. $750.

Content provided by CANVAS advertising partners.

“Hydrangeas at Johnson’s Island II” Giclee Fine Art Print by Tricia Kaman to be raffled at Open House.

MUSEUMS

ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

1834 East 123rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020

: ArtistsArchives.org

: facebook.com/ ArtistsArchivesoftheWesternReserve

The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve is a unique archival facility and regional museum which preserves bodies of work by Ohio visual artists and promotes the region’s rich cultural heritage. This winter, the AAWR will celebrate the work of Rebecca Kaler being added to their permanent collection with an exhibition which highlights the last 19 dynamic years of her painting career. “Fallout: Rebecca Kaler, Paintings from 2003 – 2022” will be on view through Jan. 14, 2023. An in-person artist Q&A will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Dec. 10. Hours: W – F: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Sat: noon – 4 p.m.

“Nuclear,” oil on canvas, by artist Rebecca Kaler. Collection of AAWR.

MASSILLON MUSEUM

121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061

: massillonmuseum.org

: facebook.com/massillonmuseum

A regional cultural hub where art and history come together!

Stark County Artists Exhibition (12/1/22–1/16/23); Barrie Kaufman: A Fragile Environment (through 11/30/22); “Carry On:” A Century of Swing (through 1/8/23); Immel Circus; new American Indian Gallery; Coty Giannelli: Days with Delsie (12/10/22–1/22/23); Fine and Decorative Arts, Local History, and Photography galleries; and more. OHregionalities is stocked with jewelry, pottery, wooden jewelry boxes, gifts and greeting cards by local makers; historyand art-inspired books; art activity kits; and stocking stuffers. Healthy fare at Greatness Cafe. Free admission.

River, Lisa Wentling, Stark County Artists Exhibition.

Holiday Gift Guide

2022 Holiday Happenings Markets

| Art Walks | Bazaars

Nov. 19

• Strongsville Fall Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 19; Walter F. Ehrnfelt Recreation Center, 18100 Royalton Road Strongsville, bit.ly/3t3J7Zr

• Fine Arts Association Holiday Marketplace: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 19; 38660 Mentor Ave., Willoughby, bit.ly/3zwYFIG

Nov. 22 - Dec. 22

• Morgan Market (from Nov. 22 to Dec. 22): Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland, morganconservatory.org

Nov. 26

• Avon Winter Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 26; Emerald Event Center, 33040 Just Imagine Dr., Avon, bit.ly/3TQy29v

Dec. 2-3

• Cleveland Institute of Art Student Holiday Sale and the 100 Show + Sale: 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 2, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3; 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, cia.edu/events

Dec. 2-4

• Little Italy Holiday Art Walk: 5-9 p.m., Dec. 2; noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 3; noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 4; Galleries and shops around 12010 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, bit.ly/3zwX45E

Dec. 3

• Holiday Market at Plum Hill Creative Studio: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 3; 15528 Madison Ave., Lakewood, bit.ly/3Uai4Hk

Dec. 3-4

• Christmas in Zoar: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3; noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 4; Historic Zoar Village, bit.ly/3NjvWwJ

• Artists at the Twist Holiday Art Sale: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 3; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 4. Cleveland Twist & Drill Building, 1242 E. 49th St., Cleveland, artistsatthetwist.com

Dec. 4

• Holiday Craft Fair: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 4; Union Village Field House, 36939 Ridge Road, Willoughby, bit.ly/3Fxe8wc

Dec. 10

• Solon Hometown Holiday Market: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 10; Solon Community Center, 35000 Portz Parkway, Solon, bit.ly/3TQvU1z

Dec. 10-11

• Cleveland Bazaar Holiday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 10-11; 78th St. Studios, 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland, bit.ly/3NoucC5

Dec. 21

• The Wine Spot Holiday Pop-Up Shop: 4 p.m. Dec. 21; 2271 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, bit.ly/3fgYo5P

Through Dec. 27

• Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary On Green Open House & Christkindlmarkt: 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays through Dec. 27; 1936 S. Green Road, South Euclid, sanctuaryongreen.com

Holiday Happenings

compiled by Amanda Koehn

Content provided by CANVAS advertising partners.

MUSEUMS

MALTZ MUSEUM

2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood

P: 216-593-0575

: maltzmuseum.org

The Maltz Museum introduces visitors to the beauty and diversity of 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.

GALLERIES

THE GLASS ASYLUM

22 W. Orange St., Suite 101, Chagrin Falls

P: 440-394-8483

: theglassasylum.com

As the premier glass-blowing studio in Northeast Ohio, The Glass Asylum produces handcrafted glass art and light fixtures. We also teach classes and host events. Our ultimate goal is to offer multiple outlets for the public and art community to expand their appreciation and knowledge of the art of glass-blowing.

HEDGE GALLERY

1300 W. 78th St., Suite 200, Cleveland

P: 216-650-4201

: hedgeartgallery.com

HEDGE Gallery represents the freshest contemporary art in Northeast Ohio, with a roster of 19 established artists working in painting, printmaking, sculpture and fiber. We host seven exhibitions a year, and specialize in curating compelling artwork into off-site spaces such as offices, hotels and homes, and can be hired for art delivery and installation services. Open Wednesday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday noon to 4 p.m., or by appointment.

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.

M. GENTILE STUDIOS

1588 E. 40th St., 1A, Cleveland

MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS

APOLLO’S FIRE, THE CLEVELAND BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

3091 Mayfield Road, Suite 217, Cleveland Heights

P: 216-320-0012

: apollosfire.org

: facebook.com/apollosfire

: @apollobaroque

: ApollosFireBaroque

Apollo’s Fire is a GRAMMY®-winning period-instrument orchestra, founded and directed by award-winning harpsichordist and conductor Jeannette Sorrell. Dedicated to the baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners, Apollo’s Fire brings to life the music of the past for audiences of today, with Passion. Period

GROUNDWORKS

DANCETHEATER

13125 Shaker Square, Suite 102, Cleveland P: 216-751-0088

: groundworksdance.org

GroundWorks DanceTheater presents “Transcendence, the installation,” Feb. 10-24, 2023 at 78th Street Studios’ RAMP East space. Originally conceived as a dance film, David Shimotakahara’s “Transcendence” is now re-imagined as an immersive art installation. Featuring music by CityMusic Cleveland, the FREE installation is dance like you haven’t seen before!

TUESDAY MUSICAL

1041 West Market St., Suite 200, Akron

P: 330-761-3460

E: info@tuesdaymusical.org : tuesdaymusical.org

Tuesday Musical’s Akron Concert Series presents: “An Evening with Itzhak Perlman.” Get tickets early for this profoundly personal peek into the life of a living legend – and performance – curated by Tony Award-winning director Dan Sullivan. From Tuesday Musical. Tickets start at $19. April 27, 2023. tuesdaymusical.org.

FRIENDS OF CANVAS

CLEVELAND ISRAEL ARTS CONNECTION

Jewish Federation of Cleveland

E: israelarts@jewishcleveland.org : jewishcleveland.org/israelarts

The Cleveland Israel Arts Connection features the finest in Israeli film, documentary, theater, dance, music, visual art and literature. For updates, visit jewishcleveland.org/israelarts. Please join the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection Facebook page for additional opportunities to experience Israeli arts.

Listings are provided by Canvas advertisers and as a courtesy to readers.

CURATOR CORNER

“Romulus and Remus” by Norman Bluhm

By Amanda Koehn and Abigail Preiszig

In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus were twin brothers who were ordered to be drowned in the Tiber River for fear they were a threat to the throne. Their father was assumed to be a god.

However, the twins survived as the river carried them to safety, landing at what would be Rome. They would become the Italian capital’s founders, according to mythology.

American painter Norman Bluhm connected the twins’ narrative to his imagery – a literal reference to the most direct representation of symmetry found in nature – says Colleen George Suich, curator of collections at The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown. The painting, “Romulus and Remus,” is in its permanent collection. George Suich and Louis A. Zona, executive director/chief curator at the Butler, tell Canvas about the artist, his concept for the painting and how it remains relevant today. Their responses were edited for brevity and clarity.

CANVAS: What makes “Romulus and Remus” noteworthy?

ON VIEW

George Suich

GEORGE SUICH: Norman Bluhm was an abstract expressionist and action painter who unconventionally ignored the shifting market trends of the art world to focus on how he could push the boundaries of paint. Ever evolving, Bluhm’s style manifested among his contemporaries but also drew much inspiration from art history. “Romulus and Remus” is not only a culmination of this evolution, but also a spearhead toward Bluhm’s next stylistic phase. Bluhm’s use of symmetry defined this era of his paintings, which often included what he termed as “closed and open forms.” These complex yet organized gestural shapes are reminiscent of his most dominant motif, the female form. The ambiguous forms can be seen here, fluidly weaving between electric colors.

What response does this painting evoke?

GEORGE SUICH: For me, this piece is highly emotional. The curvilinear, swirling masses are suspended in this compositional storm. They appear to be captive forms, pulling from and pressing against the boundaries of the canvas despite the vastness Bluhm creates with his use of color and the physical scale of this painting (8½ x 9½ feet). These forms invite you into this space with the unexpected use of color, creating structure and direction amid a staccato rhythm repeated by these dancing swells.

What was happening in the art world at the time that might have influenced it?

GEORGE SUICH: Bluhm rejected the constructs of artistic “trends,” which was reflected by the politics of the art market as artists began producing works that would sell to collectors and increase their exposure. Bluhm instead continued to maintain his self-interests and inspiration from the classical and European painting traditions, which was highly evident in his later works.

“Romulus

and Remus”

Artist: Norman Bluhm (1921-1999)

Year: 1979

Details: Oil on canvas, 102 x 114 inches. Permanent collection of The Butler Institute of American Art. Gift of the family of Norman Bluhm.

Find it: In the Bacon Gallery on the second-level balcony in Beecher Court at the Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown.

Decades later, what makes this painting relevant now?

ZONA: It is relevant today since so much of the art being produced today deals with strong originality and a totally free approach. The work can be considered to be timeless. I love the reference to Matisse’s “Dance” indicated in the work.

What else can you tell us about Bluhm?

GEORGE SUICH: Although Bluhm never saw the same success as many of his contemporaries, he cemented his influence over his 40-plus year career by continuously challenging his technique and evolving his unique style. Bluhm was born in Chicago and studied architecture under Mies van der Rohe before joining the Air Force during World War II. He was transcontinental, living most of his life between Paris and New York, and was equally immersed in their respective art scenes. His early work focused largely on the figure before gradually transitioning into full abstraction.

ZONA: Norm was blue collar in every aspect of his life. Rough and tough, the painting reveals through the dripping of paint and the swings at the canvas that his approach was anything but dainty.

What else should we know about this piece?

ZONA: This was one of his final pieces which was to be included in an exhibition being planned of his work. He passed away during the planning of his exhibit. His wife donated the painting to the Butler, telling us that Norman would have wanted “Romulus and Remus” to have a good home. That it has.

Zona