Canvas Fall/Winter 2015

MUSEUM LISTINGS

PREVIEWS: CANTON MUSEUM OF ART | MOCA | DANCECLEVELAND & GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER

CLEVELAND | arts | music | performance | entertainment

FALL | WINTER 2015

Storytelling DEVICES

Amber Devon Kempthorn constructs characters and narratives in her art by drawing from personal experiences, music and literature

INSIDE: SHARI WILKINS’ CLEVELAND PRINT ROOM; ART HOPPING IN CLEVELAND’S LITTLE ITALY 12

| SPRING | SUMMER 2015

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INSIDE

16 Storytelling Devices Amber Devon Kempthorn constructs characters and narratives in her art by drawing from personal experiences Cover image by Michael C. Butz

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Double Exposure

Cleveland Print Room founder Shari Wilkins has a fixed focus on growing Northeast Ohio’s photography community

Michael C. Butz | editor | editor@canvascle.com Jon Larson | art director | jlarson@cjn.org Cleveland Jewish Publication Company Kevin S. Adelstein | publisher and ceo Adam Mandell | director of sales

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Editor’s Note

Editor Michael C. Butz weighs in on the arts and culture levy

Bellissima Arte

In Little Italy, a confluence of factors is ushering in a new wave of art and commerce

Cultivating his Garden Watercolor paintings by Joseph Raffael take Canton museumgoers on a tour of visual beauty through the artist’s backyard

Events Calendar

Plan visits to numerous art, music and cultural festivals in the coming months

Damage Control

Israeli artist Nevet Yitzhak explores metaphorical repair in MOCA Cleveland’s “Off the Ruling Class”

Dance Card

DANCECleveland and GroundWorks DanceTheater offer plenty of ways for audiences to keep their calendars full

Listings

Local and regional listings of museums, galleries, events and performance arts venues

For information about listings, contact Sherry Tilson at 216-342-5204 or stilson@cjn.org.

216-454-8300 | advertising@cjn.org 4

| FALL/WINTER 2015

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PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN

MONET TO MATISSE OCTOBER 11–JANUARY 5

COMING EXCLUSIVELY TO CLEVELAND AND LONDON. Presenting Sponsors:

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse is co-organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In Cleveland, the exhibition is made possible by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The Michelle and Richard Jeschelnig Exhibitions & Special Projects Fund

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Media Sponsor:

ClevelandArt.org

Chrysanthemums (detail), 1897.

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926).

Oil on canvas; 130 x 89 cm.

Private collection.

9/17/15 3:11 PM

VOTING YOUR SUPPORT Canvas Editor: Michael C. Butz

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S

ince Canvas was launched two years ago, we’ve strived to fill its pages with all Northeast Ohio’s arts scene has to offer and to introduce readers to some of the creative people who bring it to life.

In other words, though it seems like there’s always so much more we could cover in Canvas (an arts scene so abundant with stories is certainly a good problem to have), we try to do our part to highlight the many ways in which the arts have become – and have always been – such a valuable resource to the region.

And now, Cuyahoga County voters have a chance to do their part, too.

On Election Day, Nov. 3, they’ll see Issue 8 on their ballot, which proposes to extend the current excise tax on cigarettes at a rate of 15 mills per cigarette, which amounts to 1.5 cents per cigarette.

The levy was first passed in 2006, and since then, more than $125 million has been invested in the county by way of more than 1,200 grants to some 300 organizations and 2,300 programs. That initial levy is scheduled to end in 2017, thus the push for renewal.

To say the levy has had a significant impact on the region – including those who don’t live in Cuyahoga County but still take advantage of its offerings, as well as those who spend their tourist dollars here – would be a glaring understatement.

But for those looking for concrete figures on the levy’s impact, here are a few examples: • Many of the festivals on our Canvas events calendar receive support from the levy, helping them keep operating costs down, quality programming high, and (in some cases) admission free – including the Cleveland International Film Festival ($1.1 million), IngenuityFest ($529,613) and Brite Winter Fest ($7,860).

• Many of the community-based arts organizations – which play integral roles in connecting families with the arts in every corner of Cuyahoga County – receive funding from the levy, including Arts in Strongsville ($27,658), BAYarts ($273,128), Chagrin Arts ($145,072), Heights Arts ($192,473), Shaker Arts Council ($26,794) and Waterloo Arts ($167,962).

• Many of the world-renowned institutions that call Greater Cleveland home – which for generations have often served as an entry point into the world of art for many Northeast Ohioans – receive support from the levy, including the Cleveland Museum of Art ($11.9 million), The Cleveland Orchestra ($15.4 million), Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage ($1.3 million), MOCA Cleveland ($1.1 million) and Playhouse Square ($12.8 million).

Beyond the numbers, though, the arts serve a greater purpose – in ways that can’t be measured by dollar amounts. They broaden our understanding of the world and help us interpret the human experience, and they simultaneously foster independence and collaboration among those who take part.

Supporting the arts is critical, and I encourage everyone to voice – or vote – their support on Nov. 3.

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DOUBLE EXPOSURE Cleveland Print Room founder Shari Wilkins has a fixed focus on both growing Northeast Ohio’s photography community and widening the educational and creative opportunities available to it Story by Jonah L. Rosenblum Photography by Michael C. Butz

W

hy photography? And more specifically, why film photography?

Why spend hours in a darkroom when pressing a button on a smartphone is so easy and viewing photos on screen so convenient?

Sure, there is something alluring and sensual about the smell of the darkroom – something deeply meaningful about a peace and quietude that seldom exist anymore.

But it’s about more than romanticism for Shari Wilkins when it comes to the Cleveland Print Room.

It’s about existence. A picture of a foot, an X-ray and a neighborhood shot, to some extent, prove humanity.

“For me, it’s the whole issue of existence,” Wilkins says. “Photography can prove that we exist.”

Photography also speaks to her very core.

Raised in Lakewood by a father who “always

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had a camera around his neck,” Wilkins has always been into photography. (She notes that her father had his first show at the Cleveland Print Room last fall.)

So, in 2005, when Wilkins noticed a “troubling trend” of art centers, high schools and universities shutting down their darkroom facilities, she started buying up the photography equipment and darkroom supplies they were selling off. She wasn’t sure why. Perhaps they just didn’t seem fit for a trashcan.

By 2011, Wilkins had started her own business as a dealer in vernacular photography (“found photos”). Then, in 2012, she spoke with Liz Maugans, one of the founders of Cleveland’s Zygote Press, and learned that Zygote Press was looking for someone in Cleveland to take over its darkroom.

“After researching the gap in services and the need in the Northeast Ohio area, along with recognizing the resurgence in 20th-centuCANVASCLE.COM

Cleveland Print Room founder Shari Wilkins, as well as CPR’s many visitors, can sometimes be found in front of her photo booth’s camera. ry emulsion-based photography, it was an easy decision,” the Cleveland Print Room website explains.

And so the Cleveland Print Room was born.

MOUNTING IMAGES Wilkins, a resident of Cleveland’s Superior Arts District, has created a haven for photographers at Cleveland Print Room.

What originally began as a cooperative has changed a bit over time, yet still has 430 members, who for a fee are able to use the studio to work on various projects. An advisory board of 10 to 12 photographers provides additional guidance and wisdom.

Photography seeps out of every corner of the print room’s space, which is at ground level of the ArtCraft Building on Superior CANVASCLE.COM

Avenue near East 25th Street on the outskirts of downtown Cleveland.

A classic photo booth – a ’90s model with refurbished mid-century guts – greets visitors near the entrance with strands of self-portraits cascading down its side. A wide variety of vintage cameras lines the walls’ high ledges.

A creaky red revolving door leads to the darkroom.

Perhaps most notably, exhibitions showcasing the true art of photography often adorn Cleveland Print Room’s walls.

International artists, from Chile and Taiwan, have enjoyed temporary stays at the Cleveland Print Room. And the Cleveland Print Room has hosted a number of fascinating exhibitions – exhibitions that challenge classical notions of what photography is and what photography can be.

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Vernacular photography (popularly referred to as “found photos”) is one of Shari Wilkins’ specialties, and her collection is frequently enjoyed by those who stop by Cleveland Print Room.

Take “Destruction of Form,” a collaborative effort between Wilkins and American Emotionalist artist John W. Carlson. Earlier this summer, the exhibit featured a series of Carlson paintings and Wilkins photos based on found photos, some discovered by Carlson, others by Wilkins.

To see a Carlson painting side-by-side with the original found photo is a treat.

There is “accuracy” to it, or “faithfulness” in the portrayal. Indeed, the man in the painting still carries the same expression.

He is posed the same way. Yet, something has changed. Perhaps the background is a little more fluid. It’s a little brighter. It’s a little darker. Subject and background interact in an entirely new way – and suddenly a new piece of artwork is born. By deconstructing one piece of art, another is created.

The Cleveland Print Room’s latest exhibition, “Surroundings,” which is on view through Oct. 24, also toys with the art of photography.

Take Deborah Pinter’s 34-plus photos of the Alcazar Hotel in Cleveland Heights. The photos contain the same subject matter. It’s the same vantage point, the same view of the Alcazar. Except the color of the sky changes, shadows roll in and out, snow stumbles into 10

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the picture before the sun returns to light another picture or two.

In 2013, there was “Homegrown,” linking local food sources with local photographers. The work of 20-plus local photographers shared the stage with goodies from fire food & drink, Flying Fig, Fresh Fork Market, Momocho, Rising Star Coffee Roasters, Spice Kitchen + Bar, The Root Café and Lucky Penny Farm Creamery.

The intersection of art and dining offered a quintessential Cleveland experience.

DEVELOPING INTEREST Cleveland Print Room isn’t only about observing, though. It’s also about experience and education.

Wilkins has both in spades. She’s a Thoreau Scholar with bachelor’s degrees from Kent State University (radio and television) and Cleveland State University (social work), and she has a master’s degree in liberal studies from Ursuline College. And before photography was her professional focus, she spent time in New York and San Francisco working for Celluloid Record and Rough Trade Records, respectively.

At Cleveland Print Room, Wilkins offers workshops on photographic arts and access to a darkroom with eight individual workstaCANVASCLE.COM

,

Shari Wilkins, right, shares photographs with a group of visitors from the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion artist residency program.

tions. The latter also features separate areas for black-and-white film processing and print viewing including a light table, dry mount press and print dryer. It’s a space where aspiring artists can hone their skills and perfect their craft.

“My focus is on keeping accessibility to film processing,” Wilkins says.

When a group of visitors from The Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion artist residency program – which partners international artists with local arts organizations with a goal of maximizing the cultural exchange between the artists and community – recently walked in to see the space, they not only enjoyed learning about what Wilkins does there but became enamored with a set of her found photos.

Wilkins, you see, doesn’t just run a Cleveland darkroom and photography studio.

She’s equal parts artist, gallery owner and art collector.

This particular set of found photos, culled from garage sales and every other conceivable source, shows people jumping into a body of water, a woman in a hospital bed, someone resting on a living room couch – people who are strangers but familiar.

And there is a series of cat photos, replete with loving captions from the owner.

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“Some of them are pretty weird,” Wilkins admits.

Her visitors love them.

They leaf through this random assortment of photos with zeal. The photographs offer glimpses into another time in ways social media hashtags can’t. These photos can be held, they can be smelled, and those who do are invited to imagine what those who took the photos or the families that held and shared decades earlier might’ve been like – all of which is symbolic of the type of experience Wilkins strives to cultivate.

“If you’re into found photos, definitely stop by,” Wilkins tells the group as it files out of the Cleveland Print Room. A couple of the young artists tell her they’ll see her soon.

That exchange captured part of what makes Cleveland Print Room special.

Smartphones may offer a look at the world we wouldn’t otherwise see, but Wilkins’ open-door policy offers something – like the photographs she works with – more tangible: a sense of community, and an opportunity to get involved.

“The photography community in Cleveland is really amazingly alive,” Wilkins says. CV 11

PHOTO | Michael C. Butz

Murray Hill Galleries, a renovated school house in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood, is home to multiple artists.

Bellissima arte In Little Italy, a confluence of factors – established galleries, walkability, the rise of nearby Uptown and (of course) dining – is ushering in a new wave of art and commerce

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By Kristen Mott

CANVASCLE.COM

C

leveland’s Little Italy neighborhood has long been known as a food lover’s destination – and for good reason. Take a walk down Mayfield Road or Murray Hill Road and you’ll experience the intoxicating aromas of homemade cavatelli, pizza, tortellini and cannoli floating through the air.

But don’t let the East Side neighborhood’s cuisine distract from its other attractions.

For decades, Little Italy also has been home to a vibrant art scene. Scattered among restaurants are galleries, studios and boutiques showcasing works of art from around the world. And in the past several years, the area has experienced a resurgence as new artists and merchants flock there to make their mark.

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LONG-TIME RESIDENTS Hallmarks of Little Italy’s art scene are the places that have been there for years – places like Tricia Kaman Art Studio & Gallery, Juma Gallery, Verne Collection and Pennello Gallery.

Pennello Gallery co-owner Sue Cahn opened her space on Mayfield Road about 12 years ago and says she always knew she wanted it to be in Little Italy.

“We wanted to be in this neighborhood because it was an art community,” she says. “It really is an authentic neighborhood. The Italian community still lives in the neighborhood as well as many Case Western Reserve University students. That’s also what makes the area so interesting – the mix of the young and the old 13

PHOTO | Deb Lawrence

A look inside Deb Lawrence’s NOCA Gallery inside Murray Hill Galleries. who really care about each other.”

Cahn, who has a background in social work, previously worked at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood. While there, she helped coordinate a fine art craft show and eventually realized she wanted to open her own gallery.

Cahn co-owns Pennello Gallery with Jacquie Meyerson and Howard Koverman. Sally Hirsh, an assistant, also has played a central role.

It specializes in American, Canadian and Israeli fine art and craft. Cahn says she and Meyerson have always been very involved with Israel and artists working there.

“I have always realized that the Israeli artists are probably the finest artists in the world,” Cahn says. “I enjoy traveling to Israel.

I have relatives living in Tel Aviv and friends in Jerusalem.

“Through my relatives and other artists, it’s just been so easy to establish relationships with these artists in Israel. When you meet them in person, they trust you and understand you and are willing to let you sell their art.”

New artists and shops recently have been popping up in Little Italy, says Cahn, crediting the resurgence to cooperation between artists and gallery owners – as well as the expansion of University Circle’s Uptown district and the Greater Cleveland RTA’s recently remodeled Little Italy-University Circle Rapid Station.

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“Little Italy really is an authentic neighborhood,” Cahn says. “It’s not a mall or a neighborhood that had to be rejuvenated. We’re surrounded by two wonderful hospital systems, and the connection with University Circle is an enormous bonus. We all hope that more and more artists will come to Little Italy and open their galleries or studios here.”

NEW WAVE OF MERCHANTS Cahn says there has been a “tremendous effort” to bring a more diverse collection of merchants to the neighborhood. That effort has paid off, as Urban Orchid, Rising Star Coffee Roasters (both in Ohio City) and Blazing Saddle Cycle (in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood) have recently opened East Side locations in Little Italy.

Rising Star has flourished at its flagship location in Ohio City’s Hingetown district, so it seemed natural to open a location on the other side of town, says general manager Robert Stockham.

“We like to find places that are a little more unusual,” he says. “We don’t want to find a bright, shiny new development and put a coffee shop in there and be Starbucks. That’s never been our plan and that’s not how our company works.

“The thing that was really exciting about Little Italy is it’s very walkable. People who live there have a tendency to know each other CANVASCLE.COM

and support each other. That’s the kind of community we like to be involved in.”

Rising Star opened at Murray Hill and Edgehill roads during Columbus Day weekend in 2014. With extensive wall space, the store features rotating art shows, including work created by students at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Although Little Italy has long had a vibrant arts scene, Stockham says the different types of merchants who have recently moved to the neighborhood excite him. He adds that several restaurants have changed management, which helps bring a different vibe to the neighborhood.

“I like that there are so many arts-based businesses and a lot of new additions to the area,” he says. “It’s always been a great arts community. Some of the restaurants have been around for years, but there are also younger people starting stuff up now. It’s always good to shake things up and bring things into a more modern age.”

CONTEMPORARY TOUCHES When Deb Lawrence was looking to move her studio from the Tower Press building, on the outskirts of downtown Cleveland, to a more vibrant neighborhood, she was drawn to Little Italy.

“One of the prime reasons I moved to Little Italy is it’s walkable,” she says. “Little Italy is kind of this bridge between the Heights area and Uptown. We have so many people who walk down Murray Hill, stop in the gallery and poke around, get a bite to eat, and then carry on their journey.”

Inside Murray Hill Galleries – a former school house that was renovated in 1985 and features three floors of galleries, studios and shops – Lawrence owns two spaces: a studio on the lower level and NOCA Gallery (No Ordinary Contemporary Art) perched on the building’s mezzanine level.

NOCA features a curated selection of handcrafted jewelry, contemporary art, midcentury ceramics and Lawrence’s paintings. A bonus: The gallery’s Little Italy locale allows Lawrence to more easily work with students from nearby universities. Her gallery even carries jewelry created by a recent Cleveland Institute of Art graduate.

“I want to support younger artists who are just starting out,” she says. “When I moved locations, I was really excited about being close to the Museum of Contemporary Art CANVASCLE.COM

PHOTO | Rising Star Coffee Roasters

Cleveland and the Cleveland Institute of Art.” Like Cahn, Lawrence says she too has noticed a resurgence in Little Italy, as more stores and galleries continue to move to the neighborhood. She also enjoys the synergy among the artists who reside in the area, and is hopeful for the future.

“I think everyone has a very positive vision for the future of Little Italy,” she says. “We’re beginning to really see things percolate here.

“We want this area to be a destination.

Whether you’re a local or from a different state or even a different country, we want one of the first places you want to visit – because it’s such an intimate, authentic, interesting place – to be Little Italy. That’s what I really hope happens.” CV

‘DISCOVER’ LITTLE ITALY

Columbus Day weekend is a great time to discover Little Italy.

Each year, the best the neighborhood has to offer is on display as thousands descend upon its streets for its popular Columbus Day parade and fall art walk.

Dates and times for the fall art walk are as follows: 5 to 9 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 9; noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10; noon to 6 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 11; and noon to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12. Additionally, Little Italy hosts arts walks the first weekend of June and December each year.

The Columbus Day parade kicks off at noon on Oct. 12 at Murray Hill and Cornell roads.

– Kristen Mott 15

Amber Devon Kempthorn lines the walls of her Hiram studio with artistic inspiration.

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CANVASCLE.COM

Storytelling DEVICES

Amber Devon Kempthorn constructs characters and narratives in her art by drawing from personal experiences, music and literature Story by Carlo Wolff Photography by Michael C. Butz

CANVASCLE.COM

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“Untitled (Camus),” 44 inches by 30 inches; charcoal, pastel and collage. Courtesy of the artist.

This piece was exhibited at “The Show,” 1point618 Gallery’s recent 10-year anniversary show.

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CANVASCLE.COM

mber Devon Kempthorn’s studio on the second floor of the old yellow house she rents from Hiram College is her still center. It’s where she gathers force, immersing herself in inspiration.

There’s a poster of John Wayne, spirited from her dad’s workshop in Cuyahoga Falls.

There’s a photo of her Uncle Ted, who passed away in recent years. There are quotations from Kempthorn’s voracious reading and her musical musings, spanning the rock group R.E.M. and the mystical Spanish writer Jose Luis Borges. There are the boxes of pastels from which Kempthorn so regularly draws.

There’s more, like old security envelopes she tears up for resonant construction backgrounds, notebooks in which to jot down ideas, paperbacks on pop culture, ticket stubs from old rock ‘n’ roll shows.

There’s a field guide to the stars and planets.

This is clutter artfully arrayed for artistic purpose. It speaks of an artist who knows how to organize her influences.

The slim, closely coiffed Kempthorn is preternaturally self-sufficient.

She also is a curious blend of introvert and extrovert. Like her drawings – “constructions,” she agrees, may be a better term – she’s both introspective and engaged.

“I have passages where I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I need to see a human,’ but I’ve always been a non-joiner – but I do like a sense of community,” she says of her sometimes conflicting requirements.

Her style is a scramble of disciplines.

There’s a touch of Japanese painting. There’s a touch of Maxfield Parrish, too, and of the psychedelic pop art of the 1960s.

The art, like the artist, is also profoundly, even paradoxically, Midwestern. It’s both dreamy and solid.

“There are some artists who see a whole other universe and feel the need to fill it right there, like make a thing out of thin air,” Kempthorn says. “I’m not that. I’m a builder.”

And a creator of character.

Take “Sorrow,” a pastel, graphite, ink and collage piece Kempthorn exhibited at a major solo show in 2010 at Robert Maschke’s 1point618 Gallery in Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District. (It now hangs on her studio wall.) It’s based on a song of that name by indie rockers The National.

The singer says, “‘Sorrow found me when CANVASCLE.COM

I was young/sorrow waited, sorrow won.’

Depression, however you want to describe it,” Kempthorn explains. “Sorrow … becomes almost bodily, right? Or anthropomorphic, or it’s a figure – like a specter waiting around. So I made a character named Sorrow.”

Is that character – a deep blue octopuslike creature with a jagged, toothy grin – sad?

“He’s about to drown these guys, he’s real pleased with himself,” she says, suggesting otherwise while invoking the Blue Meanies of “Yellow Submarine” fame. “Everything gets kind of dumped in there.”

Now “Sorrow” is more than a National song. It’s an Amber Devon Kempthorn story.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT Kempthorn began working when she was 15 after school, at a coffee shop in Cuyahoga Falls, her hometown. “It was the sensible thing to do,” she says. “I wanted a car, I wanted a job.”

At the same time, she pursued her art.

Couldn’t help it.

“I made drawings. I made things, always.

I love to draw, love, love, love to draw, always,” she says. Her father is a tinkerer, a chemical engineer by profession; her mother is retired from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Her younger sister, who is working toward a master’s degree in counseling at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has been a major support, she says.

As a kid, Kempthorn wrote a lot, entering Hiram College as an English major in 1996.

That year, she also became involved in social issues, designing her own major and traveling to Guatemala when it held its first democratic elections.

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hiram in 2000, a post-baccalaureate certificate from the Maryland Institute of Art in 2006, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Cranbrook Institute of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. in 2008. Though her MFA is in sculpture, she now works in two dimensions, creating artwork of some size; 44 by 30 inches is her sweet spot.

George Schroeder, an emeritus professor of art at Hiram whom Kempthorn considers a mentor, spoke highly and critically of his former pupil.

“Amber is as smart and well read as any artist I know,” he says in an email. “She is also assertive, dedicated, and tenacious. Her tenacity could also be described as grit: after 19

multiple times at 1point618. The most recent was earlier this year as part of the gallery’s 10year anniversary show, where Schroeder’s art was also on display.

“We’ve been showing Amber for almost 10 years,” says 1point618’s Maschke. “I think Amber’s a storyteller. She’s telling stories of her life through these creative characters.”

Maschke suggests Kempthorn has effectively created her own medium. “Amber’s building all these layers, but she’s telling a story,” he says, adding her art sells well and including her among the leading contemporary artists in Cleveland’s burgeoning scene.

“It probably sounds like hubris but I’ve got to have millions or thousands of stories,” Kempthorn says.

She’s worked with homeless and for an AIDS task force. She’s worked on a farm and at a gas station. She has traveled, she’s well-read and she networks like a champ. She gets around, blasting Springsteen as she drives. She’s lived in Baltimore, Charlotte, N.C. and Boulder, Colo.

But Ohio is very much her home.

Tools of Kempthorn’s trade, as well as works in progress, are dispersed throughout her studio. college she worked for years as a waitress and seasonal farm worker while developing a portfolio strong enough to get her admitted to Cranbrook.

“She was a demanding student. She took her education seriously. We sometimes butted heads but overall she was a joy to have as a student because she took it all so seriously and tried to take in as much as she possibly could.

“As a teacher of upper level students, my emphasis was on formal, i.e. design, integrity and energy, truth to materials, and sound craftsmanship. I think Amber has internalized this, whether she got it from me or somewhere else – I wouldn’t presume to claim credit – as she has moved on to an emphasis on narrative and symbolic themes.”

Kempthorn’s unique talent, according to Schroeder, also extends to her teaching, which she considers another opportunity for storytelling. Kempthorn is a member of the adjunct faculty at both the Cleveland Institute of Art and the College of Wooster.

Her work has been featured in galleries in Boston and Burlington, Vt. and she has exhibited all over Greater Cleveland, including 20

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NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES Back in Hiram, her place is bucolic, the aromas of nature heady. On an early evening in early September, the atmosphere is as drowsy as the fireflies sparking the greens around her home.

Her residence is conducive to reflection and reverie, particularly in a late-summer landscape in which the blue, green and gold she says characterize Ohio summers are so intense.

Those colors figure in many of the Kempthorn conflations. Others – oranges, pinks, beiges, reds – are similarly vivid and, for the most part, similarly soft. Her art is all about texture, about working the material down so it amasses a singular, almost subterranean heft.

When she lays pastel and charcoal, she breaks down the raw sticks “to the point where I’m just embedding them in the surface for sometimes hours to get the surface I want or the fade – I’ll move from a dark blue to a light blue, laying down the different colors to get me there.” There can be drawing; there can be the laying in of those security envelope backgrounds, as at the top of “Sorrow.”

The veins she mines are deeply personal.

“My work derives from an impulse to create and also from a compulsion to speak,” Kempthorn says in her artistic statement. “In Joan Didion’s The White Album, she wrote that, ‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live.’ To me, she is CANVASCLE.COM

Kempthorn says she may one day incorporate this poster of John Wayne into her art.

describing our very human need to document our lives, and how sharing stories acts as a salve for everything from the everyday bruises to the larger burden of existence.”

The loss of a loved one leaves an ache. It can also inspire.

Kempthorn speaks of Uncle Ted, a favorite of hers, whose death from liver failure in 2010 sparked a burst of creativity.

“He died and I ended up making a sort of a cycle of drawings that had to do with him. He was a real hard-ass, was a heavy drinker.

“In my family, on both sides, there’s all kinds of mental illness. … I have my own dark passages, you know? But my parents, they also were very …” she ruminates. “They’re both very engaged with living, they’re very active, very involved, doing things.”

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“Sorrow,” 44 inches by 30 inches; graphite and collage. Courtesy of the artist.

In Kempthorn’s art, there’s a sunniness. But darkness lurks. Though delicate and precise, her work also evidences gravity. This is not frivolous art, no matter how entertaining and provocative.

Kempthorn’s recollection of Christmas is an example of that shadowplay. It was always a special time for her and her family, and a tradition she keeps to this day, inviting her students into her home to celebrate the holiday. But a heaviness accompanied those celebrations.

“There was always a real sense of wonder in my life (at Christmastime),” she adds, but it’s “counterbalanced by a lot of this other, darker stuff.”

Kempthorh’s art, psychologically complex and absorbing, creates a sense of wonder, defying you to stop looking. CV 21

Moving Toward the Light II, 2015 | Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York

Cultivating his garden

Watercolor paintings by Joseph Raffael take Canton museumgoers on a tour of visual beauty through the artist’s backyard

By Jacqueline Mitchell

V

iewing one of Joseph Raffael’s watercolor paintings is like stepping into a garden, where the beauty of nature is magnified as your eyes travel through what one art critic described as “jewel encrusted passages.” Known for his color-saturated, large-scale paintings, Raffael is considered one of contemporary art’s most highly celebrated watercolorists. His paintings of flowers and other elements of nature showcase meticulous detail and a large, vibrant color palette.

The Canton Museum of Art will be home to a selection of Raffael’s watercolors when it hosts the exhibit “Moving Toward the Light” from Dec. 3 through March 13, 2016.

Canton worked in collaboration with Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York to bring the exhibit to Northeast Ohio. The exhibition will travel from Canton to Ohio Southern Museum in Portsmouth

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to Flint Institute of Arts in Flint, Mich. for the final venue. A short film and a book titled “Moving Toward the Light” will accompany the exhibit.

The Canton Museum of Art first bought a Raffael painting from Hoffman in 1989 titled “Red Lily.”

“It’s been a museum favorite here for a long time,” says Lynnda Arrasmith, curator at the Canton Museum of Art. The museum’s focus is on watercolors from the 1850s and forward, so they thought the Raffael exhibit would be a good fit and show visitors how current artists are using watercolors.

“We’re trying to bring the idea to people that watercolors can be interesting and huge and beautiful all at the same time,” Arrasmith says.

Raffael takes an unorthodox approach to watercolor, working wet into wet, as if he were CANVASCLE.COM

Solstice, 2008 | Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York painting in oil, allowing for spontaneous events to occur on his canvas. Typically, the rules of working with watercolors mandate painting wet over dry, but Raffael prefers to puddle the paint.

“He defies all the rules,” says Nancy Hoffman, president of Nancy Hoffman Gallery.

The scale of Raffael’s paintings also sets him apart in the realm of watercolor artistry.

“These watercolors are huge,” Arrasmith says. “You often think of them as 10 by 24 inches.

These go up to 106 inches on paper. It’s like walking into a garden – they’re so huge.”

Though the exhibit consists of only about 30 paintings, because of their scale they will fill the entire gallery. The watercolors date back to the early 1980s and go all the way into 2015. Most of the watercolors are from the past 10 years. The exhibit also features a few oil paintings from the 1970s.

“They’re very lively,” Arrasmith says. “Often there’s a light in it that draws you to it.”

Autobiographical in nature, the paintings are inspired by Raffael’s home in the south of France.

Though he was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the artist, 82, has lived in France for the past 27 years. Everything he paints is in his backyard.

“You’re seeing a part of Joseph Raffael’s life,” says Arrasmith. “His house in France has gardens like this that his wife has developed over the years.”

Raffael works with a large scroll of paper when he creates his paintings. His images are generated from photos he takes of his garden. He then pencils a map of the image he’s going to paint.

Each work takes months to complete.

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CANTON MUSEUM OF ART “Moving Toward the Light” | Joseph Raffael On view: Dec. 3 through March 6, 2016 “Blue Collar” | Kyle and Kelly Phelps On view: Dec. 3 through March 6, 2016 “The mood (of the exhibit) is positive and celebratory in terms of addressing nature,” Hoffman says. “Joseph is a quintessential colorist, and through the colors, the depth of joy comes through. When you view a Raffael, you can’t help but feel uplifted. It’s a very healing kind of show.

Each work is a jewel.”

Hoffman says that when viewing a Raffael painting, it’s not akin to anything one can see in everyday nature, because his paintings are so magnified and detailed.

“He’s painting an earthly paradise, and not in any cliché way, but in a magnified way,” she says.

“When you see a painting of a rose that is 5 by 6½ feet, there’s this breathtaking quality of scale that really forces you to see things in nature that you would not see,” Hoffman says.

Raffael’s images of beauty offer a meditative quality, says Hoffman, when at times it feels as if there is little beauty in the world.

“Joseph is not afraid of beauty,” she says.

“Beauty is not hip and chic and hasn’t been for a long time, though the pendulum is swinging back.

If people go deeply into it in terms of their viewing, they will absorb that philosophy of beauty, and they will be immersed in a vision that is quite extraordinary.” CV 23

Downtown Cleveland Alliance

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Come Downtown for the Holidays at Winterfest in Playhouse Square

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he holiday season kicks off with Winterfest, the annual lighting of Downtown Cleveland, on Saturday, November 28. Festivities begin at 1 p.m. and feature a full day of free activities perfect for family and friends!

Come Downtown for live musical performances, carriage rides, plenty of food, children’s activities and shopping at the Winterfest Holiday Pop Up Shop. Throughout the afternoon, find holiday activities from Tower City’s Toy Soldier performance to Cleveland Playhouse’s Festival of Trees and everything in between. The Cleveland Public Library will be starting off the season with a holiday-themed music program, a visit from live reindeer and plenty more. Outside the library, find horse-drawn carriages to give you a unique view of Downtown Cleveland’s holiday spirit, along with the development currently happening here.

In the evening, get cozy by the permanent fire pit at U.S. Bank Plaza back in Playhouse Square as the day’s events culminate in a magical visit from the man in red, fireworks and the lighting of the tree under the GE Chandelier, thanks to the City of Cleveland, Downtown Cleveland Alliance and Huntington Bank. Afterward, enjoy Downtown’s dazzling holiday displays. GE Lighting, in partnership with IBEW Local 38, Cleveland Public Power and RTA, will illuminate Euclid Avenue with thousands of sparkling lights from Public Square to Playhouse Square.

After the show, warm up at Winter Wine and Ale Fest presented by Horseshoe Casino, a grand tasting event featuring more than 20 craft brews, wines and spirits, and food samples from some of Cleveland’s most popular restaurants. But get your tickets early, because tickets are pre-sale only and won’t be available at the door.

Experience the wonder of the holidays in the city at Winterfest! Find more information at downtowncleveland.com/winterfest.

Presents

2015 Saturday, November 28th festivities beginning at 1 pm

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Events Calendar

OCTOBER PHOTO | Gregory Wilson Third Fridays / 78th Street Studios

NOVEMBER PHOTO | Bridget Caswell Walk All Over Waterloo

1-4:

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens Ohio Mart (Akron)

3-16:

Mandel JCC Festival of Jewish Books and Authors (Beachwood)

2:

MIX at CMA (Cleveland)

6:

MIX at CMA (Cleveland)

2:

Walk All Over Waterloo (Cleveland)

6:

Walk All Over Waterloo (Cleveland)

2-4:

IngenuityFest (Cleveland)

7:

7-11:

Chagrin Documentary Film Festival (Chagrin Falls)

Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show (North Canton)

13:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

8-18:

Mandel JCC Jewish FilmFest (multiple locations)

13-15: By Hand Fine Art & Craft Fair (Cleveland)

9:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

9-11:

Algonquin Mill Fall Festival (Carrollton)

13-15: 44th Annual Canton Christkindlmarkt (Canton)

9-12:

Little Italy’s Columbus Day Art Walk Weekend (Cleveland)

9-18:

Cleveland Beer Week (Cleveland)

10-11: Covered Bridge Festival (Ashtabula County) 16:

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

22:

Lakewood Chocolate Walk (Lakewood)

14-15: Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show (Rocky River) 20:

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

20-22: Cleveland Flea Holiday Kickoff Market (Cleveland) 21:

Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show (Strongsville)

28:

Winterfest (Cleveland)

28:

Cleveland Bazaar at Winterfest (Cleveland)

28:

Winter Wine & Ale Fest (Cleveland)

28:

Hudson Holiday Hop (Hudson)

28-29: 7th Annual Crafty Mart (Akron)

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CANVASCLE.COM

Sponsored by:

DECEMBER PHOTO | Robert Muller MIX at CMA / Cleveland Museum of Art

2016 PHOTO | Robert Muller Brite Winter Festival 2015

4:

MIX at CMA (Cleveland)

JANUARY

4:

Walk All Over Waterloo (Cleveland)

8:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

4-6:

Little Italy Art Walk (Cleveland)

15:

4-6:

E.J. Thomas Christmas Arts & Crafts Show (Akron)

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

30-31: Polar Fest (Berea)

5:

Cleveland Bazaar on Coventry (Cleveland Heights)

FEBRUARY

6:

Holiday CircleFest (Cleveland)

11:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

5:

MIX at CMA (Cleveland)

5:

Walk All Over Waterloo (Cleveland)

11-13: Cleveland Flea Holiday Gift Market (Cleveland)

6:

Cleveland Kurentovanje (Cleveland)

12:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

12-13: Cleveland Bazaar holiday show (Cleveland)

19:

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

12-13: Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show (Chagrin Falls)

20:

Brite Winter Festival (Cleveland)

18:

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

MARCH 4:

MIX at CMA (Cleveland)

19:

Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show (Fairlawn)

4:

Walk All Over Waterloo (Cleveland)

11:

Tremont ArtWalk (Cleveland)

15:

Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios (Cleveland)

30-4/10: Cleveland International Film Festival (Cleveland)

Dates subject to change. Canvas tries to list as many events as possible that celebrate Northeast Ohio’s vibrant arts, cultural, culinary, music and performance arts communities. If there’s an event that should be considered for listing, please email information to Calendar@CanvasCLE.com.

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Download and print your copy of the Canvas Events Calendar at CanvasCLE.com.

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Damage control Israeli artist Nevet Yitzhak explores metaphorical repair in MOCA Cleveland’s “Off the Ruling Class”

By Carlo Wolff

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Nevet Yitzhak, Innocence Museum of Displaced Monuments: Luxor Obelisk, 2014, 2-channel audio video Installation; 00:03:20.

Installation view, Artport, Tel Aviv. Courtesy of the artist.

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Nevet Yitzhak, working video still from Off the Ruling Class, 2015. Courtesy of the artist.

Violence, it seems, can drive Tel Aviv video artist Nevet Yitzhak to heal.

For her first solo museum presentation in the United States, running through Jan. 10 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland in University Circle’s Uptown district, Yitzhak focused on the annual maintenance of “The Thinker,” the damaged Auguste Rodin sculpture standing cultural guard at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Her work, suggests MOCA Cleveland associate curator Rose Bouthillier, is a metaphorical way to make the statue whole again.

Yitzhak’s installation on the Rodin, which the Weather Underground bombed in 1970, documents the conservation of “The Thinker,” which then-GMA director Sherman Lee reinstalled with its grievously wounded lower half.

Like other Yitzhak installations, the twochannel “Thinker” work is a way to bear witness to history and to comment on the violence that so often dogs art. It seems particularly timely in light of the recent ISIS destruction of ancient artifacts and structures in the Middle East.

A 2014 installation, “Detail no. 1 from the Innocence Museum of Displaced Monuments: Luxor Obelisk,” also deals with violence and cultural misappropriation. It shows a giraffe heading toward the obelisk, which the French bought from Egypt in the 1830s; the legendary plinth now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Instead of reaching the obelisk, however, the giraffe places its head under a guillotine, 30

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even as Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” plays. The installation, which unfolds like a baroque adagio, is a stunning blend of the gorgeous and the grotesque.

Another installation is the ironically titled “Salute.” Dating from 2003, the black-andwhite, single-channel work by Yitzhak and Lior Fridman is a video manipulation that simulates an airplane crashing into the Tower of David in Jerusalem. Conflating archival footage from Israeli wars and the Sept. 11 destruction of New York’s Twin Towers, it has the immediacy of a newsreel and the feeling of a nightmare.

Yitzhak is not afraid to set up startling juxtapositions.

Bouthillier met Yitzhak in October in Israel on a trip arranged by Artis, a New York- and Tel Aviv-based nonprofit that brings curators to Israel to help promote Israeli art.

Artis and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, a sponsor of the Yitzhak exhibition, financed the Rodin installation. It will be the first MOCA Cleveland commission to travel: It was scheduled to show at EXPO Chicago, on the Navy Pier, Sept. 18-20.

Their meeting in Israel resulted in an invitation to Yitzhak to visit Cleveland in May. “I brought her to a lot of local collections and cultural places, and she was really interested in esoteric and obscure museums as well,” Bouthillier says. Among the places they visited were the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, The Temple-Tifereth Israel, and Zoar, a town about CANVASCLE.COM

MOCA CLEVELAND “Off the Ruling Class” | Nevet Yitzhak On view: through Jan. 10, 2016 Solo exhibition by Do Ho Suh On view: through Jan. 10, 2016 “Chinas of the Mind” | Fatima Al Qadiri On view: through Jan. 10, 2016

an hour-and-a-half south of Cleveland with an interesting museum.

Yitzhak also spent quite a bit of time at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Initially entranced by the Fayum mummy portraits painted on sarcophagi from Roman Egypt, Yitzhak eventually fixed on “The Thinker,” giving her plenty of material to work with, Bouthillier suggested.

The Rodin – and what happened to it 45 years ago – tie “into this really compelling moment in American history, all these conflicts around the Vietnam War,” Bouthillier says, and “it was interesting to look at the destruction of this object sort of in light of all the news right now of artifacts being destroyed in the Middle East.” To Yitzhak, “the destruction of an object means that object has power and that object has influence,” Bouthillier says. “Otherwise, why bother?”

As of Sept. 3, the installation was a work in progress. It will feature two projections; one is like a 3-D animation of “The Thinker,” imagining him as a living, breathing person; the other, according to Bouthillier, “is a sort of compilation of all of Nevet’s research about the object,” the ephemera, letters, files, images throughout time “compiled into almost like a diary.”

The latter has a romantic overtone, informed by the tenderness of care, caressing and attention, imagining what Rodin would have wanted, “talking about ‘The Thinker’ almost as a personification of him, and because it is a person, it’s a very iconic figure,” Bouthillier says.

“Once I become interested in a subject,” Yitzhak told Bouthillier in a Skype interview earlier this summer, “I begin to study and gather as much information as possible: images, video, records, text. This research takes a lot of energy.

The work begins to develop from the footage, shaped by the ideas that emerge. On the more technical side, my role is more of an editor than a director. I’m also a soloist – I prefer to work alone on my computer as opposed to producing with a large group of people!” CV CANVASCLE.COM

Portrait of an artist: Nevet Yitzhak

Nevet Yitzhak, The dance of the behind, 2014, 2-channel audio video installation, 00:06:45, looped. Installation view, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, 2014. Photo: Meidad Suchowolski. Courtesy of the artist.

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PHOTO | DANCECleveland

MOMIX will perform “Alchemia,” shown here, Jan. 23 at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace Theatre.

Dance card DANCECleveland and GroundWorks DanceTheater offer plenty of ways for audiences to keep their calendars full

A

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By Jonah L. Rosenblum

s the weather cools down, Cleveland’s stages heat up.

Through DANCECleveland and GroundWorks DanceTheater, Northeast Ohio is prepared to host a wide variety of shows designed with every kind of audience in mind.

“We work to make this a center of creativity for the world of contemporary dance,” says Beth Rutkowski, GroundWorks general manager.

“The contemporary dance field in Cleveland is very, very strong.”

Particularly with world-class artists like Oded Zehavi, Kate Weare, MOMIX and Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal making their way to the Forest City.

“It’s really important to us to bring in artists from outside of our area and keep this work happening in Northeast Ohio,” Rutkowski says. “We bring in these world-renowned artists and the dance world pays attention to that.”

University of Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall. As befits an opening act, it promised to be festive, as “the feel-good company” mixed modern and contemporary with tastes of jazz and hip-hop.

Hricko describes Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal as “a family-friendly event” devoid of “anything too dark.”

MOMIX has similar appeal, bringing a group of dance illusionists that have already hit pop culture with their appearances on Hanes and Target commercials to Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace Theatre on Jan. 23. Beyond their dance choreography, they’re known for using props, shadows, special effects and unique lighting to keep even the most unsophisticated audiences involved.

“It’s more accessible to a larger audience,” Hricko says. “This is a great one to bring kids to. It’s probably our favorite on the season for families.”

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FARE Parents and their children are covered with the upcoming slate, according to Sarah Hricko, DANCECleveland marketing manager.

Take Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, which kicked off the fall dance season Oct. 4 at the

FOR EXPERIENCED PALATES Greater Cleveland also will play host to plenty of classical dance performances.

Avid dance fans may already know the name Kate Weare.

A 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, 2011 Mellon

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CANVASCLE.COM

Foundation Awardee and 2009 Princess Grace Award winner, Weare debuted “Unstruck” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in February.

Cleveland will play host to her latest debut Oct. 16 and 17 at the Allen Theatre, a piece that remained untitled as of late September.

“Her pieces, they’re very emotional,” Rutkowski said. “Her work definitely has a high-art feel to it.”

Rutkowski said Weare’s pieces are complex, but members of any audience can enjoy them so long as they are content to make their own interpretations and not necessarily have a “right answer” for the performance’s intent.

“It is beautiful dance done really, really well.

The choreography is very interesting to look at,” Rutkowski said. “As long as someone is comfortable with not needing an absolute storyline, then they will enjoy their own interpretations and their own imaginations that might come from her work.”

Weare’s latest work came together, in part, through improvisation, as she let her dancers react naturally to various works of music and used those movements to build a piece. Also, given Weare’s company in New York City, she has turned into a Cleveland Hopkins International Airport regular. Beyond boosting her frequent flier account, her dancers had the unusual benefit of being able to use her gaps, when she’s in New York, to reflect on the “emotional arc” of the piece.

DANCECleveland’s ODC/Dance performance at the Ohio Theatre Nov. 7 brings similar sophistication. The “very modern company” brings work that’s “a little bit meatier in substance choreographically,” Hricko says.

LIVE MUSIC The collision of musical and visual arts can make for a memorable occasion.

“Live music is really important,” Hricko says. “It’s something that’s really special and can never be done again.”

Northeast Ohio audiences have multiple chances to watch dance interact with music.

With GroundWorks DanceTheater’s October performances in Cleveland and November performances in Akron, audiences will be treated to an original score by Israeli composer Oded Zehavi, as inspired by the “Violins of Hope” exhibit featuring violins from the Holocaust.

A Latin flavor will come to Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre on Feb. 27, when the CANVASCLE.COM

PHOTO | Mark Horning / GroundWorks DanceTheater

“Inamorata” by Kate Weare (2013), featuring Felise Bagley and Annika Sheaff. Weare’s latest debut will be held Oct. 16-17 at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square Malpaso Dance Company mixes Cuban contemporary dance with the musical styling of the Grammy-winning Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. The Havana-based company and its accompanying orchestra should bring “very spirited music, spirited dance” to Cleveland, Hricko says.

TELLING A STORY Storytelling has always been one function of the art world – and Northeast Ohio’s dance scene is no different.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers promise an “impactful evening” with “Black Girl: Linguistic Play” at the Hanna Theatre Nov. 14. Commissioned by DANCECleveland, the show will actually debut in New York, at the Joyce Theater, but will make one of its first stops in Cleveland a month and a half later. The show explores real-life situations from the modern female perspective, inspired in part by interviews with Cleveland-area women.

GroundWorks’ “Unpublished Dialogues,” which debuted in Northeast Ohio in 2008, returns to tell a choreographed story based on the life of writer Virginia Woolf.

The piece mixes the tragedy of Woolf’s life with the beauty of her work into a very emotional final result.

“It’s just a very, very strong piece,” Rutkowski said. “It has great depth to it and I think also that it fits really well with this program.” CV 33

MUSEUM LISTINGS

Northeast Ohio AKRON ART MUSEUM 1 S. High St., Akron P: 330-376-9185 W: akronartmuseum.org Wizards of Pop: Sabuda and Reinhart (through Nov. 15); Choice: Contemporary Art from the Akron Art Museum (through Dec. 6 at Transformer Station); Charles Beneke: Specter (through Jan. 3); Andrea Modica: Extended Moments (Oct. 10 – Feb. 21, 2016); NEO Geo (Nov. 21 – April 24, 2016); Island Of Misfit Toys (Nov. 27 – Feb. 28, 2016) ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 87 N. Main St., Oberlin P: 440-775-8665 W: oberlin.edu/amam ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1834 E. 23rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020 W: artistsarchives.org THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown P: 330-743-1107 W: butlerart.com The first museum of American art. The original 1919 structure is a McKim, Mead and White architectural masterpiece listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum’s mission is to preserve and collect works of art in all media created by citizens of our country. The Institute’s holdings now exceed 20,000 individual works.

CANTON MUSEUM OF ART 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton P: 330-453-7666 W: cantonart.org THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND 10730 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-791-7114 W: clevelandchildrensmuseum.org CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN 11030 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-1600 W: cbgarden.org

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CLEVELAND CULTURAL GARDENS East Boulevard & Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Rockefeller Park, Cleveland P: 216-321-7807 W: culturalgardens.org CLEVELAND HISTORY CENTER The History Center in University Circle 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 W: wrhs.org The Western Reserve Historical Society’s History Center is located in Cleveland’s thriving University Circle. The History Center features two historic mansions, exhibits featuring historic vehicles and fashion, and the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-421-7340 W: clevelandart.org One of the top comprehensive art museums in the nation and free of charge to all, the Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality of its collection as well as significant exhibitions, scholarship, performing arts and art education.

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland P: 216-231-4600 W: cmnh.org CRAWFORD AUTO AVIATION COLLECTION The History Center in University Circle 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 W: wrhs.org GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland P: 216-694-2000 W: greatscience.com We make science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) come alive! Enjoy hundreds of handson exhibits, NASA Glenn Visitor Center, six-story OMNIMAX Theater, daily science demonstrations, educational programs, seasonal camps and family workshops.

LAKE VIEW CEMETERY 12316 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-2665 W: lakeviewcemetery.com CANVASCLE.COM

MUSEUM LISTINGS

NOW ON VIEW

MR. BRAINWASH

DAVID DATUNA

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Legacy Village 24667 Cedar Road Lyndhurst 216.382.7800 contessagallery.com CANVASCLE.COM VISIT

CONTESSA GALLERY AT ART MIAMI DECEMBER 1 – 6, 2015

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MUSEUM LISTINGS KENT STATE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM Rockwell Hall 515 Hilltop Drive, Kent P: 330-672-3450 W: kent.edu/museum

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND 11400 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-8671 W: mocacleveland.org

MALTZ MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood P: 216-593-0575 W: maltzmuseum.org The Maltz Museum introduces visitors to the beauty and diversity of that heritage in the context of the American experience. It promotes an understanding of Jewish history, religion and culture, and builds bridges of appreciation and understanding with those of other religions, races, cultures and ethnicities. It’s an educational resource for Northeast Ohio’s Jewish and general communities.

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME 2121 George Halas Drive NW, Canton P: 330-456-8207 W: Profootballhof.com

MASSILLON MUSEUM 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061 W: massillonmuseum.org

THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-781-ROCK W: rockhall.com ROCKEFELLER PARK GREENHOUSE 750 E. 88th St., Cleveland P: 216-664-3103 W: facebook.com/RockefellerGreenhouse

Unique and Specialized Fine Art

by Mimi Becker

MIMISMUSES.COM 36

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

NEO GEO

November 21, 2015 – April 24, 2016 Opening Reception: Friday, November 20, 2015

Member Preview & Artist Talk: 6:30 pm • Doors open to the public: 7:30 pm Clockwise from top left: Gianna Commito, Thax (detail), 2014; Erik Neff, Shoreline (detail), 2015; Natalie Lanese, Camofleur (detail), 2014; Paul O’Keeffe, A Distant Silence IV (detail), 2013; Amy Sinbondit, Section Break (detail), 2011; Kristina Paabus, 3h (detail), 2012; Janice Lessman-Moss, #446 (detail), 2015; Michelle Marie Murphy, Eyeshadow: Going Out ‘n Back Again (detail), 2012. All photos courtesy of the individual artists.

NEO Geo is organized by the Akron Art Museum and supported in part by Myrna Berzon, Dianne and Herbert Newman and Harris Stanton Gallery.

One South High | Akron, OH 44308 | 330.376.9185 www.AkronArtMuseum.org CANVASCLE.COM

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

Ohio and beyond THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM 117 Sandusky St., Pittsburgh P: 412-237-8300 W: warhol.org CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh P: 412-622-3131 W: cmoa.org CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM 953 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati P: 513-721-2787 W: cincinnatiartmuseum.org CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER Union Terminal 1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati P: 513-287-7000 W: cincymuseum.org

COLUMBUS MUSEUM OF ART 480 E. Broad St., Columbus P: 614-221-6801 W: columbusmuseum.org CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER 44 E. Sixth St., Cincinnati P: 513-345-8400 W: contemporaryartscenter.org COSI, THE CENTER OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY 333 W. Broad St., Columbus P: 888-819-2674 W: cosi.org THE DAYTON ART INSTITUTE 456 Belmonte Park North, Dayton P: 937-223-5277 W: daytonartinstitute.org DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ART 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit P: 313-833-7900 W: dia.org ERIE ART MUSEUM 411 State St., Erie P: 814-459-5477 W: erieartmuseum.org THE MATTRESS FACTORY ART MUSEUM 500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh P: 412-231-3169 W: mattress.org SKIRBALL MUSEUM Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion 3101 Clifton Ave., Cincinnati P: 513-487-3098 W: huc.edu/research/museums/skirballmuseum-cincinnati TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART 2445 Monroe St., Toledo P: 419-255-8000 W: toledomuseum.org WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS 1871 N. High St., Columbus P: 614- 292-3535 W: wexarts.org

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GALLERY LISTINGS

Galleries 78TH STREET STUDIOS 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland W: 78thstreetstudios.com 78th Street Studios is the largest fine arts complex in Northeast Ohio, with more than 40 retail galleries, studios and other creative spaces all under one roof.

ALL MATTERS GALLERY 79 N. Main St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-8979 W: allmatters.net Owned by husband and wife Rainer Hildenbrand and Cynthia Gale, the gallery exhibits their nature-inspired art and work by more than 55 other artists. The gallery’s artists all celebrate earth’s beauty and wonder in their themes, materials and intent. For 23 years, All Matters has been a destination for patrons in 46 states and 18 countries.

ANDY ROCK FINE ART SERVICES 4061 Paradise Road, Seville P: 330-461-2322 W: arockfineart.com

THE ART GALLERY 4134 Erie St., Willoughby P: 440-946-8001 The Art Gallery features local art and artists. The Gallery has a full frame shop in which we archivally frame your art, diplomas, wedding invitations, etc. The Gallery boasts a bead shop where we specialize in gemstones, Czech glass and findings. We make small jewelry repairs. Artists teach classes in silk painting, watercolors and beading.

THE BONFOEY GALLERY 1710 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-621-0178 W: bonfoey.com Northeast Ohio’s leading contemporary art gallery features the finest in regional contemporary art by more than 200 artists in a 2,700-square-foot, two-floor gallery. Additional services include framing, carving, gilding, hand finishes, installation, art appraisal, art and frame restoration, and fine art shipping.

Don Drumm STUDIOS & GALLERY

WORLD RENOWNED SCULPTOR 437 CROUSE ST. AKRON 330.253.6268

DONDRUMMSTUDIOS.COM

ONE-OF-A-KIND INDOOR/OUTDOOR WALL SCULPTURES

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GALLERY LISTINGS

DISCOVER

Cleveland Public Library!

CONTESSA GALLERY Legacy Village 24667 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst P: 216-382-7800 W: contessagallery.com THE DANCING SHEEP 12712 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-229-5770 A destination for those seeking the unique in clothing, gifts, and shopping experience or wanting to share the upbeat vitality and offbeat charm of Cleveland’s premier arts and antiques district, the gallery features one-of-akind and limited-edition wearable art, contemporary craft, and special baby gifts in a relaxed and welcoming setting.

www.cpl.org

325 Superior Avenue • Cleveland

DON DRUMM STUDIOS & GALLERY 437 Crouse St., Akron P: 330-253-6268 W: dondrummstudios.com Consistently voted among the top contemporary craft galleries in the country, this fascinating, two-building showplace offers unique jewelry, ceramics, glass, sculpture and graphics created by more than 500 top American artists. Also featured are works by internationally renowned metal sculptor Don Drumm, whose collections include one-of-a-kind sculpture, home accessories, cookware and garden furniture.

THE GALLERIES AT CSU 1307 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-687-2103 W: csuohio.edu/class/ art-gallery/art-gallery Featuring three galleries, a Artist: Leah L. Wong Title: Extended Poetry media room, library and Medium: ink, acrylic, conference space, The hand-cut Tyvek paper Galleries at CSU present up to 15 exhibitions Size: 68”x48 annually. Exhibitions range Year: 2014 from works by recognized contemporary artists and community-based art exhibitions, to exhibitions of historical significance and explorations of visual culture, to exhibitions addressing important social and critical issues.

Mon./Tue. by appointment; Wed./Thu., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat., noon to 8 p.m.

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

PERFECT LOCATION TO EXPLORE UNIVERSITY CIRCLE.

CELEBRATE

MEET

1901 Ford Drive Cleveland, OH 44106

216-231-8900 www.gliddenhouse.com

RELAX

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STAY

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GALLERY LISTINGS LOGANBERRY BOOKS ANNEX GALLERY 13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights P: 216-795-9800 W: loganberrybooks.com Loganberry Books Annex Gallery features a monthly rotation of local artist exhibitions, with an opening reception the first Wednesday evening of every month. Annual shows include Altered Octavos (October) and Otis’ Old Curiosity Shop (December). Loganberry Books is an independent bookstore with 100,000 new, used and rare books.

RILEY GALLERIES AT ETON 28699 Chagrin Blvd., Woodmere P: 216-765-1801 W: rileygalleries.com Riley Galleries is celebrating 30 years of bringing Cleveland museum-quality artwork in glass, bronze, ceramic, fiber and wood. We also feature a selection of whimsical outdoor sculptures, unique handcrafted jewelry and exceptional giftware. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or by appointment. Email: info@rileygalleries.com.

M. GENTILE STUDIOS 1588 E. 40th St., 1A, Cleveland P: 216-881-2818 W: mgentilestudios.com A personalized art resource for individuals, collectors and businesses. We offer assistance in the selection and preservation of artwork in many media. Our archival custom framing services are complemented by our skill in the installation of two- and three-dimensional artwork in a variety of residential and corporate settings.

TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/GALLERY School House Galleries Little Italy 2026 Murray Hill Road, Unit 202, Cleveland “Special Hat,” P: 216-559-6478 24”x20”, Oil on W: triciakaman.com Canvas Studio visits welcome by appointment. Tricia’s studio features her fine art portrait and figurative paintings.

MIMI’S MUSES W: mimismuses.com Mimi Becker, Ph.D., produces vibrant and unique pieces of artwork in the form of paintings, drawings and doodles. Her formal training is that of an abstract painter, and she expresses herself through line, color, shape and form.

PENNELLO GALLERY 12407 Mayfield Road, Cleveland P: 216-707-9390 W: pennellogallery.com Pennello Gallery specializes in contemporary American, Canadian and Israeli fine art and craft. You will always find a sophisticated selection, including many one-ofa-kind, studio glass, ceramics, wood, metal, tabletop, sculpture, unique Judaica and paintings in all media. You may call for an appointment to meet with our bridal registry specialists.

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WOLFS GALLERY 13010 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-6945 W: wolfsgallery.com WOLFS has proudly been an important part of Cleveland’s art community for more than 35 years.

We specialize in fine paintings, sculpture and decorative arts from the 17th century to present day, with a large selection of Cleveland School art. We provide certified accredited appraisals of fine art and antiques, and regularly present art salons.

WOOD TRADER 13429 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights P: 216-397-7671 W: woodtraderframing.com Preserve your unique treasures. Put the final touches on a room with great art and framing.

Art will look best and bring joy to you and your space when it’s something personal, something you made, collected, inherited or simply love.

The right frame can make a picture perfect for your home.

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MUSEUM LISTINGS University School

Advertisement

University School Celebrates New Headmaster Ben Rein, 125-Year Anniversary

F

or Ben Rein, University School’s new headmaster, “the boys come first,” so it is no surprise that the students played a big part in his big day.

Rein’s installation on Sept. 17 as the school’s eighth headmaster coincided with Founders’ Day, a beloved tradition for students that celebrates the founding of the school in 1890. More than 800 boys in kindergarten through grade 12 gathered for camaraderie and friendly competition with each “house” of students enjoying battleball, tug-o-war, relay games, capture the flag, soccer and a picnic lunch together.

Sept. 17 has a special significance because it was on this day, 125 years ago, that University School held its first day of classes at the original building on Hough Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

“This day is not so much about me, as it is about honoring those things that make this school so great,” said Rein. “The traditions, the history of excellence, the boy-centric learning, and the depth of the relationships that happen here are the things that matter. It is amazing and humbling to be ‘officially’ installed as we celebrate the 125th anniversary of US. What better way to do this than to involve the US community, and especially our students, in the moment?”

Rein, 44, who previously served as head of the upper school at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va., succeeds Stephen Murray, who now heads The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J. Rein worked at the all-boys’ Haverford School in Philadelphia where he spent 14 years teaching history and economics, eventually becoming upper school dean and later the assistant head of the upper school. He grew up in the Washington, D.C., area, where he attended St. Albans, an allboys’ independent school. From there, he went to Amherst College, and later received his master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rein and his wife, Claudia, have two sons who are students at US. CANVASCLE.COM

University School’s new Headmaster Ben Rein

More than 800 boys in kindergarten to grade 12 celebrate Founders’ Day with games and a picnic lunch.

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PERFORMING ARTS ANDY ROCK F.A.S.

FINE ART SERVICES PACKING CRATING INSTALLATION CLIMATE CONTROLLED ART AND ANTIQUE STORAGE

Performing Arts

DOBAMA THEATRE 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights P: 216-932-3396 W: dobama.org Dobama Theatre’s mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the development of theater artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world.

WWW.AROCKFINEART.COM

(330) 461-2322

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage

Violins of Hope

19 violins that survived the Holocaust speak for those who perished

help us comprehend the complex realities of the Holocaust,” says Maltz Museum executive director Ellen Rudolph.

Throughout the exhibition’s run, students from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music will periodically fill the gallery with music played on Weinstein’s violins.

“These instruments speak for millions whose voices were silenced,” Rudolph says. “A new generation will help to ensure those voices are heard.”

Amnon Weinstein in his workshop. Photo courtesy of Debra Yasinow and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

A

mnon Weinstein has been restoring violins that survived the Holocaust for more than two decades. The Israeli master violinmaker lost hundreds of relatives in the Holocaust and dedicates his work to the family he never knew.

This fall, Weinstein’s collection will be in Cleveland as part of a community-wide collaboration that includes The Cleveland Orchestra, Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Facing History and Ourselves, ideastream, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

The stories behind 19 instruments — 18 from Weinstein’s collection and one making its American debut on loan from Yad Vashem, the World Center for Documentation, Research, Education and Commemoration of the Holocaust — are the focus of a 4,000-square-foot Violins of Hope exhibition at the Maltz Museum (on view Oct. 2, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016). From a violin played to accompany work details and entertain SS officers in a concentration camp to an instrument employed in a plot to blow up a Nazi soldiers club, the instruments illustrate the diversity of Jewish experiences during World War II. “The violins’ stories of pain, loss and survival offer powerful connections to the past and

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An orchestra escorts prisoners destined for execution in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Photo by SS Hauptscharführer Paul Ricken, courtesy of Yad Vashem.

COMING SOON TO THE MALTZ MUSEUM: Operation Finale: The Capture & Trial of Adolf Eichmann (Opening Feb. 11, 2016) The dramatic story behind one of the world’s most notorious escaped Nazi war criminals being brought to justice is told using recently declassified artifacts from the Mossad. The first exhibition in the United States to fully document the pursuit, capture, extradition and April 1961 trial of a principal perpetrator of The Final Solution, Operation Finale is a co-production of Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Mossad – Israel Secret Intelligence Service; and the Maltz Museum.

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EVENTS

Events Organizing Art Shows, Craft Fairs and Festivals

NORTHCOAST PROMOTIONS, INC. P.O. Box 609401, Cleveland P: 216-570-8201 W: northcoastpromo.com Northcoast Promotions, Inc., organizing art shows, craft fairs and festivals in Northeast Ohio. Join us at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland, Oct. 16, Nov. 20 and Dec. 18 from 5 to10 p.m. Also join us at Polar Fest at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Jan. 30-31, 2016. Visit northcoastpromo.com for more events.

WINTERFEST 2015 Downtown Cleveland Alliance W: downtowncleveland.com/events/winterfest.aspx Downtown Cleveland is your prime destination for kicking off the holiday season! On Saturday, Nov. 28, bring your family to Playhouse Square for Winterfest, presented by Huntington. This all-day holiday celebration includes horse and carriage rides, the annual lighting of downtown, musical entertainment with a firework finale and so much more!

28699 Chagrin Blvd. www.rileygalleries.com (216) 765-1801 Open Tues.-Sat. 10-5 46

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

“The Best Arts Event in Cleveland.” —Scene Magazine “The Mother of all Art Walks.” —Boston Globe

Come see the largest fine art complex in the region with over 60 galleries, studios, and other creative spaces all under one roof! On THIRD FRIDAYS, the whole building comes alive from 5 - 9PM for the most fascinating art walk you’ve ever experienced.

Industrial spaces are available inside our property for your own benefit, corporate meeting, wedding or birthday bash! See the web site for details.

SAVE THE DATES: 10.16.15 11.20.15 12.18.15

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1300 W. 78th St. at the west end of the Gordon Square Arts District

01.15.16 02.19.16 03.18.16

04.15.16 05.20.16 06.17.16

07.15.16 08.19.16 09.16.16

10.21.16 11.18.16 12.16.16

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MUSEUM LISTINGS

MAKE YOUR STORY Begin your journey at University School and define the leadership role you will play in shaping the future.

2015-2016 ADMISSION OPEN HOUSE EVENTS Sunday, October 11 Sunday, October 18 Wednesday, October 21 Tuesday, November 3 Thursday, November 5 Saturday, November 7 Thursday, January 21 Friday, January 22 Saturday, January 23

Family Open House - Grades 9-12 Family Open House - Grades K-8 “Navigating Financial Aid” webinar - Grades K-12 Parent Open House - Grades K-8 Parent Open House - Grades 9-12 “Adventure with US” - Boys ages 4-6 Parent Open House - Grades K-8 Parent Open House - Grades 9-12 “Snowflake Saturday” - Boys ages 4-6

REGISTER AT 48

WWW.US.EDU

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For boys, grades K-12

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