Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, November 24, 2023
NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance
Winter 2023
NOW ON VIEW THROUGH APRIL 28, 2024
Created by the Galicia Jewish Museum Kraków, Poland
Learn more at maltzmuseum.org
Quilt National 2023 The Best of Contemporary Quilts
On-view November 21st, 2023 through March 3rd, 2024... For over 40 years, Quilt National has displayed contemporary quilts highlighting the ongoing experimentation and Quilt National exhibition with the goal of demonstrating the transformations taking place in the world of quilting.
from the exhibition Athens, Ohio. *Photograph courtesy of Visit Athens County.
The Hoover Foundation
c a n t o n a r t . o r g / 1 0 0 1 M a r k e t Av e N . / 3 3 0 . 4 5 3 . 7 6 6 6
19
Who’s Next Emerging artists of Northeast Ohio
6 Editor’s Note
Amanda Koehn considers the stories behind the art
8 On Deck
Noteworthy openings and events around Northeast Ohio
10 Cleveland Arts Prize CAP celebrates 2023 honorees
14 Changing the Ecosystem
New moCa exhibit combines art and activism for Lake Erie “Bejeweled” (2023) by Crystal Miller. Mixed media, 30 x 20 inches. Her profile in the Who’s Next series is on Page 28. Photo / Emily Metzger
19 Who’s Next
Emerging artists of Northeast Ohio
30 Behind the Scenes
INSIDE
It takes a village to mount a Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit
34 Challenging the Audience
Local theater companies approach shows with controversial, daring themes
Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, November 24, 2023
NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance
Winter 2023
4 | Canvas | Winter 2023
On the cover
Artist Alyssa Lizzini with her “Our Garden” mural (2023), which was installed in early November in Public Square in downtown Cleveland. The LAND studio wall rotates artwork by up-and-coming local artists. The project is part of LANDFORM, a LAND program which brings temporary public art to various downtown public spaces. Profile on Page 22. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn
38 Mark Your Calendar Holiday art sales offer special gifts, support creators
42 Holiday Listings
Find unique gifts by visiting these art-focused businesses
46 Listings
Local listings for museums, galleries, theaters and more
47 Curator Corner
“No. 4 Falcieu” by David E. Davis at Artists Archives
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TRI-C PERFORMING ARTS TRI-C PERFORMING ARTS TRI-C PERFORMING 2023 -2024 A SON 2023 -2024SESE A SONARTS ® ® ®
2023 -2024 SE A SON
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Editor’s Note
A
s typical for our winter issue of Canvas, in these pages we share profiles of a handful of Northeast Ohio’s emerging artists. The annual Who’s Next series is one of my favorite features we publish each year, focusing on five early-career artists living and making art locally. During my process of interviewing the artists we selected – thanks to nominations from local art schools and others in the community – I also had the opportunity to cover the Cleveland Arts Prize ceremony (which you’ll also read about in this issue). Cleveland Arts Prize recipients range from early career to lifetime achievement award winners. One thing I noticed writing about and photographing the CAP event was its focus on the artists’ individual stories. Each winner was introduced by a colleague who shared what the award recipient uniquely brings to our arts community, and each gave an acceptance speech. These speeches were all thoughtfully written and allowed the audience to really get a sense of who they are and what they do. For example, while I can’t say I’d given any thought to the art of playing the bassoon previously, hearing about mid-career artist winner Dana Jessen’s ability and craft was fascinating. And though I’m not well-versed in rock ‘n’ roll photography, learning about famous photos Janet Macoska, the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, took of rock stars like Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen, I could barely wait until I got home to google the photos she referenced. In our Canvas features and profiles, we also get into the stories of the people and process behind the art. We aim to not only cover exhibitions and news in the local arts community, but to dig deeper into the backstories reflected in the work. I think this issue may be especially “behind the scenes.” In our 2023 Who’s Next series, you’ll meet Alyssa Lizzini, Crystal Miller, Nolan Meyer, Sarah Esposito and Nicole Malcolm. They are vastly diverse in terms of their styles, mediums, backgrounds and exact places in their artistic career, but each has drawn from their own experiences and captured something personal, true and specific in their work. I hope when you read their stories, you feel connected to the subjects and themes within their work, even if some are foreign to you. Similarly, we check in with the Cleveland Museum of Art, diving deep into the stories behind exhibition development – taking you through their complex process that begins with a curator’s idea and extends to opening the exhibition years later. We also talk with some local theater companies about how they go about selecting shows to perform, and how they make decisions about performing controversial or daring subject matter. Once again, sharing a story that’s a little behind the scenes. Additionally, we preview an exhibit coming to the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland this winter that aims to draw awareness about dangers facing Lake Erie and the Great Lakes – a project that combines art with activism. And as usual for our winter issue, we offer details about upcoming holiday art walks, bazaars and markets. This year, we did this a little differently – instead of having a separate calendar and story about supporting the arts during the holiday season, we combined it all into one feature sharing the times, locations and details about events (also conveniently listed in order of date), as well as commentary about the importance of supporting local creators and why it leads to the best gifts. All of us at Canvas wish you a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to sharing more stories with you in 2024. To stay connected with us and local arts happenings until then, please follow us on social media and by subscribing to our free biweekly e-newsletter, listed below.
Amanda Koehn Editor
6 | Canvas | Winter 2023
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ON DECK
Upcoming openings and current events from around Northeast Ohio Compiled by Amanda Koehn
HEDGE GALLERY “Show and Tell – Domestic Narratives” | Now through Dec. 29 HEDGE Gallery is showing a new body of work by Cleveland artist David King. The series of works for “Show and Tell – Domestic Narratives” started from King’s personal perspective, and evolved into a larger reflection on family. Mainly working from vintage photographs, his paintings, pastels and prints bring to the present stories of the past – and give a contemporary twist with enhanced color palettes and abstract mark making. King’s recent paintings have also taken on a more 3D shape. He bends and cuts out the aluminum surfaces of the paintings and mounts them on thick wooden stretchers. These bends mimic old photos – sometimes found in crumpled disarray – and removing surface areas alludes to missing information, often lost in translation as stories are passed down through generations. HEDGE Gallery is at 1300 W. 78th St., Suite 200, Cleveland. hedgeartgallery.com
“Greetings” by David King. Oil on aluminum. Photo courtesy of HEDGE Gallery. THE SCULPTURE CENTER “Score and Sound” | Now through Jan. 27, 2024 Daniel Arsham presents his first Cleveland solo exhibition, “Score and Sound,” at The Sculpture Center as the first show in the gallery’s new space. Born in Cleveland, Arsham is the first-ever creative director of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Drawing upon Cleveland’s rich sport and musical traditions, “Score and Sound” displays this artist known for boundary-breaking collaborations that fuse contemporary art with design, architecture, sports, film and fashion. Showing 23 sculptures, the exhibit features Arsham’s eroded cultural relics – sculptural works that invite viewers to reflect upon the material and cultural histories of everyday objects, such as Walkmans, cameras, baseball gloves and basketball hoops. The Cavaliers are a partner on the exhibition, as is Library Street Collective, a Detroit gallery that represents Arsham. The Sculpture Center is at 12210 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. sculpturecenter.org
Daniel Arsham, “Glacial Rock Eroded Walkman,” 2014. Photo / Guillaume Zicarelli
8 | Canvas | Winter 2023
To read more about Arsham, visit bit.ly/469glYl
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AKRON ART MUSEUM “RETOLD: African American Art and Folklore” | Now through March 24, 2024 The Akron Art Museum showcases more than 40 artists who share their stories of joy and struggle in the African American experience. “RETOLD: African American Art and Folklore” features art from the Wesley and Missy Cochran Collection, focusing on four themes that emerged during the curation process: remembering, religion, racialization and resistance. These themes describe the works featured in RETOLD, and in many artworks, the artist’s muse connects closely with stories told through generations. Folklore texts are also used throughout the exhibit to provide a richer, deeper story of African American culture. The Akron Art Museum is at 1 S. High St., Akron. akronartmuseum.org William Cole, “American Domestic,” 2016. Digital pigment print and serigraph on paper. Collection of Wesley and Missy Cochran. 236ColW.2
YARDS PROJECTS “The Cleveland Show” | Nov. 30 – Jan. 6, 2024 Defamiliarization is a technique where artists present common things in a strange or new way, altering viewers’ perceptions. “The Cleveland Show,” presented by YARDS Projects, reimagines Cleveland as if you are seeing it for the first time. Co-curators Cheryl Lynn Craver and Chevy shape this exhibit by looking beyond the city’s iconography and seeking out the unfamiliar, beautiful and challenging people, places and events. It features painting, printmaking and photography by Northeast Ohio artists including Karen Beckwith, Jeff Benedetto, Tim Callaghan, Tim Herron, Ingrid Hoegner Leek, Jesse Rhinehart, Vivica Satterwhite, Joan Satow, Jeff Suntala and Dawn Tekler. The show’s opening doubles as the launch of “Octopus Hunting,” a book by Richey A. Piiparinen of new essays that explore the economy of the Rust Belt and Cleveland, with illustrations by Liz Maugans, director of YARDS Projects, and published by Red Giant Books. An opening reception will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. Nov. 30 at YARDS Projects, which is inside the Worthington Yards apartment complex, 725 Johnson Court, Cleveland. yardsproject.com “Here’s The Deal” (2020) by Jeff Suntala. Photo courtesy of Suntala and YARDS Projects.
SUMMIT ARTSPACE Winter Exhibitions | Jan. 12 – March 16 Summit Artspace will open five new exhibitions for its winter season. First, the 20th annual FRESH Juried Exhibition challenges local artists to push the limits of what art can be – stylistically, conceptually and technically. In “Bad Nostalgia,” a solo exhibit by Katherine Strobel, watercolor is explored as a medium that offers a space made of veils and opacity; Strobel’s work reflects the artist’s lived experiences, while intentionally adding or leaving out elements of the landscape or characters. The group exhibit “Taking Care of Our House: Communities Coming Together and Making a Difference” brings together local students, teachers and school leaders through the organization Art for Resistance Through Change. In this intergenerational exhibition, the artists encourage viewers to engage in addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. The “Waffle Weave Invitational” group show explores the waffle weaving medium and its unique ability to alter a textile from seemingly a 2D to 3D object with depth through repeated pyramidal cells. And lastly, “Nobody Here” by David Kruk considers the concept of “lost futures” through the aesthetics of vaporwave and Funko Pops. Artist Kruk explores how anachronistic objects employ nostalgia by remixing cultural references to engage with consumer capitalism. Opening night is from 5-8 p.m. Jan. 12 at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron. summitartspace.org “Totem for Lost Futures” by David Kruk. Photo courtesy of Summit Artspace.
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Winter 2023 | Canvas | 9
Cleveland Arts Prize celebrates 2023 honorees
C
Story and photography by Amanda Koehn leveland’s arts community came together Oct. 26 at the Cleveland Museum of Art to honor a diverse, skilled and talented group of honorees being awarded 2023 Cleveland Arts Prizes. The Cleveland Arts Prize recognizes artists in a variety of disciplines annually. Founded in 1960, it has honored more than 400 artists across disciplines. Joseph P. and Nancy F. Keithley were awarded the Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts. In 2020, the couple gifted the Cleveland Museum of Art with 114 artworks, worth a total of $100 million and the largest single gift to the museum in more than 60 years. Presented the award by William M. Griswold, director and president of CMA, he told around 400 audience members that their impact will benefit “generations” of Clevelanders. “Joe and I have spent two decades forming a collection – we enjoyed it, we did it together, we lived with it – and in 2020, we decided it was time for us to share it with all of you, with our community,” Nancy Keithley said, adding the award’s namesake, Barbara Robinson, was known for her belief that the arts belong to everyone and that all are enriched by them, and reiterated that belief. Joseph Keithley said supporting local arts institutions for more than 40 years has “been personally rewarding,” and as each institution is world class, “it’s easy to do.” “Doing so has given us an opportunity to encourage those institutions to collaborate among and between them at a program or project level,” he said, adding those types of collaborations make Cleveland a special place. Susan Braham Koletsky, who has been museum director at the Temple Museum of Jewish Art, Religion, and Culture at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood for 25 years, received the Robert P. Bergman Prize. In presenting her the award, August “Augie” Napoli, executive director of The Temple, discussed Koletsky’s efforts to build and preserve the collection, which boasts more than 2,000 ritual objects and fine art from both the local Jewish community and around the world. She’s also created programming involving the art collection for both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. “The importance of the collection places it among the top two synagogue collections in the world, alongside the collection of the Temple Emanu-El in New York,” Napoli said. “Even including the major Jewish museums and private collectors, our museum collection ranks among the eight most important collections in all of North America, and is right here in Cleveland, Ohio.” In accepting her award, Koletsky said it has been an honor to oversee The Temple’s collection, and invited all to learn more about the Jewish experience through its exhibitions, programs and discussions “about Jewish art, culture, history, religion, antisemitism and social justice.” She also said that while she was overjoyed to receive the award, she was also devastated in light of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the events in the Middle East since. “There’s a lot of work to be done in the world around understanding religions and cultures, and museums are
10 | Canvas | Winter 2023
Susan Braham Koletsky receives the Robert P. Bergman Prize from August “Augie” Napoli.
Janet Macoska accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Designer Jacinda N. Walker was honored in the mid-career artists category.
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Joseph P. and Nancy F. Keithley receive the Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts. places where stimulating, robust and hard conversations, and important learning, can and should and does take place,” she said. Janet Macoska was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award in Visual Art. Macoska has been capturing rock stars on film and digitally for decades. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Jazz Times, People, Vogue, American Photo, Classic Rock, 16, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, London Times and the Plain Dealer. Macoska was presented the award by Fran and Jules Belkin. Jules, along with his late brother, Mike, co-founded Belkin Productions, which booked, promoted and managed musical artists and put Cleveland on the map as a center of rock ‘n’ roll. It was later sold to the company that became Live Nation. Fran authored “Rock This Town!” which told the story of Belkin Productions and featured photos by Macoska. “I feel very glad to still be here, and to see that rock ‘n’ roll is finally considered an art,” Jules Belkin said, relaying when he met Macoska and how her work rose to become nationally and internationally known. “... I remember Janet lurking in the dressing room backstage, or crawling on all fours in front of the stage to capture those great shots. Her work has been recognized and celebrated throughout the world.” In accepting her award, Macoska said Cleveland has been “ground zero for the careers of so many artists and bands.” Ahead of the ceremony, she told Canvas she was “stunned” to receive a Lifetime Achievement prize. Some of her favorite photos she’s taken were one of Paul McCartney that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, one of David Bowie from 1983 and one of Bruce Springsteen from 1984. Often traveling the country and world to capture rock icons, she says she was always happy to return to Cleveland. “I’m a Clevelander through and through, I always will be and I’m very happy here,” she told Canvas. The ceremony, which was preceded by a VIP cocktail hour, was hosted by Fox 8 News’ Kenny Crumpton. Several performances by local performance artists kept the audience entertained throughout the evening between award presentations. Additionally, Richard S. Rogers – an Akron curator who created Curated Storefront, a nonprofit that aims to build a more vibrant city through the downtown arts scene – was awarded the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service
12 | Canvas | Winter 2023
Richard S. Rogers accepts the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts.
to the Arts. He accepted the award from Fred Bidwell, a local philanthropist, art collector and founder of the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. “By engaging artists from both near and far, Curated Storefront set out to reveal all that Akron has to offer, and simultaneously transform the downtown into a site of cultural and economic potential,” Rogers said. Dana Jessen and Jacinda N. Walker were honored in the mid-career artists category. Jessen is a bassoonist who also works as an associate professor of contemporary music and improvisation at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In her remarks, she lauded the CAP for recognizing a musician like herself – “a multi-hyphenate artist whose practice doesn’t fit neatly into predefined boxes or genres,” she said. Walker is a graphic designer who founded designExplorr, an organization that addresses the diversity gap within the design industry. It provides design education to Black and Latino children and raises awareness for corporate organizations. She is the first Black woman to win the CAP prize for design. “While I knew design was for everyone, people who looked like me were suspiciously absent from the design profession, so I set out to change the face of design,” Walker said. And in the emerging artists category, Atefeh Farajolahzadeh was honored for visual art and Stephanie Ginese was honored for literature. Farajolahzadeh was born in Iran and uses photography, video and coding-involved installations in her work. She said when she first arrived in Northeast Ohio, new horizons opened in her artistic practice. “I found new space for experimenting here, expanding my art practice and exploring new forms to express the multifaceted vision of migration,” she said. Ginese is an author, instructor and stand-up comedian from Lorain. In her speech, she said “Cleveland is home to some of the most skilled and enduring artists in the world, and if the city wants to keep these artists here, those in position of power need to extend that power to us artists. “... We all need to make this a sustainable place for artists to live, create and be able to move beyond survival,” Ginese said. “We need artists to thrive because art is sacred, it is one of the last tethers to our humanity we have left.”
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FINAL EXHIBITION OPEN HOUSES
Our hearts go out
In the wake of the Hamas terror attacks,
Exhibition closes December 19, 2023
to all of Israel and the Israeli musicians, authors, filmmakers, dancers, and visual artists who have enriched our Cleveland community through their artistry.
Sunday, November 19 @ 1-3 pm Tuesday, November 21 @ 6-8 pm Sunday, December 17 @ 1-3 pm Tuesday, December 19 @ 6-8 pm
Roe Green Gallery Jewish Federation of Cleveland Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building 25701 Science Park Drive To schedule group tours or individual visits, email israeliarts@jewishcleveland.org or call 216-593-2886. GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY
Roe Green Foundation
a program of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland
jewishcleveland.org/arts
CHANGING THE
ECOSYSTEM
New moCa exhibit by Andrea Bowers combines art and activism to change the conversation about Lake Erie
By Abigail Preiszig
A
ctivist Tish O’Dell is calling for a “paradigm shift” in the way society views Lake Erie and nature as a
whole. “There has to be a cultural shift,” says O’Dell, who worked on community-led legislation for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in Toledo. “Rather than Lake Erie being seen as just
14 | Canvas | Winter 2023
Bowers
Leving
| Photo / Fondazione Furla
| Photo / Nathan Florsheim
O’Dell
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a resource or commodity, it needs to be seen as a part of the community.” O’Dell, along with Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a public interest law firm headquartered in Pennsylvania, teamed up with Northeast Ohio-raised artist Andrea Bowers and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland to present “Exist, Flourish, Evolve,” a large-scale exhibit opening at moCa in February 2024 and on view through June. The campaign aims to raise awareness and stimulate change through art and programming reflecting on the dangers facing Lake Erie and all the Great Lakes ecosystems. “This (exhibition) uses Lake Erie as a jumping off point to address ecopolitical crises,” says Lauren Leving, moCa curator-at-large. “It flows perfectly with (Bowers’) broader body of work which is rooted in different facets of activism. She has done different projects in collaboration with individuals who are on the front lines or at the heart of these issues, developing generative and generous relationships.” For over two decades, Bowers, a multimedia visual artist based in Los Angeles, has documented the work of activists creating contemporary history. Her art chronicles issues like immigration rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights and climate justice. “I view my art as bearing witness to the important work that activists do,” Bowers says. “Exist, Flourish, Evolve” uses neon sculptures, photorealist drawings and documentary film to explore the work of CELDF, O’Dell and other Ohio activists as they attempted to pass the Lake Erie Bill of Rights to protect the Lake Erie ecosystem from pollution. Collaboration for the exhibit began in 2019. Following that initial meeting, Bowers, who grew up in Huron – three houses away from Lake Erie – made several trips back to Ohio. On one of those trips, O’Dell organized a several days-long tour of Northwest Ohio communities including stops in Toledo and Williams County, and visiting farms and the Maumee Bay State Park in Lucas County. They connected with residents and bore witness to the chemicals and large amounts of animal manure from farms that drain into the waterways, causing algae blooms in shallow parts of the water, says O’Dell, a Broadview Heights resident.
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“Those toxins are still coming to Cleveland, even if not as visible to the naked eye,” says O’Dell, who is also a CELDF senior staff member. “There are no boundaries in the lake. Pollution that happens in one part flows to the rest of the lake.” These algal blooms left residents of Toledo without drinking water for three days in 2014, inspiring the LEBOR which would grant Lake Erie rights to “exist, flourish and evolve” and allow Toledo residents to file lawsuits on the lake’s behalf, O’Dell explains. In 2019, Toledo citizens voted in a special election to enact the LEBOR as an amendment to the Toledo City Charter. However, a federal court overturned the LEBOR in 2020, saying it harmed Ohio’s ability to issue permits
and is too vague. The City of Toledo filed a motion to appeal, but a few months later withdrew the appeal. By the end of the year, the local court ruled the LEBOR moot. O’Dell says in the beginning of the moCa project, she did not understand the full connection between art and legal work focused on environmental rights, but Bowers opened her eyes. “Much of our environmental activism starts in the wrong place,” O’Dell says. “We are fighting to limit the harm and not prohibit it by regulating it. We allow a slow, cumulative poisoning and destruction to happen to nature and to ourselves. People have to get to a place where they understand that we are not separate from nature, but that we are nature. This is the cultural shift
Previous page: “Chandeliers of Interconnectedness (The Question Of How We Live Is Upon Us)” (2023) by Andrea Bowers. Photo / Shaun Roberts. Above: From Andrea Bowers’ Eco Grief Extinction Series, “We Do Not Dare the Vortex of Undoing What Must Be Undone in Order to Heal” (2022). Photo / Jeff McLane. Photos all courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.
Winter 2023 | Canvas | 15
“Rights of Nature I” neon sign (2022) by Andrea Bowers. Photo / Glen Cheriton, Impart Photography in thinking that Andrea’s art can help convey and get people to start thinking about.” Bowers adds, “I use my artwork to visualize activist movements and messages.” In conjunction with the exhibit at moCa, a neon sculpture using language from the LEBOR will be installed on the balcony of the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland, which overlooks Lake Erie. Bowers designed the neon script in collaboration with David Helton, the illustrator responsible for creating the iconic Cleveland Buzzard for 100.7 WMMS – Cleveland’s Rock Station, to bring Cleveland’s rock tradition into her art. “Andrea highlights the role art can play in environmental activism, so that’s how these two sites will be talking to each other,” Leving says. “The exhibition is really thinking about structures impacting our ecosystems, showing the interconnectedness of humans and nature.” Part of the artwork shown in “Exist, Flourish, Evolve” will be from Bowers’ Eco Grief Extinction Series, which draws attention to climate change by visualizing extinction. “There are going to be works that are beautiful at first glance, but really difficult to confront,” Leving says. “Some
16 | Canvas | Winter 2023
of the work that we’ll be showing is on recycled cardboard, and so also thinking about the environmental politics of the materials that she’s using and that spans a breadth of mediums.” Additionally, moCa is working with two Cleveland Metropolitan School District high schools to launch a program called Artful Advocates, which will kick off this December. The program is in partnership with CELDF and OhioHealth. The 10-session curriculum will encourage youth to research, raise awareness for and potentially eradicate environmental health challenges in their community. The students’ final projects will be presented at a Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund conference from April 22-23, 2024, to celebrate Earth Day at moCa. “I want the legal system to change and for that to happen, cultural values and thinking has to change,” O’Dell says.
ON VIEW
“Exist, Flourish, Evolve” opens in February 2024 and on view through June at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, 11400 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. For more information, visit mocacleveland.org.
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Free for the Holidays? Maltz Museum Offers Free Events During Winter Season The Maltz Museum opens its doors at no-cost or low-cost this winter during special holiday events! From celebrating Chanukah with traditional songs and candle lighting to making welcome cards for refugees and new immigrants on Christmas Day to engaging in meaningful discussion in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day, there are several upcoming opportunities for the community to engage with this Cleveland cultural hub. For more information, visit www.maltzmuseum.org. No-cost & Low-cost Winter Happenings at the Maltz Museum (organized by date) OPEN THANKSGIVING WEEKEND! FRI, NOV 24 – SUN, NOV 26, 11AM – 5PM $12 Adults; $10 Students & Seniors, $5 Youth, FREE for Members & Children under 5 Express gratitude by exploring the stories of people who helped build the city and country we call home. The Maltz Museum invites you to step into The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Lodz Ghetto, which tells the story of 1940s Europe when a young girl loses her family, but never gives up hope or her faith. See treasures and ritual objects in The Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery and share in the Jewish immigrant experience that makes up An American Story. Plus, start your holiday shopping at the museum store. Shop unique books, artisan jewelry, hand-crafted home goods, and more. Family Fun Program! FRIENDS OF THE MALTZ MUSEUMʼS CHANUKAH CANDLE LIGHTING THURS, DEC 12, 5PM TO 6:30PM Free with registration Join The Friends of the Maltz Museum in celebrating the Festival of Lights. Hear the story of Chanukah told by Maltz Museum docent Michelle Stern, sing Chanukah songs led by Cantor Kathy Sebo of the Temple-Tifereth Israel, and join us in lighting the menorah. Kids of all ages are welcome. There will be light refreshments and children’s crafts. CHRISTMAS DAY CAN-CAN, “GIVE WHAT YOU CAN, PAY WHAT YOU CAN” MON, DEC 25, 11AM TO 5PM Bring a canned good donation and/or pay what you can toward Museum admission Get into the giving spirit of the holiday season! Make a donation to explore the inspiring stories in the Museum’s newest exhibition— The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Lodz Ghetto, see the treasures and ritual objects in The Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery, and share in the Jewish immigrant experience that makes up An American Story. The day also includes a chance to craft greeting cards to welcome new refugee and immigrant families coming to Cleveland. Canned goods will be donated to the Kosher Food Bank and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.
A Community Event! HEAR OUR VOICES ANNUAL MLK DAY CELEBRATION MON, JAN 22, 11AM – 5PM Free & open to the public Join us for free all day at the Maltz Museum! Honor iconic civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and everyday citizens who fought against discrimination while celebrating the everyday hero in you. Tour the Maltz Museum’s permanent collections and special exhibition, The Girl in the Diary: Searching for Rywka from the Lodz Ghetto, while enjoying hands-on activities on this family-friendly day! Schedule and activities to be announced. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Community Relations Committee. STOP THE HATE YOUTH SPEAK OUT ESSAY COMPETITION Deadline Grades 6-10 Essays: Thursday, February 8, 2024 Deadline Grades 11 & 12 Essays: Thursday, February 15, 2024 Free for Northeast Ohio 6-12th graders in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull & Wayne counties Youth Speak Out celebrates students committed to creating a more accepting, inclusive society. By reflecting on real-life situations and detailing ways to make a positive difference in the world in 500 words or less, young leaders can win big. $100,000 in scholarships, prizes, and anti-bias education grants is awarded each year. To learn more visit the Maltz Museum’s education portal at learn.maltzmuseum.org Space is limited and reservations are always recommended. For more information on these and other Maltz Museum events and exhibitions or to register for one or more programs, call 216.593.0575 or visit www.maltzmuseum.org
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BY AMANDA KOEHN
EMERGiNG ARTiSTS OF NORTHEAST OHiO @CanvasCLE
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SARAH ESPOSITO Age: 25 • Lives and creates: Cleveland • Learned: BA in studio art from Fairmont State University; MFA from Kent State University
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rowing up with the natural wonders of Appalachia in her backyard, Sarah Esposito has long been drawn to the complex, ever-changing moments landscapes offer. Through her painting and collage artwork, she depicts those moments she witnesses in nature that may only occur at singular time and spot on Earth. “While my work might change with different mediums or doing different things throughout my life, I do think that I will always have this tie to how I experience the landscape as a person who’s from Appalachia,” she tells Canvas during an interview in her art studio in an apartment she shares with her husband in Cleveland’s Shaker Square neighborhood. Esposito grew up in Fairmont, W.Va., visiting nearby natural sites like the Blue Ridge Mountains and Summersville Lake. She remains nostalgic for her many experiences exploring different natural shapes and patterns. “The landscape is something that is so perfect,” she says. “It’s just one of the most ever-changing things that I’ve ever experienced throughout my life.” While her parents, a salesman and an eye doctor, are not artists themselves, they were always supportive of her going into the arts, she says. Her father helped put together her studio. Always being an “art kid,” she says she initially studied art education at Fairmont State University. But she found herself trying to get out of art education events to spend more time in the studio, eventually deciding to switch to studio art. She focused heavily on en plein air, landscape-inspired paintings, and hiked at state parks with her roommate in her free time. Going straight from undergrad to Kent State University to pursue her Master of Fine Arts in painting, Esposito learned from mentors like Gianna Commito and Shawn Powell, both artists and professors.
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“Remember the Fight to Find,” acrylic on linen and plywood. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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Opposite page: Sarah Esposito with her artwork in her home studio in Cleveland. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn. Above: “Slice,” acrylic on linen and plywood. “Slice” recently sold to Summa Health Gallery. Photo courtesy of the artist. During graduate school, Esposito transitioned her practice to cutting her canvas into structural shapes, creating “nuanced moments of landscape,” she says. She’ll stretch linen over some of her works, and use paint to build on the experience. Working with wood, linen, canvas, acrylic paint and additional materials, Esposito’s pieces draw you into their irregular natural shapes and saturated hues. With tiny ridges, vivid stain painted colors and pieces that pop out at you, looking at the pieces in her studio, you want to see more and stare deeper – and also slow down, go outside and experience some of those unique landscape moments for yourself – all at the same time. Intrigued by processes like rocks collecting at the base of a river, negative space carved out by erosion, melting ice and all kinds of shifting natural forces, “I kind of just want to capture those moments through formal language of color and shape,” she says. “I really think about positive and negative spaces as something that’s super prominent, too.” “I think the things that I’m most interested in are capturing that really quick moment – that even though my work is not ephemeral, I know that the world and the Earth is ephemeral,” she adds. “So it’s kind of like that ephemeral feeling of, how can I capture these quick moments in landscape and like harvest them and kind of recreate those?” Still drawn to education, Esposito began teaching at Kent State during graduate school and she says she prefers doing so at the collegiate level. She graduated in 2022, and currently teaches Kent’s Foundations art classes. The experience has been very rewarding, she says. She also worked for the FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art as an art handler. Esposito says she’s working on balancing her time between art making, teaching and tasks like building her website, applying to grants and residencies, and so forth. “I have to remind myself that real life isn’t grad school when it comes to art,” she says, adding that seeing how her peers and mentors have handled balancing everything has helped her. “There is time for rest, and I have to allow myself that, but also there is time for work and there’s time for research.” In February, Esposito celebrated her first solo show, “Into the Syncline,” which opened at KINK Contemporary in Cleveland’s Waterloo Arts District. She also was in “Shapes of Abstraction” at Context Fine Art at the 78th Street Studios on
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Cleveland’s west side in September, and an exhibit with Alex Vlasov titled “Two Neighbors” at The Ohio State University’s Urban Art Space in Columbus in August. She calls these experiences “some really incredible opportunities to get my work seen.” Up next, Esposito says she aims to hone in on her practice and capitalize on her successes in the past year by applying to residencies and artistic grants. She also recently sold a piece to Summa Health Gallery. Her creations also reflect her personal experiences in various times and spaces. In recent years, her work has reflected landscapes in Utah – where she visited for a couple weeks during graduate school and snapped tons of photos she’s still working from – and here in Ohio. “I think about a lot how some trees don’t even get to be seen by people, or some rock formations or creeks are always constantly flowing and changing, and we’re not even there to experience that,” she says. “So I think like going and finding those moments and nailing those down, and either sketching them or taking photos, and illuminating those and bringing those to life in each one of my pieces, (it’s) something that I feel like I can do for the rest of my life, which is so insane.”
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“Sarah has an astute ability to translate her interactions with the natural world – stone formations, horizons, mountain peaks and so on – into very nuanced irregular shaped paintings. Her sensitivity to color, composition, shape and materiality provides us with a tactile and sensory connection to her subject matter. She makes landscape paintings that do not merely replicate a singular image of a traditional landscape, but instead simulates a three-dimensional replication of the sensations that landscapes afford us.” Shawn Powell, associate professor of painting, Kent State University
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ALYSSA LIZZINI Age: 23 • Lives and creates: Cleveland • Learned: BFA with illustration concentration from Cleveland Institute of Art
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tories of people and places in our city, overlapping across space and time, are at the heart of Alyssa Lizzini’s drawings. Her layered ink pen drawings build off the interconnectedness of social and spatial worlds as she collects personal stories from all over Cleveland. Together, they reflect on the social fabric of the city and its communities, she tells Canvas. Raised by her grandparents in Old Brooklyn, they would drive Lizzini around the city to the places where they grew up. They would tell stories of relatives and people they knew in different parts of town. “It made me aware of how there are a million different stories that have happened, that are happening now and that will happen,” she says. “I’m interested in the simultaneousness of all of this and the overall complexity and how, as one person, we can never fully wrap our brains around everything that is happening in the world. I’m really interested in creating that complexity through the overlapping line drawings, and also recording stories from different people I meet along the way of discovering more things that are happening around me.” Being fascinated by drawing for as long as she can remember, she says near the end of high school at Padua Franciscan High School in Parma she began to college search. While she initially looked at many non-art schools in order to pursue a more “practical” career, talking with her family helped her realize art was worth pursuing. “It’s something that I love, and I feel like I had to let myself choose that as a career,” she says, adding although her family wasn’t particularly artsy, they were very supportive of her. She attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she concentrated in illustration. Intrigued by ethnographic
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“East 41st” (2023). Ink, acrylic and keyway on paper mounted on panel, 36 x 48 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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Opposite page: Alyssa Lizzini with her “Our Garden” mural behind her at Public Square. Above: Lizzini’s “Our Garden” mural shows community gardeners working in various local gardens with overlapping drawings of buildings. Canvas Photos / Amanda Koehn research, she also took sociology classes at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. For her Bachelor of Fine Arts project, Lizzini volunteered and visited different Cleveland neighborhoods to meet and interview residents and record their stories. They became the subjects for portraits, with their stories incorporated into the drawing series. Drawing while talking with people in a specific location and observing what’s happening around them creates a “new layer of connection,” she says. She also loves the “immediacy of working with an ink pen.” It’s not a medium you can erase, so once she draws a line, it’s there to stay. “That’s taken a lot of learning and many years of drawings to be comfortable with,” she says. “But I really like that it forces me to be 100% authentic in my drawing. It’s exactly what I’m seeing and what I’m recording – it’s never something that I can kind of play with after the fact.” Lizzini graduated from CIA in 2022 – the same year her “Strata (Map of Cleveland)” piece received the Board Grand Prize at CIA’s Student Independent Exhibition, considered the top award. Today, she works as auxiliary programs coordinator at Ruffing Montessori School in Cleveland Heights, in addition to creating new work. She says while navigating work-lifeart balance can be challenging – sometimes requiring late nights – she’s grateful for her job and the artistic achievements she’s reached recently. Her BFA project started her on a path of community engagement being core to her work, which continued through her recent “Field Drawings” project. After receiving a Satellite Grant from SPACES, for “Field Drawings” she led drawing workshops with community members between July 2022 and July 2023. Their drawings were then exhibited at Cleveland Public Library Main Branch, on view until sometime in January 2024. Additionally, she was asked by LAND studio to create a mural, which went up at Public Square in downtown Cleveland early in November. “Our Garden” shows Clevelanders gardening, highlighting community gardens – inspired by those Lizzini volunteered at – and connecting them to the literal and figurative seeds people plant in neighborhoods when they garden. Next up, Lizzini is set to teach more drawing workshops at the New Orleans Museum of Art for a couple days in
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December. She’s also working on a new body of work. “Over the summer, I did a bunch of neighborhood walks and would kind of go up to people on their front porch in different neighborhoods and ask them if I could draw them,” she says. “So, I’m working on some larger pieces now that are portraits of people on their front porch.” The people and scenes Lizzini depicts are vivid and inviting. Each person seems like someone you would want to meet, living vicariously through her drawings of them, the places they call home and the stories they tell her. “I try to give myself lived experience that I can draw from, and I try to kind of force myself to meet people,” she says. “Which is very difficult because I was very much a socially anxious kid. Doing this kind of work is maybe my way of making up for it now as an adult and really putting myself out there.”
SEE MORE HERE • ALYSSA LIZZINIʼS “FIELD DRAWINGS” PROJECT WITH WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS IS ON VIEW INTO JANUARY 2024 AT THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY MAIN BRANCH (4TH FLOOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT GALLERY), 325 SUPERIOR AVE., CLEVELAND. •
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ALYSSALIZZINI.COM “Traversing drawing and illustration, Alyssa captures the interplay of people and places within urban environments through intricately layered compositions. Her work offers a window into diverse neighborhoods, rich stories and the sociocultural fabric of the city.” Nicole Condon-Shih, associate professor, Cleveland Institute of Art
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NiCOLE MALCOLM Age: 24 • Lives and creates: Stow • Learned: BFA from Ohio University with printmaking concentration
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icole Malcolm creates art that’s deeply personal, intimate and aimed at seeking stronger connections to those close to her. While the mediums in which she works have shifted over her college and post-college years – she’s recently gravitated to papermaking and mixedmedia installations – it has always been self-reflective and connected to her current environment and place in life. “I think space and a sense of home has really consistently come out ... and light and atmosphere,” Malcolm tells Canvas in her home studio in Stow, adding that her recent pieces have been about “the connections you make with people that aren’t exactly family.” Growing up in North Canton, Malcolm says in elementary school, she would ask to skip recess to do more art projects in the classroom. Always interested in making “really emotional, really personal work,” she primarily painted during her time at Hoover High School, she recalls. However, once she got to Ohio University in Athens and ended up in a Foundations class that covered printmaking taught by Melissa Haviland, who is chair of the OU printmaking department, she connected to the medium immediately.
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Nicole Malcolm’s “Please come to my party...” mixed-media installation opened at the 78th Street Studios in December 2022. Photo courtesy of the artist. Then, for her senior Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis, she wanted to experiment with 3D mixed-media work with the idea to bring people into a space built like a dorm room to show it. In her project, she reflected on her time at college – starting with her freshman beginnings when she, “had a classic coming-of-age, getting older thing. I
went through my first real breakup and things like that. I didn’t have any friends there and I was by myself and I had a random roommate,” she says. To integrate into the Athens community, she began attending open mic nights, first by herself and later with friends. She connected with Bruce Dalzell, a well-known community
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member who runs the open mic nights, and for her BFA, she asked him to write a song with her. She placed their lyrics on her handmade paper, and her installation included headphones so visitors could listen to it – all in the mock dorm room inside the gallery, adorned with string lights and offering various artistic reflections on her college experience. “It’s just like a culmination of my time in Athens basically,” she says. After graduating in 2021, Malcolm began working at The Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland. She received an Ohio Arts Council grant to work with Tom Balbo, the founder and artistic director of the Morgan, on papermaking. She’s also on the teaching artists’ roster at Zygote Press in Cleveland. She says since graduating, something that comes up for her personally and, consequently, in her work is feeling further away from her close friends. They don’t get to see each other as much because as people grow up, they often move elsewhere and become busy with adult life. So, in December 2022, when she celebrated her first solo show outside of college, she aimed to connect to her friends – both through her artwork and by creating an installation experience to bring her friends together for the opening. Her show, “Please come to my party...,” was at the 78th Street Studios on Cleveland’s west side. “A lot of it was birthday partybased and inviting all of your friends to things,” she says of her mixed-media show that featured both new work and art made at OU. “Like deep down, it’s literally a grasp for me to have everyone I care about in one room at the same time because it’s such a rarity that that ever happens anymore.” Looking at pieces and photos from “Please come to my party...” you may feel sentimental about your own college memories and relationships there. It’s not dissimilar to listening to a Taylor Swift song (Malcolm is a fan) and despite the lyrics seeming specific and personal, there’s a quality that makes it easy to relate them to your own life and feelings. You get a glimpse into the artist’s life, while simultaneously seeking introspection. Malcolm began a graduate program in printmaking at Indiana University Bloomington in the summer, however, she had to leave this fall, first due to mental health challenges and then her
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Opposite page: Nicole Malcolm in her home art studio. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn. Above left: “I Will Wait for You” song by Malcolm and Bruce Dalzell, on paper made by Malcolm. Photo courtesy of the artist. Above right: “Protection” (2022), handmade flax paper, kozo sticks. Photo courtesy of the artist. physical health as autoimmune issues flared up. She returned to Stow, where she lives with her partner, and she continues to create. She says while she struggled with having to leave her program, she knows she made the right choice for her wellbeing and wants to reapply when she’s able to give it her full attention. “I’m very, to be honest, hard on myself about things like that,” she says. “I’m like a next-step person and I’ve been so involved since the second I finished my undergrad. And so, having to take this step back for a second is something I’m not used to. ... Also it’s something that I wanted to talk about and be honest about, and I think something that can be a little more normalized because it happens. You can’t really put stuff like this aside.”
Another challenge she’s faced is not feeling like she fits into a specific category of artist. However, she says she’s learning not to question herself as much – when “you just make what you want to make” have been some of her best moments and creations so far. She recently showed work at The Morgan and is applying to some juried shows. And, Malcolm is further honing in on papermaking – which she explains is a long, physical process, but well worth it. “I think that there could be something really strong about it being all one material,” she says of her recent creations. “... I feel like now that I’ve learned how to make paper, I can’t not do it. It’s just the exact thing that I feel like I was like meant to work with.”
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“I enjoyed every minute of working with Nicole Malcolm during her time at Ohio University. She was a tremendous community member, a strong employee and an inventive young artist. It was exciting to see how Nicole thought through the medium of papermaking to create her effective thesis artwork.” Melissa Haviland, professor of art, Ohio University
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NOLAN MEYER Age: 25 • Lives and creates: Lakewood • Learned: BFA in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art
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olan Meyer specializes in what he calls “loud, digital collages – but painting,” taking a classical artistic approach to themes inspired by pop culture and digital
media. Growing up in Lancaster County, Pa., a couple high school teachers noticed Meyer’s artistic abilities and pushed him to pursue art, he recalls. He participated in the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Pre-College program and remembers quickly appreciating the not too big, not too small nature of Cleveland. “I just was like, ‘yeah, this is for me’ – that was a pretty big motivator,” he tells Canvas about deciding to go to CIA. Meyer says he has long been drawn to classic realist painters like Caravaggio, but art school opened his worldview to more modernist styles. He also took digital video and photography classes, which influenced his interests in terms of subject matter, although he stuck to painting as his medium of choice, he says. “With painting, it kind of feels like you have to fight with it or kind of accept sometimes that it has a mind of its own,” he says. Drawing inspiration from music, the internet and video games, his paintings tend to capture pop culture moments. They often have distorted aspects and amusing, eerie details that draw you in. Viewing his work, you’ll likely see at least one cultural reference that’s familiar, but vastly different from how you’ve previously experienced it. Meyer’s process typically begins with an online image or meme, and then he drafts his design in Photoshop. He sketches and paints his piece from there, he says. His overarching artistic philosophy tends to address how humans have communicated visually across time, “drawing that through line from an older painter like Caravaggio, and then also the guy with a funny name with a bunch of numbers in it on Instagram.” Ideas about politics, news and culture today are often accessed through online imagery, like infographics or memes, whereas historically, creators would comment on those
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“Real Tree Portal” (2022), acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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subjects through mediums like painting. “They’re doing a very similar thing just in a very different way, where they’re using imagery to communicate an idea,” he says. For his Bachelor of Fine Arts project, Meyer initially struggled with explaining to his professors how modern video game visual elements fit into his artwork, showing up as “naturalist images that had these weird distortions that only happened in a video game,” he says. Then, he had to shift his BFA show online due to COVID-19. He coded his own video game “gallery” to exhibit his paintings. “It was cool because it accidentally solved the problem because all the professors were able to experience the sort of glitch that I was using,” he says. “... They could see (the distortions) happening in real time and then understand it and then make that connection. So, it solved the issue of what I was trying to figure out the entire time at CIA. … It was like take a screenshot of a game, paint that, take a picture of the painting and then put it in another video game.” Since graduating from CIA in 2020, Meyer says he’s been challenged by the social aspect of an artist’s life. Working as a line cook – a job that can include evenings and odd hours – it can be difficult to balance things like attending gallery openings, networking, making money and creating new artwork. However, one major opportunity Meyer received toward that end was serving as the inaugural artist in residence with feverdream – a new artists’ residency and community program headquartered in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. Since launching in 2022, feverdream aims to provide opportunities to local early-career artists who want to better develop their practice. For it, Meyer received funding and work space to make artwork – which included a mysterious 38-foot mural depicting a bright red squid imposed on a lighthouse. It was displayed on The Shoreway building on West 76th Street in
Opposite page: Nolan Meyer with his “Lighthouse” mural on The Shoreway building in Cleveland earlier this year. Photo / Owen Zubek. Above: “Replace My Brain With Cat Videos and Metal” (2023), acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist. Cleveland’s Battery Park earlier this year. After his residency, Meyer was in a show with two feverdream artists in residence who succeeded him, Elizabeth Lax and Sakurako Reed, which was on view at feverdream this summer. He also recently received the Artists Forward Fund, a microgrant for his work that’s supported by the Cleveland Foundation and administered by SPACES. Lately, he’s mainly been working on improving his output of artwork and working toward another group show, he says. “I just like that I’m interacting with a lot of really talented young people,” he says, adding that as COVID-19 fades from the forefront, he’s noticing artists in the community creating and showing more new work – a welcome shift.
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“Meyer puts contemporary media under a microscope to pick apart its complexities, provocations and cultural consequences. His work is an amalgamation of his experience of contemporary life through the lenses of social media, video games and internet culture. It reflects social ailments born of the anonymity of — and cultivated in the alienation of — being online, and it delivers a mysterious and ambiguous vision of reality drenched in the bleakness of speculative science fiction. His ability to manipulate images and proficiency with paint invites viewers into this very personal and cerebral space.” “At the Table With No YouTube Videos” (2022), acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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Mike Meier, assistant professor of painting, the Cleveland Institute of Art
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CRYSTAL MiLLER Age: 23 • Lives and creates: Cleveland • Learned: BFA in painting and sculpture + expanded media from the Cleveland Institute of Art
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rystal Miller’s sparkling, bejeweled and large mixedmedia creations – which can capture a viewer’s attention from across a gallery – are known for their polished details as much as their attention-grabbing brightness. She’ll often start with a magazine fashion photo, from which she uses the Procreate digital illustration app to sketch what will become a painting that skillfully incorporates mixedmedia details. Inspired by retro fashion, afrofuturism and drag, Miller typically chooses Black or brown models. “Kind of my whole premise of my work is to create a world for Black and brown people that they can feel safe in and can express themselves in,” she tells Canvas. “A lot of my work is centered around afrofuturism. When I recreate those images, I’m thinking about very eccentric hairstyles. I’m thinking about how can I include afrocentricity into this – that could be amplifying the jewelry that they wear, amplifying their nails.” Miller grew up in Sturgis, Mich., and she first learned creative skills from family. Her father, who is Black, would draw comics and action figures, while her mother’s side of the family is Amish and taught Miller more domestic art forms like sewing and crocheting. She says these early experiences taught her about the intimacy involved and value in taking your time to make something. “I’ve always known from a young age that I was going to be doing something art related, and I’ve never thought about anything else,” she says. She first earned her associate degree in design from Glen Oaks Community College in Michigan, which she entered through a dual enrollment program while in high school. She then matriculated to the Cleveland Institute of Art. After loving classes in painting and sculpture, she pursued both majors, she says. During her college years she began talking with her teachers and peers about how her work could contribute to creating
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a safe place for Black and brown people, Miller says. It was during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and seeing all the violence toward people of color, she thought, “God, I wish there was a place for us to just live freely without any violence or prejudice,” she says. Those ideas led her to afrofuturism, an aesthetic movement focused on the intersection of the Black Diaspora culture and science and technology. But instead of honing in on sci-fi and tech, she draws inspiration from fashion and music. Feminine clothes and accessories, extravagant nails and jewelry, music by artists like Janelle Monáe and Childish Gambino, and films like “Black Panther” contribute to Miller’s vision. Some artists she considers inspirations are Mickalene Thomas, also a mixed-media artist and painter; mixed-media artist Devan Shimoyama; and fiber artist Bisa Butler. “A lot of the colors I use are very bright – they’re kind of like in your face,” Miller says. “I think a lot about the undertones of Black skin, so I take the undertones and then I exaggerate the undertones. So let’s say like for me, my undertones are very red and orange. So if I were to paint myself, I would probably use a variety of reds, kind of burgundy and then all the way up to an orange or a vibrant neon orange.” Adding materials to her painted canvas is the “fun part,” she adds. With an arsenal of accents like rhinestones, glitter, tulle, foam to create hairstyles, ribbon and beyond, Miller says she likes to use feminine and in-your-face details. Her pieces are usually quite large, and seeing them up close, you get the idea that they would be gratifying to create. You may feel sensory satisfaction as power and glamour radiates from the subjects. “I also work very intuitively, I think,” she says. “I still plan a lot of stuff, but when it comes to what materials to choose, it’s kind of just like how I’m feeling.” While at CIA, Miller had a solo exhibition there, “We
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Opposite page: Crystal Miller. Photo / Emily Metzger. Above: Miller’s “DRMWRLD” solo show was on view at Maria Neil Art Project this fall. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn Belong in the Future,” which connected Black feminine beauty with afrofuturism. She received an Urgent Art Fund grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, administered by SPACES, for that show, and also was part of several group shows at CIA. However, Miller says she was challenged by the fast pace required to create work in college. She wanted to put her all into every piece, and struggled with burnout. “I’m not good with having to work fast. I work very slow,” she says, adding having high expectations for her work is good
because she knows she’s capable of meeting those standards, but can also be harmful for her mental health. After graduating from CIA in May, she says she’s looking forward to making work she’s even more proud of. Some of her recent accomplishments include having her artwork on the cover of CAN Journal’s fall 2023 issue, a solo show titled “DRMWRLD” at Maria Neil Art Project in the Waterloo Arts District of Cleveland this fall, and more shows being planned into 2025 (with details to come). She’s also been selling her work, which is exciting, she says. And pursuing artist residencies and searching for an art-related job to supplement her income, Miller is looking ahead. “I’m also heavily working on a new body of work and I think it’s going to be so much better than the work I already have now,” she says. “I think it’s just more me. I think the work before is obviously me, but it’s even more me. It’s more amplified, it’s more feminine, it’s more eccentric, it’s more dramatic, and those are all the things that I want. I’m also going bigger.”
SEE MORE HERE •
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“Crystal’s paintings can’t be photographed, not really, not in a way that shows them for what they are. You have to stand in front of them. She has an incredible instinct for what goes where and especially for how image and surface talk to one another. Her paintings are luxurious, indulgent, fantastical, escapist. … Everything in her work is transformed, glitter and rhinestones become more precious than diamonds. But most importantly they are beautiful. I always understand beauty as advocating for something. Beauty lures you in and holds you there. I think Plato was right, beauty is a kind of door to love.” “Pucker Up” (2023), mixed media on canvas, 40 x 30 inches. Photo / Emily Metzger
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Lane Cooper, associate professor of painting, Cleveland Institute of Art
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BEHIND
THE SCENES It takes a village to mount a Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit
By Carlo Wolff
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early five years after Cleveland Museum of Art prints and drawings curator Britany Salsbury came up with the idea for an exhibit revealing a little-known facet of the great Impressionist painter and sculptor Edgar Degas, the scores of works that make up the show were ready for their close-up. “I formally proposed ‘Degas and the Laundress’ as a potential exhibition in January 2019, but had started thinking about it about six months before,” Salsbury says. “I first came across the subject after reading an article about Salsbury the series written in the 1980s by Eunice Lipton, the only art historian to previously look at Degas’ laundress series in an in-depth way. The topic stuck with me for many years, and after I arrived at the Cleveland Museum of Art in March 2018, I started to wonder whether it could work as a potential exhibition.” Her contemplation was the seed of an intricate production encompassing the Strean mounting of various kinds of paintings, artwork and objets d’art, preparation of accompanying text, choice of wall color, and even selecting the font for the headline-styled exhibition title that has been greeting visitors to the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery since October. CMA’s unique Degas display, “Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism,” runs through Jan. 14, 2024. When it comes to museum exhibitions as sophisticated
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and diverse as the Degas, it seems there are as many decisions involved as there are brain cells. It also seems as if the timeline never ends. “Exhibitions vary in development, as there are complexities to every step of the research, planning and organization of each show,” says Heidi Strean, CMA’s chief exhibition, design and publications officer. “The curators’ work can be very personal and solitary and may take years to coalesce,” she says. “Once it is added to our schedule, a much broader group of staff become invested in the process to flesh out the narrative, collaborate on the design process and bring shape to the companion publication. The team of each exhibition is confirmed at the point of concept, and carry through the project with the curator throughout the planning, the opening, the exhibition presentation, and through the close of the exhibition and the return of artwork to the original lenders or to our own galleries.” All hands on deck – “the broader team,” as Strean puts it – start working in earnest two to three years in advance of opening, and the actual work extends beyond the dates the exhibition is on view until all the details are wrapped up and the finances are reconciled. The process can extend up to six months after a show has closed to the public. Each of these behind-the-scenes details come together to produce exhibitions that draw from the museum’s eclectic collection, share an in-depth, original story and contribute to the scholarly field of artwork from a specific time and place. SPECIAL HANDLING “Degas and the Laundress” is a CMA exclusive. It highlights Degas’ fascination with 19th-century Parisian laundresses, women known for their industriousness, their durability and, as news organs of the times implied, their sexual availability. It provides a fascinating overview of a
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“Museums are committed to the protection and preservation of artwork. We are most concerned about the survival of the work for future generations, and we are custodians while the work is in our care. We work to minimize risk, with rigorous training for our staff, a set of trusted partners in the industry – and, of course, insurance.”
Heidi Strean Above: “China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta,” a Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition, is on view through Jan. 7, 2024. It is the first Western exhibition narrowing in on the artistic production and cultural impact of the region in the coastal area south of the Chinese Yangzi River, according to the museum. Opposite page: “Degas and the Laundress” on view at CMA. Photos courtesy of CMA. volatile historical period in which that master painter shifted his preoccupation with the comforts of the bourgeoisie and the beauty of ballet to the emerging embodiments and demands of a grittier, more workaday world. Like other exhibitions, getting “Degas and the Laundress” to market took teamwork and time. What makes it a CMA exclusive? Fragility is a factor. “Some artwork is light sensitive, which means it really should not be out on view for more than a few weeks or months,” Strean says, as the duration is set by the lender. “When that is the case, as it is with works on paper, we know that the strongest presentation is for just one museum. If a show is made up of artwork that has greater durability, like metal sculpture, the show can have multiple presentations.” Besides the exhibition itself, for “Degas and the Laundress” there was a catalog to produce, requiring “involvement and coordination of authors, an editor, a designer, a publication manager and a printer,” Salsbury says. Not to mention research, writing, editing and proofreading. “This timeline – about five years – is pretty typical for an exhibition of its scale, especially one with many loans, each of which needs to be discussed and organized far in advance,” she says. Salsbury says the most challenging parts of organizing “Degas and the Laundress” involved coordinating loans – which requires going to see artwork in person, sending an official letter requesting it as a loan and waiting to hear back – and writing the catalog. Developing this exhibition during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic made it especially daunting, suggests Strean.
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“Woman Ironing” c. 1869. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Oil on canvas; 92.5 x 73.5 cm. Neue Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, 14310. The CMA’s exhibition marks the first time this work has been on view in the United States. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn “All exhibitions have been challenging in the wake of COVID – the world has changed,” she says. “There are fewer cargo flights for art transportation, basic materials are more costly, people are cautious about travel. We are in a constant state of negotiation with our partners, our vendors and our colleagues, all to achieve these shows.”
Winter 2023 | Canvas | 31
THE FLOW Mounting the Degas exhibition began with preparing the galleries with paint and required construction, leaving enough time to install each artwork. An installation schedule can be complicated and is managed by a registrar, who schedules the shipment, uncrating and hanging of each artwork. Once everything is hung, the finishing touches are put on the exhibition by designers and members of the installation crew, who hang wall texts and adjust lighting. Each exhibition is treated as its own story, and is considered in terms of both concept and logistics, Strean says. “The team of professionals developing and presenting shows here is experienced, and each person brings a set of skills that make it possible for us to safely borrow major masterpieces from around the world to present here in Cleveland,” she says. “We calculate a tailored schedule for each show, allowing for durations that each department can deliver on – with the physical change-over for an exhibition, each department has benchmarks to achieve for each day of work. While the registrars are overseeing art shipments, conservators may be treating an artwork for stability or preparing a work for presentation, the designer is managing general contractors for the construction, all in advance of a single work being installed.” For “Degas and the Laundress,” the museum transformed the space from the close of the prior show over six weeks. The phases proceed in the same order for each show, but can vary in duration, Strean notes. “We essentially work in a flow of deinstallation (taking down a show), art transportation (return of loans), gallery preparations (construction, painting, casework and exhibition furniture), back to an empty gallery, and then we start over in reverse with a clean gallery space,” she says. “The same team that took things down and out now brings in a new round of art shipments. We condition-check each work as it is unpacked, and the works are installed, lit and labeled before we welcome any guests.”
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Left and above: Photographs of laundresses from about 1900-1913 from the museum’s collection, and even a receipt issued by a Parisian laundress in 1868 (from a private collection), are among the historical objects and records that supplement the artwork at the center of “Degas and the Laundress.” Canvas Photos / Amanda Koehn ALL IN Strean suggests collegiality rules in selecting an exhibition. “Nineteen curators are working in earnest on the research, care and growth of their specialty area within the collection – every curator has a few ideas of projects they’d like to do, or that would be right for Cleveland to present,” she says. “The initial conversations are small and focused, generally with the director, the chief curator and the director of exhibitions. We have ‘workshop’ meetings where we discuss the merits, the opportunities, the feasibility and the necessary resources to accomplish the proposed exhibition. These are really engaging conversations and prompt further work on the part of staff to ensure that the scope and scale of the project is realistic.” Outside proposals are welcome, Strean adds, noting there is a protocol that applies to all exhibitions regardless of subject. “In almost every case, the exhibition relates in some way to the museum’s collection, and we look for originality in the thesis – ideally, we are presenting a fresh take, bringing new scholarship to the field,” she says. “Museums are committed to the protection and preservation of artwork,” she adds. “We are most concerned about the survival of the work for future generations, and we are custodians while the work is in our care. We work to minimize risk with rigorous training for our staff, a set of trusted partners in the industry – and, of course, insurance.”
ON VIEW
“Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism” runs through Jan. 14, 2024, in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery. The museum is at 11150 East Blvd. More information and tickets to the exhibit are at clevelandart. org. Read more from Canvas about the exhibition at canvascle.com.
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Advertisement
The Canton Museum of Art presents Collections A & C from Quilt National ’23
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he Canton Museum of Art is excited to present Collections A & C from Quilt National ’23. On display November 21, 2023- March 3, 2024 in Canton, Ohio. For over 40 years, The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio has presented Quilt National, featuring some of the best contemporary fine art quilts from around the world. This show has consistently displayed new forms of experimentation and development in fabric art, extending the definition of the ‘quilt.’ Quilt National ‘23 was juried by Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Chiaki Dosho, and Irene L. Roderick. The jury selected 81 quilts out of 673 submissions to showcase in this year’s 45th Quilt National Exhibition. Quilt National ‘23 excitingly brings 43 returning artists and 38 artists that have never exhibited in previous Quilt Nationals. In the late 1970s Athens, Ohio, was home to a number of area artists who were using fabric to create works that were pieced, layered, stitched and stuffed. These works were “quilts” by virtue of their structure, although intended to be viewed on the vertical plane. The original designs and use of innovative techniques and color combinations made them unacceptable to traditional quilt shows who were most interested in beautifully crafted bed covers with recognizable patterns. The only exhibit opportunities for these artists were in mixed media fiber shows alongside baskets and weavings. Quilt National was intended to demonstrate the transformations taking place in the world of quilting. Its purpose was then, and still is, to carry the definition of quilting far beyond its traditional parameters and to promote quiltmaking as what it always has been — an art form. The works in Quilt National display a reverence for the lessons taught by the makers of the heritage quilts.
Above: Behold the Onion, 2022. Betty Busby. Polyester sheers, translucent polyester batting. 47 x 56 in. Below: Photograph courtesy of Visit Athens County
Many of the works hold fast to the traditional methods of piecing and patching. At the same time, the Quilt National artist is intrigued by the challenge of expanding the boundaries of traditional quiltmaking. These innovative works generate strong emotional responses in the viewer while at the same time fulfilling the creative need of the artist to make a totally individual statement.
Quilt National 2023 The Best of Contemporary Quilts
CHALLENGING
THE AUDIENCE Local theater companies take diverse approaches to performing shows with controversial themes, daring subject matter By Ed Carroll
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ocal theater companies often need to straddle a line. They want to put on financially successful plays – or at least performances that cover their operating expenses – while also showcasing interesting, and at times, challenging art. While few, if any, theater directors would program a performance they didn’t believe in, many – but not all – have to consider not only the financial implications, but how a show fits into the company’s plan for its season and even identity for the theater itself. The other end of this balancing act is selecting plays and shows that are artistically exciting, controversial or focused on important social issues. Theater is art, after all, and directors have
“The Grown-Up” by Jordan Harrison was performed at convergencecontinuum from Oct. 13 to Nov. 4. Photo courtesy of convergencecontinuum.
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no shortage of fascinating, challenging and often daring works to choose from for their audiences. But directors have to play to their audiences – and occasionally their tastes and preferences. Canvas spoke with Scott Spence, artistic director for the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood; Faye Sholiton, founding artistic director of Interplay Jewish Theatre in Beachwood and Cleveland Heights; and Cory Molner, executive artistic director at convergence-continuum in Cleveland about how they each handle this balancing act of selecting works they want to perform, and how they approach controversial topics and issues with their shows. SIT UP, ENGAGE, GRAPPLE Sholiton says Interplay Jewish Theatre, which she founded in 2011, has never had any particular formula for selecting its plays. She says about two-thirds of the plays Interplay puts on address the company’s central mission to feature outstanding works that view the contemporary world through a Jewish lens. The other third are shows in conjunction with the Maltz Museum in Beachwood and relate to themes that support or enhance specific exhibitions and projects. “We choose plays that give audiences something to think about on the way home, and beyond,” she says. “Whatever the genre, our offerings need to reveal something significant about the human condition. And the works themselves need to provide enough surprises to keep us engaged.” She reiterates what she believes is the purpose of theater in our time. “It’s no longer about the ‘sit back, relax and enjoy’ invitation we repeated in traditional curtain speeches,” she says. “In fact, the work can – and should – entertain. But now our imperative, suggested by playwright Aaron Posner, involves another level of participation: Sit up. Engage. And grapple.” Interplay’s home theater is Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights, but it also shows works at the Maltz Museum in Beachwood and around the area. This has opened up new opportunities, platforms and venues for productions. Interplay has put on challenging work, including a solo play “What I Thought I Knew,” about a woman struggling with deciding if she should have an abortion, and “Amsterdam,” which addressed antisemitism in what Sholiton says was a “convoluted, no-holds-barred story.” However, the
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TWO GREAT SHOWS COMING SOON FROM THE MUSICAL THEATER PROJECT SMOOTH AND SMART…RODGERS & HART!
Once again TMTP and members of Cleveland Jazz Orchestra team up for an evening of the Great American Songbook– this year it’s the chapter on Broadway’s Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The two of them, along with the Gershwins and Cole Porter, raised the bar on the art of sophisticated song: “This Can’t Be Love,” “Bewitched,” “Manhattan,” “My Funny Valentine” and “The Lady Is a Tramp” – say no more! BILL RUDMAN and CJO’s PAUL FERGUSON co-host.
January 27 at Maltz Performing Arts Center, 7:30 PM Tickets $25, $35 or $45 LEGENDARY BLACK VOCALISTS – GREAT BROADWAY SONGS
Why did Ella Fitzgerald record no less than eight songbook albums devoted to famous composers - all of them (except Duke Ellington) white songwriters for theater and film? “Because the songs are great!” she said, and many of her African American colleagues from the classic era agreed: Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Evelyn Wright Hartman, Maxine Sullivan, Louis Armstrong, Bobby Short– the list goes on. Jazz pianist JOE HUNTER and his trio and singers including the wonderful EVELYN WRIGHT and NICOLE SUMLIN– will take us on a tour spiced with video clips. Join us for a musical celebration of a legacy that continues to inspire us all.
y r o t c a F w e r Sc Artists 2023
Y O U ’ R E I N V I T E D! Don’t miss
our biggest show of the year! Shop unique holiday gifts in three huge upcycled factory floors packed with more than 40 resident artists along with more than 80 visiting artists, crafters, and makers.
Holiday Market
Fri. Dec 15, 6pm-10pm Sat. Dec 16, 10am-6pm Sun. Dec 17, 10am-3pm SCREWFACTORYARTISTS.ORG 13000 ATHENS AVE. LAKEWOOD OH 44107 FREE PARKING • FREE ADMISSION
March 3 at Notre Dame College, 3 PM | Tickets $35 For more information, visit MusicalTheaterProject.org SCAN FOR MORE INFO
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Winter 2023 | Canvas | 35
only truly controversial play the company has performed was “Ulysses on Bottles” in 2017 – a cautionary tale about what happens when we fail to address the cost of human suffering, she says. It is written by Israeli artist Gilad Evron and deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “There are no bad guys in this play, only individuals locked into a battle dating back thousands of years,” Sholiton says. “The people who argued against our presenting the play had not read the script. They knew nothing of its poetic language, powerful imagery and humanizing humor.” CONTROVERSY CAN SELL Different theaters have different needs to balance and consider. The Beck Center for the Arts is both a professional theater and a provider of arts education, which influences its programming. Spence says Beck Center always looks for shows with both box office and artistic merit, and has the benefit of two theaters on its campus – a larger one where more wellknown titles are usually featured, and a smaller, more intimate 96-seat theater. “That’s our space to be a little bolder, a little more experimental,” he says of the smaller Studio Theater. “We’re a little more careful for the main stage, with over 500 seats to sell on a five-week run.” He says he’d never program anything that he doesn’t think has artistic merit, but he couldn’t recall any instance where there was a show the company wanted to put on but was apprehensive about reception to the subject matter. However, the Beck’s Studio Theater shows can often be both financially successful and controversial — and frequently, controversy can sell tickets. He recalled the performance of “Jerry Springer: The Opera” in 2011 as a particularly controversial one, though not necessarily for the reasons he expected. “In the Jerry Springer tradition, it was controversial, and the opera followed that format, but it’s apparently also on the radar of some religious groups,” Spence says. Apparently, the religious groups opposed to it were alerted every time the show was performed, and a church bussed out about 120 people to protest opening night. But the protests backfired – Spence says it helped sell tickets. He says usually, if an audience member is upset by a performance at the Beck Center, it’s usually because they weren’t informed about the subject matter. That’s something the center tries to address, Spence says, and as it makes efforts to let the audience know what to expect from any specific performance. “There might be a comedy that drops the f-bomb five times,” he says. “A parent might think, ‘hey I want to bring this 14-yearold,’ and there’s lots of bad language, and they didn’t know it. Well, that’s a little bit on us. So we try to tell people the show has adult subject matter or has a lot of adult language. … We try to prepare people, but sometimes you just can’t prepare for what you don’t see coming.” POKING THE BEAR At convergence-continuum, Molner doesn’t need to factor in what’s box-office popular in his selections due to the limited size of the company’s house in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, and because it’s supported by grant funding. It doesn’t hurt that convergence-continuum is a company focused on experimental, challenging and “out there” theater. You never quite know what it will showcase next, but it’s always interesting and worth your attention. Molner says they’ve done themes for entire seasons
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Above: Beck Center for the Arts presents “Jerry Springer: The Opera” in 2011. Photo courtesy of Beck Center for the Arts. Below: Greg White, left, as Ulysses, and Joel Hammer, as a military official, in Interplay Jewish Theatre’s production of “Ulysses on Bottles” in 2017. Photo / Elaine Siegel
before, but he always considers if a play and topic is relevant to the current times and world issues. He says as a result of the theater’s mission to perform more experimental works, he hasn’t ever really been surprised by a reaction to a show. He pointed to the theater’s upcoming show, “Wonderland Wives,” running from Dec. 1-23, as an example. The play’s main characters are Disney princesses, and the characters were written to be played by drag queens. He says it’s an important piece to perform given the continual attack on drag queens, and drag as an art form, by conservative groups. And convergence-continuum will continue to push those boundaries – Molner says he’s looking at plays for next season that deal with issues like nationalism and violent countries and the way they’re viewed by others. “We’re perfectly happy not playing it safe,” he says. “We’re willing to go there and do that. In some cases, we actually will poke that bear.”
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PHOTO: The Darkroom Company
McDonough Museum of Art January 19 - March 2
Morgan Bukovec Emerging Artist are you on the menu
Explore new art now
free to all
moCacleveland.org
Reception : January 19, 5-7pm Artist talk : January 31, 5:30pm Performance : February 28, 5:30pm
525 Wick Avenue Youngstown, OH 44502 Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11AM - 4PM 330-941-1400 mcdonoughmuseum@ysu.edu Youngstown State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, age, religion or veteran/military status in its programs or activities. Please visit the Equal Opportunity and Policy Development & Title IX website for contact information for persons designated to handle questions about this policy.
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Winter 2023 | Canvas | 37
Mark your
calendar Holiday art markets, walks, bazaars provide an opportunity to choose unique gifts, support local creators
Compiled by Amanda Koehn
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hopping within the local arts community year-around allows patrons to both support artists and select one-of-a-kind creations, and there’s no bigger and better time to do so than the holiday season. Local artists and creatives make or supplement their livings based on those near and far buying their work. And, shopping their studios or holiday art sales allows you to ensure gifts for loved ones are special and meaningful, and your dollars remain local. Canvas compiled a list of holiday art markets, walks and bazaars from around Northeast Ohio to streamline the shopping process for our readers. And, to learn about more holiday-related arts events, subscribe to our biweekly Canvas e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup. To suggest more holiday arts events to include in our e-newsletter, email editor@canvascle.com. 2023 AVON WINTER AVANT-GARDE ART & CRAFT SHOW WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 25 WHERE: Emerald Event Center, 33040 Just Imagine Dr., Avon INFO: This art and craft show will feature artists and crafters selling their original handmade items. Admission is $3 to the public, and children under 12 are free. It will also have a full concessions stand on site provided by the venue, and a portion of proceeds will benefit the local nonprofit, Smiles for Sophie Forever. avantgardeshows.com
WINTERLAND WHEN: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 25 WHERE: 5th Street Arcades, 530 Euclid Ave., Cleveland INFO: WinterLand is downtown Cleveland’s kickoff to the holiday season. Hosted by Cleveland Bazaar, it will feature local and handmade gifts and more. clevelandbazaar.org SUMMIT ARTSPACE ARTISTS SUNDAY WHEN: Noon to 5 p.m. Nov. 26 WHERE: Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron INFO: Artists Sunday, celebrated the Sunday after Thanksgiving, is a national campaign to encourage shoppers to purchase from local artists and give unique artworks as gifts. Summit Artspace, Akron Soul Train, Akron Bazaar, Northside Marketplace and more downtown Akron arts organizations and businesses are partnering to encourage visitors to shop downtown over the weekend. The event at Summit Artspace will feature a variety of handcrafted gifts with 25-plus local artist pop-up vendors, in addition to its 25 resident artist studios, on all three floors of its building. summitartspace.org LITTLE ITALY HOLIDAY ARTWALK WHEN: 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 1; noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 2; noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 3 WHERE: Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood shops and galleries INFO: Galleries and shops in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood will host their holiday art walk, where passersby can find artistic gifts and also enjoy dinner at the array of local restaurants the neighborhood has to offer. Physical copies of ArtWalk maps will be available at Little Italy galleries, merchants and restaurants during the event; digital versions will also be available. littleitalycle.com
“Borrowing” (2023) by Lee Heinen. Oil/collage, 36 x 36 inches. Lee Heinen Studio at 12402 Mayfield Road in Cleveland will be open during the Little Italy Holiday ArtWalk. She has a large selection of original oil paintings and giclee prints. Photo courtesy of the artist.
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To read about more upcoming art events, sign up for Canvas' free e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup
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CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART WHAT: Student Holiday Sale WHEN: 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 1; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 2 WHERE Cleveland Institute of Art, 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland INFO: Shop for creative, handmade gifts made by CIA’s students. Choose from glass art, necklaces, earrings, ornaments, ceramic cups, bowls, scarfs, shirts, tote bags, stuffed animals, posters, prints, greeting cards, stickers, bookmarks, zines and many other unique gifts. In 2023, nearly 80 students – majoring in craft and design, sculpture and expanded media, illustration and more – will have items available for sale. cia.edu/holidaysale WHAT: 100 Show + Sale WHEN: 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 1; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 2 WHERE: Cleveland Institute of Art, 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland INFO: Works of art by CIA faculty, students and alumni will be sold for $100 each (or in denominations of $100) in this student-organized show and sale. Patrons can select a work and take it home. All proceeds go toward the annual spring break student trip to visit galleries and museums in New York City or other cities. In 2022, more than 200 paintings and drawings by 30 CIA students, alumni and faculty members were available. cia.edu/100show
“At the Cleveland Institute of Art, shopping the Student Holiday Sale and 100 Show + Sale means you’re helping young artists and designers pursue their creative careers. In many cases, CIA students invest what they earn into expanding and growing their practices or into organizing trips with classmates to national art and design conferences. In general, buying holiday gifts directly from local artists means you’re supporting the regional economy and helping keep Northeast Ohio a strong, vibrant creative community.”
“In my travels, I’ve noticed that successful communities have residents who collect exclusively from their own region because they have pride in where they live and what is produced there. Among the places where I have noticed this are Minneapolis ... Raleigh, N.C., all of California and certainly all of Texas. We do still have some ‘Cleveland School’ art collectors. It would be a wonderful thing to expand the community of collectors for the very fine art being made in this area today.” Lee Heinen, artist BAZAAR AT LAKE AFFECT STUDIOS WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 2 WHERE: Lake Affect Studios, 1615 E. 25th St., Cleveland INFO: Join Lake Affect Studios and Cleveland Bazaar for an east side holiday shopping event. In addition to local and handmade makers, resident artists will have their studios open. Food, drinks and more will also be available. clevelandbazaar.org CHRISTMAS IN ZOAR WHEN: Starting at 10 a.m. Dec. 2 WHERE: Historic Zoar Village, 198 Main St., Zoar INFO: Historic Zoar Village will be decked out for the holiday season, with self-guided tours available. Extended shopping opportunities can be found at the Zoar store, Bakery, Bimeler Museum, Gartenhaus Shop and the Stars of Zoar Co-op as well as some privately owned shops. bit.ly/3PWrbux
Michael C. Butz, communications director, Cleveland Institute of Art
Photo / Leah Trznadel / Cleveland Institute of Art
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“Creative people love to create. Artists yearn to create from an inner cellular passion. Local artisans create uniqueness for the holidays. Without strong community support, local artists would no longer be local because they would move on to other communities where their art is supported. Local artisans create uniqueness for the holidays.”
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Victoria Koehn, owner, Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green THE BUTLER INSTITUTE AMERICAN HOLIDAY ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 2; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 3 WHERE: Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown INFO: The Butler’s American Holiday show features over 70 artisans in handcrafted jewelry, woodworking, glass, fine art and photography, chocolates, cheeses and many other items. From noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 3 there will be fine art appraisals by the Bonfoey Company in the Western Collection gallery, second floor. And from 6-9 p.m. Dec. 1, the Butler will host a preview; members receive an invitation in the mail, but non-members can call for information. Admission is $5, children 12 and under are free. butlerart.com ARTISTS AT THE TWIST’S 35TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY SHOW AND SALE WHEN: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 2; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 3 WHERE: Cleveland Twist Drill Building, 1242 E. 49th St., Cleveland INFO: The Artists at the Twist’s 35th annual Holiday Show and Sale will feature 55 artists in a variety of disciplines, including wood, glass, jewelry, visual arts, clothing, accessories and decor. Free admission and parking on site. artistsatthetwist.com MORGAN MAKERS EXHIBITION WHEN: 5 to 8 p.m. Dec. 8 WHERE: The Morgan Conservatory, 1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland INFO: Mingle with artist members, enjoy light refreshments and shop The Morgan Conservatory’s store for holiday gifts during the opening reception for the Morgan Maker’s Exhibition. morganconservatory.org 2023 SOLON HOMETOWN HOLIDAY MARKET WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 9 WHERE: City of Solon Recreation Center, 35000 Portz Parkway, Solon INFO: This city-wide Solon event is free, inviting attendees to celebrate the holiday season while shopping local. This handmade market will feature artists and crafters selling their original items. avantgardeshows.com CLEVELAND BAZAAR AT 78TH STREET STUDIOS WHEN: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 9; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 10 WHERE: 78th Street Studios, 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland INFO: Cleveland Bazaar’s biggest show of the season will take place at the building where the bazaar started 19 years ago – 78th Street Studios. It features two days of shopping local and handmade with more than 125 Bazaar artists, resident artist studios, food trucks and more. clevelandbazaar.org
40 | Canvas | Winter 2023
“Nativity” and “Tree of Life” by Norbert and Victoria Koehn. Threepiece family, sugar pine wood; “Tree of Life” relief, 24 inches tall, oak wood. Photo courtesy of Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green. HOLIDAY MARKET AT THE SCREW FACTORY WHEN: 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 15; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 16; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 17 WHERE: Screw Factory, 13000 Athens Ave., Lakewood INFO: At the Screw Factory Holiday Market, more than 40 resident artists will open their studios, along with over 80 visiting artists on all three floors of the building. This shopping event is free and open to the public. screwfactoryartists.org THE HOLIDAY SHOP AT MARKET SQUARE WHEN: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 16; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 17 WHERE: Crocker Park, 239 Market St., Westlake INFO: Hometown Vendors LLC will host its Holiday Shop at Market Square in Crocker Park. Different craft vendors are scheduled for each day. Admission is free, and reservations are available at the link below. bit.ly/3LZPvuo KOEHN SCULPTORS’ SANCTUARY ON GREEN 44TH ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE & CHRISTKINDLMARKET WHEN: Now through Dec. 27; Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green, 1936 S. Green Road, South Euclid INFO: This annual market features gifts from the Koehn Sculptors’ studio and creations from around the world, including German and European decorations, sculptures, jewelry, purses, linens, glass ornaments, nature-themed candles, baby items, cards and more. sanctuaryongreen.com
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Custom Publishing
Holiday Gift Guide
Presented by:
® ® TRI-CTRI-C PERFORMING PERFOR ARTS
2023 -2024 SE 2 A SON 0 23 - 20 24
Paul Paul Taylor Taylor Christian Dance Dance Company Company Saturday, Saturday, Jan. 20, Jan. 2024 20,McBride, 2024
The Movement Revisited
7:30 7:30 p.m. p.m. | Mimi | Ohio Mimi TheatreOhio Theatre
The Christian Legendary Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart McBride,
Sean Jones The Legendary Count “Dizzy Spellz” directed by Scotty Barnhart
7:30 p.m. | Tri-C Metro Auditorium
7:30 p.m. | Tri-C | Metro Auditorium 7:30 p.m. Tri-C Metro Auditorium
Wednesday, 27, 2024 The March Movement
Revisited
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024
7:30 p.m. Maltz Performing Arts Center
7:30 p.m. Maltz Per forming Ar ts Center
Friday, April 5, 2024 March 27, 2024 Wednesday,
For more information, For more call information, call 216-987-4444, 216-987-4444, scan QR code or scan QR code or visit tri-c.edu/tricpresents visit tri-c.edu/tricpresents . . 23-0899
EVENTS CITYMUSIC Cleveland Chamber Orchestra 12200 Fairhill Road, Cleveland P: 216-632-3572 : citymusiccleveland.org : facebook.com/citymusiccleveland From a “Cuban interpretation of one of Mozart’s most famous melodies,” to a sweeping performance of Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, CityMusic’s “Christmas, Beethoven, & Mambo” concert series, featuring renowned conductor Stefan Willich and The Cleveland Orchestra’s own Hans Clebsch on the French horn finishes 2023 off with a bang! Admission is free – bring your friends and family and celebrate the holidays with us! Dates: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Heights; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at Lakewood Congregational Church, Lakewood; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at Shrine of St. Stanislaus, Slavic Village; 4 p.m. Dec. 10 at St. Noel Church, Willoughby Hills.
MORGAN MAKER’S EXHIBITION / MORGAN CONSERVATORY 1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland P: 216-361-9255 : morganconservatory.org : instagram.com/morganpaper Join us as we near the end of 2023 with our Morgan Maker’s Exhibition. This exhibition is on view from Dec. 8, 2023 to Jan. 6, 2024, and features the scope of talent in paper, book and print that can be found in our community here at the Morgan. Mingle with our artist members, browse our shop and enjoy light refreshments for the opening reception on Friday, Dec. 1 from 5-8 p.m. Still need a holiday gift? Shop local and stop by our store to find artist made stocking stuffers and other goodies. Our store is open Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CityMusic
Morgan Conservatory
42 | Canvas | Winter 2023
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Holiday Gift Guide
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GALLERIES 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 2023 Student Holiday Sale, shop for creative handmade gifts in Paul Taylor glass, metal, ceramics, Dance Company illustration and other media – all of which will Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024 be made by CIA’s talented students. During 7:30 p.m. | Mimi Ohio Theatre 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. Friday, Dec. 1 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2.
HOLIDAY MARKET AT THE SCREW FACTORY Screw Factory in Lakewood 13000 Athens Ave., Lakewood : screwfactoryartists.org : facebook.com/sfacreativestudios Friday, Dec. 15, 6 – 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Join us for our Holiday Market at the Screw Factory. More than 40 resident studio Christian artists will open McBride, their doors, along with over 80 visiting The Movement artists situated on all three fl oors of the building Revisited to fill all of your holiday shopping Saturday, Feb. 10, needs. 2024 This event is free and open to the public. We 7:30 p.m. Maltz Per forming Ar ts are collecting non-perishable foodCenter items for Lakewood Community Service Center.
KOEHN SCULPTORS’/ SANCTUARY ON GREEN 1936 S. Green Road, South Euclid P: 216-691-1936 : sanctuaryongreen.com : facebook.com/sanctuaryongreen Celebrating our 44th 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 Count Ba The Legendary and ornaments from around the world – an directed by Scotty Barnhart unparalleled shopping experience. We feature: Wednesday, March 27, 2024 exquisitep.m. ornaments wood,Metro blown glass 7:30 | of Tri-C Auditorium 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 stationery, yard decor and distinctive handcarved sculptures. We invite you to enjoy a personalized shopping experience in our century home. Visit our website at: sanctuaryongreen.com
TRI-C® PERFORM 20 23 - 20 24
For more information, call 216-987-4444, scan QR code or visit tri-c.edu/tricpresents.
“Dove of Peace Obelisk,” 6 feet tall, fir wood. Private collection. Norbert & Victoria Koehn.
LEE HEINEN STUDIO 2402 M R ,C P: 216-921-4088, 216-469-3288 : leeheinen.com : leeheinenstudio The title “Resolved” came about because it took me several years to determine how to finish it. I’m happy with it now and hope that you enjoy the suspense it creates. Ours is a working studio in Little Italy. To visit, it is best to call ahead for an appointment or take your chances and drop by. Visit my website at: LeeHeinen.com.
TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/GALLERY 2026 Murray Hill Road, #202, Cleveland P: 216-559-6478 : triciakamanboutique.com : facebook.com/ triciakamanstudiogallery Little Italy’s Holiday Art Walk and Open House: Dec. 1, 2 & 3. Fri: 5-9 p.m.; Sat: noon to 9 p.m.; Sun: noon to 5 p.m. Featuring: original oil paintings, Giclee prints, framed prints, note cards and gift certificates. New this season! Hand-made silhouette/Christmas ornaments.
“Resolved,” 40 x 30 inches, oil on canvas by artist Lee Heinen.
“Christmas Joy,” pastel on board by artist Tricia Kaman.
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VALLEY ART CENTER 155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-7507 : valleyartcenter.org Explore Valley Art/ Shop, located within Valley Art Center, for an exclusive selection of original and handmade treasures. Each piece, from paintings to handmade glass, ceramics, jewelry and more, is a unique creation by our local artists. Your purchase not only supports these talented individuals but also contributes to the local arts community. As a bonus, a portion of every sale benefits Valley Art Center, a local nonprofit. Skip the ordinary and check off your holiday gift list with extraordinary finds. Hurry in – the Art/Shop hosts 52 local artists only until Dec. 23.
Winter 2023 | Canvas | 43
S
Holiday Gift Guide MUSEUMS
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THE ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1834 East 123rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020 : artistsarchives.org : facebook.com/ artistsarchivesofthewesternreserve Nov. 2 – Dec. 16 The AAWR invites you to celebrate abstract art with two simultaneous exhibitions in our new expanded home galleries. Taken together, “Tangents: Abstract Geometric Art from Northeast Ohio,” and “A Hard Line, Geometric Abstraction from the AAWR Collection” make up a display of diverse and prolific artists using color, optical interplay, mathematics, space, surface, process and the built environment as a part of their artistic language. AAWR is always free and gallery open hours are Wed. – Fri. from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sat. noon to 4 p.m.
MASSILLON MUSEUM 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061 : massillonmuseum.org : facebook.com/massillonmuseum “Elena Masrour: Bingo, I’m the King, Now!” (11/30–1/14/24); “A Way to Win: Paul Brown’s Innovations” (through 1/7/24); “Jerry Kalback Dead Ball Era Series: An Illustrator’s Process”; “Precarious Legacies: Exposures of a Fleeting Landscape”; “First Peoples of North America”; “Ethiopian Expedition of 1903”; “The Art and History of the Black Family” (2/3–3/17); and more ever-changing exhibitions! Greatness Cafe, unique shop, Sensory Room. Workshops and classes, many specializing in ceramics. Free admission and parking. Everyone is welcome!
George Shroeder, “Cloud Game”
Immel Circus
Alice, manager
Loganberry Books Annex Gallery
13015 Larchmere Blvd Shaker Heights, OH 44120 www.loganberrybooks.com gallery@logan.com 216.795.9800 NeueAuctions Auctionsis isa afullfullservice serviceonline online auction house Neue auction house specializing in 19th 20th century art,antiques specializing in 19th andand 20th century art, antiques and jewelry. We conduct regularly and jewelry. We conduct regularly scheduled online scheduled online auctions with exhibitions and educational Offering consignmentopportunities. auctions opportunities. with exhibitions and educational services for single items or entire estates, we Offering consignment services for single items or entire work with individuals, trusts, estates, banks and estates, we workattorneys. with individuals, trusts,continues estates, banks and attorneys. Neue Auctions the long and standing tradition of art collecting in Neue Auctions standing continueshistory the long history and tradition of art Cleveland by bringing fine works of art to the collecting in Cleveland by bringing fine works of art to the market for sale, market for sale, encouraging both the current encouraging both the and the next ofgeneration andcurrent the next generation collectors.of collectors. Speak with with one Speak of our specialists 216-245-6707 consign@neueauctions.com. with with today one ofatour specialistsor today at Located inside the 216-245-6707 Ohio Design Centre, 23533 Mercantile Rd. #100 Beachwood OH 44122 or consign@neueauctions.com. Located inside the Ohio Design Centre, 23533 Mercantile Rd. #100 Beachwood OH 44122 www.neueauctions.com
www.neueauctions.com
44 | Canvas | Winter 2023
CanvasCLE.com
Neue Auctions is house specializing antiques and jew scheduled online educational opport
Find Unique Art Pieces for the Perfect Holiday Gift! Handmade, One-of-a-Kind Art Gifts For $250 Or Less From Local Artists! Valley Art Center 155 Bell St. Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 valleyartcenter.org | 440-247-7507
Through Jan 12, 2024 Forest of Memories is an immersive multimedia installation inspired by the wonders of the natural world. Using more than 35,000 LED lights, projection mapping and interactive sound, Cleveland Institute of Art students imagine an extraordinary new world of maximalist possibilities.
College of Art + Design @CanvasCLE
11610 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106 cia.edu/exhibitions
reingbergergallery@cia.edu 216.421.7407 reingbergergallery
Winter 2023 | Canvas | 45
LISTINGS GALLERIES
MUSEUMS
THE GALLERY AT LAKELAND
MALTZ MUSEUM
Lakeland Community College Building D, first floor 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland P: 440-525-7029 : lakelandcc.edu/gallery
The “center” for the arts in Lake County, The Gallery at Lakeland presents: The LCC Visual Arts Faculty Laurel Herbold Exhibition: Nov. 16 - Jan. 24, 2024. Celebrate Women’s History Month “from WOMAN XVII... created by women, of women & about women,” curated by Mary Urbas, Feb. 11 – March 29, 2024. Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday closed. 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 P: 216-881-2818 : mgentilestudios.com
A personalized art resource for individuals, collectors and businesses. We offer assistance in the selection and preservation of artwork in many media. Our archival custom framing services are complemented by our skill in the installation of two- and three-dimensional artwork in a variety of residential and corporate settings. SUMMIT ARTSPACE 140 E. Market St., Akron P: 330-376-8480 : summitartspace.org SM: @summitartspace
Summit Artspace is a non-profit home to artist studios, arts organizations and five galleries with new exhibitions four times each year. We provide free public events to engage the community, as well as professional development programming for local artists. Public hours: Fridays 12-7 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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. MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (moCa) CLEVELAND 11400 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-8671 W: mocacleveland.org
moCa Cleveland welcomes you to experience art now. New, thought-provoking exhibitions by artists from around Cleveland and everywhere The Darkroom Co., Courtesy engage your curiosity and connect you with moCa Cleveland. the power of art. Daily admission is always free: Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For current exhibitions and events, visit mocacleveland.org.
MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS BECK CENTER FOR THE ARTS 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, Box Office P: 216-521-2540 : beckcenter.org/shows/joseph
Beck Center for the Arts produces professional theater year-round, including the classic familyfriendly musical perfect for the holiday season, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” running Dec. 1 through Dec. 30 in the Senney Theater. Enjoy a free visual arts exhibition, “Art Treasures,” in the lobby, before and after the show. 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.
46 | Canvas | Winter 2023
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CURATOR CORNER
“No. 4 Falcieu” by David E. Davis By Courtney Byrnes
T
he Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland is no stranger to highlighting abstract works by Cleveland artists – particularly those of its founder, David E. Davis. His striking mixed-media collage, “No. 4 Falcieu,” is featured in “A Hard Line: Geometric Abstraction From the Tousley AAWR Permanent Collection” exhibition, on display through Dec. 16. Several of Davis’ pieces are featured in the exhibit, along with works by other AAWR archived artists Ruth Bercaw, Samuel Butnik, George Schroeder, Susan Schroeder and Dan Tranberg. The show serves as a sister exhibit to “Tangents: Abstract and Geometric Art in Northeast Ohio,” sharing work by a range of Northeast Ohio artists who work within a non-representational style. “No. 4 Falcieu,” with its black and gray scaled shapes and a pop of blue, has “all the right elements in the right places – color, line, composition, balance, thoughtfulness and a bit of surprise,” AAWR Executive Director Mindy Tousley tells Canvas about the artwork and what influenced it. CANVAS: What was happening in the art world, or locally, at the time of the piece’s creation that may have influenced it? TOUSLEY: The influence of abstract expressionism was waning, and also the influence of the ‘Cleveland School’ artists was giving way to a new generation of artists and teachers at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Certainly Julian Stanczak was beginning to be a major influence for the younger artists of Cleveland, and his work is of course based on his teacher Josef Albers, whose work in color theory would influence all artists. Stanczak’s work helped start the “op art” movement, and op art as well as other forms of geometric abstraction is a wonderful way for artists to explore color theory. How does the piece fit into the exhibit, and more broadly in the scope of abstract works by Cleveland artists? TOUSLEY: The work in the exhibit is
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all based on geometric abstraction, and this particular work certainly falls within that category. Davis was part of a group of artists, all geometric abstractionists, whose work helped resuscitate Cleveland’s aesthetic during the period from 1973 to 1981. The “Harmonic Forms on the Edge” exhibition brought them together into one exhibition. And so, the works of Samuel Butnik and Davis, who were a part of that exhibition, are included in “A Hard Line” to show the continuity between past and present, and bridge the gap between this exhibition and “Tangents,” which focuses mainly on the next generation of artists following in the footsteps of the history of the style. Davis always insisted that for him, art must involve discipline and logic, and his work was largely based on a logically designed geometric grid. He took a rational approach to life as well as art, and so this type of style suited his personality. What else can you tell us about the artist? TOUSLEY: Davis was a sculptor of note who began his own art career later in life. Among his many accolades, he was a Cleveland Arts Prize winner who also was a visionary with regards to what the artists of Northeast Ohio needed. He founded both The Sculpture Center and the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. The Sculpture Center was formed to help emerging sculptors in their careers, and the Archives was started to help preserve the legacies of aging artists and give them a way to take charge of their estates before they passed. It is remarkable to me that one man could have such insight, and fortuitous that he and his wife had the means to be so generous with their own estate – that they could form a family foundation, The David & Bernice Davis Art Foundation, the DAF, to support the work he started after he himself had passed. Both organizations are still on the land that is owned by the DAF, in buildings that were either built or renovated by David and Bernice, and both still benefit greatly from the support of the DAF. What else should we know about this piece? TOUSLEY: This piece was also chosen because it is emblematic of Davis’ mature style of work, based on his ideas of a “harmonic grid.” He defined the possibilities that he would
ON VIEW “No. 4 Falcieu”
Artist: David E. Davis Year: 1977 Details: Mixed medium, collage. Permanent collection of Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. Find it: On display as part of “A Hard Line: Geometric Abstraction From the AAWR Permanent Collection” exhibition running through Dec. 16 at AAWR, 1834 E. 123rd St., Cleveland. Events: J O ʼ talk from 1 to 2 p.m. Dec. 2. For more information and to register, visit bit.ly/3QxmwRl. explore in order to deliberately restrict his compositional possibilities in all dimensions. He turned to geometry to devise a grid that was very carefully controlled mathematically and based his subsequent work in sculpture on this grid. “No. 4 Falcieu” is one of a number of collage works that are a part of the AAWR collection, which served Davis as studies to explore the possibilities of the harmonic grid. I wanted to include a couple of the studies in the exhibition as well as a couple of sculptures, all of which are based on the harmonic grid.
Winter 2023 | Canvas | 47
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