Canvas, Spring/Summer 2024

NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance Spring/Summer 2024

Jacqueline Kott-Wolle

MAY 24 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

Children participate in a mural activity at the Cain Park Arts Festival.

Photo courtesy of Cain Park

Editor’s Note

When we started working on this issue of Canvas a few months ago, we knew we wanted to report a story that addressed the voids left by the cancellations of both the FRONT Triennial and the Collective Arts Network’s CAN Triennial, announced earlier this year. We were curious how those in the community felt about this change in programming, and how a lack of funding resources – which was cited as the reason for ending FRONT – may be impacting artists and institutions here on a broader level.

However, once we got started, we stumbled upon a slightly di erent story. Early in my own reporting, I learned that a group of local artists and advocates had started Quest for the Fest – an initiative to plan a new Northeast Ohio arts festival that’s artist-organized and especially fun and inclusive in every sense of the word. We found this story to be more interesting than looking back at exhibitions of the past, and looking to the future as it is envisioned by an eclectic group of local artists.

You’ll see that story on Page 24, and I hope you enjoy learning about their e orts. I also hope it helps all of us better understand the challenges local artists face post-COVID-19 pandemic, how the situation might improve and what opportunities exist locally. As you likely know by now, Canvas aims to spotlight stories of our creative community in Cleveland and beyond. So naturally, we want arts initiatives to continue to succeed and we support the strong community of artists and creatives here.

Also in this issue, we preview the Cleveland Museum of Art’s “Picturing the Border” exhibition, which seeks to present real stories from the U.S.-Mexico borderlands through photography. We also introduce you to SHED Projects, which combines contemporary art with a historical setting to serve as a new visual culture space in Cleveland.

Additionally, we profile Scott Goss – an artist specializing in public installations and using his skills and knowledge to teach newer artists at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Along the public art thread, this issue’s Curator Corner highlights a new mural in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood that’s likely to grab viewers’ attention for the bright, nature-driven atmosphere it creates on a busy street.

We also learn more about an interesting production theme at Great Lakes Theater, where actors play many parts in the same show and how its talented crew helps make that happen.

Also, as is typical for our spring/summer issue, Canvas checks in with organizers for local arts festivals taking place over the summer months, sharing what visitors can expect. Additionally, on Page 32, you can view a more comprehensive calendar of arts festivals going into the early fall. If we missed any fests here, please send me a note at editor@canvascle.com and we’ll be sure to include them online and in our free biweekly Canvas e-newsletter.

As always, Canvas is looking to share more stories from our local creative community – whether through feature stories in our print magazine (which publishes three times yearly) or on a more regular basis in our e-newsletter, which typically highlights upcoming arts events. If you have an upcoming gallery opening, exhibition and event, or an art or entertainment story to pitch, please share it with me at editor@canvascle.com.

And as you begin to make your summer plans, I hope you’ll include a visit to any number of the incredible art exhibitions and events around Northeast Ohio.

Editor

Amanda Koehn

editor@canvascle.com

Design Manager

Stephen Valentine

Amanda Koehn Editor

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ON DECK

Upcoming openings and current events from around Northeast Ohio

Compiled by Amanda Koehn

AKRON ART MUSEUM

“Michelangelo Lovelace: Art Saved My Life” | Through Aug. 18

When Michelangelo Lovelace died in 2021 at age 60, he left behind a wealth of artwork vibrantly depicting the complex realities of urban living. He developed his own painting style portraying crime, drugs, poverty and sin, but also community, compassion, progress and salvation, according to the Akron Art Museum, which has on view a retrospective exhibition of Lovelace. The settings the Cleveland artist was familiar with – bricks of public housing, advertising billboards and familiar local intersections – and also political events, social allegories and himself, became common subject matter depicted in his prolific paintings.

Akron Art Museum is at 1 S. High St., Akron. akronartmuseum.org

Michelangelo Lovelace. “Hood Life.” 2017. Acrylic on canvas. Collection of the Akron Art Museum. The Mary S. and Louis S. Myers Endowment Fund for Painting and Sculpture. 2023.4.

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART

MORGAN CONSERVATORY

“Liminal Spaces: Art and the Environment” | June 7 – July 27

The Morgan Conservatory will feature local and national artists using book, paper and print to explore the relationship between themselves and the environment in the group exhibition “Liminal Spaces.” The phrase “liminal space” refers to an uncertain transitional period, and when artists look at the boundaries between art and environment, it becomes uncertain and fuzzy. Inspired by the world around them, the artists in the exhibit reflect on the social, political and physical effects humankind has on the natural environment.

An opening reception will be held from 5-8 p.m. June 7.

Morgan Conservatory is at 1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland. morganconservatory.org

Christine Mauersberger (Lakewood, Ohio), ”Tree Peony Afternoon.” Woven print on Washi paper (2023), 20 x 16 inches. Photo courtesy of Morgan Conservatory.

2024 Alumni Exhibition | June 21 – Aug. 9

The Cleveland Institute of Art’s 2024 Alumni Exhibition, guest curated by Magda Moskalewicz, will explore issues related to artistic evolution, attempting to answer the question: What is it to become a mature artist? CIA alums from different graduating years and artistic practices will reflect on their artistic trajectory since graduation, and on how their creative work progressed and transformed over the years. This evolution may refer to the work’s physical form or their artistic process, or both. Conversely, this can also be a reflection on the persistence of a form/process developed years ago. The exhibition offers viewers the opportunity to learn more about the college and its influence on the artistic vocabulary of the region.

An opening reception will be held on June 21 in CIA’s Reinberger Gallery.

Cleveland Institute of Art is at 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. cia.edu/exhibitions

Artist Davon Brantley, left, discusses his work with fellow Cleveland Institute of Art alumni during the 2023 Alumni Exhibition in Reinberger Gallery. Photo courtesy of Cleveland Institute of Art

THE SCULPTURE CENTER

Two exhibitions opening | June 28 – Aug. 24

The Sculpture Center will open exhibitions by Margaret Hull and Tommy Nguyen, both as part of the center’s Revealed Emerging Artist Series. Hull, a Detroit-based textile artist, provokes conversations and critique surrounding the exploitative practices of the fashion industry. Guided by theories of sustainability and intentional material use, her multifaceted practice spans garment construction, photography, video, virtual reality, installation and embroidery. Nguyen, who was born in California, reimagines reality with overt positivity, equity and fun. With a self-described “queer techno orientalist practice,” he moves beyond yearning for social ideals and allows viewers to live them, according to The Sculpture Center.

The Sculpture Center is at 12210 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. sculpturecenter.org

THE GALLERY AT LAKELAND “Seen + Heard” | Aug. 4 – Sept. 13

Until the #MeToo movement began, people who were molested, raped, assaulted or harassed were rarely seen and less frequently heard. In the “Seen + Heard” exhibition, coming to The Gallery at Lakeland this summer, photographer Honey Lazar asked 24 volunteers familiar with these experiences to wear plain white T-shirts and photographed their portraits, all with the same setting and framing. Recordings of the volunteers sharing their experiences were made by sound artist Lauren Voss. A 164-page catalogue that accompanies the multimedia exhibit will also be sold to raise money for a nonprofit of the curator’s choice that relates to the theme of the work.

A reception time and date for the Lakeland exhibition is to be announced.

The Gallery at Lakeland is on the first floor of the D-Building at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland.

lakelandcc.edu/gallery

Left: Margaret Hull, “Corps.” Detail of blouse masks and blouses on mannequin, machine-sewn cotton garments (2021).

Right: Tommy Nguyen, “turbografx 17 (I am a PLANT),” 2017. Textile, performance and installation, various dimensions.

Photos courtesy of The Sculpture Center.

“Jessica,” by Honey Lazar. Photograph, 16 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of Lazar.

CAPTURING REALITY AT THE BORDER

CAPTURING REALITY AT THE BORDER

Cleveland Museum of Art photo exhibit to show US-Mexico border communities beyond headlines and politics

By Kaitlyn Finchler

This summer, the Cleveland Museum of Art will present “Picturing the Border,” a photography exhibit depicting the people and stories along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands from the 1970s to the present.

The project has been on the mind of Nadiah Rivera Fellah, associate curator of contemporary art at the museum, since she wrote her doctoral dissertation around 2014-15 on borderlands photography.

“There’s a lot of communities in Northeast and Northwest Ohio, throughout Ohio, that have lineages of migration from Mexico,” Fellah says. “Not only that, but lineages of migration in general.”

The exhibition runs from July 21, 2024 to Jan. 5, 2025 in the Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries at the museum. It also features two videos as to include time-based media.

Showcasing a story which speaks for itself, Fellah says the exhibit addresses not only cross-border migration but stories of migration and migrant communities at large in the United States. It takes viewers beyond headlines and political messaging and into the reality of the borderlands experience for those living it.

“When I started thinking about turning the project into a show, I was very cognizant of the fact that the border has been a fixture in the news cycles for however many years, very much recently, up until today,” she says. “I wanted to make sure I curated an exhibition that took into account things that were happening at the border in the past couple of years that would be in visitors’ recent memory.”

A CURRENT ISSUE

Borderlands experiences are important stories to tell, Fellah says, because they are ongoing – no matter when the historical view in people’s minds started.

The exhibit starts in the 1970s because that’s when photography became more accessible as a medium, she adds. The average person could finally a ord their own film and camera, and there was an “explosion” in street and color photography.

“There was not only a prevalence of photography, but people who didn’t necessarily need any specialized equipment, that you could get for a relatively small amount of money,” she says. “You start to see people who are middle class able to buy film cameras and able to start taking pictures.”

The photographs are taken mostly by border residents, encompassing Latinx, Chicano/Chicana and Mexican photographers, as well as people who came to the border from both countries.

“A big impetus of my curating the show (was) because I

“Cholos, White Fence, East Los Angeles” (1986). Graciela Iturbide (Mexican, b. 1942). Gelatin silver print; image: 32 x 21.9 cm; sheet: 35.2 x 27.7 cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Leslie and Judith Schreyer and Gabri Schreyer-Hoffman in honor of Virginia Heckert, 2017.41. © Graciela Iturbide

wanted to help people to come in without necessarily any prior knowledge of what the border is, what had happened on the border or the political history of the border,” Fellah says.

Visitors are likely to go through the exhibition and learn something new, she says, and can hopefully take away something to change their minds about what they thought they knew about the border.

The exhibit, according to CMA’s website, ranges in photographic subject matter that includes intimate domestic portraits, narratives of migration, political demonstrations, and images of border crossings and clashes between migrants and the U.S. border patrol.

HIGHLIGHTS INSIDE

Fellah says a highlight of the exhibit is a large photo mural by architect Teddy Cruz called “Radicalizing the Local: 60 Miles

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAL CHELBIN

Curated by Matthew Garson

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Roe Green Gallery

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To schedule group tours or individual visits, email israeliarts@jewishcleveland.org or call 216-593-2886.

In the wake of the Hamas terror attacks, to all of Israel and the Israeli musicians, authors, filmmakers, dancers, and visual artists who have enriched our Cleveland community through their artistry.

Swallow Bird, 2020

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“A big impetus of my curating the show (was) because I wanted to help people to come in without necessarily any prior knowledge of what the border is, what had happened on the border or the political history of the border.”

Nadiah Rivera Fellah

of Trans-Border Urban Conflict.” The museum is printing out the mural, which Cruz collaborated on with artist Fonna Forman.

“We’re printing at the scale of 23-feetlong,” Fellah says. “It’s almost life-size and it’s a picture of the border wall in Tijuana as it’s going into the ocean at the end of the western point of the border.”

The mural is like an anthropological data collection, she says, because it brings the material aspect of the border into the gallery.

Other featured pieces include “Yrenia Cervantes” (1990) by Laura Aguilar, “Teeter-Totter Wall” (2019) by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello with Colectivo Chopeke, and “Cholos, White Fence, East Los Angeles” (1986) by Graciela Iturbide.

Within the large exhibit, Fellah says there are micro-themes incorporated throughout, such as one involving borderlands cities. First- through thirdgeneration Los Angeles families can be seen in the photos, showing the legacy of Mexican culture in the city’s communities.

“Another theme is domestic spaces, or border homes,” Fellah says. “As you go through the show, you start to see some domestic interiors of homes in the borderlands and these really recognizable quotidian moments.”

Within the homes are spaces altered to appear like religious setups with iconography such as “The Last Supper,” creating family photographs from wellknown images. Personal stories and photography captured over long periods of time at the border are another component of the exhibition, she says.

“I have a few books in the exhibition that are photo books that center on the border from the 1970s through to the most recent book (which) was published (in) the last year or two,” Fellah says. “Looking at photographers who spent enough time to compile entire publications of photo books, and some of their photographs are also hanging on the wall.”

The exhibit also aims to “spark

vital conversations of what constitutes citizenship,” according to its website, as well as address “complex negotiations of personal identity as it relates to the U.S.-Mexico border.”

And extending its reach beyond the museum walls, the exhibit works to dispel stereotypes surrounding the border and the people there, Fellah says, which often invoke fear in those who watch, listen to or read about the borderlands through major media outlets. The photos allow

ON VIEW

from July 21,

visitors to see the stories through the photographers’ eyes, speaking to more complex and interesting narratives.

“(The media) depicts the border as a war zone and (saying), ‘The migrants are coming in, they’re taking our jobs, they’re criminals,’” Fellah says. “That’s something that this exhibition pushes against and wants to give back narrative voice to residents who call this home and are not defined by those sensational media stereotypes.”

to Jan. 5,

“Picturing the Border” will be on view

2024

2025 in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. More information is at clevelandart.org/exhibitions/picturing-border.

“Yrenia Cervantes” (1990). Laura Aguilar (American, 1959–2018). Gelatin silver print; image: 22.9 x 30.5 cm; paper: 27.9 x 35.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Karl B. Goldfield Trust, 2023.10. © Laura Aguilar

“Teeter-Totter Wall” (2019). Ronald Rael (American, b. 1971) and Virginia San Fratello (American, b. 1971) with Colectivo Chopeke. Single-channel video with sound; 4:13 minutes. Photo courtesy of Ronald Rael

CIA’s

Magdelena Moskalewicz

Guest Curator

June 21–August 9

Opening Reception

June 21, 6–8pm

Reinberger Gallery 11610 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44106 cia.edu/exhibitions

reinbergergallery@cia.edu 216.421.7407 @reinbergergallery

THE SHED PROJECTS EXPERIMENT

New Cleveland art space aims to connect visual culture, build on history and cultivate relationships

By Ed Carroll

Though it shares part of its name with a common feature of many backyards, SHED Projects is anything but a typical art space.

The gallery, located at 3731 Pearl Road in Cleveland, wears many hats –some uncommon for an art space. In addition to indoor and outdoor viewing spaces, the building is both a historic landmark and the home of SHED Projects co-founders Gabrielle Banzhaf, executive director and curator, and Jon Gott, her partner and SHED Projects co-founder.

The two first met in Cleveland and later started SHED Projects in 2021 in New Orleans. The couple and their child relocated back to Cleveland in summer 2023, bringing SHED Projects with them.

Gott says SHED Projects’ mission is exploring the relationship between art and knowledge, and how they relate to their family life and through their work and art. The new space for visual culture and experimental projects, as the pair describe it, has been showing artwork in Cleveland since last year and aims to

be accessible to artists and others in the creative community looking to begin new projects or flesh out ideas.

“This is something we’re actually figuring out ourselves because there isn’t really language for what we’re creating right now,” Banzhaf adds. “We’re not here to only deposit art into our space and sell it – we’re not simply a commercial gallery. We’re interested in the dialogue that develops around these projects and ideas, and the knowledge built through the work we do.

“Experimenting with formats and methods for presenting art that extend beyond the bounds of conventional exhibitions is central to our work. Sometimes it’s a conversation with the artist that they need to get out there, or a book about things they’ve been thinking about. We’re interested in how these things become circulated in the world as elements in a broader set of social interactions and interventions.”

HOW IT STARTED

Banzhaf was raised in a humanitarian family, as she describes, and grew up all over the world, living on a ship and mainly residing in Sweden, South

Africa and Peru. After starting college in Washington, D.C. and studying photojournalism, she ended up moving to Cleveland to pursue a degree in fiber and material studies. She now considers herself more of a curator than a maker.

“I switched from making – I used to be a weaver – and instead now I consider my curatorial practice to be my art practice,” she says. “While I don’t have a regular studio or studio practice, I am approaching the projects at SHED, as well as this specific house, as the weaving of my curatorial practice’s public and private life.”

Gott was born on the east coast and spent most of his childhood in Northeast Ohio. He was home-schooled, which let him finish high school early and gave him several years between high school and college to travel.

He then came back to Cleveland to study painting, and also worked as a builder, preservationist and artist in Chicago and New York before teaching studio art classes at the University of Illinois. While working as a preservationist, he says he learned many of the skills necessary for upkeep and preservation of a historic building like

their new home and gallery.

Gott and Banzhaf reconnected in Cleveland before they moved to Miami, and then later to New Orleans. There, they started working with artists more formally as SHED Projects, initially in their backyard — in, well, a covered shed, hence the name.

Christian Wul en, a professor emeritus at the Cleveland Institute of Art who has worked with the SHED co-founders, suggests a “SHED project” inherently focuses on the reach of the artwork beyond its showing in a gallery space.

“SHED Projects employs a variety of optical models e ected through social meanings in a radical form,” Wul en says. “Focusing on the extension of the terms of contemporary art within the environmental conditions of life, their concern is not contributing to the deposit of art, rather where will it go and what can it do, o ering a shell of dynamic enterprise where input and output are in fluid transitions.”

CONTEMPORARY WITH HISTORY

While SHED Projects’ history may seem relatively short, their new home, an Italianate Victorian, is rich as a historicdesignated property, first built around 1857. The property most recently housed the o ce of a podiatrist and was one of the key selling points for the family when it came time to relocate and grow SHED Projects – though it wasn’t the only reason they chose Cleveland.

“There’s no hurricanes and we can a ord the insurance here,” Banzhaf says, laughing, before pointing out that both of them have local ties. “We wanted to make sure we were raising our son back in the Midwest with Midwest values. That was really important.

“I like to say this property kind of found us. Jon did a lot of research to find a historical property. So, the space that we are in now is a landmark, which we take very seriously, but it’s also a nod to the mesh of our German and Latin heritage as a family. The house is situated just blocks away from where my dad, who was a German immigrant, lived when he first came to Ohio as a child, and being close to the LatinoHispanic culture of Clark-Fulton was important to me,” she adds.

Gott says the property’s historic

Above: SHED Projects co-founders Gabrielle Banzhaf, executive director and curator, and Jon Gott, her partner and SHED Projects co-founder. Below: Visitors check out “If you receive a love letter from me, you are fucked forever,” a painting exhibition by Jon Gott at SHED Projects.

Photos / Nicole Carroll. Opposite page: SHED Projects is located on a historic property at 3731 Pearl Road in Cleveland. Photo / Lou Muenz

status was a factor in their choice to buy.

“The historic preservation practice I have is very much about sculpture for me,” he says. “It’s kind of fluid with my sculpture and my art practice. When we found this house, that became a big part of the philosophy that we were going to apply moving forward working here was that the ... historic preservation project taking place here is a large-scale sculpture of existence in the landscape of the city of Cleveland.

“It’s also kind of a living social organism that exists in that space as well. So, we’re kind of in this territory where we’re exploring where those two things connect.”

He also plans to apply knowledge of historic preservation to ideas of contemporary art and contemporary life.

“What does it mean to have all these different practitioners and artists and people coming here and talking about art, making art here in this historic property that is very much alive in the present time?” Gott asks. “It’s thinking about those connections and those relationships.”

Banzhaf says another factor in selecting the property was simply that it was convenient for them.

“It was very convenient for us in the sense that we live upstairs,” she says. “The entire second floor is dedicated to our family life, whereas the first floor is then dedicated to the public. It’s where the project spaces, gallery spaces, the wood shop, all of that reside.”

Banzhaf and Gott’s son is 13, and Banzhaf says SHED Projects is a family operation. He often helps his parents during exhibitions, running the coat check or doing other odd jobs.

“It’s all of us, all three of us do the cleaning of the house, that ritual of just getting everything ready,” she says.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SHED

SHED Projects’ gallery productions can’t be easily described in any sort of blanket terms. One project displayed in 2023 was by artist Conrad Bakker, who carved and painted books and sculptures to match the personal library of artist Robert Smithson. And in November 2023, SHED hosted what they call a “one-piece viewing,” a one-night-only showing of one piece of art, that night by artist Terry Durst titled “Space Junk,” consisting of electronics panels made to look like they were drifting in space for years. Similarly, this February it held a one-night showing of a piece by the late Cleveland artist John W. Carlson, titled “Body.” In March of this year, SHED showcased clay works by artist Evelyn Jordan.

At the time of Canvas’ interview, SHED had on view a painting show by Gott himself, entitled “If you receive a love letter from me, you are fucked forever.”

Banzhaf says they call their “projects” and “programs” as such because SHED Projects doesn’t just do art shows.

“The goal of us in working with artists, the end result is not always going to be a show,” she says. “Sometimes it’s going to a publication, sometimes a film festival, sometimes it’s just a conversation with the artist that they need to get out of their body, out of themselves. ... I think that we are creating something a little bit different, and it’s exciting to be on the forefront of that.”

For Gott, the most exciting thing he thinks SHED Projects offers is the size and setting, as its smaller scope makes it more accessible to a lot of artists. Both Gott and Banzhaf have experience on both sides of the art equation, as artists and as administrators, and believe in paying artists for the work they do. They’re often also able to house artists during or while

“Lady Godiva’s Operation” (2019-2022) by Jon Gott. Upholstery fabric, pleather, paper, digital prints, polystyrene, socks, acrylic, house paint, enamel, firewood, artificial hair, D hooks on a found canvas, 36 x 48 x 6 inches. Photo courtesy of SHED Projects. Detail from this piece is featured on the Canvas cover.

planning for a project.

“It’s pretty much (Banzhaf) and I running the entire thing,” Gott says. “I think that’s something that makes our operation really special. It’s a family operation. We spend a lot of one-onone time with everyone we work with and all the projects we do. We’re accessible. Anyone that wants to come over here and talk to us, work on a project or talk about ideas, we’re open to the community in very direct ways. I think that’s really conducive to how Cleveland was formed as a city, and also really conducive to exploring new territory in how to work.”

ON VIEW

• SHED Projects will open“ECHO,” a show by Melissa Pokorny and Lucy Puls from 5-9 p.m. June 22 at the gallery located at 3731 Pearl Road, Cleveland.

• Also during the June 22 opening of “ECHO,” SHED Projects will roll out its three-part dinner series, “May we eat and be of the flesh to each other,” in collaboration with Rump Studio. Additional dinners in the series are on July 20 and Aug. 24

• On Aug. 24, SHED Projects will premiere a solo show by Jade Yumang, “Cast Your Net Far and Wide” from 5-9 p.m. (on view through Sept. 28).

• SHED Projects will also continue its one-piece viewing series throughout the summer, and dates and events will be posted regularly on its website, shed-projects.org, and Instagram page, @shedprojects_.

AND THE WHEEL KEEPS ONSP I GNINN Engaging with Scott Goss

By Carlo Wolff

Scott Goss is organized. He has to be. As a full-time faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Art and a practicing artist specializing in public installation, time is the coin of his realm – the way he makes the two sides of his professional life keep on turning.

Teaching first-year students at CIA pleases him and provides stability. But public installations are Goss’ bread and butter, the soul of his work for the last 10 years or so.

“I tell my students, I apply for 60 or 80 projects a year,” Goss says. “I’m lucky if I get one or two of those. And if I get one or two of those, my project’s full, my deck is full.”

A Cleveland Heights native, Goss likes to experiment and is eager to develop unusual art, like “Wind Farm,” an installation featuring five stainless steel pinwheels 64 inches in diameter to be installed in Peekskill, N.Y., this spring. “Wind Farm” is one of three commissions Goss is working on.

In 2006, when he graduated from CIA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in glass, Goss was used to working in that one medium – and his fused glass-panel art began to pop up all over the Cleveland area. Glass was the ticket, it seemed. But it wasn’t enough to fully express Goss’ interdisciplinary inclination. Pinwheels were not on his mind then, let alone giant ones with turbines.

In graduate school at Kent State University, an adviser suggested he think beyond a single medium.

“I ended up getting into more experimental installations with video and light, thinking about how the viewer would interact with the environment, and building life-size rooms you’d climb into,” he says in a recent interview at the studio he rents from CIA emeritus professor Brent Kee Young and Mark Sudduth, both glass artists.

After acquiring his master’s degree in crafts from Kent State in 2014, Goss returned to Cleveland, where he started part-time work in CIA’s Foundation Department. His adjunct position

Scott Goss stands with a pinwheel for “Wind Farm,” a project he created for Peekskill, N.Y. Canvas Photo / Carlo Wolff

“Aboard” rendering by Scott Goss, to be installed in the spring at Main Street Beach Park in Vermilion. Corten weathering steel, repurposed cedar wood and stainless steel, 17 x 13 feet. Rendering courtesy of Scott Goss.

turned full-time in 2018, and in 2023, Goss became an assistant professor. He’s also assistant chair of Foundation, the program dedicated to helping students establish the core skills they will build on during their art education. As such, the Foundation year tends to be a time of discovery and new possibilities for students, and is rewarding to teach for faculty.

“I love to work with students and develop an idea,” Goss says.

He also loves solving his own artistic problems. Although he says he has never encountered a problem he couldn’t solve, he adds, “I’ve encountered problems that were di cult, that made me think, OK, let’s rethink the entire idea a little more. I’ve never given up on a problem, but I believe the idea can change as di erent problems arise. So that’s part of the ideation process.”

As of the end of March, for example, Goss was well into “Wind Farm.” To get there, he had to teach himself about kinetics and how a wind turbine works.

“What do I do with that energy?” Goss asked himself. “Where does the energy go? Does it go back into itself or into a battery like I’m using right now? It’s not going to be bright enough to be seen in bright daylight, so I have to store the electricity, and then I have to put a photocell on there to tell us when it’s dark enough outside and then it can kind of light up.”

Young taught Goss as an undergraduate.

“You can see his work leaning toward applied art, where the work leans toward thinking about the audience and what their needs would be and how they react,” Young says.

Over the past 15 years, Goss has mounted at least 15 exhibitions at sites including in Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, Chicago and Pittsburgh. His work is in collections at the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Crocker Art Museum

in Sacramento, Calif.; the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock; and the Worthington Yards apartment complex in downtown Cleveland. This fall, his work will be on view in the CIA Faculty Show.

“I pursue each project as its own individual entity,” Goss says. “I’m more interested in terms of representation of form. I think about material, I think about craft. Elements that I bring into the classroom – repetition line, color, light – are all components that I bring into my design projects.”

THE GOSS NEST

While Goss, his wife and their two children live in Shaker Heights, he fabricates and engineers his work in his studio on Perkins Avenue in midtown Cleveland.

Creativity runs in his family. His aunt, Gretchen Goss, has

“Shielded Together” (2022) by Scott Goss at Lakewood’s Fire Station No. 2. Corten steel, stainless steel and powder coating, 15 x 11 x 1.5 feet. Photo courtesy of Scott Goss.

“NEST” sculptural playground by Scott Goss for the Lorraine H. Whitlock Elementary School in Washington, D.C., to finish installation this summer. HDPE boards and stainless steel, 10 x 10 x 6 feet. Rendering courtesy of Scott Goss

Above: The view from “City Reflections” interactive kaleidoscope viewer (2021) by Scott Goss in Cleveland. No. 8 polished stainless steel, steel, powder coating, 5 x 7 x 5 feet. Right: A man uses the “City Reflections” interactive kaleidoscope viewer created by Scott Goss. Photos courtesy of Scott Goss

taught enameling at CIA since 1989. His father, Gregory Goss, was an architect in Cleveland Heights. The Goss clan – strong in arts and engineering, he says – is an inventive one.

“I want to engage and I want my voice to be equal to others,” Goss says, noting that when he worked in his father’s office, he thought, “His job was really boring.” No longer. Engagement is the draw and a value he absorbed while working for his dad.

“What I’ve learned from architecture and design is it’s not about designing for yourself, it’s designing for others,” Goss says. “So you go in, you see how the community is going to respond to the space, whether it’s a building, a sculpture, a playground. You see how they use the space and then design from that. And so, I take that design approach into my works. I think about how people are going to react to the work, how they’re going to see it.”

Young notes his former pupil’s restiveness. “He was not afraid to challenge himself beyond the parameters of what the problem was, like installation,” Young says. “You have expectations from previous experiences and Scott’s solutions were more than original.”

THE GOSS PROCESS

It took 11 months from project award to unveiling for a project in Lakewood: a layered, laser-cut display Goss fabricated for an exterior wall of the city’s Fire Station No. 2. Completed in April 2022, the commission had a $43,750 budget. Goss laser-cut figures of firefighters, shown working together, at his studio.

He began with a request for qualifications, submitted his materials, was listed as a finalist, visited the station, talked to the firefighters and noticed “a lot of symbols” on ambulances, uniforms and trucks that he wanted to incorporate into the project. The Corten steel in the background was used for its weather resistance. It creates a protective coating that because of its rusty color also becomes a design element.

The Lakewood Fire Department and the city’s public art advisory board had to approve Goss’ plans and make sure the project, 15 feet wide and 11 feet tall, reflected the community in a positive way, says Goss. Reaching agreement on such public installations pleases him. It’s the emotional payoff.

“I don’t get upset if somebody tells me they don’t like my design,” he says. “I take their feedback and incorporate it. That’s what a critique process is. I can choose whether I want to leave or I want to stay.”

For public installations, Goss creates a set of plans to show clients how the work will be made, and he’s also the fabricator. He buys the parts and assembles them all at his studio.

For the Lakewood project, the plan developed step by step.

“The beauty about making this piece was that once those plans are done, I now have a blueprint to follow in terms of the making,” he says. “Once it’s through the engineering state, I have things to work with along the way.”

IN THE WORKS

Scott Goss has about a dozen applications out for projects all over the country. He has three underway at the moment:

• “Wind Farm,” a pinwheel project in Peekskill, N.Y., is in fabrication. Its budget is $36,850, and it is to be installed this spring.

• Fabrication is imminent for “Aboard,” a $31,000 endeavor in Vermilion consisting of three Corten sail-shaped benches, made of repurposed cedar wood, that will aggregate into the form of a schooner once they’re built into Main Street Beach Park.

• “NEST” is a sculptural playground for the Lorraine H. Whitlock Elementary School in Washington, D.C. At 10 feet in diameter and 6 feet tall, this oversized bird’s nest aims to be a playscape children can scale to reach cargo netting on which they can bounce and jump. Made of stainless steel and outdoor-rated, high-density polyethylene boards, the $55,000 installation is scheduled for completion this summer.

FOR THE

QUEST FEST

As funding, opportunity challenges persist, creatives are putting inclusivity and fun at the core of planning a new local arts event

By Amanda Koehn

Local artists and advocates who have been meeting over the last few months to develop a Northeast Ohio arts/creative event don’t know exactly what their eventual festival looks like yet, but they know it will reclaim arts programming to be envisioned and led by creatives themselves.

While details like the event’s theme, expected timeline and locations are still to be determined, the leaders of the Quest for the Fest group – as they refer

to the planning initiative – are clear that they want it to be inclusive, fun and interesting to diverse generations of artists. The group has had three meetings starting in February to discuss the potential fest, with the most recent meeting on May 5 at Artful Cleveland in Cleveland Heights.

The Quest for the Fest began after the recent cancellations of other major arts events in Cleveland and surrounding areas, including the FRONT Triennial, the Collective Arts Network’s CAN Triennial and The Robert Thürmer People’s Art Show at Cleveland State

University.

Frustrated by the loss of these major exhibitions and opportunities for local artists, those working toward creating the new festival are looking beyond typical funding and gallery show opportunities. They are focused on a mission that puts the economic and creative needs of artists at the forefront. It’s also about making sure younger generations of artists have models for what an arts career looks like in Cleveland post-COVID-19 pandemic, says Liz Maugans, an artist, advocate and one of the leaders of Quest for the Fest.

“For me, it’s a beautiful thing to

At the May 5 Quest for the Fest planning meeting, attendees perform a SWOT analysis identify to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

threats to past arts events in Cleveland. Canvas Photos / Amanda Koehn

get more people involved in the arts and the creativity of what we do, and break down barriers and to get our young creatives involved and to build mentorships and all di erent kinds of connections,” she says at the second planning meeting on April 7, which she led with David King, another artist and group leader. “This is going to be sloppy work. It’s going to be messy. It’s going to be, I think hopefully, fun and joyful.”

FILLING A VACANT SPACE

Quest for the Fest stems from wanting to build something for Clevelanders to enjoy in a creative space as cancellations of major arts events have been announced over the last couple of years.

Importantly, the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art was permanently canceled earlier this year after introducing the triennial in 2018 and hosting a second iteration in 2022, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason given for the cancellation was due to a lack of funding for its 2025 event as “public and private funding priorities have changed to focus on the critical needs of our communities.”

According to the announcement on FRONT’s website, “a realistic analysis of the support FRONT 2025 can gain from local, regional and national funders has led the FRONT board to conclude that it is impossible to produce FRONT 2025 at the same high standards it established for its prior editions.”

Similarly, the Collective Arts Network’s CAN Triennial was canceled, also announced earlier this year. The CAN Triennial, which also began in 2018, ran in conjunction with FRONT and sought to further highlight local artists amid the international emphasis of FRONT.

Maugans also points to the end of the Robert Thürmer People’s Art Show, which was hosted for 24 iterations at The Galleries at Cleveland State University. The People’s Art Show, which was promoted as a “non-juried, uncensored exhibition, celebrating diversity and imagination” on the CSU website for its last iteration in 2022, ended due to the gallery space’s closure, Maugans says.

“It’s one of those things where everybody else steps backward, and you are left standing by yourself and you realize what happened,” King says at the April 7 meeting. “So, we’re building

the plane as we’re flying this right now –we’re all flu ng our wings.”

FUELING THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY

The city of Cleveland is also attempting to fill the void in arts funding and public projects by launching the Transformative Arts Fund – a $3 million fund for public art projects and initiatives led by Cleveland artists in collaboration with partner institutions in the city. TAF was approved by Cleveland City Council earlier this year, using American Rescue Plan Act funds set aside in 2022.

Each “transformative public art initiative” accepted will have a budget in the range of $250,000 to $500,000, according to the city, meaning about six to 12 projects will receive awards.

Rhonda Brown, the city’s senior strategist for arts, culture and the creative economy – the first to hold the new role –declined to be interviewed for this story, citing her full attention is on TAF.

“The Bibb (Mayor Justin) administration is excited about this brand-new initiative and what projects will come from it, and looks forward to continuing our work with the arts community to ensure their voices are heard here at city hall,” she says in an email.

A longtime activist for supporting artists in the community directly, Maugans advocated for ARPA money to be allocated to the arts, she says.

However, she believes some of the best initiatives to build up the art scene will come directly from artists rather than governments, and thinks the large TAF grants to be given to a small number of artists and institutions are unlikely to help a larger community of artists struggling to earn a good income. She wishes for the success of the program but sees things di erently, she tells Canvas in a March 28 interview at YARDS Projects – the gallery she runs within the Worthington Yards apartment complex in Cleveland’s Warehouse District.

“I see the artists because I know them, and I see them struggling,” she says. “And I see these students who are financially strapped. So trying to find resources, which is opportunities, which is connection, that’s how we do it.”

She says she’s over the “rules and regulations” surrounding arts funding and opportunities. And centering the needs and interests of artists and creatives is paramount to building an event the community will be excited about, she says.

“As we’re in sort of a post-epidemic loneliness and isolation and distancing and division, to be able to have a situation where the artists’ energies, where we’re using a sort of network, artist-led concept to be able to figure this out together, is extremely exciting to me,” she says.

Funding for the Quest for the Fest event will need to be figured out further

Liz Maugans, an artist, curator and one of the leaders of the Quest for the Fest initiative, runs a brainstorming session at the May 5 meeting.

down the road, Maugans says. A goal is to make sure barriers to engaging in the fest are low, meaning more creatives and attendees can take part. For example, if artists have to spend time and money on applications to be selected for a show, it limits inclusion to who has time and resources to spend on the application. On the audience side, if the event costs money to attend, that can limit who can enjoy it and learn from it.

Maugans hopes any event her group creates will be less concerned with making money or fitting certain criteria, she adds. And while selling art will ideally happen at the new fest, the primary goal is to make it fun.

“... I think that artists can create energy really well together, and I think we’ve been a little lured for the fantasy and the seduction that all these grants are available and you just have to apply for them,” she says, noting these problems don’t just exist for Clevelanders, but for creatives everywhere.

INCLUSIVITY AT THE CORE

At the April 7 Quest for the Fest meeting, about 40 creatives and supporters voted on categories and ideas for what the event might entail. They established a desire to create a multidisciplinary festival, and a “strong majority” expressed interest in doing a multi-week event with a culmination event or weekend, the group’s leaders later relayed at the May 5 meeting.

At the May 5 meeting, the group discussed in more detail what they could learn from past events’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (or challenges the festival could not control), as well as what venues, institutions, people and associations may be involved. They also talked about how the Quest for the Fest must be a safe space in terms of openness and mutual respect for diverse creatives, led by Britney Kuehm, a creative management professional.

Maugans jokes that while her group may seem “unorganized” or “aimless” at this stage of planning, experimentation is part of the process.

“I don’t know where we will be, but it will be democratic,” she says.

Maugans specifically mentions the importance of including both emerging artists and those who have been making work for several decades.

In addition to being artists, both Maugans and King are educators –

King is a retired high school teacher and currently teaches at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, while Maugans teaches at Cleveland State University. Maugans says she’s seen the hardships student artists have experienced since the pandemic hit in 2020, as schools continue to experience reduced funding for the arts and underemphasize artistic careers.

As such, they want to provide young artists opportunities to show their work in Cleveland, as well as become better exposed to how one might have a successful arts career here, today.

At the April 7 meeting, attendees also considered the wide range of creativity that could be represented. Designer Jacinda Walker told the group it’s important to make the event inclusive toward professionals who work in creative industries that wouldn’t selfidentify as artists. Defining programming solely under the umbrella of “art” could close it off to a wide facet of the creative community, she says.

“If you are calling it art anything, I am having a design week right behind it, I promise you,” Walker says. “… If you don’t include us with the language, why should we support it? We all create differently. And to be able to say we are trying to do something in Cleveland for creatives, you have to use the language that is creatively inclusive. And art unfortunately is not.”

Additionally, participants spoke of including creatives who aren’t necessarily connected to major galleries

or institutions, further opening up the tent and related opportunities.

Maugans is visibly excited when she discusses the possibilities for the event she and her teammates are trying to build, referring to it as a “love fest.”

While some attendees at the two most recent meetings were more questioning in terms of establishing a core mission of the Quest for the Fest, many agreed it was important to create something that puts creatives and their work at the center and focuses on their impact on Cleveland and beyond.

One of the leaders of the May 5 meeting was Jurnee Ta’Zion, a CSU graduating senior and sculptor headed to the Cleveland Institute of Art for post-baccalaureate studies. Maugans was her professor at CSU and connected her to the festival planning. At 21, she represents a younger generation of artists and emerging leaders lending their skills and voices to events like this. She hopes the fest will first of all, happen, and second, engage people who may not believe the arts are for them, she says.

“I hope it will be accessible and we get to share it with everyone in Cleveland,” she tells Canvas, “because I know a lot of people who don’t think the art world is accessible or feasible or for them, and just getting everybody involved from 0 to 105.”

The next Quest for the Fest planning meeting will be at 1 p.m. June 2 at Artful Cleveland – and the creatives involved are open to adding more voices to the mix.

David King, a Quest for the Fest leader and artist, leads the April 7 meeting with the goal of planning an arts/creative event that prioritizes local artists and communities.

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Creative Casting

At Great Lakes Theater, actors revel in performing multiple characters in the same play

By Courtney Byrnes

One goal of an actor is to put on a convincing performance to make the audience believe they truly are their character. This task becomes even more challenging when a play with a dozen characters has about half as many actors who then take on multiple roles.

Nevertheless, those in the theater world – like the cast and crew at Great Lakes Theater in downtown Cleveland –have shown time and time again they are up for the challenge. In fact, they often revel in it.

“It’s a creative endeavor that a lot of creative folks – which I am lucky enough to be surrounded by all the time – will lean into,” Sara Bruner, producing artistic director designate at Great Lakes Theater, tells Canvas. “And it just becomes a really fun puzzle for us all to solve.”

Take the company’s spring 2023 production of “Sense and Sensibility” at the Hanna Theatre at Playhouse Square, for example. This comedic theatrical adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel presented nine actors with the daunting task of filling out the over 20-character cast list. As co-director with Jaclyn Miller, this show also presented a memorable problem-solving moment for Bruner.

“We reached the moment in that show where (actor) Joe (Wegner) had to switch between Edward Ferrars and Mrs. Jennings,” she says. “... We were just like, ‘Wow, how do we solve this?’ I mean, they’re both on stage, they’re talking to one another.”

Choosing to lean into the comedic style of the show, the solution they came up with was to have Wegner transform from one character to the other on stage before the audience by stepping behind the dress of Mrs. Jennings or back into the suit of Edward Ferrars.

“We had a ton of fun executing it and audiences enjoyed it a lot,” Bruner says. “... The problem actually became the fun

Mrs. Jennings (played by actor Joe Wegner), right, shares a laugh with Colonel Brandon (actor Nick Steen) in the Great Lakes Theater production of “Sense and Sensibility” at the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square. Photo / Roger Mastroianni

part because we didn’t give up on it.”

In addition to “Sense and Sensibility,” Great Lakes Theater also put its actors to the test in its latest season with “Dracula: The Bloody Truth,” where four actors played a minimum of six characters each.

This small-cast production style at the company, and in the theater world more broadly, is nothing new. While Bruner says she is unaware of the full history behind the style, she imagines it came from “a financially-based model” as a way for theater companies to tell stories even when hiring 20 actors to fill all the roles is not in the budget.

“It came out of problem solving in our business,” she says, “which creative problem solving is literally all we do all day.”

At Great Lakes Theater, producing artistic director Charles Fee was first drawn to this style with “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” with a three-person cast performing all of Shakespeare’s work in a two-hour show, Bruner explains. The beloved performance first took the stage at Great Lakes Theater in 2004, and again in the 2010-2011 season.

“It was something that our actors loved working on, it was something that Charlie was particularly great at directing and it was something that our audiences really, really responded to,” Bruner says. “And once we learned those three things: if your creative teams love it, if your artists love it and your audiences are like, ‘Yes!’, then that is something that you want to repeat and dive more into. So, that was the first and we continue to seek out those kinds of scripts.”

CAST OF CHARACTERS

As a director receiving a script made for a small cast, Bruner says it often comes with “suggested doublings,” or ideas for which characters can be played by the same actor. But, the production can make its own creative decisions as well.

When approaching a script where an actor will need to master two or more very distinct characters, she says she looks to cast an actor for their “anchor character.” This is the role they take on for the largest part of the production, while the other roles are their “additive characters.”

With about 25 years of professional acting experience under her belt, Bruner can put herself in her actors’ shoes to cast them in roles that not only fit them well but keep them interested and sometimes provide a good challenge to help them grow.

“I stood in rehearsals and on stage as an actor for thousands and thousands of hours,” she says. “And I always try to keep an awareness of what the actors’ point of view is –how you keep them hungry, how you keep them interested, how you keep them utilized and what is exciting to them.”

Once the cast is set and rehearsal begins, there are many moving parts to consider before the final production. A director is often juggling aiding actors through character development, working with the costume designer and wardrobe team on quick changes, and keeping in mind how the end product will look to the audience.

“When you’re director, your job is to show up every day with a beginner’s mind and forget all of the work that you have about the play,” she says. “Forget everything you know about what you have said in the rehearsal room that you’re trying to do, and say, ‘OK, I’m going to put myself in the mind of an audience member who hasn’t seen the show a thousand times.’”

Bruner

Photo / Jenny Graham

Edward Ferrars (also played by actor Joe Wegner), from left, Lucy Steele (actor Hanako Walrath) and Elinor Dashwood (actor Maggie Kettering) share a tense exchange in the same Great Lakes Theater production of “Sense and Sensibility.” Photo / Roger Mastroianni

When it comes to actors inhabiting each role, Bruner says it is important for characters to be distinguishable even before the costumes come into play to cue the audiences to who the actor is playing at any given moment. She uses the example, “I think this character is leading with their hip when they walk. So, how about for character two, why don’t you lean forward and lead with your head a little bit more and see how do they live in your body physically?” she coaches the actors. “And then the second question is always going to be vocally – what do they sound like? What’s the differentiation with how they sound?

“And then the third thing, and probably the most important thing, is how do they relate to the people around them?”

For example, an actor like Wegner playing a leading love interest like Ferrars and a comedic-relief character like Mrs. Jennings in “Sense and Sensibility” will behave, sound and interact very differently with the other actors and characters depending on

which role he is presenting.

From the perspective of an actor, Bruner recalls touring with Shakespeare shows and playing both Juliet and Mercutio in a production of “Romeo and Juliet,” requiring her always to be ready to jump back out on stage to continue the story, while also developing the story arc of each character.

“I found it exhilarating because it’s easier to get caught up in the event of the evening as an artist when you have that much to do throughout the arc of the evening,” she says.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Once an actor effectively becomes each character, the final signifier of a character change is the costume. And since transitions between characters can happen within minutes, the wardrobe team plays a significant role in small-cast shows.

“As you can imagine, as much life as there is on stage, there’s even more life going on backstage, particularly in a small-cast show,” Bruner says.

During rehearsals, the wardrobe

team creates costumes with all the bells and whistles – or in this theater’s case, all the zippers and magnets – to allow actors to step off stage as character A and come right back on as character B.

“We want it to look really, really good, but it has to be able to get taken off of someone and they have to be able to get into their other costume every single time, no matter what, in less than a minute,” she says.

Quick changes need to be practiced and rehearsed as the show and costumes are coming together so any problems can be solved before the audience fills the theater. And while seemingly complex to put together, small-cast shows operate under the same timeline as any other show, she adds.

Although much goes into a small-cast production and those involved certainly take their roles seriously, Bruner says it is often a style reserved for comedies, allowing everyone to “lean into the madcap quality.”

“Small-cast shows are comedies, so you can often have fun with the quick changes and you look for different creative ways to highlight the comedy of one person playing multiple people,” she says.

UPCOMING SEASON

Great Lakes Theater wraps up its 2023-2024 season with “Always ... Patsy Cline” on stage at the Hanna Theatre through May 19. And, there will be more opportunities to catch a smallcast style production in the company’s upcoming 2024-2025 season.

Bruner says “Peter and the Starcatcher,” taking the stage Feb. 7, 2025 through March 2, 2025, is “one of these shows.”

“It is a multicharacter, super imaginative, hypertheatrical play with music that is the prequel to Peter Pan,” she says.

Showcasing a variety of production styles, the 2024-2025 season has more to offer as it kicks off Sept. 27 with “Into the Woods” through Nov. 10, followed by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Oct. 4 through Oct. 27, the annual “A Christmas Carol” from Nov. 23 through Dec. 22, “Twelfth Night” from March 21, 2025 through April 6, 2025 and closing with “Noises Off” from April 25, 2025 through May 18, 2025.

For more information and tickets, visit greatlakestheater.org.

Patsy Cline (actor Christina Rose Hall), left, and Louise Seger (actor Harmony France) sing together in the Great Lakes Theater production of “Always ... Patsy Cline” at the Hanna Theatre, running through May 19. Photo / Roger Mastroianni

June 20-22

tri-cjazzfest.com

MONTHLY ART WALKS AND EVENTS

• Canton First Friday: facebook.com/firstfridaycanton

• Walk All Over Waterloo (first Fridays): facebook.com/WaterlooArtsDistrict

• Walkabout Tremont (second Fridays): facebook.com/WalkaboutTremont

• Third Friday at 78th Street Studios: facebook.com/78thstreetstudios

MAY

18-19 Cleveland Asian Festival: clevelandasianfestival.org/2024

24-25 Micro Theater CLE: microtheatercle.com

31- June 2 Little Italy Summer Art Walk: littleitalycle.com

Events Calendar

JUNE

1

Kent Art & Wine Festival: mainstreetkent.org

1-2 Art in the Village with Craft Marketplace (Lyndhurst): artfestival.com

8 Cleveland Museum of Art Parade the Circle: clevelandart.org/events/parade-circle

8-9 Valley Art Center’s Art by the Falls: valleyartcenter.org

14-15 Cleveland Juneteenth Freedom Fest: juneteenthcle.com

15 Bath Art Festival: bathartfestival.com

ONLINE

20-22 Tri-C JazzFest: tri-c.edu/jazzfest

22 BAYarts Art & Music Festival: bayarts.net

22 Wildwood Arts & Wine Fest: bit.ly/44jvXJf

28-30 Boston Mills Artfest: bit.ly/3UO8U4F

29 Larchmere PorchFest: larchmereporchfest.org

JULY

5-7 Boston Mills Artfest: bit.ly/3UO8U4F

12-14 Cain Park Arts Festival: cainpark.com

20 Willoughby ArtsFest: willoughbyartsfest.com

21 Art in the Park: medinacountyartleague.com

Dates of events listed here and on the previous page may be subject to change by the organizer. To stay connected with frequent updates about events, museum exhibitions and gallery receptions, sign up for the free biweekly Canvas e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup.

24-27 BorderLight Theatre Festival: borderlightcle.org

27-28 Youngstown Summer Festival of the Arts: theculturalalliance.com

AUGUST

3 Lakewood Arts Festival: lakewoodartsfest.org

4 Chardon Square Arts Festival: chardonsquareassociation.org

24-25 Cleveland Garlic Festival: facebook.com/ClevelandGarlicFestival

24-25 Hudson Art On the Green: hudsonsocietyofartists.com/art-on-the-green

SEPTEMBER

8 Berea Arts Fest: bereaartsfest.org

14 Rocky River Fall Arts Festival: rrparksandrecfoundation.com

14 Waterloo Arts Fest: waterlooartsfest.org

21 FireFish Festival: firefishfestival.com

21-22 Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival: facebook.com/tremontartsandculturalfestival

OCTOBER

1-6

Chagrin Documentary Film Festival: chagrinfilmfest.org

3-6 Stan Hywet Ohio Mart: stanhywet.org/ohio-mart

ARTISTIC EXCITEMENT

Summer art, performance festivals ready to shine for 2024

By Abigail Preiszig

As the days get longer, Northeast Ohio’s arts and culture scene shines with a prism of festivals that feature hundreds of local and national artists, crafter markets, family-friendly activities and live music.

ART IN THE VILLAGE

Art in the Village with Craft Marketplace, presented by Howard Alan Events, gives patrons a high-end art buying experience June 1 and June 2 at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst.

“After 33 years of coming here, we’re always excited to return,” says Elaine Laurent, director of business development for Howard Alan Events. “It kicks off our full summer tour.”

The strictly juried festival will showcase over 100 artists – including 18 local artists – across various mediums including painting, jewelry, photography, sculpture and ceramics, and a separate craft market.

What sets this festival apart is the professionalism in each booth, Laurent says. Everything selected runs through a curator, and therefore, each booth looks like its own “mini gallery.”

The venue is also unique with on-site restaurants, shops, public restrooms and free parking, providing built-in clientele and amenities, she says. Annually, the festival brings in around 6,000 attendees over the course of two days.

Many patrons and artists return year after year, creating a form of “rapport,” Laurent adds.

“It’s nice because all of the patrons get to interact with the actual creator of the items,” she says. “The patrons enjoy seeing their friends, people they’ve bought from.”

Soak up everything the season and the region have to offer with a spectrum of free outdoor art and music festivals this upcoming June and July.

IF YOU GO

Art in the Village takes places annually at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst. Photo / Howard Alan Events

ART BY THE FALLS

After 40 years at Riverside Park in Chagrin Falls, Art by the Falls, presented by Valley Art Center, will have a new venue June 8 and June 9.

As Cuyahoga County repairs the Chagrin Falls bridge by the park, the fine arts and contemporary craft festival will move to the Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field in Moreland Hills to relieve some of the congestion caused by construction, says Erinn Grube, Valley Art Center events manager.

“I think it’s going to o er a little bit of a di erent feel and let us bring in some artists we would not have been able to bring in otherwise because we can add 10 booths,” she says.

Being one of the festival’s most competitive seasons ever, the added spaces will bring in over 140 artists from 19 states across many mediums including painting, pottery, jewelery, sculpture and photography, she says.

“There’s just some really neat art out there,” Grube says. “It feels like some stu we haven’t seen before.”

New this year will be the sale of beer and wine, as well as 12 food vendors. As

in past years, the festival will have live music, a kids’ pavilion, an art ra e and a community art project.

“(Funds from) the ra e and things like beer and wine allow us to do a lot of our outreach projects,” she says.

Still “very connected to Chagrin Falls,” there will be a shuttle to take attendees to and from the festival to explore the area’s shops and restaurants, Grube says. There will also be free onsite parking at the polo field.

IF YOU GO

10 A.M. TO 7 P.M. JUNE 8

10 A.M. TO 4 P.M. JUNE 9

Cleveland Metroparks Polo Field, 41324 S. Woodland Road, Moreland Hills Free admission valleyartcenter.org/artbythefalls.html

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Our special packages include Romance Package, Tour de Circle, Ready to Rock.

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Artist Justin Sato holds a painting demo at Art by the Falls in 2023.

Photo / Michael Steinberg

TRI-C JAZZFEST

The 45th annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland presents nearly 500 musical artists over three days with a gamut of legendary performers and newcomers.

JazzFest features eight ticketed concerts inside Playhouse Square theaters from June 20 through June 22, along with free outdoor concerts on the plaza from 3 p.m. to midnight on June 21 and June 22.

“It’s great fun, and it’s just a really beautiful backdrop of all the theaters and all the marquees and all the flashing lights that are Playhouse Square,” says JazzFest director Terri Pontremoli.

She says she is excited for people to witness artists they have never seen before. The lineup includes jazz legend Charles Lloyd, Cuban pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa and Grammy winner and 12-time nominee Ledisi.

“It has very much to do with what people think jazz is or isn’t,” Pontremoli says. “Herbie Hancock always says that jazz is the spirit of openness and if you come with curiosity, you will definitely

CAIN PARK ARTS FESTIVAL

find something you love, you will get excited by what you hear.”

Outdoors there will be two stages, the SeibertKeck Insurance Stage showing 14 acts, and the William M. Weiss Foundation Next Gen Stage, which will “showcase the future of jazz” and feature performances by the Tri-C JazzFest Academy camp students and Spirit of the Groove ensembles, according to the JazzFest website.

JazzFest also offers a “Talk Tent” to get to know artists, shopping, a beer garden, street performers, games, a kids’

For 47 years, the Cain Park Arts Festival has remained relatively the same – and that’s a good thing, says festival director George Kozmon. The festival is finding its way back to pre-COVID-19 numbers with close to 150 artists gathering from July 12 through July 14 at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights.

“(It’s) one of those situations where if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he says. “We keep adding things around the edges, but fundamentally, we don’t want to change the flavor of what it is, which is a community-based art event.”

The festival receives artist applications from across the country, but local and regional artists outnumber national artists, Kozmon says.

“(That) just goes to show the strength of our region because we show no favoritism toward one or the other,” he says. “We’ve got a lot of great artists in this broader community that we’re very proud of.”

Artists will show and sell work in various mediums including wood, clay, glass, fiber and leather. The intimate setting of Cain Park “removes the filter” between patrons and artists and allows everyone to learn something new, Kozmon adds.

The festival also offers live music, an interactive mural painting project for children and a variety of food trucks.

IF YOU GO

JUNE 20-22

Playhouse Square, 1501 Euclid Ave., Cleveland Indoor shows range from $35 to $85.

Outdoor concerts are free.

tri-c.edu/jazzfest

club and food trucks. Last year’s festival saw about 30,000 attendees over three days, Pontremoli says.

“There’s just a lot to do, it’s great for families … as well as people who just want to go out and hear music,” she says.

Cain Park, 14591 Superior Road, Cleveland Heights Free admission | cainpark.com/arts-festival

Cain Park Arts Festival returns to Cleveland Heights in July.

Photo courtesy of Cain Park

Da Land Brass Band performs at Tri-C JazzFest in 2023.

Photo courtesy of Tri-C Jazz Fest

LISTINGS

GALLERIES

CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART

11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

M. GENTILE STUDIOS

P: 216-421-7000 : cia.edu

: @cleinstituteart

CIA’s Reinberger Gallery features emerging and established national artists and hosts popular exhibitions by faculty, students and alumni, and CIA’s Cinematheque is one of the country’s best repertory movie theaters, according to The New York Times. Learn more and view upcoming programming at cia.edu/exhibitions and cia.edu/cinematheque.

FIDDLEHEAD GALLERY

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.

TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/GALLERY

School House Galleries in Little Italy

12736 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-231-9400 : fiddleheadgallery.com

Featuring contemporary crafts, functional art and oddities. Whether it’s a one-of-a-kind piece from a local maker or a stunning creation from across the globe, there’s something for every curious soul!

LEE HEINEN STUDIO

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

“Isla

2026 Murray Hill Road, Unit 202, Cleveland P: 216-559-6478 : triciakaman.com : facebook.com/ TriciaKamanArtStudioAndGallery

Tricia’s studio/gallery is housed in the Historic Little Italy Schoolhouse building. Visits are welcome by

appointment. The studio features Tricia’s original oil paintings, Giclee and canvas prints. Visit triciakaman.com for unique artful gifts.

E: leeheinen@saatchionline.com : leeheinen.com : facebook.com/leeheinen

It’s that time of year again. LITTLE ITALY ART WALK. Friday, May 31 5 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, June 1 noon “The Dance,” 36”x 36” oil on canvas, by artist Lee Heinen. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, June 2 noon to 5 p.m. My studio will be open. Do drop by. If visiting then doesn’t work for you, call me at 216-469-3288 and we can arrange a time that is convenient for you.

LOGANBERRY

VALLEY ART CENTER

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

: valleyartcenter.org

Valley Art Center is the hub of the visual arts in Chagrin Falls! VAC offers classes for all ages and in every medium including painting, jewelry design, drawing, clay and more. VAC also presents five gallery exhibitions annually and the iconic Art by the Falls outdoor art festival in June each year.

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.

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904–2000) Night Garden, 1972

Acrylic on scintilla , 21.5 x 21.5 inches

: Wolfsgallery.com

: @wolfsgallery

: @wolfsgallery

23645 Mercantile Road, Beachwood P: 216-721-6945

Visit WOLFS’ 15 galleries exhibiting many hundreds of artworks representing myriad styles and periods. Tour our generous space Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment. Buying and selling fine art in Cleveland since 1975.

Fifteen galleries exhibiting many hundreds of artworks representing myriad styles and periods.

23645 Mercantile Road, Beachwood, Ohio | 216-721-6945

in Red Ao Dai,” 28” x 22” oil on canvas, by artist Tricia Kaman.

WOLFS GALLERY

MUSEUMS

THE ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

“Front to Back,” 2023 gouache on paper, by artist Jean Weigl.

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

: ArtistsArchives.org : Facebook.com/ ArtistsArchivesoftheWesternReserve

The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve

is a unique archival facility and regional museum which preserves bodies of work by Ohio visual artists and promotes the region’s rich cultural heritage. We feature an ever-changing group of impactful exhibitions in our three gallery spaces, open to the public Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.. Please visit our website for updates and more information.

KSU MUSEUM

515 Hilltop Drive, Kent P: 330-672-3450

E: museum@kent.edu

: kent.edu/museum

: facebook.com/museumatksu

The Kent State Museum contains important collections of fashion and decorative arts. Its eight galleries feature changing exhibitions of work by many of the world’s great artists and designers. The Museum serves both the University and the community through exhibitions, public programs and research appointments in the collections.

MALTZ MUSEUM

FRIENDS OF CANVAS

BOSTON MILLS

7100 Riverview Road, Peninsula P: 800-875-4241

: bmbw.com/artfest

: facebook.com/BMBWOhio

Nestled in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park, The Boston Mills Artfest is a nationally recognized tradition in the art community. Featuring nearly 300 artists traveling from 34 states across the country, this prestigious fine art show is happening June 28-30 and July 5-7.

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.

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.

MASSILLON MUSEUM

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

: massillonmuseum.org

: facebook.com/massillonmuseum

“Gilding Northeast Ohio: Fashion and Fortune 1870–1900” showcases garments from MassMu and other Ohio institutions as well as original costumes from HBO’s “The Gilded Age.” June 8–Oct. 13. Twelve additional art and history galleries. Greatness Cafe, unique shop, Sensory Room. Find related events on MassMu’s website. Free admission.

“Day dress with leg o’mutton sleeves,” linen with velvet and satin trim, c. 1890. Gift of Mrs. Rhoades, Collection of the Massillon Museum (BC 1218).

CURATOR CORNER

St. Clair Superior Mural by Dayz Whun

By Lydia Kacala

At the corner of St. Clair Avenue and Addison Road in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood of Cleveland, drivers and pedestrians alike can now find a mural showcasing di erent birds, including a cardinal and blue jay, sitting on branches and contrasting with various colorful shades in the background.

Created in November 2023, the mural was painted by local artist Dayz Whun. It was curated and managed by Joe Lanzilotta, director of design and strategy at LAND studio, which manages public art installations throughout the city.

Whun’s mural is one of several to be added to the St. Clair Superior area, according to LAND studio’s website, adding a level of “vibrancy” to the neighborhood, Lanzilotta tells Canvas in this interview.

CANVAS: What was the process for getting this mural placed?

LANZILOTTA: Public art processes typically start with community engagement. In order to understand the interests of the community, we work with the community development corporation, which in this neighborhood is St. Clair Superior Development Corporation. After understanding the themes and ideas of the neighborhood, we engage an artist we feel can meet the design guidelines.

In this case, the artist, Dayz Whun, is from the neighborhood, so he had ideas that he wanted to portray through his art. In his concept, he wanted to highlight the neighborhood’s relationship to nature, the lake and bird migration. After the development of his sketch-level concept, we present to the property owner, local design review and city planning for approvals. Once we have the o cial sign-o s, we can begin the work to prep the wall, which can include removing debris from the site, scraping and priming the wall.

Whun is a skilled painter, so his process is quick, using a spray can to apply his designs. What appears to be magic to us is just another day as a professional artist to Whun.

Why does this mural fit into the neighborhood?

LANZILOTTA: Whun’s mural adds a great level of vibrancy to the streetscape. The vastness of St. Clair Avenue can make it feel fast and intimidating, so adding public art to the landscape allows for a break in the visual busyness. Thematically, the portraits of the birds grounds us to the surrounding nature that is abundant around the neighborhood. With Gordon Park, Lake Erie, the (Cleveland Lakefront) Nature Preserve and the (Cleveland) Cultural Gardens all bordering the neighborhood, St. Clair Superior is the perfect place for birding, to observe migration patterns, or to enjoy the sounds of the lake and the wildlife it sustains. Whun’s mural is a reminder to slow down and enjoy the natural world, even in the city.

What makes this piece noteworthy?

LANZILOTTA: Whun is a master of his craft. To have a public artwork created with his level of professionalism and skill is special. His color palette and line work add a vibrancy that is hard to find in the built environment. He’s taken a building that was previously an eyesore and turned it into a work of art.

What else should we know about the mural?

LANZILOTTA: This piece is one of many being planned for the St. Clair Superior neighborhood. LAND studio, in partnership with St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, and with support from the (Jack, Joseph and Morton) Mandel Foundation, councilman (Anthony) Hairston, councilwoman (Stephanie) Howse-Jones, and the many community members and stakeholders, hope to bring a series of artworks to a culturally vibrant and geographically significant neighborhood.

ON VIEW

St. Clair Superior Mural

Artist: Dayz Whun. Year: 2023. Find it: The intersection of St. Clair Avenue and Addison Road (6510 St. Clair Ave.).

Details: Spray paint on brick wall.

The St. Clair Superior neighborhood mural by Dayz Whun. Photos courtesy of LAND studio / Bob Perkoski

Lanzilotta

Whun

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and Jim Strassman