Canvas Spring/Summer 2017

NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance

Spring/Summer 2017

Thinking about things Justin Brennan has a lot on his mind, and as his thoughts take form, so does his art

Spring/Summer 2016 | Canvas | 7

STAY CURIOUS!

presented by

NOW OPEN! presented by

A portion of “Cavern” by Natalie Lanese at Case Western Reserve University’s Tinkham Veale University Center.

Photo by Michael C. Butz.

16

Working the multidimensional

Natalie Lanese’s intricate creations are growing in scale and prominence – as is her artistic ambition

6 Editor’s note

Michael C. Butz reports on the continued growth of Canvas in 2017

8 From Square to stage

Local arts organizations partner to transform Public Square into a platform for art this summer

12 Down to an art

Visual arts galleries in downtown Cleveland offer visitors plenty to see and experience

INSIDE

24 Do actors think?

Two veterans of Cleveland-area stages weigh in on what goes through an actor’s head on stage

28 Thinking about things

Justin Brennan has a lot on his mind, and as his thoughts take form, so does his art

36 Events calendar and listings

With numerous art, music and cultural festivals in the coming months, there’s plenty for which to plan NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance

Spring/Summer 2017

38 Something for everyone

From art to music to family-focused, Northeast Ohio’s festival season offers many options

Thinking about things Justin Brennan has a lot on his mind, and as his thoughts take form, so does his art

Spring/Summer 2016 | Canvas | 7

On the cover

Justin Brennan in his studio at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland’s DetroitShoreway neighborhood.

Photo by Michael C. Butz.

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40 Painting the town

With four art festivals spread throughout the region in 2017, Howard Alan Events has Greater Cleveland covered

42 Listings

Local listings for museums, galleries, performance art venues and more

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Big year lies ahead L

ast year was a big year for Canvas, both figuratively and literally. In addition to being recognized as the second-best magazine in all of Ohio by the Press Club of Cleveland, the magazine grew from its original digest size to the 7½-by-10½-inch format you’re either holding right now or will see around town when you aren’t reading online. We also expanded Canvas’ coverage by introducing a biweekly e-newsletter to keep art enthusiasts better informed about events, exhibitions and performances throughout Northeast Ohio.

Times were exciting in 2016, and I’m pleased to share news of yet more growth and positive changes in the year to come.

In 2017, in a move designed to provide richer and timelier coverage of Northeast Ohio’s flourishing arts scene, Canvas will publish three times instead of just twice. In the same way we felt enlarging the magazine would create a better platform for sharing and displaying local art, in the process providing readers with a better experience, we feel adding another issue will afford readers with greater opportunities to connect and learn about artists and organizations.

Not only will Canvas continue to deliver the same award-winning design and editorial content readers have come to expect in recent years, but plans for 2017 include each issue having a special focus: • Starting on Page 36 in this issue is extended coverage of Northeast Ohio’s busy festival season. Not only does the Canvas event calendar return for its third summer, but there are expanded event listings and editorial coverage to provide insight to readers about upcoming festivals.

• The fall issue is scheduled to highlight the region’s dynamic performing arts scene as the theater/stage season gets into full swing. Regular readers undoubtedly noticed theater critic Bob Abelman, who writes for Canvas’ sister publication the Cleveland Jewish News, started contributing to the magazine last year. That continues in 2017, and in the fall issue, he’ll have an insightful and essential feature story about collaborations between local theaters.

• The winter issue will aim to inspire readers to support local artists and institutions during the holiday season. Those who read Canvas likely already consider supporting local arts institutions by giving unique works of art, memberships or tickets to performances as gifts at that time of year, but we hope to give that type of generosity a boost because doing so can only help further strengthen Northeast Ohio’s creative community.

Clearly, a big year lies ahead for Canvas. We’re happy you’ve already joined by picking up this issue, but if you’re looking for additional ways to connect, follow us on Twitter at @CanvasCLE or sign up for the Canvas e-newsletter by visiting canvascle.com/signup.

Canvas Editor

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Editor Michael C. Butz editor@canvascle.com Design Manager Jon Larson

President & CEO Kevin S. Adelstein Vice President of Sales Adam Mandell CJN Managing Editor Bob Jacob Controller Tracy DiDomenico Manager of Digital Marketing Rebecca Fellenbaum Events Manager Gina Lloyd Editorial Ed Carroll Amanda Koehn Becky Raspe Contributing Writer Bob Abelman Digital Content Producer Lillian Messner Custom Publishing Manager Paul Bram Advertising Marcia Bakst Marilyn Evans Ron Greenbaum Andy Isaacs Adam Jacob Nell V. Kirman Sherry Tilson Design Jessica Simon Stephen Valentine Business & Circulation Diane Adams Tammie Crawford Abby Royer Subscriber Services 216-342-5185 circulation@cjn.org Display Advertising 216-342-5191 advertising@canvascle.com

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3 Great Art Shows COMING THIS JUNE!

Art in the Village (Cleveland) June 3rd 10am – 8pm June 4th 10am – 6pm Crocker Park Fine Art Fair (Westlake) June 10th 10am – 8pm June 11th 11am – 6pm The Hathaway Brown Fine Art Festival (Shaker Heights) June 17th –18th 10am – 5pm

Free Admission

ArtFestival.com A Howard Alan Event

Information: (561) 746-6615

Sponsored by

From

Square Local arts organizations partner to transform Public Square into an exciting platform for art this summer

By Amanda Koehn

T

hose who spent time around the revamped Public Square in downtown Cleveland between last summer and this March may remember some colorful plastic animals hanging around. The whimsical meerkats, toads and other inviting figures were placed around the Square to be played with, moved around and photographed as part of the Cracking Art project.

Frankly, they were a hit.

“Kids who didn’t know each other would work together to move the big snails around,” says Sanaa Julien, CEO of Public Square programming and operations. “It gave people a sense of community because it brought them together to modify and play with these animals in a fun way.”

The presence of the animals, which was funded by a grant from the Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, not only

8 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

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to

stage provided “unstructured play” for visitors, according to Julien and her colleague Nora Romanoff, senior project director at LAND studio, but also helped the two collaborators concretely envision what possibilities a unique space like Public Square holds.

“We were really kind of interested in introducing the Square to a different personality,” Romanoff says.

This summer, that vision is becoming even a larger reality.

Thanks to a partnership between Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, one of the largest public funders of arts and culture in the U.S., LAND studio and Public Square, local artists are developing festivals, storytelling events, performance art ideas and a variety of other creative programs for visitors to enjoy throughout the summer.

THE NEW SQUARE LAND studio is an organization that works with public art, sustainable building and design and arts programming.

Romanoff says back as far as 2002, LAND had been in talks about how to make Public Square an arts-friendly outdoor space. As a result, by the time it was conceptualized – and finished in June 2016 – its team already had concrete ideas.

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Bob Perkoski / LAND studio The Cracking Art animals were a hit while they were on display in Public Square between last summer and this March.

“We weren’t starting from scratch. … We’d already gone through some good ideas and bad ideas,” she says.

Thus, upon the opening of the new Public Square, Romanoff and Julien knew the space was well-equipped for performance and unique art programs. It requires funding to capitalize on those ideas, however – a need Cuyahoga Arts & Culture helped fill.

FUNDING THE ARTS Before construction began on Public Square, a partnership was formed between Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, LAND studio and downtown Cleveland’s revitalization organization, the Group Plan Commission. The collaboration was natural, as they all had similar visions about the expansive, yet sometimes intimate, performances and art that could take shape.

“One of the goals is to really create for these artists an opportunity to share in a way where they might not have had those resources prior,” Julien said.

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture is funded by the county’s cigarette tax and doesn’t fundraise, which allowed them to access specific National Endowment for the Arts funds that only an agency like theirs could receive.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 9

McKinley Wiley / The Dark Room Co. Arts events are well-suited to the urban-yet-open-space structure of Public Square in downtown Cleveland, a detail the new Arts & Culture in the Square program hopes to take advantage of.

“We found out it existed and so we said to LAND and the Group Plan (Commission), ‘well, we all want to do something, let’s see if we can bring some new money to the table to help support it,’ and lo and behold, we were successful,” says Cuyahoga Arts & Culture CEO Karen Gahl-Mills.

Gahl-Mills says that this new arts program, called Arts & Culture in the Square, will likely include performance art, theater and dance. However, she is also hopeful the programs, which will run from about May to September, will extend to creative nature, film/media and science programming. The project’s website also lists festivals, communal painting, science demonstrations and planting a mobile garden as potential projects.

“I hope they get a chance to experience something that they might not experience otherwise,” Gahl-Mills says. “When you bring programming for free to a downtown public space, that takes away a lot of barriers to participation.”

PERFECT PLATFORM As of early April, more than 50 submissions had been accepted from local organizations. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture has $100,000 to work with and the collaborators will decide

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how to divide the funds between smaller and larger programs seeking to display work.

“Really what it speaks to is this idea about the Square being for everybody,” Romanoff says. “It was the center of protests for (the Republican National Convention), it was where Cleveland Pride moved to this year and it’s where people are moving around these ridiculous (plastic) snails because they loved it. And it really speaks to the human factor that if you build a space and you do it well, then that human factor is realized to its fullest potential.”

The collaborators are also hopeful that Arts & Culture in the Square will help people who aren’t necessarily “artsy” get something out of the experiences, too.

“Even if you are somebody that says, ‘well I don’t know if I’m an arts person or not,’ we can promise you an event in Public Square under this rubric is going to be something fun and worth checking out,” Gahl-Mills says.

ON THE SQUARE For information on Arts & Culture in the Square programming once it’s been selected, visit clevelandartsevents.com.

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LITTLE ITALY JUNE ART WALK 2017 Pennello Gallery is proud to present noted fiber artist Marianne R. Williamson from June 2 through July 31.

Marianne is the author of TEXTILES IN MOTION and a juried member of the Studio Quilters Association (SAQA).

Over a career of more than 20 years, Marianne has incorporated her knowledge of painting and quilting into her wall hangings.

Artist reception Saturday, June 3 from Noon to 9 PM. 12407 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 • Phone: 216.707.9390 • W: pennellogallery.com Friday, June 2 from 5 - 9 PM • Saturday, June 3 from 12 - 9 PM • Sunday, June 4 from 12 - 5 PM

We are fine art painters working in oil or acrylic on canvas and recently on mirrored steel.

Our subjects range from figurative to abstract. This is a working studio in Little Italy, so it’s best to call before visiting to be sure we’re there.

12402 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 Phone: 216.921.4088; 216.469.3288 W: leeheinenstudio.com

“The Offering” 30x40 Oil on Canvas. Artwork by Lee Heinen.

DOWN TO ANART Visual arts galleries in downtown Cleveland offer visitors plenty to see and experience Story by Ed Carroll Photography by Michael C. Butz

“Fraction 540.3” by Courtlandt Swartz, part of his “Fraction” series. Suspended paint in hand-cast acrylic, 5.25 x 2.75 x 4 inches.

Swartz will be featured in the corresponding “30th Anniversary International Exhibition.” Image courtesy of Harris Stanton Gallery.

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M

usicals and museums, concerts and comedy clubs, dining and drinking, and baseball and basketball – all are among the many reasons tourists and native Northeast Ohioans alike visit and enjoy downtown Cleveland. But so too are, say, paintings, printmaking and photography.

Visual arts standout in this crowd, and three galleries – Bonfoey Gallery, The Galleries at CSU and Harris Stanton Gallery – anchor the downtown scene.

All three regularly host exhibitions, and in the process, make their own unique contribution to the city’s most vibrant neighborhood.

And while visual arts may not have as big a footprint in downtown Cleveland’s evolving entertainment landscape as some of those other areas of interest, they can’t – and shouldn’t – be overlooked. Those already in the know are rewarded with each visit to these galleries.

LONGSTANDING PRESENCE The Bonfoey Gallery has been around for a long time. So long, in fact, its gallery director, Marcia Hall, and office manager, Olga Merela, don’t know exactly what year the gallery was founded – but they do know it’s one of the 10 oldest still-active galleries in the country.

“We’re actually not certain when we were founded,” Hall says with a laugh.

“We were incorporated in 1893, so the gallery could have been started prior to that, but we’re not certain. We know the land was donated in 1894.”

Despite having such a rich history – John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford can be counted among their one-time clients – Hall says Bonfoey has its eyes set firmly fixed on the future when it selects art to showcase.

“If you saw some of the artwork we carry, we’d definitely be thought of as one of the top galleries in the area in terms of reputation and work,” she says.

“The artists we choose to represent are among the finest in their areas. When you come to the Bonfoey, you’re expecting a certain level of professionalism to be seen on the wall, the work has a level of excellence to it.”

Among the artists the gallery represents are Andy Curlowe, Susan Danko, George Mauersberger, Erik Neff, Dana Oldfather, Frank Oriti and Dan Tranberg. Bonfoey also offers a range of services, including custom framing, painting restoration and art consultation.

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Gallery director Ellie Kaiser, left, and owner Meg Harris Stanton inside Harris Stanton Gallery’s downtown Cleveland location as one show is set to come down off the walls and another waits to go up.

Director and chief curator Robert Thurmer inside The Galleries of CSU during its spring exhibition, “The Curious Case of Color.”

Merela says it’s common for visitors to make visiting the Bonfoey their top stop for an evening on the town.

“That’s what’s kept us in business,” Merela says. “We’re not set in the mall or an area where you’d have a lot of walk-by traffic. I think our clients are coming by specifically because they want to see us or have business with us. It’s exciting being downtown and we’re thrilled we’re still here.”

CONTEMPORARY COURSE Not far from Bonfoey are The Galleries at CSU, which started in 1973 as part of Cleveland State University’s art

department, says Robert Thurmer, the gallery’s director and chief curator.

At the time, the department felt students needed a place to exhibit their works and be confronted with other art to emulate. Thurmer says the gallery was successful enough to become too big for the faculty to handle, so in the mid 1980s, CSU hired a full-time gallery director. The gallery moved to its current location in the Playhouse Square district in 2012.

Don’t expect to see student artwork when you visit The Galleries at CSU, though. Thurmer says the gallery has only one student artwork exhibit each

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 13

“Cleveland Train Car Detail” by John Tellaisha (2012); archival inkjet prints, 30 x 30 inches; image courtesy of the artist. Tellaisha will be one of the artists in Bonfoey Gallery’s upcoming “Contemporaries 2017” exhibition. year, an end-of-the-school year showcase by the art students. The rest of the year, the space houses regional and international works of art, and also produces small art publications and art books.

“We don’t have the same resources as, say, (the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland) but we have works by artists that are in that tier of quality,” Thurmer says. “Our mission is based on our teaching here at Cleveland State: to educate and identify and involve immersive programs that promote an understanding of art and its place in society.”

Thurmer acknowledges that despite the gallery’s street presence on Euclid Avenue, theater audiences generated by Playhouse Square don’t always take in the visual arts offering of The Galleries at CSU. In fact, he’s found some passersby aren’t sure how to access the gallery – an obstacle they’re working to overcome.

“We get people stopping in from Cowell & Hubbard and other restaurants down the strip, and they’ll wander in and are surprised by what they see – but we’re overlooked often,” Thurmer says. “We’re working on neon signage so people know we’re here and we’re open.”

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL Many who travel to downtown Cleveland to visit an Akron export do so to watch LeBron James play basketball. But there’s another export that’s

Gallery director Marcia Hall, left, and office manager Olga Merela inside Bonfoey Gallery during its spring exhibition, “George Mauersberger: Modern Botanicals.” notable in its own right: Harris Stanton Gallery.

The Akron gallery was founded 30 years ago by a French woman named Evelyn Shaffer. The current owner, Meg Harris Stanton, speaks fluent French and Italian, explains gallery director Ellie Kaiser, which has helped Harris Stanton Gallery form longstanding relationships with international artists and dealers.

“We love bringing a global component to the Northeast Ohio arts scene.

We represent artists from Germany, Spain, England, Italy, France, South Africa, Columbia and Japan, just to name a few,” says Kaiser, adding that they also represent local artists like Terry Klausman, Pat Zinsmeister Parker, Christine Ries and Mark Soppeland.

The downtown Cleveland gallery opened in 2014 in the Warehouse District, where it not only draws audiences for its exhibitions but also pulls from neighboring restaurants – before people grab dinner or perhaps after they’ve enjoyed brunch.

Likewise, to appeal to a broader base of downtown Cleveland customers, the gallery offers custom framing and carries gifts and jewelry to complement its fine art business, Kaiser says. It also hosts Thursday opening receptions.

“In Cleveland, there’s a lot of competition for Fridays, between MIX (at CMA) and Third Fridays (at 78th Street Studios) – and a lot of different galleries have Friday openings,” she says. “We just wanted to give people a different option for art.”

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Harris Stanton is excited the gallery has reached a 30-year milestone – and that downtown is part of the equation.

“It’s thrilling to be here, and to show our artists in two different venues,” she says. “It kind of works both ways. We’re bringing artists to Cleveland who I don’t think have really shown here before, and vice versa. It’s been terrific.”

ON VIEW BONFOEY GALLERY

“Contemporaries 2017” will be on view from June 9 to Sept. 2 at Bonfoey Gallery, 1710 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

Participating in this group show will be Judy Barie, Amanda Cook, Phyllis Fannin, Kathleen Hammett, Ashley Sullivan, Robert Robinson and John Tellaisha.

THE GALLERIES AT CSU

The Merit Scholar Exhibition and 46th Student Show will be on view from May 5 to June 10 at The Galleries at CSU, 1307 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

HARRIS STANTON GALLERY “30th Anniversary International Exhibition” will be on view from June 1 to July 15 at Harris Stanton Gallery’s Akron location, 2301 W. Market St. An opening reception is scheduled for 5:30 to 8 p.m. June 1.

“30th Anniversary Regional Exhibition” will be on view from June 8 to July 15 at Harris Stanton Gallery’s downtown Cleveland location, 1370 W. 9th St. An opening reception is scheduled for 5:30 to 8 p.m. June 8.

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38th Annual

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www.tri-cjazzfest.com THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION

2 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

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Char and Chuck Fowler • Bill and Joyce Litzler • U.S. Bank • K&D • Chemical Bank • The Balogh Brothers • Constellation Brands

17-0001

Natalie Lanese paints in parts of the initial design for “Cavern,” which was later installed on a much larger scale, at her home studio.

orking

the

Natalie Lanese’s intricate creations are growing in scale and prominence – as is her artistic ambition

ultidimensional

16 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

Story and photography by Michael C. Butz

CanvasCLE.com

N

atalie Lanese’s art engages viewers in spectacular sensory experiences. Awash with eye-catching colors, it fascinates. Composed of ornate designs, it mesmerizes. Sometimes sweeping in scale, it envelops. To take in Lanese’s work is to immerse oneself in an intriguing and dazzling display.

Take her latest piece, “Cavern,” a 28-foot-by-29-foot installation completed in March in the middle of the Tinkham Veale University Center at Case Western Reserve University, her alma mater. From certain vantage points, it looks as though those who climb the staircase in front of it will traverse geometric stalactites to enter a portal to someplace extraordinary.

Or there was “Depthless Without You,” which wowed visitors to the Akron Art Museum’s “NEO Geo” group exhibition from November 2015 to April 2016. As the title implies, the piece, which covered the walls and floors of an entire gallery with mindbending geometric abstraction, toyed with people’s perceptions and perspectives.

Those who haven’t or didn’t see either of those two pieces may have driven past “Cleveland, City of Light, City of Magic,” underneath the George V. Voinovich Bridge on either side just south of the intersection of Ontario Street and Carnegie Avenue in downtown Cleveland. Installed in 2012 across from Progressive Field, the collage is an elaborately detailed and nostalgic homage to the Forest City, and yes, its title is a nod to Randy Newman’s “Burn On,” a song that plays during the opening credits of the Cleveland Indians-themed movie “Major League.”

Common to all of those pieces is her signature zigzag pattern, which has been evolving in her work for more than a decade. It’s immediately identifiable.

“Yeah, and nothing like what I thought I’d be doing,” she says, laughing.

That may be, but there’s little denying her work is now nearly as high-profile as some of the public places in which it’s located.

Her artistic career is well-positioned to ascend, both figuratively, and if she has her druthers, literally.

ACROSS THE BUCKEYE STATE

Tracking down Lanese requires a trip to Toledo’s Old West End, a well-manicured urban neighborhood filled with Victorian and Georgian architecture. A spacious second-floor apartment, carved out of one of the neighborhood’s large old houses, is now home for the 37-year-old Lyndhurst native. Her studio is a two-room affair in a sun-filled corner of the unit.

“I didn’t really know anything about Toledo before I moved here, I just had a good feeling about it – and I was right,” she says, explaining she hoped to find community there and did. “It was a good hunch. In this neighborhood, so many of my friends live here, it’s a dynamic neighborhood of a lot of like-minded people and also a lot of creative people.”

Lanese characterizes Toledo’s art scene as “tiny but also passionate,” and extols the relative ease with which artistic ideas can become reality there.

“If you have a great idea to do something on a whim, you can kind of just do it – which is an exciting space for an artist to be in,” she says.

Two public works of hers can be found in Toledo. “Island Sanctuary for the Ghost of Moses,” a 2015 collaboration with Douglas D. Kampfer that’s a block away from the

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Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 17

“Cleveland, City of Light, City of Magic” (2012); mural series on the George V. Voinovich Bridge at Ontario Street, Cleveland; digitally reproduced collage and painting.

Images courtesy of LAND studio. The mural series’ three parts playfully depict aspects of Northeast Ohio’s past and present, from its sports teams and cultural institutions to its people, industry and architecture.

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Toledo Mud Hens’ Fifth Third Field, depicts Moses Fleetwood Walker, who played professional baseball for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884 – 63 years before Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The second is a Toledo Arts Commission project in which Lanese was asked to lead a team of teenagers in sprucing up the outside of an abandoned, dilapidated house as a part of a larger, creative placemaking initiative. Her trademark zigzag helps liven up a slightly rundown neighborhood.

“That’s exactly the kind of stuff I want to do as far as a local community goes,” she says. “Public art has been on my mind a lot more lately. It’s a direction my work has taken in recent years that’s new to me but I really enjoy it – and I enjoy the different kinds of impacts it can have in places.”

Of course, Lanese also enjoys Toledo’s proximity to friends and family in Cleveland, on top of which she feels she’s very much a part of the arts community in her hometown.

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“I feel like there’s a place for me there even though it’s not where my studio is,” she says.

Among her artistic friends in Northeast Ohio are David Spasic, Nathan Murray and Ben Haehn, perhaps best known as purveyors of pinball at Superelectric in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, and ceramic artist Gina DeSantis, whom Lanese has known since they interned together in 2004 at the former Buzz Gallery in Ohio City. The two have since encouraged and supported each other as artistic peers.

“We have totally different paths and work in totally different media, but it’s nice to have someone in your field to bounce ideas off of and share struggles we both might encounter,” says DeSantis, whose studio is among the Screw Factory Artists’ Studios in the Lake Erie Building at Templar Industrial Park in Lakewood. “We started this years and years ago. It took a good six or seven years after grad school for both of us to be where we want to be.”

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There’s also a place for Lanese in the southwest corner of the state, where her “Swing Around Rosie,” occupies the entire side of a building in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

Completed in 2016, the mural depicts Rosemary Clooney – who got her show business start in the Queen City – and is named after the singer’s 1959 album.

The project was led by ArtWorks Cincinnati and involved several murals throughout the city. In the process, the project employed teen apprentices to help execute Lanese’s vision for the mural.

“As far as arts advocacy, that’s a great example of a project I like to be involved with,” she says. “Not only are they successfully putting up great murals around Cincinnati, they’re teaching young people the value of that kind of work – and that you should be paid for your work.”

As evidenced in part by the way in which “Swing Around Rosie” and the dilapidated house project involved young people and artistic novices, as did “Cavern” at CWRU, teaching – and

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Above: “Cavern” stands 28 feet by 29 foot in the middle of the Tinkham Veale University Center at Case Western Reserve University.

Left: An abandoned, dilapidated house on Detroit Avenue in Toledo stands out thanks to a Toledo Arts Commission project in which Lanese led a team of volunteers in sprucing up the building. The project was part of a larger, creative placemaking initiative.

learning – have played integral roles in Lanese’s journey.

SCHOOL IN SESSION

Are there other artists in Lanese’s family who may have served as inspirations for her career? In a word, no.

“We always laugh about it, that we have no idea how I ended up doing this,” she says, laughing even now. “It’s not like we had another artist in the family or even anyone who did it as a hobby.

Basically, my mom signed me up for art

classes at the (Cleveland Museum of Art) in the summers when I was little. It was something I loved to do, so I kept doing it.”

Education, however, has been central.

Both of Lanese’s parents are retired teachers. Her father, James, worked as a Cleveland board of education researcher for most of his career, and after he retired from there, taught graduate-level courses at John Carroll University and Cleveland State University. Her mother, Delia, taught grade school, and after taking a break to raise Lanese and her older broth-

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er, Nick, she returned to the classroom to tutor in math and reading.

Lanese’s arts education took a leap when she attended high school at Beaumont School in Cleveland Heights, where she was accepted into a four-year program that afforded her time in a studio with teachers who were working artists or also teaching at the college level.

“By the time I went to high school, it was definitely something I wanted,” she says. “I think that was a big part of why I chose to go there, because I knew (Beaumont) offered a great art program. I can definitely credit pursuing art after high school to my experience there.”

Lanese would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in art history and education from Xavier University in Cincinnati and then a master’s degree in art education from CWRU.

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“Swing Around Rosie” (2016); 1606 Pleasant St., Cincinnati; photo by J. Miles Wolf ©2016 ArtWorks Her time at CWRU – which included studio courses at the Cleveland Institute of Art – would prove influential. She credits three classes with helping chart her career course: an in-depth class on Andy Warhol taught by David Carrier that allowed her to delve deeply into one of her favorite artists; a “Style as Substance” course taught by Julie Langsam in which frequent class discussions about art changed the way Lanese thought about her work; and a Saul Ostrow-taught course that explored manipulating dimensions.

By the end of her studies in Cleveland, Lanese’s work had started to shift from figurative oil paintings to collages. She recalls assignments from the Langsam class that challenged students to show sensuality within their mode of work, and in the process, consider how their work would be identified as their own or how they would be identified as artists through their work.

“I’d always made collages as a hobby, or for fun, but had never taken it seriously as an art form,” she says.

“I made collages for these homework assignments, and it just opened up this

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whole other discussion about what my work was – making something I could really identify with personally, whether through the palette or the medium.

“It enabled me to use humor in my work, which is a big part of my personality, and all of those things I think I struggled to do with just painting – especially figurative painting. That opened up a floodgate of possibilities.”

Lanese rode that wave of creativity to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. By the time she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2007, the transformation of her work had significantly progressed.

“I started off by making these small-scale collage pieces that I’d begun at CIA, and in the course of two years, basically really got into the collage process but also reached a point where I felt very limited in scale because I was using all of these small images I’d cut out from magazines, mostly,” she says. “So that led to this exploration of figuring out how to work large-scale but still stay true to this process I’d devised. By the time I finished, my thesis project was a wall-scale installation that was paint and collage directly on the wall.”

Earning her MFA marked the end of her schooling but not the end of her time in a classroom. In 2012, she became an assistant art professor at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich., about a 45-minute drive northwest of Toledo.

She’s also director of the university’s Klemm Gallery.

That Lanese’s parents were both educators influenced her decision to teach, but she also received a little motherly advice on the matter.

“When I went to college, I’d kind of flirted with the idea of being an art major only, but my mom wasn’t on board with that,” she says, laughing. “It wasn’t like she was forcing me to do that. I had an interest anyway, but she gently encouraged me to have a back-up plan for art, which was good. It was smart.”

EXPANDING HER ART Lanese’s work in collage has evolved since its beginnings at CWRU and CIA. Not only has her canvas expanded to cover larger areas, but the elements she places in her creations have shifted. The days of cutting out photos from vintage,

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 21

“Depthless Without You” (2015); paint on wood and drywall, Akron Art Museum; photo by Shane Wynn Photography courtesy of the artist. ’50s- and ’60s-era interior decorating magazines are out, and human beings are in.

Inspired by her travels and desire to visit as many U.S. national parks as possible, Lanese considers some of her recent works as landscapes. And now, a key element to her work is the way in which she places objects – and people – within the topography.

“Collage is still a part of it, it’s just not photographs, she says. “Though I’m not literally cutting and pasting, I do think about the way I position different elements in the work.”

A good example of this was the “Depthless Without You” installation last year at Akron Art Museum, which she described as “a painting you could walk into.”

“The idea that it wrapped around walls and covered the entire floor transformed it into an environment,” she says. “There was of course the anticipation that people would be photographing themselves in it. That’s not something I’m telling them to do, but I’m also fully aware they’re going to do it. Part of the thought process of that piece was how people might position themselves in it and create their own images of it.”

That dynamic – working the multidimensional – is what motivates Lanese most at the moment. Her mind wraps itself around the possibilities it presents for her art.

“A painting is an illusion on a two-dimensional surface, and then I’m creating through color and pattern an illusion of some kind of depth of field, whether it’s through scale or overlapping forms or perspective lines,” she says. “Then, with the addition of dimension – actual dimension – I can manipulate those things so that depending on where you’re standing, it can look like an object in front of you, or because of the pattern or way it’s painted, it might just blend in and flatten into the wall behind it.

“I love having fun with how all of those things work in concert with one another, so that as a person moves through that

22 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

space, they can experience something sculptural, a painting, and something that kind of exists between those two things based on where they’re standing and what the illusion might be,” she continues. “And if you take a photo, then it’s cycling back around. You’ve created another two-dimensional image out of that experience, and I’m into that right now. That’s what I think about a lot.”

So where does Lanese want to take her art from here?

“Lately, I’ve wanted to paint an entire building – the outside of it,” she says. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and I think it’s very much inspired by the number of empty buildings I’m surrounded by, especially churches.”

In that regard, the sky may literally be the limit for Lanese.

She jokes she sometimes doubts her ability to take on an entire building – namely when she’s 35 feet up in a scissor lift that’s swaying in the wind.

“But I think at this point, I’m addicted to working big, and I just want to keep seeing things bigger,” she says. “It’s really fun thinking about things that are dimensional and transforming them in a painted object.”

ON VIEW NATALIE LANESE Natalie Lanese’s “Cavern” is on view at Case Western Reserve University’s Tinkham Veale University Center, 11038 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

“Cleveland, City of Light, City of Magic” is on view underneath the George V. Voinovich Bridge just south of the intersection of Ontario Street and Carnegie Avenue (across from Progressive Field) in downtown Cleveland.

CanvasCLE.com

SUMMER@CIM Fill your Summer with Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music!

Join us on campus from May through July for many exceptional concert experiences, including finale concerts of CIM’s intensive summer programs for Summer Sonata, Young Composers, Encore Chamber Music Academy and the nationally renowned Sphinx Performance Academy.

We will also be home to the two summer festivals: Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival and ChamberFest Cleveland.

Our annual alumni showcase series, Lunch and Listen, returns to Mixon Hall in July.

Check cim.edu/summer-at-cim for the complete schedule.

Do actors think?

By Bob Abelman

Two veterans of Cleveland-area stages weigh in on what goes through an actor’s head while on stage 24 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

CanvasCLE.com

“I pretty much try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face.”

– Actor Johnny Depp

A

rtistic expression and creative invention are such intuitive and emotional enterprises that even their most skillful practitioners can’t quite explain how they do what they do when they do it.

Fortunately, a recent issue of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience – a bedtime staple on most nightstands – reported on research and insight on the subject.

Brain signals were measured using lightweight wireless sensors as professional dancers expressed themselves through ballet, jazz and modern dance movement.

It was discovered that what appears so instinctive, effortless and fluid on stage is the result of vigorously snapping synapses in the sensory motor network as well as the prefrontal cortex kicking into overdrive.

Dancers use multiple parts of the brain simultaneously and actively, including those involved in higher-order decision-making and a part of the frontal lobe with the fun-time name “infra parietal sulkus” that plays a key role in envisioning, controlling and initiating physical action.

Similar research involving musicians was performed at London University’s psychology department. It was found that musicians who have been trained to learn enormous sections of music by imaginative association, rather than by rote, tend to create and access during performance a complex, visual architectural space in their heads.

“Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse.”

– Actor Marlon Brando

Roger Mastroianni From left, Jeremy Webb, Marc Moritz and Georgia Cohen in a Cleveland Play House production of “Bell, Book and Candle.” @CanvasCLE

So what’s going on inside the heads of actors?

Sure, acting requires memorization and a host of complex psychological skills, such as imagination and empathy, to evoke visceral emotions and create authentic characters.

And actors carefully block out movements during rehearsal so their lines are always matched to the same physical motions, forming a kind of bodily mnemonic device.

But do actors actually think when they act? And what do they think about?

“There’s no doubt that actors’ brains differ in important ways from the brains of accountants, cab drivers and neurosurgeons,” noted cognitive scientist Bruce McConachie in the latest issue of American Theatre magazine, “but exactly how and why, no one knows.”

Most of the evidence is merely anecdotal rather than scientific.

Broadway producers and agents, for instance, have long reported that actors are brainless, thoughtless creatures. Heartless and inconsiderate, too.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 25

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet noted in his book “Theatre” that an actor thinking only complicates matters: “They need only say their lines and get out of the way of the play.”

Of course, Mamet believes that a director thinking is also unnecessary, suggesting that “they should make sure the actors don’t step on each other’s lines … and then get out of the way of the play.”

“Acting is all about honesty.

If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

– Actor George Burns There are hundreds of books on acting technique, from Stanisklavsky’s time-honored tome “On Acting” to Stella Adler’s “The Art of Acting,” that offer advice about what to do to prepare for a performance. But they share little insight into what occurs in the mind during one.

To help advance the state of neurological research, but without all the paperwork, two prominent, deep-thinking, Cleveland-based stage performers sat down at a local restaurant to discuss this issue. And to have a light snack.

One is long-time actor and improvisational guru Marc Moritz, who decided to forego a light snack and have the corned beef and fries. He is joined by popular standup comedian and voice-over actor Marc Jaffe, who went with a salad.

The results of this meeting are as insightful as they are scholarly, which means not very.

Moritz: What was the question?

Jaffe: He asked what we have in our head when we perform. I have the Garfield 1-2323 jingle for aluminum siding.

It’s been there since 1967.

Canvas: Actor Spencer Tracy once said that the job of an actor was to “learn your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.” Is that all there is to it?

Moritz: “Don’t bump into the furniture” is good advice.

In improv and standup, and many times in theater, there is no furniture. So there you have it. Sorry. What was the question?

Jaffe: On stage, there’s a mental sweet spot between observation and oblivion called “being in the moment.”

Instincts and preparation take over. But at the same time you are overly aware and hypercritical; analyzing and self-reporting everything you are doing and saying on stage. Actors seek that balance between spontaneity and self-reflection.

Moritz: Wow. Jaffe: I memorized that from a book, but it sounded like I just made it up. See, I was in the moment.

Moritz: What an audience may call a “bad performance” is often an actor being too self-conscious. A “great performance” is where all the training, technique and thinking are invisible to the eye – even though great actors are very selfreflective on stage. I should know. I’ve been told this by great actors.

Jaffe: There’s probably more actual thinking going on in standup than in regular acting. Although what you are performing is a well-rehearsed set of jokes, good comedians are aware of their audience’s responses and cleverly incorporate them into the performance.

26 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

Michael Weil Marc Jaffe at a 2015 Shaking With Laughter fundraising event to benefit those with Parkinson’s disease.

Moritz: There’s even more quick thinking during improvisation. There is no script, so improv actors are constantly creating, making adjustments to the audience, and reacting.

Canvas: Are there times when the brain simply doesn’t kick in, when that sweet spot you mentioned is elusive and “being in the moment” doesn’t occur?

Moritz: Sure. Sometimes the active mind wanders during a long scene in a long play where all you are is living scenery.

Jaffe: As a comedian, there are Saturday nights when I do three shows. I’ve been in the middle of a joke during the third show and in my head I ask “Did I do this joke already?” And then the audience laughs and I think, “Whew, I wonder if they’ll notice if I took a nap?”

Moritz: Sometimes emotion takes over. I was once working at a playhouse I won’t identify called Great Lakes Theater in a production I can’t mention called “You Can’t Take It With You.” In it was an actor I will not name, so let’s just call him “Andrew May.” There was an emotional scene when Andrew’s character is wrestling and strangling another character. Of course, the actor is not really choking the other actor but in one performance Andrew was so lost in his character and so into the moment that he actually rendered the other actor unconscious.

Canvas: So no infra parietal sulkus activity whatsoever.

Moritz: None to speak of.

Jaffe: Can you imagine what the understudy was thinking the next day, on stage, in that same scene and in the arms of an emotional Andrew May? Talk about snapping synapses.

Canvas: Any other insight to share with the folks at Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and London University?

Jaffe: Here is the true answer to your inquiry: My overriding thought while up on stage – and the focus of 98 percent of any actor’s concentration during each and every performance throughout the history of theater – is “Don’t fall off the end of the stage.”

“Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.”

– Actor Edmund Gwenn, on his deathbed

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SPLENDID DISSONANCE Monumental Works by George Kozmon Loren Naji

May 4 – June 30, 2017

OPENING RECEPTION Thursday, May 4 5 PM – 7 PM

Justin Brennan in his studio at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

28 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

CanvasCLE.com

Thinking about things Justin Brennan has a lot on his mind, and as his thoughts take form, so does his art Story and photography by Michael C. Butz

R

eaching milestone ages often induces a certain amount of self-reflection – something to which 40-year-old Justin Brennan can attest.

When asked his age, the soft-spoken artist chuckles and immediately acknowledges he’s been “thinking about things.” Later, when asked what the future holds, he confesses, “Being 40, you start to question everything.”

But thinking about things seems to be a creative sweet spot for Brennan.

He draws inspiration from personal relationships. He churns day-to-day interactions in his head, ruminates on them in his studio – a long and narrow room carved out of the PopEye Gallery-curated Survival Kit space on the third floor of 78th Street Studios – until it’s time for paint to meet canvas.

Cerebral musings fuel his work, and at the moment, his artistic tank is full. His evocative new series of portraits, some 20 of which will be on view starting in July at HEDGE Gallery, is evidence.

Greeted at eye level, these Francis Bacon-inspired paintings invite viewers in for a conversation about what’s on their mind. There’s a directness to them that way, but they’re simultaneously elusive. Bright colors mask potentially darker themes, and the ways in which facial features are blurred and distorted suggest an emotionally charged static interference that never quite lets the viewer connect with the solitary figure portrayed.

@CanvasCLE

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 29

The tension is palpable.

“I did portraiture before, but it was more realistic. This is completely abstracted,” he says, highlighting their ambiguity and indefinability.

“I always leave the viewer to determine what they want from the piece, to take what they want from it,” he says. “I want it to affect them. I want them to look into it. I want them to remember it.”

He wants those who view his art to think about things, too.

‘NO SECOND THOUGHTS‘ Brennan was born and raised in Lakewood, the second oldest of four children. He credits his mother Maureen’s side of the family – her father drew and collected art, and her grandfather was a vaudeville dancer – for his creativity.

For his drive, determination and work ethic, Brennan credits his father Sean’s entrepreneurial side of the family. Brennan’s Catering & Banquet Center on the west side of Cleveland is the family business. It’s also where Justin Brennan holds a title of manager/chef.

As a child, Brennan was both good at and interested in art but admits he “never took it seriously.” It wasn’t until his senior year at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland that his interests and talents started to take shape. It was then that he learned of abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, whom he credits with leading him to painting as his art form of choice.

He also gives a nod to some formal arts education he received.

“Ignatius wasn’t known for its art program back in ’93/’94,” he says. “I had to wait until my senior year to take drawing or painting. I really enjoyed painting a lot, and it just kind of took off from there.”

“Buenas Noches” (2017); 34.5 x 34.5 inches; enamel, spray paint, charcoal on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

30 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

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Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 31

“Justifiable Fear” (2017); 34 x 32 inches; oil, spray paint, enamel on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

He matriculated at Kent State University to study graphic design. He took studio art for a semester but ultimately stayed at the university for only two years.

“Then years later, I went to Tri-C, and I took Painting I,” he says, clarifying that was about 2004. That class would mark the end of Brennan’s formal art education – he’s largely selftaught – and the beginning of his artistic career.

“When I was 28 is when I really decided, ‘Hey, I want to be serious about this,’” he says. “It’s only been about 12 years that I’ve been going strong at it – completely focused on it, no second thoughts and 100 percent devoted to it.”

32 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

HITTING HIS STRIDE What led to his shift in focus?

“I had some life-changing experiences,” he says. It isn’t a topic Brennan wishes to dwell on or discuss in detail but he concedes he wrestled with anxiety during that time.

“There’s a cliché that abstract expressionism is expressing emotions,” he says. “I had trouble expressing my emotions … so it was a way to kind of, not communicate, but yeah, express how I (felt) and what was going on.”

Brennan channeled that energy into his creativity. His early work involved stylized portraiture, and his first show was an

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Brennan applies spray paint to “Gaia” (2017); 24 × 30 inches; oil, spray paint, enamel on panel.

In Greek mythology, Gaia is the first female as well as the personification of earth. Brennan named this piece “Gaia” because it was the first woman he depicted in his latest series of portraits.

ARTMart: SPACES Members Show and Sale at SPACES Gallery.

He later shifted to nonrepresentational abstraction.

A July 2016 show entitled “Turbulence” at Maria Neil Art Project in Cleveland‘s Waterloo Arts District showcased that later phase.

“The term ‘turbulence’ refers to my psychological state, thoughts, emotions and the interactions throughout the past eight months of creating this work,” he said at the time.

The abstract portraits he produces today are a combination of those two approaches.

Those “thoughts, emotions and interactions” are now taking form – a dynamic he admits he stumbled upon while pushing himself to do something different.

“When I do a big series or body of work, usually around the 15th or 20th piece, I’m usually like, I’m painting this and it’s kind of repetitive,” he says. “People like them — they’re good paintings sometimes – but I’m not satisfied as an artist. So I always change it up.”

Brennan’s willingness to experiment is what drew the attention of HEDGE Gallery’s Hilary D. Gent, who started representing him at the outset of 2017.

“As a painter, I think that’s important because as a gallery representing him, it shows

promise for new bodies of work in the future,” she says.

“That’s what excites me about showing an artist like Justin.

He’s adventurous. He’s willing to mix new mediums into his work and … to experiment with them to develop new bodies of work.”

BRENNAN S PLACE Brennan lives in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, but his home away from home is his 78th Street studio – a space he’s quite enjoyed since moving in back in late 2015.

“Once a month, hundreds of people come through my studio – and it’s great,” he says. “I love being here. It’s super inspirational.”

His paint-splattered studio floor and paint-caked A-frame easel – both of which suggest an artist who feverishly capitalizes on that inspiration – are favorites of Third Friday Instagrammers, he jokes.

“It was immaculate (when I moved) in here, and this is my second thing of cardboard,” he says, pointing to a layer of cardboard meant to protect the floor from said paint. “Yeah, this is all my paint.”

A Miles Davis “The New York Sessions” poster that hangs on the back of his studio door also provides inspiration. Whether it‘s Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus,

34 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

Dizzy Gillespie or Thelonious Monk, jazz is in the air every time Brennan works. Actually, he considers it more “superstition” that inspiration.

“Back when I first started painting – I like rock ’n’ roll, too, a lot – so I would drink and turn on the Rolling Stones, paint – and think I was Jackson Pollock. And then I’d realize 20 minutes or half an hour into it that I was drunk, my painting was complete shit and I’d wasted all these supplies,” he recalls with a smile. “Now, I don’t really drink when I paint and I listen to jazz. I love it, and it keeps me focused.”

A jazz-infused soundtrack isn’t Brennan’s sole self-professed superstition.

“I don’t like violet,” he says unwaveringly. “I like

pinks, reds, blues, browns, yellows. I just don’t go near violet – and rarely green. It’s superstitious – I’m a superstitious painter at times.”

Less eccentric are Brennan’s commitment to craft and his ambition to improve as an artist.

“My last piece is always inferior to my next piece.

I feel like I can always do better,” he says. “It keeps me driving, it keeps me painting.”

And one thing he doesn’t have to think too much about – or question even at the milestone age of 40 – is his creative future.

“I know I don’t want to stop. ... I can’t stop and I won’t stop,” Brennan says. “I don’t think about it anymore.

I just do it all the time.”

ON VIEW

JUSTIN BRENNAN Justin Brennan will take part in “Free Style: Tease and Tension Between Abstraction and Representation” from May 12 to June 24 at Zygote Press Gallery, 1410 E. 30th St., Cleveland. Other artists in this group show will be Dave Cintron, Jamey Hart, Michael Lombardy, James March, Kelsey Moulton, Patricia Zinmeister Parker, Scott Pickering and Grace Summanen. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.

May 12.

“No Expectations,” a solo show featuring 20 to 25 of Brennan’s paintings and drawings, will be on view from July 21 to Sept. 1 at HEDGE Gallery, 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 9 p.m.

July 21.

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The strikingly beautiful artifacts showcased in The Temple-Tifereth Israel Gallery embody Jewish tradition and ritual, but they also highlight the links between Judaism and other faiths.

The Museum brings history to life and connects it to the present day through a packed calendar of thought-provoking public programs and an expansive array of rotating exhibitions.

The nonprofit shares moving stories of individuals who’ve had the courage to break down societal barriers. It also offers a platform for creative expression and a safe forum to engage in vital cultural conversations. “We take our moniker as a museum of diversity and tolerance to heart,” explains Executive Director Ellen Rudolph. “We see ourselves as a cultural hub and a connector of communities; we offer visitors insights into their own lives through others’ experiences. The more we all understand and respect each other, the less likely we are to discriminate.”

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Events Calendar

Presented by

Tri-C JazzFest 2016

MONTHLY ART WALKS • Canton First Friday • First Fridays by the Falls (Chagrin Falls) • Walk All Over Waterloo! (first Friday) • Downtown Akron Artwalk (first Saturday) • 2nd Friday Art Hop (Hudson; May through August) • Walkabout Tremont (second Friday) • Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios • Barberton Fourth Friday MAY 5-6 6 6-7

Chagrin Valley Arts Hop Ingenuity’s Bal: Aquatique Oddmall – Emporium of the Weird 20-21 Cleveland Asian Festival 20-21 Rooms To Let: CLE JUNE 2-4 3

Summer Art Walk in Little Italy Masterpieces on Main Art & Wine Festival 3-4 Art in The Village with Craft Marketplace 3-4 Hessler Street Fair 7-9 CSU Arts & Humanities Alive!

Festival 9-10 Canton Blues Fest 10 Art Fur Animals 2017 10 Cleveland Museum of Art Parade the Circle 10-11 Crocker Park Fine Art Fair with Craft Marketplace 10-11 LaureLive

10-11 Valley Art Center’s Art by the Falls 11 Taste of Lakewood 16-18 Avon Heritage Duck Tape Festival 17 BAYarts Art & Music Festival 17 Larchmere PorchFest 17 Wildwood Fine Arts Festival 17-18 The Hathaway Brown Fine Art Festival 22-24 Tri-C JazzFest 24 Cleveland Museum of Art Solstice 24 Waterloo Arts Fest 24-25 Boston Mills Artfest Show 1 28 Hip 2B Square: Fear No Art JULY 1 1-2 7-9 8 8-9

Larchmere Festival Boston Mills Artfest Show 2 Cain Park Arts Festival Lakewood Summer Meltdown Music in the Valley Folk & Wine Festival 8-9 YSU Summer Festival of the Arts 10-14 Arts Week Festival (Medina) 14-16 Painesville Party in the Park 15 Willoughby ArtsFest 16 Art in the Park (Medina) 16 Taste of Tremont 21-22 Hudson Wine Festival 22 Headlands BeachFest 28-29 Summer Market (Avon Lake) 29-30 Akron Arts Expo AUGUST 4-5 Vintage Ohio Wine Festival 4-6 Latino Arts & Culture Celebration 5 Lakewood Arts Festival 6 Warehouse District Street Festival 6 Chardon Arts Festival 6 Nature Arts Festival (Geauga Park District) 13 Cedar Fairmount 16th Annual Summer Festival 18-19 Burning River Fest 18-20 Weapons of Mass Creation

36 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

19 19

art-A-palooza (Green) Highland Square PorchRokr Music and Art Festival 19 Painesville’s Art in the Park 19 Sparx City Hop 19-20 The Flats Festival of the Arts 24-27 Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival 26-27 Cleveland Garlic Festival 26-27 Art on the Green (Hudson) 27 Cleveland One World Day SEPTEMBER 3-4 Taste of Hudson 7-9 Heights Music Hop 7-17 Cleveland Jewish FilmFest 9-10 Kent’s 24th Annual Art in the Park 10 Berea Arts Fest 16 Blue Sky Folk Fest 16 Wooster Arts Jazz Fest 16 Rocky River Fall Arts Festival 16-17 Tremont Arts & Cultural Festival 16-17 Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival 21-29 Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival 22-24 IngenuityFest 23 Music on the Porches!

24 Ohio City Street Festival OCTOBER 4-8 Chagrin Documentary Film Fest 5-8 Ohio Mart (Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens) 6-7 FireFish Festival 6-9 Fall Art Walk in Little Italy 28 Ashland Fall Festival of the Arts

ONLINE Dates of events listed above subject to change. To stay connected with frequent updates about events, museum exhibitions and gallery receptions, sign up for the biweekly Canvas e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup.

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Events Calendar

Presented by

1

2

“Tall Ships” - Photography by Wayne Heim

1. 13th Annual Warehouse District Street Festival West Sixth Street and beyond to St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland Sunday, Aug. 6: Noon to 8 p.m.

W: warehousedistrict.org A popular summertime tradition for Northeast Ohio residents and visitors, the Festival offers terrific musical entertainment, great food from neighborhood restaurants, an art show by local artists, residential open houses, sports team participants, Jasmine Dragon aerialists, the Cutest Dog Contest, children’s activities, architectural tours and more! Free admission.

3. 27th Annual Art in The Village with Craft Marketplace Legacy Village & Howard Alan Events, Ltd. 25001 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst Saturday, June 3: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday, June 4: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

P: 561-746-6615 W: artfestival.com FB: facebook.com/HowardAlanEvents One hundred of the finest artists and crafters will converge upon Legacy Village for a two-day juried, outdoor, gallery-style art exhibit and craft showcase. A wide variety of original artwork, affordable crafts and unique gifts will be on display and for sale.

The event will also feature an interactive children’s art area, live music and wine tasting.

@CanvasCLE

3 2. 10th Annual Hudson Wine Festival First & Main Hudson Friday, July 21: 4 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, July 22: 2 to 10 p.m.

W: hudsonwinefestival.com Sample more than 150 wines, craft beers and spirits while enjoying live entertainment, exhibitors and more as we celebrate 10 years! Proceeds benefit NEOPAT military support programs and animal welfare organizations. For more info, contact debra@debrasherman.com. Search for Hudson Wine Festival on Facebook.

Northcoast Promotions, Inc. P.O. Box 609401, Cleveland P: 216-570-8201 W: northcoastpromo.com Northcoast Promotions, Inc. specializes in art shows, craft fairs and festivals. Please visit us at Walkabout Tremont Second Fridays, Third Fridays at 78th Street Studios, and every Saturday from Memorial Day to Labor Day at The Old Firehouse Winery in Geneva-on-the-Lake. Visit our web site for more events and details.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 37

Tri-C JazzFest Saxomatic entertained the outdoor crowds at the 2016 Tri-C JazzFest.

Something for everyone From art to music to family-focused, Northeast Ohio’s festival season offers a wide range of options

By Becky Raspe

ON LOCATION

CANTON BLUES FEST

The Canton Blues Fest will take place June 9-10 in Canton.

For more, visit cantonchamber.org/canton-blues-fest.

TRI-C JAZZFEST

The Tri-C JazzFest will take place June 22-24 in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district. For more, visit tri-c.edu/jazzfest.

LAKEWOOD ARTS FESTIVAL

The 40th annual Lakewood Arts Festival will take place Aug. 5 in Lakewood. For more, visit lakewoodartsfest.org.

CEDAR FAIRMOUNT SUMMER FESTIVAL

The 16th annual Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival will take place Aug. 20 in Cleveland Heights’ Cedar Fairmount neighborhood. For more, visit cedarfairmount.org.

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F

rom late spring to early fall, festival season is a time when almost every weekend offers Northeast Ohioans opportunities to experience new art, music and performances.

East, west, south or downtown – festivals pop up all across the region, and perhaps the only thing as diverse as their respective locales are the interests of the crowds that attend them.

Organizers of four such festivals – the Canton Blues Fest (June 9-10), the Tri-C JazzFest (June 22-24), the 40th annual Lakewood Arts Festival (Aug. 5) and the 16th annual Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival (Aug. 20) – say the relationships their events have with the communities in which they take place are mutually beneficial, which in turn, make them eminently enjoyable for all who attend.

For the Canton Blues Fest, those attendees include music fans from as far away as Canada and Florida, says Collyn Floyd, the festival’s director of marketing. She adds that the two-day festival is one of the largest free blues festivals in the U.S. “This year’s lineup features 18 acts on two stages, including five-time Grammy nominee Robben Ford and Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers,” Floyd says. “It has truly become a Stark County summer tradition.”

Floyd explains that during the ‘60s and ‘70s, retail and restaurants moved out of downtown Canton and into the suburbs. The blues festival was created in part to pull people back into the city.

“Arts and music festivals give people a reason to venture downtown,” she says. “We’ve found that once they have that authentic downtown experience, they love it and come back again and again.”

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Lakewood Arts Festival Artists and makers alike participate in the Lakewood Arts Festival.

A different downtown setting is the stage for another popular music festival: Tri-C JazzFest, a three-day affair put on in downtown Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district.

This year’s headliners include Grammy winners Chris Botti and Dianne Reeves as well as Boney James, Boz Scaggs and Terence Blanchard. Returning this year will also be a host of free outdoor events on U.S. Bank Plaza, including performances by local musicians and activities for kids.

Terri Pontremoli, director of JazzFest and Tri-C Presents, applauds Northeast Ohio’s richly diverse jazz audiences and touts the fact that JazzFest has long been a place where families can enjoy jazz music.

“I think we have a lot of people who really love cultural experiences in Cleveland,” she says. “A lot of people can’t afford to travel, so JazzFest gives the community not only a place to gather in Cleveland but also supports the fact that Cleveland has always been an interesting city.”

Another family-friendly, community-oriented festival is Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival, held in the Cleveland Heights neighborhood by the same name.

Kaye Lowe, executive director of the Cedar Fairmount Business District, says the Cedar Fairmount Festival serves as a great way for local merchants – many of which line the streets in the neighborhood – to give back to the community.

“At the festival, we offer free activities and entertainment with local entertainers along with artists,” she says. “We offer something for all ages and we’re looking forward to putting a big emphasis on kids activities.”

Face painting, games, bounce houses, food and live music are often in the mix during the one-day festival, which is entering its 16th year. It’s a successful mix for this East Side suburb – but one that also works across Northeast Ohio, thanks to the region’s diverse population, Lowe says.

“This type of festival is good at any location,” she says.

For the Lakewood Arts Festival, Lisa Metro, a festival board member, says attendees can expect to see the same great mix of artists they’ve come to expect over the festival’s 40 years – with a little philanthropy mixed in.

“I’ve gone for years myself and I always find myself buying something,” Metro says. “We also have fundraising opportunities and award arts scholarships at the festival.”

Through the scholarships and fundraising, the community is “ensuring arts for generations,” says Metro, adding the

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Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival Face painting is among the Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival’s many family-friendly activities.

Canton Blues Fest

Sizeable crowds gather in downtown Canton each year for the Canton Blues Fest. festival attracts both residents and visitors who might not otherwise visit the West Side suburb.

“You’re reinvesting in the community,” she says. “It’s always nice to have a family-friendly, walkable festival in your own town.”

As for Northeast Ohio on the whole, Metro recognizes the value of the arts within the region.

“Northeast Ohio is a creative place,” she says. “It’s historically a huge supporter of the arts. We just have this legacy of loving the arts and really supporting that love.” C

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 39

Jason Miller / Pixelate Photography & Design / Legacy Village

Painting the

town

H

oward Alan has always seen Cleveland as a perfect artistic hub. As an arts festival promoter and co-founder and president of Howard Alan Events and American Craft Endeavors, Alan remembered his first Cleveland show was organized by Gary Jacobs in 1990 and took place where the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame now stands.

In 2017, Alan will promote four shows in Greater Cleveland: Art in The Village with Craft Marketplace (June 3-4 at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst), Crocker Park Fine Art Fair with Craft Marketplace (June 10-11 at Crocker Park in Westlake), The Hathaway Brown Fine Art Festival (June 17-18 at Hathaway Brown in Shaker Heights) and The Flats Festival of the Arts (Aug. 19-20 at Flats East Bank in downtown Cleveland).

“Attendees come from all over the country and drive hundreds of miles just to get to these Cleveland shows,” he says. “People in Cleveland are among the best customers an artist could want.

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With four art festivals spread throughout the region in 2017, Howard Alan Events has Greater Cleveland covered

By Becky Raspe

“The young people in Cleveland are very educated in the arts,” he adds. “(The artists) get elementary-aged kids asking about what medium was used and these really advanced questions for their age. In Cleveland, you see that artistic interest everywhere.”

Among all four festivals, there will be a combined 333 artists representing 39 different states, offering something for everyone, Alan says.

With a diverse mix of shops and restaurants, Legacy Village, Crocker Park and the Flats East Bank provide art festival attendees a dynamic that allows them to make a day out of their visit.

Live music will be included at some of the festivals, depending on location.

Moreland Hills resident Patti Stern will be one of this year’s participating artists. Stern creates whimsical pieces of art from upcycled architectural antiques with her husband, Bob. The couple

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Howard Alan Events

Above: Cleveland skyline by Russ Brunn, created using repurposed scrap metal. Right: “Edsel” by Moreland Hills resident Patti Stern, made from upcycled antiques.

Left: Attendees take in the art at the 2016 Art in The Village with Craft Marketplace at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst. collaborates using their respective interior design and carpentry experience, and they typically participate in 40 art shows a year.

“We’ve done multiple Howard Alan shows, like the ones in Chagrin Falls, Legacy Village and Crocker Park,” she says. “We’re really busy. Art has been our livelihood since 1998.”

When asked why they create such playful and eccentric works, Stern explains it’s because of the world around them.

“The world has changed,” she says. “Many horrible things happen every day. We wanted to make happier, quirky artwork to combat that. We can’t make the same thing twice.”

Stern and her husband, who moved to Northeast Ohio from New Jersey, got a big career boost by participating in Cleveland shows. Though at first they found Northeast Ohioans tastes in art and décor to be “quite conservative,” that eventually changed.

“We started only doing Ohio shows,” she says. “That’s one of the reasons why we are so thrilled the Hathaway Brown show is back. It’s one of the best shows on the Cleveland art circuit.”

Russ Brunn, on the other hand, would be considered a fledgling in the art-festival world. He just started attending them last summer. The Cleveland-based artist works with mixed media, creating scrap metal cityscapes. Brunn will be at five Cleveland shows this summer, including some of Howard Alan Events’ shows.

“I’ve had an amazing experience as an artist in Cleveland,” Brunn says. “It’s part of the reason I like to do shows. It’s one thing to make art and like it yourself, but another to see the response and even make sales. It’s great.”

Brunn finds that Northeast Ohio is such a good place for art because Cleveland is experiencing a renaissance of sorts.

“It’s all about rejuvenation right now,” he says. “That’s why it’s a great time as an artist making Cleveland art, like myself. The culture and energy of the city is just getting better and better.”

But he finds that the art is actually the most rewarding part about the process, especially for the city.

“Cleveland has a special place in my heart,” Brunn says. “I feel like I’m giving back to it this way. Since the materials are collected locally, it’s like I’m taking the forgotten pieces and adding to the city’s culture.”

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Ryder Glendhill

ON LOCATION HOWARD ALAN EVENTS

• Art in The Village with Craft Marketplace will take place June 3-4 at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst • Crocker Park Fine Art Fair with Craft Marketplace will take place June 10-11 at Crocker Park in Westlake • The Hathaway Brown Fine Art Festival will take place June 17-18 at Hathaway Brown in Shaker Heights • The Flats Festival of the Arts will take place Aug. 19-20 at Flats East Bank in downtown Cleveland For more, visit artfestival.com.

Spring/Summer 2017 | Canvas | 41

LISTINGS MUSEUMS AKRON ART MUSEUM 1 S. High St., Akron P: 330-376-9185 W: akronartmuseum.org

ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 87 N. Main St., Oberlin P: 440-775-8665 W: oberlin.edu/amam

ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1834 E. 23rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020 W: artistsarchives.org

THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown P: 330-743-1107 W: butlerart.com The Butler is known worldwide as “America’s Museum.” Founded in 1919 by Joseph G. Butler Jr., it is America’s first museum devoted entirely to American art. The original structure is considered an architectural masterpiece, and is listed as a landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places. Admission is free.

CANTON MUSEUM OF ART 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton P: 330-453-7666 W: cantonart.org

CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN 11030 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-1600 W: cbgarden.org

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-421-7340 W: clevelandart.org

CRAWFORD AUTO AVIATION COLLECTION The History Center in University Circle 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 W: wrhs.org

GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER 601 Erieside Ave., Cleveland P: 216-694-2000 W: greatscience.com

We make science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) come alive! Enjoy hundreds of hands-on exhibits, NASA Glenn Visitor Center, six-story OMNIMAX Theater, daily science demonstrations, educational programs, seasonal camps and family workshops.

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

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

MALTZ MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood P: 216-593-0575 W: maltzmuseum.org

East Boulevard & Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Cleveland W: culturalgardens.org

The Maltz Museum introduces visitors to the beauty and diversity of that heritage in the context of the American experience. It promotes an understanding of Jewish history, religion and culture, and builds bridges of appreciation and understanding with those of other religions, races, cultures and ethnicities. It’s an educational resource for Northeast Ohio’s Jewish and general communities.

CLEVELAND HISTORY CENTER

MASSILLON MUSEUM

The History Center in University Circle 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-5722 W: wrhs.org

121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061 W: massillonmuseum.org FB: facebook.com/massillonmuseum

CLEVELAND CULTURAL GARDENS

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland P: 216-231-4600 W: cmnh.org

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Art and history come together at the Massillon Museum, sparking cultural excitement in Northeast Ohio. “Blind Spot: A Matter of Perception,” through May 23.

“Stark County in the Great War,” June 10 through Nov. 12. The Immel Circus and additional galleries on view. Unique shop, Anderson’s in the City café, and vintage photo booth.

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

THE ART GALLERY 4134 Erie St., Willoughby P: 440-946-8001

THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-781-ROCK W: rockhall.com

The Art Gallery in Willoughby specializes in quality custom framing and exhibits original work by local artists. The Gallery features handmade jewelry and special gift items. We have abundant glassware, which makes great giftware.

ARTISANS’ CORNER GALLERY

ROCKEFELLER PARK GREENHOUSE 750 E. 88th St., Cleveland P: 216-664-3103 W: facebook.com/RockefellerGreenhouse

THE SHAKER HISTORICAL MUSEUM 16740 South Park Blvd., Shaker Heights P: 216-921-1201 W: shakerhistoricalsociety.org

The Shaker Historical Society tells the story of Shaker Heights’ past, present and future, from the North Union Shakers to the Van Sweringens. While learning about Shaker Heights history, take a look at the Lissauer Art Gallery, where local artists are featured. A short walk from RTA Green Line’s Lee Road station.

GALLERIES 78TH STREET STUDIOS 1300 W. 78th St., Cleveland 1305 W. 80th St., Cleveland W: 78thstreetstudios.com

78th Street Studios is the largest fine arts complex in Northeast Ohio, with more than 60 retail galleries, studios and other creative spaces all under one roof.

11110 Kinsman Road, Newbury P: 440-739-4128 W: artisanscornergallery.com FB: facebook.com/artisanscornergallery

Located in Newbury Center, this spacious gallery is filled with a collection of high-quality, affordable art, handmade gifts, and custom picture framing from area artisans.

Offering a variety of classes, workshops and events. For more information, please visit www.artisanscornergallery.com. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

BE.GALLERY 14 Bell St., Chagrin Falls P: 1-844-234-4387 W: begallery.com

Located in the heart of Chagrin Falls, be.gallery is a unique collection of exquisite American artisan-created pieces that inspire the soul. With more than 50 artists and in all mediums, fine handcrafted art and gifts with meaning are our specialty. Find that perfect unique gift at be.gallery!

BELLABOR ART JEWELRY 178½ N. Main St., Hudson P: 330-289-8884 W: bellabor.com F: facebook.com/bellaborartjewelry

From simple to bold, each piece of one-of-a-kind jewelry is designed for the modern woman who wants to be unique. Custom work is available.

The artist is in from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday CanvasSummer16v2_Layout 1 10/5/2016 11:44 PM Page 1 through Saturday.

McKay Picture Framing   Os, manager

13015 Larchmere Blvd.

Shaker Heights, Ohio 44120 www.loganberrybooks.com books@logan.com  216.795.9800

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B r i c k e r Local Art Framing

&

Black Squirrel Gallery & Gifts

Wall Decor Gifts Jewelry Greeting Cards Black Squirrel Items Beautifying Area Homes & Businesses Since 1984

141 E. Main St, Downtown Kent

330-673-5058

www.McKayBricker.com

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LISTINGS THE BONFOEY GALLERY 1710 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-621-0178 W: bonfoey.com

Northeast Ohio’s leading contemporary art gallery featuring works by the finest regional contemporary artists in a two-floor gallery space. Additional services include framing, gilding, hand carving and finishing, installation, art appraisal, art consultation, art and frame restoration, and fine art shipping.

THE DANCING SHEEP 12712 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-229-5770

A destination for those seeking the unique in clothing, gifts and shopping experience or wanting to share the upbeat vitality and offbeat charm of Cleveland’s premier arts and antiques district. The gallery features one-of-a-kind and limited-edition wearable Hand painted and art, contemporary craft and special quilted acrylic on vinyl baby gifts in a relaxed and welcoming handbag by California’s setting.

Roxanna Ahlborn.

HEDGE GALLERY 1300 W. 78th St., Suite 200, Cleveland P: 216-650-4201 W: hedgeartgallery.com

HEDGE Gallery, located in 78th Street Studios: Cleveland’s premier venue to view contemporary work created by established and emerging artists of Northeast Ohio. We specialize in showing some of the most vibrant painters, printmakers, sculptors and fiber artists in the region. Open Tuesday to Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Evenings and weekends by appointment.

MCKAY BRICKER FRAMING BLACK SQUIRREL GALLERY & GIFTS 141 E. Main St., Kent P: 330-673-5058 W: mckaybricker.com FB: facebook.com/McKayBricker

Project1_Layout 1 10/5/2016 11:54 PM Page 1

A picture framing shop and home of Black Squirrel Gallery & Gifts. Featuring artisan jewelry, local art, home décor, greeting cards, Black Squirrel items, and of course our award-winning custom framing. Archival framing to preserve treasured memories. Gift certificates are available. Beautifying area homes and businesses since 1984.

PENNELLO GALLERY 12407 Mayfield Road, Cleveland P: 216-707-9390 W: pennellogallery.com

Pennello Gallery in Little Italy specializes in contemporary American, Canadian and Israeli fine art and craft. You will always find a sophisticated selection, including many one-of-a-kind studio glass, ceramics, jewelry, wood, metal, sculpture, unique Judaica and paintings in all media. You may call for an appointment to meet with our bridal registry specialists. Find and like us on Facebook!

TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/GALLERY School House Galleries Little Italy 2026 Murray Hill Road, Unit 202, Cleveland P: 216-559-6478 W: triciakaman.com FB: facebook.com/tricia.kaman

LOCAL ARTIST TREE 1150 Linda St., Rocky River P: 440-665-3122 W: localartistree.com FB: facebook.com/localartistree

The fine art of giving begins at the Local Artist Tree. We are a shop that features local art, craft and fine handmade jewelry. We offer something for everyone. We have the best selection of Lake Erie Beach Glass jewelry in the city. We are full of art that celebrates Cleveland from photography, paintings and mixed media.

LOGANBERRY 13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights P: 216-795-9800 W: loganberrybooks.com

Loganberry Books Annex Gallery features a monthly rotation of local artist exhibitions, with an opening reception on the first Wednesday evening of the month.

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“Beehive,” 24x18 inches, oil. Artwork

by Tricia Kaman.

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. She also offers custom-cut silhouettes, which make for a special and unique gift.

UNCOMMON ART 178½ N. Main St., Hudson P: 216-789-2751 W: uncommonarthudson.com FB: facebook.com/uncommonarthudson

Uncommon Art – a unique blend of art studios, micro gallery and classroom – shows art and jewelry by Dana Giel-Ray, Shannon Casey and Karen Koch. The artists offer classes and private lessons in drawing, painting, mixed media, collage and jewelry making. Visitors are welcome 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

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Advertisement

Creativity Takes Center Stage at Hawken Given that Hawken School has always been a haven for creative minds, it’s no surprise that opportunities for students to participate in the arts abound. While many other schools are forced to cut funding for the arts, Hawken’s programming continues to grow and thrive, enabling students to participate at various levels no matter what their age or experience.

take full ownership of their role as an artist, whether in set design and construction; props, costumes or makeup; marketing and graphic design; acting, singing, dancing; and even assistant directing. Working local professionals also serve as guest teaching artists to help students build and hone their skills. Last year, HPS was proud to earn Playhouse Square’s 2016 Dazzle Award Best Technical Execution for their production of Into the Woods.

A designated arts wing on Hawken’s Lower and Middle School campus featuring four classrooms designed for exploration, creation and performance represents a physical manifestation of Hawken’s commitment to the arts. Beginning in early childhood, music educators work with students to reinforce a love of music and to provide a basis for the development of musical concepts and skills. In third grade, students are introduced to the soprano recorder; in fourth and fifth grade, students select a string, woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument for musical study; and from third through fifth grade, students can opt to participate in Lower School Choir, which presents an annual musical production. In the Middle School, chorus, strings and band are offered as part of the curriculum. Students also have the opportunity to be part of the Jr. Hawken Players’ Society through participation in the annual musical either on stage, behind-the-scenes, or in the pit orchestra.

Hawken School also places great value on the visual arts, often in collaboration with the performing arts department. An annual Early Childhood Art Show, a Visiting Artists Program, the annual Evening of Art and Music, the creation of artwork to accompany the fourth and fifth grade musical, middle school set design, and the Biomimicry Art and Science Forum mark just a number of the many highlights of visual arts programming on Hawken’s Lyndhurst campus.

Visual Arts offerings for Upper School students include Art Fundamentals, Art and Design Principles, Graphic Design, Drawing and Painting, History of Western Art, Photography, Sculpture, Ceramics, AP Studio Art, Animation, as well as several advanced courses in these subjects.

At Hawken’s Upper School students can select from a wide variety of music, dance and theater courses including Acting Fundamentals, Advanced Acting, Chorale, Concert Band, Creative Movement, Jazz Band, Global Rhythms, Stage Craft and String Ensemble. Outside of the academic day, small performing groups like Rockapella and Mariachi Band provide additional opportunities for students interested in musical performance.

One of the most popular clubs at Hawken is The Hawken Players’ Society (HPS), which produces at least one play and one musical each year. Open to all students regardless of prior experience, HPS productions are largely student-driven. Under the guidance of adult mentors, students are given the latitude, tools and responsibility to

Program expansion is currently underway in the visual and performing arts with the recent opening of Stirn Hall on the Gates Mills campus.

New spaces including a dance studio, a Media and Communications Lab and a Fabrication Lab have opened up a whole new world of creative, interdisciplinary possibilities. This year, the Creative Movement class recently worked with Groundworks Dance Company on a collaborative project, which took students to Playhouse Square to perform. In addition, numerous classes including the Design and Engineering and Comedy classes are utilizing the new spaces for creative, hands-on projects.

Stay tuned to learn more about plans currently in progress for an Innovation Lab on the Lyndhurst campus, where even our youngest students will be able to immerse themselves in the art of creative design.

LISTINGS WOLFS GALLERY 13010 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland P: 216-721-6945 W: wolfsgallery.com

WOLFS has proudly been an important part of Cleveland’s art community for more than 35 years. We specialize in fine paintings, sculpture and decorative arts from the 17th century to present day, with a large selection of Cleveland School art. We provide certified accredited appraisals of fine art and antiques, and regularly present art salons.

MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS DOBAMA THEATRE 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights P: 216-932-3396 W: dobama.org

Dobama Theatre’s mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the development of theater artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world.

PORTHOUSE THEATRE 3143 O’Neil Road, Cuyahoga Falls P: 330-672-3884 W: porthhousetheatre.com FB: facebook.com/porthousetheatre

FOOD & DRINK CANAL TAVERN OF ZOAR 8806 Towpath Road NE, Bolivar P: 330-874-4444 W: canaltavernofzoar.com FB: facebook.com/CanalTavernOfZoar

Fine casual dining in Zoar’s original tavern and inn. Located on the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath and the Ohio and Erie Scenic Byway, the Canal Tavern of Zoar offers “travelers” on the Canalway and visitors to Zoar excellent food and beverages and our traditional Zoar hospitality.

FRIENDS OF CANVAS CHAGRIN YOGA 524 E. Washington St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-4884 W: chagrinyoga.com FB: facebook.com/chagrinyoga

Our introductory offer – $40 for 30 days – is designed to provide new Chagrin Yoga students a great deal in order to get off on the right foot with yoga! Offer includes: 30 days of unlimited yoga and barre, the ability to try all instructors and class styles, and support and guidance from our yoga advisor.

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

Porthouse Theatre is Kent State’s professional theater located on the grounds of Blossom Music Center. Our outdoor, covered theater and extensive grounds provide for a wonderful summer theater experience. Our 2017 season features “9 To 5” (June 15 – July 1); “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (July 6 – July 22); and “Newsies” (July 27 – August 13).

Connect with

Don’t miss a chance to be included in an upcoming issue of Canvas! Our fall issue is scheduled to highlight the region’s dynamic performing arts scene as the theater/stage season approaches, and the winter issue will aim to inspire readers to support local artists and institutions during the holiday season.

Publication dates Fall issue: Aug. 25 Winter issue: Nov. 24 Canvas is distributed to hundreds of dining, retail and artistic locations throughout Northeast Ohio. For advertising opportunities, contact Adam Mandell, vice president of sales, at 216-342-5191 or advertising@canvascle.com.

46 | Canvas | Spring/Summer 2017

To stay connected with frequent updates about events, museum exhibitions, gallery receptions, stage performances, events and show reviews, subscribe to the free biweekly Canvas e-newsletter!

To receive the Canvas e-newsletter, visit canvascle.com/signup.

Publication dates Every other Thursday afternoon, just in time for the weekend CanvasCLE.com

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

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

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

SAVE THE DATES:

05.19.17 06.16.17 07.21.17

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

08.18.17 09.15.17 10.20.17

11.17.17 12.15.17 01.19.18

02.16.18 03.16.18 04.20.18

05.18.18 06.15.18 07.20.18

y d a e R t e G

. y l t n e r e f if d l o o h c t o do s

F

ounded in 1915, Hawken School is a coeducational private day school of over 1,200 students with an Upper School campus in Gates Mills (grades 9-12), a Lower and Middle School campus in Lyndhurst (preschool – grade 8), a preschool – grade 8 campus on Cleveland’s west side, and an urban extension center in University Circle. Supported by over $7 million in tuition assistance, the school is profoundly committed to the development of character and intellect.

With its nationally recognized programming and stunning facilities, Hawken offers non-traditional schedules to support immersive learning and innovative teaching, real-world partnerships that connect students to their local and global communities, and inspirational learning spaces that support and stimulate learning by doing. Hawken’s tradition of academic excellence instills in members of its diverse and unified student body the skills needed to thrive in a complex world.

Hawken Gates Mills Campus 12465 County Line Road, Gates Mills, Ohio 44040

Coed Preschool - Grade 12

To schedule a visit and for more information call 440.423.4446 or visit hawken.edu

Birchwood School of Hawken 4400 West 140th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44135

Hawken Lyndhurst Campus 5000 Clubside Road, Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124