Canvas, Winter 2024

Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, November 22, 2024

NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance

Winter 2024

$2 F* OF ON VIEW NOW THROUGH APRIL 20, 2025

HITLER’S WAR ON MODERN ART

DEGENERATE! Hitler’s War on Modern Art explores how artwork was used as propaganda to sway public opinion by the Nazi Party. Part history, part art show, the exhibition features nearly 100 famous works labeled as “degenerate” by the regime, including works by world-renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, George Grosz, and more. * Bring this ad with you for $2 off of general admission, October 30, 2024 – April 20, 2025. Good for up to 4 visitors. Not valid on programs. Cannot be used with other offers.

Image courtesy of Jewish Museum Milwaukee: No Title (Yellow, Red, Black, White Abstract), 1915 Wassily Kandinsky. Monograph. From the collection of Kevin and Meg Kinney

2929 Richmond Road | Beachwood, Oh 44122 | 216.593.0575 | maltzmuseum.org

CANtON MUSEUM OF Art

ExplorE, lEarn — Be InspIred!

Nite Station, c. 1985.

New Exhibitions Nov 26 - Mar 2 On View 2024 | 2025 Night Visions: Nocturnes in American Art

What draws us to the darkness? Artists have long found their voice in the dark, and have used their creativity to guide them. We explore the surreal, nightlife, mythology, and beyond in a dreamy composition of art and stories shrouded in the mystery, menace, inspiration, and promise of the night.

Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub

11th Bal Masque Poster, 1924.

Avant-garde, bohemian, and outrageous ... with roots in the early 1900s, Cleveland’s Kokoon Klub artists stood for originality, self-expression, and freedom of thought. For 40+ years, the Kokoon Klub was a transformative force in Cleveland’s (and even the nation’s) cultural history and produced many celebrated artists of the Cleveland School. This unmasquing exhibition is in partnership with Cleveland History Center, Kent State University, Cleveland Public Library, and private collections featuring Klub fine art originals, posters, invitations, and more.

Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here: Kit Palencar

Explores the enigmatic realms of life and death and the mysteries that unite and distinguish these existences.

El Albañil: J. Leigh Garcia

Inspired by a grandfather’s tile setting in Mexico and Texas, an artist’s papermaking and printmaking celebrates his influence.

Bal Dynamique, 1929.

Images (top to bottom): Nite Station, c. 1985. Romare Bearden (American: 1911-1988). Watercolor on paper, 14 x 19 ½ in. Canton Museum of Art Collection. Number 2007.9. 11th Bal Masque Poster, 1924. Joseph Jicha (American: 1901-1960).

Lithograph on paper. On loan from the Daniel Bush and Hilary Gent Collection. Bal Dynamique, 1929. Rolf Stoll (American: 1892-1978). Lithograph on paper. On loan from Private Collection.

Where Art Meets Life ...

CantonArt.Org | 1001 Market Avenue North, Canton OH 44702 The Hoover Foundation

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19

Who’s Next:

Emerging artists of Northeast Ohio

6 Editor’s Note

Amanda Koehn discusses the seventh Who’s Next issue

8 On Deck

Upcoming openings and events around Northeast Ohio

10 Cleveland Arts Prize ceremony CAP honors 2024 award winners

14 Radical, Risqué, Outrageous!

“The Lady of Abundance” (2022) by Lacy Talley. Acrylic, resin, crystals, crushed glass, 36 x 48 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Canton Museum of Art exhibit explores Cleveland’s Kokoon Klub

19 Who’s Next

INSIDE

Emerging artists of Northeast Ohio

30 Artful on the Move

Arts champion Shannon Morris seeks stability for her creation

36 Shining Onstage

Teatro Público de Cleveland fulfills demand for Latinx stories on stage

Periodical Supplement to Cleveland Jewish News, November 22, 2024

NORTHEAST OHIO | arts | music | performance

Winter 2024

On the cover

“Ascension” (2024)

by Janoi Daley. Oil on canvas, 60 x 40 inches.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Profile on Page 20.

40 Gifts That Tell a Story Five ways to find creative gifts this season

44 Holiday Happenings Markets, art walks and holiday bazaars

46 Holiday Listings

Museums and galleries to visit this season

50 Listings

Local listings for museums, galleries, theaters and more

51 Curator Corner

“Untitled Escape Collage” by Rashid Johnson

4 | Canvas | Winter 2024

CanvasCLE.com

10825 East Bivd. Cleveland, OH 44106 | 216.7215722 | www.whs.org | @CleStartsHere

Editor’s Note

O

nce again, this Winter Issue of Canvas dedicates space and attention to emerging artists in Northeast Ohio. This is the seventh year Canvas has published our Who’s Next series, and the fifth time I’ve written many of these profiles focused on early-career artists creating engaging and impactful artwork.

I very much enjoy helping select and interviewing the artists featured, many in their studios. When writing their stories and choosing artwork for the magazine, we focus on capturing their range, style, personality and what makes them unique in our artistic Amanda Koehn with six years of Canvas Who’s Next community. issues. Canvas Photo / Becky Raspe A unique set of challenges exists in being an emerging artist, but it’s also a time when ideas and motivation are flowing. The Who’s Next artists in this issue – Janoi Daley, Keenan O’Toole, James Negron, Diana Rice and Lacy Talley – demonstrate that, and inspire us to continue capturing these moments in their careers.

Many of these artists also got started in their careers or schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic which shaped the way they created and showed their work, reflecting quite different experiences from those profiled when we started this feature in 2018. Additionally, among the five artists featured in this issue, three are not originally from Northeast Ohio but moved here to study – an obvious benefit of having several thriving arts colleges in the area. Hopefully, some stay and continue lending their vibrant artwork to our city. In turn, they can take advantage of the supportive artistic communities cultivated in Cleveland, Akron and beyond.

And, as we know from compiling our biweekly Canvas e-newsletter – highlighting gallery openings and performances – artists formerly featured in Who’s Next are regularly showing at prominent galleries here. It’s always nice to recognize and see them continue to build their skills and bodies of work. We also try to shout out their Canvas profiles when sharing any new exhibits in the newsletter. If you’re not already receiving it, you can sign up for Canvas’ free e-newsletter at canvascle.com/signup.

Part of the revolution that led to Northeast Ohio becoming such a dynamic arts and cultural community is also explored through a new exhibit coming to the Canton Museum of Art. “Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub” revisits the early 1900s emerging Modernist art scene and a club that championed experimental art and pushing boundaries. As we share more on the exhibit inside this issue, we’re certainly thinking about how this colorful and radical movement helped shape our city and its artistic vibrancy through to today.

Additionally, we cover the Cleveland Arts Prize ceremony celebrating the creators and leaders shaping our arts world. This year, one of the artists honored was Amber N. Ford, who received the Emerging Artist Award for her photographic storytelling. Ford was one of the first artists featured in our Who’s Next series in 2018. We congratulate her and the other CAP winners, as she certainly demonstrates what is possible for emerging artists in Cleveland. To read more about Ford in that 2018 feature, visit canvascle.com/amber-n-ford.

Also in this issue, we check in with Artful Cleveland amid the collective’s time of transition, as well as Teatro Público de Cleveland, a theater company known for showcasing Latinx culture and stories through performance. And, as typical for our Winter Issue, we share ways to support the arts and buy creative gifts this holiday season, in addition to a calendar listing artsy shopping experiences to check out.

All of us at Canvas wish you a great holiday season. We can’t wait to share more art and culture stories in 2025. To stay connected with us and local art happenings until then, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Amanda Koehn Editor

6 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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

Editor Amanda Koehn editor@canvascle.com Design Manager Stephen Valentine

President, Publisher & CEO Kevin S. Adelstein Vice President of Sales Adam Mandell Editor, Cleveland Jewish News Bob Jacob CFO Tracy Singer Custom Publishing Manager Paul Bram Sales & Marketing Manager Andy Isaacs Events Manager Gina Lloyd Digital Manager Courtney Byrnes Columbus Bureau Chief Becky Raspe Editorial Kirsten Beard, Lydia Kacala, Abigail Preiszig Advertising Marilyn Evans, Adam Jacob, Nell V. Kirman, Sherry Tilson, Danielle Zwick Senior Designer Jessica Simon Designers Ricki Urban, Dusten Welch Digital Content Producer Daniel Newman Business & Circulation Alisa Guseynov, Amanda LaLonde, Abby Royer, Ellye Wetherwax Canvas Contributors Alyssa Schmitt, Carlo Wolff Subscriber Services 216-342-5185/circulation@cjn.org Display Advertising 216-342-5204 advertising@canvascle.com

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

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ON DECK

Upcoming openings and current events from around Northeast Ohio Compiled by Amanda Koehn

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART “Picasso and Paper” | Dec. 8 – March 23, 2025 Pablo Picasso’s tireless experimentation with and on paper is the subject of the groundbreaking exhibition “Picasso and Paper,” organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris. Showcasing nearly 300 works spanning his career, “Picasso and Paper” explores the artist’s diverse use of paper, a medium he used to challenge and transform his practice. The artworks range from collages of cutand-pasted papers to sculptures from pieces of torn and burnt paper, manipulated photographs, drawings and prints, shown chronologically with a limited number of related paintings and sculptures.

The exhibition’s highlights include “Femmes à leur toilette” (or “Women at Their Toilette”), an extraordinarily large collage of cut-and-pasted papers, which will be exhibited for the first time in the United States.

The ticketed exhibit will be on view in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery at CMA, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. clevelandart.org

“Women at Their Toilette,” winter 1937–38. Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Collage of cut-out wallpapers with gouache on paper pasted onto canvas; 299 x 448 centimeters (117 ¹¹/₁₆ x 176 ³/₈ inches); framed: 304.5 x 454.5 x 8.5 centimeters (119 7/₈ x 178 15/₁₆ x 3 ³/₈ inches).

Musée national Picasso-Paris, Pablo Picasso Gift in Lieu, 1979. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean. © 2024 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM “The Body, the Host: HIV/AIDS and Christianity” | Through Dec. 15 Christian motifs have long been applied to contemporary issues through art. In this exhibition, “The Body, the Host: HIV/ AIDS and Christianity,” at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, these familiar, emotional religious elements are explored in relation to the HIV/AIDS crisis that began in the early 1980s, aiming to increase awareness and express grief. It features a selection of artwork by queer Christian artists with religious backgrounds and personal experience with the crisis. Each piece covers unique issues related to HIV/AIDS, and the exhibit also reflects on shared themes like judgment, shame, guilt, suffering, martyrdom, plague, death, redemption, resurrection, salvation through blood and the sacredness of wounded bodies.

The exhibit is on view in the Ellen Johnson Gallery at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, 87 N. Main St., Oberlin. amam.oberlin.edu Installation view of “The Body, the Host: HIV/AIDS and Christianity” at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. Photo courtesy of the museum.

8 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE “Funny Stuff” and “George Kocar – A Retrospective” | Through Jan. 11, 2025 Curated by artist George Kocar, “Funny Stuff” at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve serves as a review of humorous art created by Northeast Ohio artists. It covers different types of humor seen in art, from whimsical to dark to ironic to silly. The exhibit shows more than 30 artists’ funniest pieces in mediums such as painting, drawing and sculpture. A retrospective exhibit of Kocar will be held concurrently, spanning the Ohio native’s career. His graphic works have been published in The New York Times and he has participated in over 200 exhibitions at galleries around the world. Referred to as a humorous expressionist by some, Kocar’s lighthearted style incorporates satire and humor to reflect on absurdity in the contemporary world.

Both exhibits are on view at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, 1834 E. 123rd St., Cleveland. artistsarchives.org “To Be an Art Star” (2018) by George Kocar. Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches.

Photo courtesy of Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.

HEDGE GALLERY “New Year, New Work” | Jan. 15 – March 1, 2025 HEDGE Gallery will present a group exhibition featuring new work by its represented artists, celebrating another year of art in Northeast Ohio. “New Year, New Work” will feature 14 regional artists, including: Justin Brennan, John W. Carlson, Rebecca Cross, Sarah Curry, Hilary Gent, Mark Howard, Christopher Kier, David King, Liz Maugans, Jessica Pinsky, Katy Richards, Randall Tiedman, Nikki Woods and Douglas Max Utter. This exhibit will highlight the artists’ most recent projects including paintings, printmaking and textile works.

A preview reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Jan. 15, 2025. The opening reception will be from 5-8 p.m. Jan. 17, during the 78th Street Studios’ Third Friday art walk. HEDGE Gallery is at 1300 W. 78th St., Suite 200, Cleveland. hedgeartgallery.com “Leaves” (2024) by Katy Richards. Oil on panel, 30 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of HEDGE Gallery.

The Fine Print Fair returns to the Cleveland Museum of Art annually. Photo courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art / David Brichford.

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FINE PRINT FAIR Cleveland Museum of Art | April 25-27, 2025 The 40th annual Fine Print Fair, put on by the Print Club of Cleveland, will allow art appreciators to shop from one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive displays of fine prints. The fair features 15 print dealers from across the country selling centuries-old etchings to contemporary editions and beyond, for all tastes and price points. The Fine Print Fair is the Print Club of Cleveland’s annual benefit for the Cleveland Museum of Art’s department of prints and drawings, supporting its mission to promote prints and print collecting as well as enrich the print collection of CMA. Visitors will also be able to learn about works on paper through educational tours, lectures and activities, including printmaking demonstrations by local universities.

A preview party will be held the evening of April 24.

The print fair is in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Ames Family Atrium, 11150 East Blvd., Cleveland. printclubcleveland.org

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 9

Cleveland Arts Prize honors 2024 award winners

The 2024 Cleveland Arts Prize winners, from left, Amber N. Ford, Shannon Morris, Ellen Stirn Mavec, Eugenia Strauss, Barbara Bosworth and Clint Needham at the awards ceremony Oct. 24.

Story and photography by Amanda Koehn

T

he Cleveland Arts Prize celebrated another year of Northeast Ohio artistic talent, skill and dedication at the organization’s 64th annual awards event on Oct. 24 at Cuyahoga Community College East Campus in Highland Hills.

Since 1960, the Cleveland Arts Prize has celebrated and helped foster diverse artistic expression, honoring visual artists, musicians, organizational leaders and others contributing to the vibrant local arts community.

Ellen Stirn Mavec, president and chairman of The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation since 1997, received the Barbara S. Robinson Prize for the Advancement of the Arts for her work as an art entrepreneur, philanthropist, cultural leader and arts advocate. She is also board chair of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Introducing the award, Paul Westlake, senior principal of DLR Group, said he’s observed Stirn Mavec’s impressive work with nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.

“She forms relationships with institutions, partners with them, mentors them and challenges them to think bigger and better,” he said.

Over $117 million in funding has been directed to Cleveland arts organizations during Stirn Mavec’s tenure at The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, she said while

10 | Canvas | Winter 2024

accepting her award. The foundation is very proud of its standing as one of the largest funders of arts in Cuyahoga County, especially in Cleveland’s University Circle, she added.

“The abundance of true cultural gems is what makes Cleveland, our small, approachable city, superior to most big cities,” she said.

Dr. Ronald and Eugenia Strauss, founders of CityMusic, a Cleveland professional chamber orchestra that makes classical music accessible through free concerts and programming, were awarded the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts. Introducing the award, David Krakowski, board president of CityMusic, said the couple has dedicated their lives to musical and visual arts. However, in the last 20 years they pursued “an entirely new and radical concept ... providing musical excellence and innovation at no cost to those who might have otherwise been deprived of the chance to experience great music because of their inability to afford attending performances or simply inaccessibly to such events,” he said.

As Ronald could not attend, Eugenia accepted the award.

“What really behind the scenes happens is that we also nurture the talent of many young musicians here in the city in the hope that they are not going to go to other places, but will settle in Cleveland,” she said.

Shannon Morris, founding executive director of Artful Cleveland, was honored with the Robert P. Bergman Prize for

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ART+ACTIVISM ART+ACTIVISM DEDE BANDAID & NITZAN MINTZ DEDE BANDAID & NITZAN MINTZ Curated by Matthew Garson Curated by Matthew Garson

GALLERY GALLERY OPEN OPEN HOUSES HOUSES Sunday, December 15 | 1-3 pm Sunday, December 15 | 1-3 pm Tuesday, December 17 | 6-8 pm Tuesday, December 17 | 6-8 pm Sunday, January 5 | 1-3 pm Sunday, January 5 | 1-3 pm Sunday, February 2 | 1-3 pm Sunday, February 2 | 1-3 pm Tuesday, February 4 | 6-8 pm Tuesday, February 4 | 6-8 pm Sunday, March 2 | 1-3 pm Sunday, March 2 | 1-3 pm Sunday, March 23 | 1-3 pm Sunday, March 23 | 1-3 pm

Curator talks on Sundays at Curator onTuesdays Sundays at 1:30 pm talks and on at 1:30 pm and on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm 6:30 pm

Curator talks on Sundays at 1:30 pm Curator talks on Sundays at 1:30 pm and on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm and on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm

Pink Duality Pink Duality

Join Curator Matthew Garson to hear how Dede and Join Curator Matthew hear how Dede and Nitzan developed theirGarson role oftoactivist-artists and Nitzan developed their role of activist-artists and how their kidnapped posters campaign became a how their kidnapped posters campaign became a worldwide phenomenon. worldwide phenomenon.

Open Open through through March March 2025 2025 Roe Green Gallery Roe Green Gallery Jewish Federation of Cleveland

Cleveland Jack,Jewish JosephFederation and MortonofMandel Building Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building 25701 Science Park Drive, Beachwood 25701 Science Park Drive, Beachwood

In the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, narrative street artist Dede Bandaid and street poet InNitzan the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, narrative Dede Bandaidto and streetfliers poet Mintz combined their public street art withstreet a viralartist activist campaign create Nitzan Mintz combined their public street art with a viral activist campaign to create fliers calling for the immediate release of the of the hostages. calling for the immediate release of the of the hostages.

To schedule group tours or individual visits, To schedule group tours or individual visits, email israelarts@jewishcleveland.org or call 216-593-2890. email israelarts@jewishcleveland.org or call 216-593-2890.

For information or to purchase works, contact Debbie Yasinow, For information or to purchase works, contact Debbie Yasinow, dyasinow@jewishcleveland.org or 216-593-2890. dyasinow@jewishcleveland.org or 216-593-2890.

GENEROUSLY SPONSORED GENEROUSLY BY SPONSORED BY

a program of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland a program of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

CIAC-111024-ART+ACTIVISM-Canvas.indd 1

11/11/2024 11:05:09 AM

Left: Ellen Stirn Mavec accepts the Barbara S. Robinson Prize. Right: Eugenia Strauss accepts the Martha Joseph Prize. Her husband, Dr. Ronald Strauss, who earned the award along with her, could not attend. her commitment to making visual artistic pursuits accessible to all, said Robin VanLear, creator and former director of the community arts department at CMA. Morris told the crowd she started out as an artist who sought a collaborative environment which led her to start Artful Cleveland in Cleveland Heights.

“In nine years, we successfully fulfilled our mission to establish and nurture a safe, inclusive and affordable space that supports and educates artists in their mission to create, sell and display their art, while making creativity and inspiration more accessible to the community at large,” she said.

She said Artful is now being “forcibly displaced” from the space, referring to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board of Trustees Oct. 21 vote to terminate the leases of nonprofit tenants in the PEACE Building at the end of January.

Visual artist Barbara Bosworth, who grew up in Novelty, received the Lifetime Achievement Artist Award. Bosworth is a photographer focused on the relationships between people and nature. Barbara Tannenbaum, curator of photography at CMA, introduced Bosworth. “(Bosworth’s photos) go beyond artfulness and visual pleasure – their purpose is also to help us, we who spend much more time indoors, removed from nature, remember that we are part of nature, not separate from it,” Tannenbaum said.

“That is a profound and a critical lesson in our age of climate crisis.”

Bosworth, now living in Massachusetts, told the audience for the past four decades she has photographed the American landscape with a large-format camera, which all started in Northeast Ohio as a child connecting with nature.

“The Ohio landscape deeply shaped who I am and inevitably influenced my life and photography,” she said.

The Mid-Career Artist Award was given to Clint Needham, a Northeast Ohio composer who “has made a profound impact on contemporary music,” said Jason Hanley, vice president of audience engagement at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, who introduced the award.

Accepting the award, Needham said he’s grateful to be part

12 | Canvas | Winter 2024

of an “incredible” arts city.

“As artists, we should take pride in living in such a relative creative city, and as arts organizations in our city, please continue to support and champion the incredible and relevant homegrown talent that surrounds us all,” said Needham, who is composer in residence and professor of composition at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Performing Arts in Berea.

Photographer and artist Amber N. Ford was honored with the Emerging Artist Award. The Cleveland-based artist’s work is “redefining the narrative and visual storytelling in our community,” Lillian Kuri, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, said to introduce Ford.

“Amber’s photography is deeply rooted in themes of identity, race and the Black experience, bringing often overlooked stories to the forefront,” Kuri said. “She masterfully captures the beauty, strength and humanity of her subjects, telling stories that resonate far beyond the frame.”

Ford told the audience while accepting her award that she took her first photo class at age 14, and “never put the camera down since.”

“It truly takes a village, and I wouldn’t be who I am without my family, my teachers, my friends and the support this city has and continues to show me,” Ford said.

Kabir Bhatia, WKSU senior reporter at Ideastream Public Media, served as master of ceremonies, delivering jokes throughout the night. Additionally, the Ohio Contemporary Ballet based in Shaker Heights performed a dance and harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, a 2011 CAP winner, played the memoriam performance, honoring artists and cultural leaders with local ties who died this year.

READ MORE

• To read more about Shannon Morris and Artful Cleveland, turn to Page 30.

• Read a 2018 Canvas Who’s Next profile of Amber N. Ford at canvascle.com/amber-n-ford.

• Read last year’s coverage of the Cleveland Arts Prize awards ceremony at canvascle.com.

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2025 FINE PRINT FAIR April 24–27 Ames Family Atrium, The Cleveland Museum of Art

Shop one of the nation’s largest sales rare. The fair is free and open to the public April 25–27, with a ticketed evening preview on April 24.

Learn more at printclubcleveland.org.

Save the Date

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11150 East Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44106 cma.org

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 13

RADICAL, RISQUÉ,

OUTRAGEOUS!

“Woman in front of Danceland decoration for Bal,” 1938.

Photographic print on paper, 8 x 10 inches. Kokoon Arts Club and Philip Kaplan papers. Kent State University. Special Collections and Archives.

14 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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Canton Museum of Art exhibit explores the avant-garde spirit of Cleveland’s Kokoon Klub

By Alyssa Schmitt

I

n early 20th-century Cleveland, smokestacks from steel mills cast long shadows across the city, draping it in a gray haze. Each day, the relentless hum of factories underscored a rhythm of monotony while the sober pulse of business suits and briefcases marched through the city.

But once a year, starting in 1913, the city would burst away from its uniformity and become host to a soiree overflowing with color, risqué activities, provocative art and nudity.

At a time when women’s fashion was just coming up above the ankle, this event scandalized the city and thrust the Modernist art form onto its residents.

This lively event, the Bal Masque, was hosted by the Kokoon Klub, an avant-garde artist group that championed experimental art and pushed Cleveland’s cultural boundaries.

This winter, as the world outside echoes those gray days, the Canton Museum of Art invites visitors to step into the Kokoon Klub’s luminous legacy with “Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub,” opening Nov. 26 and on view until March 2, 2025. The exhibit promises one of the largest displays of the club’s art while offering an immersive journey through Cleveland’s artistic revolution.

It will also reveal how the Kokoon Klub helped add color to a city bogged down in conservative life and make radical ideas the norm.

THE EXHIBITION The exhibit’s theme emerged by happenstance, explains Kaleigh Pisani, curator of collections and registrar at the Canton Museum of Art. While researching artists in the museum’s collection, she discovered many were members of the Kokoon Klub. The more she delved into their stories and the club, the more captivated she became.

“Then (I would) go to different people’s houses in Cleveland who collected Cleveland art and just happen upon Kokoon Klub posters that they just had,” she recalls. “I kept running into it, like there’s something here. It’s really embedded in Cleveland and I think we need to get the word out, the fact that it was so crazy and wild back then.”

The exhibit will consist of artwork from Kokooners as well as their handmade costumes, tickets and posters that were used for the club’s infamous

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balls.

“This will be the first time that all of the remaining surviving posters will be represented and displayed together in an exhibit,” says Christy Davis, the museum’s curator of exhibits.

The posters and tickets were part of a competition Kokooners would participate in and the winning designs would be used for the event that year.

Several Kokoon ball posters rank among the most remarkable works of art ever produced in Cleveland, explains Henry Adams, the Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and author of “Out of the Kokoon.” “(The Kokoon Klub) provides a model of how Cleveland could become a vital artistic center in all kinds of ways,” Adams says. “It’s a need for a living art that makes a city an exciting place.”

CREATING THE KLUB In the early 1900s, Cleveland was a hub for creative professionals, explains Adams. The city became home for working artists as many came to the area for its print and design industry.

According to Adams, there were an estimated 6,000 working artists in the city at the time – one of the largest concentrations in the country outside of New York City.

One major attractor of artists was the Otis Lithography Company, which produced movie posters worldwide.

At its height, the company created 500 million posters a year, Adams says.

“They hired a bunch of skilled lithographers from New York, particularly William Sommer,” Adams says. “Sommer, soon after arriving, started the Kokoon Klub. Initially, the club was for the artists who worked downtown to draw from a model.”

Sommer and Carl Moellman founded the club in 1911, five years before the Cleveland Museum of Art opened its doors. The group consisted of artists who desired to discuss what were then considered radical ideas and bring the Modernism they were seeing in Europe to America.

For many Clevelanders, the group offered a first glimpse at art reminiscent of modernists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, bringing new ideas to a city otherwise dominated by traditional forms.

Like most artists, the group’s members needed income, so it held art auctions to sell their work.

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 15

Unfortunately, their efforts were met with limited success, Adams notes. “(The pieces) went for less than the cost of the frame so they decided to do a costume ball,” he says. “The initial costume ball actually lost a few dollars but was very outrageous and was stimulating by Cleveland standards, both because of the wild costumes and near-naked dancers. … By the ‘20s, (it was) attracting several thousand visitors every year to the Kokoon Klub ball, and it became the vehicle that basically introduced modern art to Cleveland.”

Above: August F. Biehle Jr., (American, 1885-1979) “Bathers,” c. 1920s. Watercolor on paper, 26 x 28 inches. Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Gift of Frederick A. and Helen C. Biehle, 999.9. Below: “Women in black-light costumes for the Black Light Bal,” 1929.

Photographic prints on paper, 3.5 x 2.5 inches each. Kokoon Arts Club and Philip Kaplan papers. Kent State University. Special Collections and Archives.

16 | Canvas | Winter 2024

THE BAL MASQUE The club’s first fundraising ball was held in 1913. As all of the costumed guests filed in, the lights went out and a dimmed spotlight illuminated men clad only in loincloths who carried a giant cocoon. From the cocoon, which symbolized the club’s awakening, a woman dressed in butterfly wings burst forth into dance.

This inaugural event solidified the club’s soiree as a celebration of Cleveland’s bohemian community and featured unconventional costumes, exotic dances and unpredictable stunts throughout. It had created such a stir that by the 1920s, the attendance numbers had ballooned from 200 to well over 2,000, according to Adams’ “Out of the Kokoon.”

Kate Hatcher, curatorial assistant at the Canton Museum of Art and part of the team that put the exhibit together, says the soiree would be the talk of the town the day after.

“It was a really big deal,” she says. “There were newspaper articles published the day after the ball that would talk about how crazy the costumes were and how many people they saw at the ball. It was a huge event.”

Kokoon Klub members would work on their costumes up to a year in advance, she says, and the costumes themselves were a work of wearable art. And just like many artists today, the creators didn’t have access to many materials, so they had to be resourceful.

However, getting into the venue was no easy feat, Davis explains.

“If you came and your costume didn’t pass inspection, you weren’t allowed in,” she says.

Kokooners would be at the door acting as a costume committee, approving all the costumes that would be seen that night to ensure they fit the

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“It’s really embedded in Cleveland and I think we need to get the word out, the fact that it was so crazy and wild back then.”

Kaleigh Pisani, curator of collections and registrar, Canton Museum of Art

theme. One major rule was no rented costumes were allowed, and all the costumes had to be handmade.

Between announcing the theme and the night of the ball, Kokooners would show costume sketches for inspiration and offer lessons on how to create abstract costumes. They would also set aside research materials at the Cleveland Public Library for guests and members to study and use to prepare their outfits, explains Adams, which served as another way to introduce the art form to the general public.

Politicians seemed nervous about these masked balls, though many would be counted among the guests, according to “Out of the Kokoon.” Cleveland Mayor Frederick Kohler even canceled the 1923 party, fearing potential debauchery. Yet, to focus solely on its immodesty would be to overlook its true intent: advancing the Modernist art form, often dismissed by many Clevelanders, the book explains.

The legacy group disbanded in 1956, due to dwindling numbers and as Modernism had become more normalized.

“Their legacy is in making Modernism so ingrained in society that we don’t even notice it’s a part of society,” Pisani says. “They brought it here. It wasn’t accepted, and they made it accepted.”

Fittingly, the exhibit will have a costume party reception Dec. 13 at the museum – but unlike the Kokoon Klub, no one will be turned down at the door.

ON VIEW

• “Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub” will run from Nov. 26 to March 2, 2025 at the Canton Museum of Art, 1001 Market Ave. N., Canton. The museum will also host a costume party reception from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 13. For more information, visit cantonart.org.

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Ray Parmelee, (American, born 1882) “Eleventh Annual Bal-Masque Ticket of the Kokoon Arts Klub,” 1924. Lithograph on cardstock, 5 1⁄₂ x 3 ³⁄₄ inches. Kokoon Arts Club and Philip Kaplan Papers. Kent State University. Special Collections and Archives.

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BY AMANDA KOEHN

EMERGiNG ARTiSTS OF NORTHEAST OHiO @CanvasCLE

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 19

JANOi DALEY Age: 22 • Lives and creates: Cleveland and Silver Spring, Md.• Learned: BFA in Painting from Cleveland Institute of Art

U

sing enticing, bright colors, Janoi Daley’s paintings consider the in-between space of living within multiple identities and cultures. As a Jamaican-American woman, her artwork reflects on her experiences and those who came before her.

“I’d say that my work is unraveling simultaneously to my existence,” she says. “I’m usually painting something that I’m thinking about or something that’s happened.”

Born in Jamaica, Daley and her mother moved to Maryland when she was 10 years old to live near family who had moved there in the early 2000s. While she did ballet as a young child, in Maryland, Daley became interested in visual art and attended a magnet high school to pursue it.

She learned about the Cleveland Institute of Art through college recruiters, and although she applied to about 10 colleges, CIA was the only one she had the opportunity to visit before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she says. It made CIA an easy choice.

Starting as a graphic design major, she quickly switched to painting – a medium for which she’d long had a passion. She also picked up a creative writing minor after taking a poetry class and a post-apocalyptic writing class.

Bright, bold colors play a big role in Daley’s art, which she calls “fantasy world-building, figurative work.”

“I like to call it very enticing, like it has this sexy aura to it,” she says. “It draws you in because of how bright the colors are,” adding she then wants viewers to be gripped by what the figures are doing in the paintings.

Daley’s process starts with an idea for “how I can make the work very bizarre, or figures doing weird things,” and she also considers their environment, she says. She uses a fluorescent acrylic color – like pink or chartreuse – as the base, then uses oil for her subjects and the majority of the painting. Her

20 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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Above: “Rejoice” (2024). Oil on canvas, 60 x 40 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. Top of opposite page: Janoi Daley. Photo / mock tuna. Bottom: “Wedding Portrait” (2024). Oil on canvas, 64 x 48 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. method of using acrylic as a base allows her to build especially luscious colors.

“I’ll restart multiple times in my paintings, and that scaffolding is usually shown in certain parts of the paintings after I’m finished – I don’t necessarily cover up my mistakes,” she says, adding she’ll sit for hours and paint, trying to feel what it’s like to be in the piece.

The results are exciting and easily capture a viewer’s attention, allowing you to consider who the people she creates in the paintings might be. She’ll often consider religion and how people – especially women in the cultures she’s part of – navigate identity and hardships in her pieces. While her work may reference and represent herself and women in her family, the subjects themselves aren’t any one real person, she says.

“My work is mainly about identity and culture, and this in-between space where I’m American, but I’m also Jamaican,” she says, “and that feeling of otherness in certain spaces. ...

As well as being a Black woman, and being Black and also a woman, and how those two things are inseparable and how one can be more dominant than the other at certain times.”

In the spring, her Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibition, “Love, Death, God.,” used the CIA gallery space to create a vibrant experience for visitors. The walls were painted a deep bluish purple, and spotlights covered in fluorescent gels shined onto

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her artwork. Harsh violin music playing and a book of poems she wrote to explain the paintings helped create a scenario where viewers could “slip into” them, she says.

Daley also had two related solo exhibits at Karamu House in Cleveland and CIA in 2023, both reflecting on motherhood and her community of women. They also served to debunk “this idea of strong Black women and how I’ve been brought up by hyper-independent women – that wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to embody because I think I had to learn ... allowing people in and vulnerability,” she recalls.

After graduating from CIA this past spring, Daley is taking advantage of a slower period outside of school, spending more time ideating, sketching and building toward her next body of work. She also has work on view in a Pittsburgh group exhibit through Dec. 28.

Daley says as a young artist, she struggles with everything she doesn’t know. She enjoys learning about art history and fashion, and wants to make related historical and symbolic references in her work. She has to continue to learn to incorporate new references, she tells Canvas via Zoom from Silver Spring, Maryland, where she’s staying with her family for a few months before returning to Cleveland.

She notes her “Wedding Portrait” painting and how during its creation, Daley thought about the “Arnolfini Portrait” by painter Jan van Eyck in 1434, also portraying a couple. Much curiosity still surrounds the Arnolfini piece and its symbolism has been heavily analyzed. That’s the kind of conversation she hopes her own work might create.

“I just love that there are so many different conversations happening with one piece, and I think a lot about how do I connect my culture and my language and my experience to something that is also so broad, and (to) historical canons and symbolism,” she says.

- Amanda Koehn

SEE MORE HERE Janoi Daley has artwork on view in “OAT MILK + HXNY: Diaspora Kaleidoscope” until Dec. 28 at Brew House Arts, 711 S. 21st St., Pittsburgh. For more information, visit brewhousearts.org. @JAN0IWRLDWIDE JANOIWRLDWIDE.SQUARESPACE.COM WHAT OTHERS SAY “Janoi was an incredible student and is an incredible artist. She is able to distill a lived experience into a kind of poetry that eludes most. Her work is dreamlike and honest and causes a viewer to confront their own questions of reality. What Janoi brings to our creative community is an energetic and dauntless spirit. As an artist, her vision is profound and undeniable. As a community member, she is clear-eyed and indefatigable; deeply committed and caring. We’re pretty lucky to have her.”

Lane Cooper, professor of painting, Cleveland Institute of Art

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 21

KEENAN O’TOOLE Age: 29 • Lives and creates: Kent Learns: Bachelor’s degree from Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario; pursuing MFA with ceramics concentration from Kent State University

K

eenan O’Toole uses color and form to create beauty in ceramics reminiscent of things that might be considered industrial, deteriorating or even gross.

The Toronto native is working toward her Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in ceramics from Kent State University. Expected to graduate in spring 2025, the artist pushes what is considered beautiful to include “things that are traditionally seen as not nice and kind of grotesque and even things that are ‘disgusting,’” she says.

“I think I’m drawn to the sense of crudeness,” she says, surrounded by several recent creations in her studio on Kent’s campus.

O’Toole graduated from an arts-focused high school in Toronto. After taking ceramics lessons post-high school, she pursued the medium during her undergraduate years at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario and in post-graduate studies at Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary.

“For me, art has always been a way to negotiate and investigate interpersonal conflicts, and is also a meditative process,” she says. “I’ve just always liked to be creative whether it was performing or building or just collaborating with people a lot growing up.”

After moving back to Toronto when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she helped manage a pottery school for adults, created commissions for restaurants, made her own work and had it featured in shows there.

As American schools have more opportunities for advanced education in the arts than Canada, O’Toole says she chose to pursue her master’s at Kent for the quality of its ceramics program and the “generous” stipend and support it offers. Still, she says moving to another country and away from her family for the two-year program had its challenges.

Now in her second year, O’Toole has a specific focus

22 | Canvas | Winter 2024

“Cold Pathway” (2024). Ceramic, glaze, 28 x 42 x 8 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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Above: Keenan O’Toole’s “Inscapes” installation (2024). Ceramic, glaze, paint, plaster, wood, 240 x 120 x 72 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Opposite page: O’Toole in her studio at the Center for the Visual Arts at Kent State University. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn on making “almost like industrial inscapes of non-existent architecture.” She takes inspiration from growing up in a city, the scaffolding, piping and unassuming pieces that make it run, and reinterprets and abstracts them into what she calls “disordered cityscapes.” And much like the infrastructure of an old city, she likes to teeter on the edge of collapse, pushing the clay to its limits in size and shape.

“There’s a lot of decision-making while it’s happening,” she says of making her hand-built, pinched clay creations. “... I’ll spend a lot of time thinking about different kinds of layering techniques and color, but I like this idea of pastel and using the surface as a sense of the passage of time. Also, (it’s) like an ode to freezing the firing process. ... How can I capture that chemical change and process happening in that kiln, which I try to do with my surfaces.”

She notes pastel shades can create a playful feel to ceramics, but with her industrial shapes might appear more gnarly. They may portray moldiness, abandonment or something that’s deteriorating, pushing viewers to see these qualities in a new way.

Another theme in her work is organizing chaos, referencing the gritty insides of maybe pretty architecture.

“It’s all about the inside of the things that you don’t want to see, bringing it out into the front,” she says.

O’Toole has had a busy summer and early fall, both showing art and taking workshops. Over the summer, she received a Kent State scholarship to take part in a workshop at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado and participated in the Kent Blossom Art Intensive, a two-week studio art program involving visiting artists, demonstrations, critiques and making new work. In September, she had solo space for her artwork at the SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York City. Her work was received well there, and it was a great opportunity to show to a larger audience, she says. She’s also recently shown at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati and several galleries in Canada, among others.

O’Toole also recently helped curate and had work on view in a group show, “Yard Work” in an Akron DIY outdoor gallery space, Plzdontmow. And, she’s working on her MFA project for a spring show.

“It will be something with these kind of like larger sculptures, the abstracted industrial spaces kind of thing,” she says. “I’m kind of building up to it now.”

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As a graduate student who is also teaching undergraduates and working as a studio assistant at Kent, she notes one challenge of pursuing a career in the arts is balancing creating your own work and teaching, often to supplement income. She says while it’s good there are a lot teaching opportunities now, especially since pottery classes are popular, doing it all can be a balancing act.

Another challenge is her medium itself and striving to shift her process along the way, improving her technique and results.

“Working with clay in general there’s a lot of failure, and there’s a lot of … (having to be) resilient with the material itself,” she says. “Especially building in this way, I have to recalibrate things and pivot.”

- Amanda Koehn

SEE MORE HERE Keenan OʼToole will have artwork in a group show “Juxtaposed: Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future” from June 5 to Oct. 12, 2025 at the Massillon Museum, 121 Lincoln Way E., Massillon. @KEENOLOTO KEENOLOTO.COM WHAT OTHERS SAY “Keenan has been an excellent addition to our MFA program and adds so much energy to our community. She is extremely dedicated to her art practice and driven to continually push her work forward. She is fearless in her approach, always willing to try new things and take risks. I think she is making some really amazing and adventurous work right now that blends her drawing practice with her sculptural work. I expect her thesis exhibition in April to be outstanding and look forward to seeing what she does after finishing up at Kent State.”

Peter Christian Johnson, associate professor of art and ceramics area head, Kent State University

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 23

JAMES NEGRON Age: 23 • Lives and creates: Cleveland Heights • Learned: BFA in Sculpture + Expanded Media from Cleveland Institute of Art

D

IY, memory and the color pink are some of the themes James Negron leans into when he’s creating artwork.

The 2024 Cleveland Institute of Art graduate lives and works by the idea that creating art should be accessible to everyone, and as such, dives into mediums and designs that can inspire others to create for themselves.

“I really advocate for its accessibility and having anybody be able to do art because it’s really cathartic, and I think everybody could benefit from those therapeutic qualities that art has to offer,” he says. “For me, fiber is the easiest way to do that.”

Growing up in New Jersey’s Somerset County, Negron says he “fell in love with art” after his father died, using it as a coping mechanism. Encouraged by a high school art teacher, he continued to create and initially entered CIA for painting.

He switched his major at the end of freshman year to Sculpture + Expanded Media when he realized he liked “making things with my hands and actually feeling the thing and having it take up space.”

The DIY style and pink tones make Negron’s artwork look and feel inviting while exploring important topics like mental health, gender, familial relationships, memory and the passage of time. These subjects were addressed in his Bachelor of Fine Arts project, “I (Dont) Want To Remember,” for which the namesake piece is pink-stained wood magnet letters on flocked steel, now sitting in his Cleveland Heights apartment and studio.

His focus on pink also serves as a reclamation of the color, he adds.

“Being trans was not easy, and the color pink and anything that was pink was very pushed onto me,” he says. “It was very forced. And after all these years, despite all of that, I still love the color – and I love it just for being a color and not that it represents anything other than, like, my love and adoration for

24 | Canvas | Winter 2024

“I (Dont) Want To Remember” (2023). Flocked steel, carved wood, magnets, 24 x 24 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. it.”

While at CIA, Negron also did a project with Neighborhood Pets as part of the school’s Creativity Works program for which students apply their creative skills to realworld issues and causes. As Neighborhood Pets helps support local pet owners, Negron held workshops to teach volunteers how to crochet granny squares which he then stitched into dog

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Opposite page: James Negron in his home art studio. Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn. Above: “Memory With Love” (2023-2024).

Wool, silk, ink, yarn, beads, 52 x 11 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. sweaters. Also sewing dog beds for the Cleveland nonprofit, he created a calendar of pets wearing the sweaters to raise funds for pet aid. A rescue dog owner himself, Negron says he knows firsthand pets can be costly and this project allowed him to use his talents to give back.

Soon after graduating, Negron won a Support for Artists grant to create a body of work for the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center in Cleveland. Focused on his Latin heritage and family through photos, his project included six screen prints on silk.

Receiving the grant helped instill confidence in his practice, he says, and reassured him he could continue creating art even without the resources and supplies he had in school.

Additionally, Negron recently had an installation in “In Touch: A Hands-On Exhibition” at Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls for which he received the John Bramblitt Award for inspiration and enrichment in art.

Today, he works primarily with fiber, making initial sketches that change in an “intuitive” way throughout the process, he says. Negron is especially into house imagery as the “best metaphorical container for everything that I’m talking about,” as well as hand sewing with various stitching styles contributing to the mood of a piece.

Currently making work without a specific project in mind, at his desk, Negron shows off some “wired readymades that I’m finding at the thrift store” to which he hand sewed patchwork pieces around the frames.

He notes his undergraduate career was very fulfilling in terms of finding a style and subject matter that speaks to him – at least for now – and setting him up for success. However, he’s now beginning to understand the challenges of being a working artist, like finding shows his work fits into and always applying for grants and residencies.

“Between working and trying to keep my practice alive, it’s a lot,” he says.

And as a teaching assistant at the Rainey Institute youth arts program in Cleveland – in addition to working as newsletter manager and development manager for CAN

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Journal – he is further realizing the importance of making art doable for anyone.

“Especially because I do teach kids and stuff, I know that a lot of art processes are not very accessible and they’re expensive,” he says. “I love fiber arts because anybody can do them.”

Negron’s artistic influences include Sarah Paul, one of his professors at CIA, and his colleague and fellow local artist Gina Washington. He repeats a mantra from Washington that sticks with him.

“What she always says to me, to the kids, to anybody is that she makes art by any means necessary,” he says, “and I absolutely love that.”

- Amanda Koehn

SEE MORE HERE

@FRUITISGUDD JAMESNEGRONARCHIVE.NICEPAGE.IO

WHAT OTHERS SAY “James Negron is an exceptional multidisciplinary artist with a fearless approach to material experimentation.

From fibers to printmaking to video, I’m impressed with his ability to move difficult subject matter through a wide range of material forms to land on the strongest iterations of that particular thought. He is a deeply sincere and generous person, and I think that really comes through in his work. James is willing to occupy a vulnerable space in order to foster productive dialogue about mental health and healing. Not many artists can do that successfully. It takes an inner strength and genuine capacity for empathy that I have rarely seen in such a young person.”

Sarah Paul, professor of Sculpture + Expanded Media, Cleveland Institute of Art

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 25

DiANA RiCE Age: 24 • Lives and creates: Akron • Learned: BFA in Painting and Drawing from The University of Akron

D

iana Rice draws on a dream-like sense of nostalgia to investigate moments from her childhood, creating connections to the past, present and future at the same

time.

Her paintings and drawings are often built into earthy, ruminative quilts, incorporating materials like wood and rope.

“I want to bring back the nostalgic feelings from memories that I have, but also still communicate some kind of story,” she says during an interview in her studio at Summit Artspace in Akron.

Growing up in Lodi with an artist father, Rice always wanted to work in the arts and also considered architecture and interior design. She chose The University of Akron for college in part because it felt like home, she says. Rice also noticed prolific artists graduating from the university, such as Alexandria Couch, who was profiled in Canvas’ Who’s Next series in 2021.

“I went in knowing what I wanted, and I finished knowing what I wanted which is kind of rare,” Rice says of deciding to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and drawing with a minor in illustration.

Rice’s artwork uses flowy lines and shapes to articulate memories poetically. She often sketches her art in watercolor, then turns it into an oil painting. And as of recently, she sews canvases together to create larger quilted pieces. Her quilts long for the past but reflect on ruminations continuing into the present, using repetition to show the feeling which her observers can then interpret for themselves. She considers them like a sketchbook, where her distinct pieces are connected to tell a larger story, she says.

Her process involves writing out memories, which lately have been related to trees of her childhood.

“We had all these trees on our property, and my parents

26 | Canvas | Winter 2024

“Pixie” (2023). Oil on assembled canvas, found fabric, 60 x 60 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist. still live on that property and all the trees are just disappearing one by one. It just feels so jarring. It’s like a memorial for the trees,” she says of her recent artwork.

She points to a piece in the works, abstractly depicting a magnolia tree. She’s using a staining technique that gives “a childlike application to the painting – maybe how a child

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would portray the tree, in a way,” she says.

A major exhibition highlight for Rice was her first solo show, held at KINK Contemporary in Cleveland’s Waterloo Arts District in spring 2023. The show, “Notes of Periphery,” focused on her personal history, taking inspiration from poetry, literature, folklore and her own writing. She aimed to reflect her internal memories while also making the art open enough for a viewer’s understanding of the world she created.

Rice calls the exhibit experience “so exciting” as she was able to show at an independent Cleveland gallery solo while still a student, thanks in part to a connection she made with gallery co-owner McKenzie Beynon, who was a graduate student at Akron at the time. KINK Contemporary – which planned to close its storefront Nov. 30 – has been “empowering” to emerging artists, Rice says.

Another highlight during Rice’s time at the university was receiving a travel award to attend the Venice Biennale in Italy in 2022. She says it was “really transformative to see international artists and what’s going on in the world of art.

Sometimes it’s hard to get outside your bubble – even your internet bubble – just to see what artists are doing. That was a big deal for me.”

Since graduating in 2023, Rice says a challenge has been balancing her artistic practice while working full time in reception at a hair and nail salon in Wadsworth.

“Time has been a big thing in the past year since I graduated,” she says. “Just trying to make a living and also having time to do my art on the side, it’s definitely more difficult than I thought it was going to be.”

However, Rice has been part of group shows and received an emerging arts residency at Summit Artspace which she began right after graduation. The residency gives her two years of studio space and allows her to participate in shows and sell her work in the arts complex, among other resources.

Currently, she has several works on view in the first-floor lobby and is in the beginning stages of planning a collaborative show with Alexia Avdelas, another resident artist at Summit Artspace and 2023 Akron graduate. She’s also working on incorporating more found materials in her artwork, she says.

Moreover, Rice feels fortunate to be part of the welcoming Akron arts community, her chosen home for the time being.

Opposite page: Diana Rice in her studio at Summit Artspace with an unfinished painting. Above: “Paper Quilt 2” (2023). Mixed media on paper, linen tape, twine, found wood and rope, 36 x 90 inches; and “Appletree” (2024). Wood, rope and oil paint on canvas, 36 x 44.5 inches. Canvas Photos / Amanda Koehn “It’s really close-knit, there’s a lot of activity between the art school and the galleries here,” she says. “… Everybody just helps each other out and shows up for each other.”

- Amanda Koehn

SEE MORE HERE Diana Rice has artwork on view in the first-floor lobby at Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron, as part of “Wall to Wall,” one of its Fall 2024 shows, all on view through Dec. 14. @DIANARICE.ART DIANARICE.ART/BIO WHAT OTHERS SAY “Diana Rice transforms the poetry of everyday Northeast Ohio life into something extraordinary. Through her innovative blend of intimate drawings, paintings and large-scale paper quilts, she captures the fleeting moments and memories we all experience but rarely celebrate. Her technically skilled work draws viewers in with approachable symbolism while elevating these seemingly mundane encounters and objects into profound shared experiences. Though early in her career, she demonstrates the kind of artistic maturity and commitment that strengthens our regional arts community.”

“Sugarcoated Metamorphosis” (2023). Oil on assembled canvas, found frame, 23.5 x 17 inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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McKenzie Beynon, co-owner, KINK Contemporary Photo / Jeani Brechbill Photography

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 27

LACY TALLEY Age: 28 • Lives and creates: Cleveland • Learned: BA in Visual Communication Design from Kent State University

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ver the last few years, Lacy Talley has turned her multidisciplinary artistic skills into partnerships with brands, organizations and causes drawn to highlighting her bright and bold creations.

She’s also used inspiration from her personal mindfulness practice to create exhibits and murals around Northeast Ohio.

A graduate of Glenville High School, the Cleveland native grew up drawing with her artist father. They had a shared book in which they took turns responding to each others’ drawings with new sketches.

After graduating from Kent State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in visual communication design and a minor in Pan African studies, Talley moved back to Cleveland. She got a “really huge graphic design contract,” however, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she says that contract suddenly became void.

“I never wanted to feel that feeling again as far as someone having control over the work that I do, just being able to take it away so fast,” she says on a Zoom interview. “So, I was like, you know what, I’m going to create full-time now and see how it goes.”

It’s been pretty smooth so far, she says, and she “wouldn’t change it for the world.” In addition to making and selling her own art, she partners to create for brands like Maker’s Mark, teaches art workshops, does freelance digital projects and works with organizations like the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning and Karamu House, both in Cleveland.

Talley works in a range of mediums including acrylic, watercolor, clay, screen printing and digital, and her pieces are usually figure based. Coming up with ideas for what to create is rarely a struggle.

“Creating something new, it will really just hit me,” she says. “I’ll be sitting on the couch ... or watching something, and a whole idea of a painting just comes to my mind.” She

28 | Canvas | Winter 2024

“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy” (2022). Designers of Marcus Graham Project: Jason Garrett, Lacy Talley, James Adams Jr., and Kayla Shine.

Photo courtesy of Talley and NBA.com.

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Above: Lacy Talley’s “I AM Resetting” mural at Public Square in downtown Cleveland this past summer. Digital illustration.

Opposite page: Lacy Talley in front of her mural. Photos / Bob Perkoski has to start making it “right then and there.”

Her artwork is vivid in color with mystical messaging that’s equally lively and motivational. It became that way through her own mental health journey and techniques she’s learned through therapy, she says.

“Right now, a lot of my work is centered around ‘I am’ affirmations and grounding techniques and coping mechanisms,” she says, adding that she’s had to learn how to “self-soothe” and process her experiences and emotions.

Through her art, she wants to make those lessons and affirmations accessible to anyone who sees it, incorporating meaningful objects like crystals and aesthetics that draw from movements like Afrofuturism and Surrealism.

Talley takes inspiration from artists like Reyna Noriega, who “show me different things I didn’t know you could do with your art,” she adds. She says she’s learned early in her career the importance of negotiating fair wages for her commissions, and advocating for herself was part of that process.

Among her biggest successes so far, in 2022, Talley was selected for a team of graphic designers to create the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy, an NBA award named after the basketball star to honor other players advancing social justice causes. She learned about and was asked to take it on as an alumni of the Marcus Graham Project, a nonprofit geared toward helping people of color succeed in marketing and advertising industries, she says. She had previously participated in programming put on by the organization and also volunteered for it.

Also through her involvement with the Marcus Graham Project, she was part of a team that designed an artistic press conference table-like sculpture commemorating the Ali Summit, a 1967 Cleveland gathering at which Muhammad Ali and several other top Black athletes came together to support Ali’s choice not to enter the draft for the Vietnam War. The sculpture is housed where the summit took place, now the home of the American Cancer Society of Cleveland.

This past summer, Talley’s mural work was in focus at Public Square in downtown Cleveland, commissioned by LAND studio. Her mural, “I AM Resetting,” depicts three “crystal ladies” – characters representing qualities like protection and wisdom, along with a mushroom house and other symbolic scenery, she says. She’s painted in the mural, as is her “bleeb blob” character

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which she says serves as a “protector” and is in “about 90% of my artwork.” Viewers can try to find the “bleeb blob” in each piece.

“I wanted it to capture a world where I would go to reset,” she says of the mural.

Her “I AM Resetting” theme will also take the stage at Lounges Content Studio in Cleveland Nov. 30, introducing more than 20 new pieces. And, in summer 2025, she’ll have another exhibit at Lounges, “Crystal Gardens,” an “immersive healing space experience playing off the five senses,” she says. The project is funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation Satellite Fund from SPACES. “I love trying new things and seeing where it takes me,” she says. “I’ve experienced a lot of happy accidents doing that.”

- Amanda Koehn

SEE MORE HERE • Lacy Talley will have a solo exhibit, “I AM Resetting,” at Lounges Content Studio,1547 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland. The opening reception is from 7-11 p.m. Nov. 30, on view until Jan. 5, 2025. For more information, visit loungescontentstudio.com. @LACERRRR LACYTALLEY.COM WHAT OTHERS SAY “Lacy is one of those artists that doesn’t fit the mold of any one type of art or medium: she a muralist, a designer, a community builder, videographer, a sculptor, a teacher. Her creativity, enthusiasm and positivity are infectious and are reflected in the art she creates. I’m so fortunate to know her and Cleveland is lucky to have her as part of our creative community.”

Erin Guido, director of arts + special projects, LAND studio

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 29

ARTFUL ON THE MOVE Arts champion Shannon Morris seeks stability for her creation

By Carlo Wolff

O

n Oct. 24, Shannon Morris stood onstage before an audience at Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus as long-time colleague Robin VanLear draped a Cleveland Arts Prize medal around her neck. The medal honors her leadership of Artful Cleveland, a nonprofit collective Morris established in 2017.

What should have been an occasion of pure joy was tainted by uncertainty, however. Artful and its tenants have to vacate the Coventry PEACE Building in Cleveland Heights by Jan. 31, 2025, by order of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, the building’s landlord. That move will end Artful’s run as manager of a community artistic hub on the Coventry PEACE Campus.

But it also marks a beginning.

“We are now being forcibly displaced from our beloved PEACE building and are actively seeking a permanent home,” Morris told the crowd at the annual awards ceremony in Highland Hills. “This will take time, fresh board members and a great deal of money. However, we are not deterred. This award has strengthened my resolve.”

The Cleveland Arts Prize awarded Morris its Robert P. Bergman Prize, named for the fifth director of the Cleveland Museum of Art who was known for his democratic attitude toward art and culture. The honor was a surprise, Morris told

30 | Canvas | Winter 2024

the audience.

“Artful became more than I ever dreamed as a part of the arts, culture and education hub in the Coventry PEACE Building, a magical place filled with generosity and possibility,” she told attendees. She ended her brief remarks with shout-outs to Artful tenant VanLear, her grant-writing partner, and to Artful’s board president Brady Dindia, a graphic designer and marketing specialist.

In VanLear’s introduction of Morris, she told the audience, “In Shannon’s perfect world, the arts would be a lucrative profession. Studios would be safe, affordable, accessible and close to home. Imagine a day care center in the middle of a collective of art, music and dance studios. There is no single age that is the acceptable age and no individual race, ethnicity or sexual orientation that is what is accepted. They all are.”

THE SPACE ISSUE A conceptual artist from Cleveland Heights, Morris has known for some time that Artful’s days at the PEACE campus were numbered. Nevertheless, she says she was furious when the hammer came down Oct. 8. A Cleveland Heights City Council meeting had been convened to discuss whether Cleveland Heights and University Heights could work with the library board to keep the quirky building as a hub for arts, education and culture. Instead, the library board sounded a death knell.

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Over the past several years, the library board has said Artful failed to meet its financial obligations. In a statement on its website, library board president Vikas Turakhia says the board had “implemented a range of different management models, including below-market rents and individual tenant leases.

“Despite these good-faith and extensive efforts by the library, the tenants, Coventry PEACE, Inc., and CRESCO (a management firm), the building’s operational and capital requirements have consistently and substantially exceeded revenue and cash flow, which in turn have required the library to repeatedly cover funding shortfalls,” the statement says.

The building also needs close to $3 million in roof repair and HVAC work, according to a report from CRESCO. Artful has countered, noting its nine core tenants pay $150,000 in rental fees yearly to the library system, has improved the building and maintains it. It also offered to buy the building, but the board says it’s not for sale.

“All of the tenants have met their financial responsibility,” Dindia says. “We have all lived up to all of our financial obligations under every version of every lease libraries has issued to tenants.”

Toward the end of the Oct. 8 meeting, despite entreaties from elected officials, Library Director Nancy Levin said the building must be emptied and would be “mothballed.” On Oct. 21, library board members passed a measure that will terminate leases on Jan. 31.

Artful is looking for a new, permanent home that it would own, says Morris. Looking hard.

“This award has fortified me and reignited the passion that I will draw upon to build an even better Artful,” Morris vows.

Above: Robin VanLear, left, creator and former director of the community arts department at the Cleveland Museum of Art, awards Shannon Morris the Robert P. Bergman Prize for her leadership of Artful Cleveland at the Cleveland Arts Prize awards ceremony Oct. 24.

Canvas Photo / Amanda Koehn. Below: “MOTHER” installation by Shannon Morris included in an April exhibit at Artful Cleveland. Photo courtesy of the artist. Opposite page: Shannon Morris at home in Cleveland Heights. Canvas Photo / Carlo Wolff

CASTING A WIDE NET “We’re looking anywhere,” Morris says in a recent interview at her art-filled home in Cleveland Heights. “There’s really very little available for the size that we are because we’re quite large. We use probably 10,000 square feet just for our artists. That doesn’t include flex space. So, we’ve been looking at anything that comes up. If someone calls us and says, ‘Come here,’ we’ll go look. We have not found anything yet.”

The original Artful tenants hope to land a space that accommodates all of them, but each organization or artist must do what they need. “If they have to find a space by themselves, they have to find a space by themselves,” Morris says. “They can’t just close up when we have to leave.”

She hopes that doesn’t happen.

“My job has been easier being with all these people that have experience in running an organization,” Morris says. “We have shared knowledge and resources, and it’s just better together.”

The seeds of Artful took root about nine years ago when Morris, a single mother with two daughters, was looking for studio space big enough for her to collaborate with others on her art. “Even in my own work, I collaborate a lot because I create work that’s not necessarily within my skill set,” she says.

“I make whatever I want,” says Morris, a fine art photography graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in New York City, where she lived for 10 years. “I’ll have an idea for 10 years until it’s time to do it.”

Her work, both two- and three-dimensional, is witty, varied and topical. It spans mandala-like riffs on Mother’s Day, wooden, wall-mounted miniature houses, and abstract ceramics that vamp on monumental urban architecture.

Painters David King and Sarah Curry are both members of the Artful board. King says Morris’ collages have a unique sense of balance, probably acquired in her study of

32 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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Christkindlmarkt • Every Thursday through Sunday 11 am till 5:30 pm Through Dec. 27 1936 S. Green Rd. South Euclid, OH 44121 • (216) 691-1936 • sanctuaryongreen.com

Mixed-media artwork by Shannon Morris. Photo courtesy of the artist. photography, “when arranging things through a viewfinder on the camera is primary.”

In a CAN Journal review of a show by Morris in April, artist and arts advocate Liz Maugans wrote “as Mother’s Day approaches, (Morris) offers a heroic shrine of trophies stacked to form a pyramid that is both precarious and solid. Shannon, a long-time estate sale and thrift shopper, renews the thrifted trophies in a way that reveals presence, strength, appreciation and joy. The word MOTHER is prominently spelled out at the base of the piece, anchoring the vintage trophies, which are adorned with other ribbons and regalia honoring moms. As a mother herself, Shannon knows all too well how it feels to be invisible and unappreciated.”

UNAPPRECIATED NO LONGER When Effie Nunes, executive director of the Cleveland Arts Prize, called to tell Morris she’d won the Bergman prize, Morris was stunned. She thought Nunes was calling her for a CAP prize recommendation for someone else and didn’t find out until that day that VanLear had nominated her and that others had written letters of recommendation.

“It was a complete and total secret until the day that Effie called me,” Morris says. “And then I couldn’t tell anybody until they announced it. So I had no idea this was happening, and it’s still a little bit surreal. I feel like I haven’t done enough to get it.”

That’s not a widely shared opinion. And, Artful isn’t going away quietly.

Coventry PEACE Campus has its Lantern Festival scheduled for Dec. 14 – the final event hosted at the building. The Coventry Elementary School Reunion program is scheduled for 2 to 5 p.m., and the festival will include a tour, lantern-making workshops and a lantern procession down Coventry Road.

“I would hope that it (Artful) remains a Cleveland Heights entity primarily, but I can see its DNA spread to other areas,” says artist Juan Quirarte. “What made Coventry PEACE impactful was the marriage of unique location, unique building and unique artists/organizations. Artful can definitely relocate and prosper, but I feel that particular location – which I am fond of, as a neighbor – will suffer as a result. I applaud city

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Coventry PEACE Building tenants* • Artful Cleveland • Building Bridges Arts Collaborative • Cleveland Heights Teachers Union • Coventry P.E.A.C.E. • DANCECleveland • Do Good Day Hub • FutureHeights • Grace Communion Cleveland • Lake Erie Ink • People’s Choice Payee Services • Reaching Heights • The Singers’ Club of Cleveland * According to Shannon Morris, Artful is one of the 12 tenants facing eviction from the building. Out of those 12, nine are being evicted by Jan. 31, 2025. Three newer ones may have a little more time: DANCECleveland, Do Good Day Hub and People’s Choice Payee Services, Morris tells Canvas.

council for seeing the value added of Coventry PEACE and trying to broker a solution. Sadly, it wasn’t in the cards.”

For now, Morris is practicing the art of purpose driven by necessity. She has no shows planned. She’s wearing her advocacy hat full-time. Her goal is to find a new home for Artful and keep money coming in.

If Artful doesn’t have a home by Jan. 31, it will have to shut down, she says.

Not if Shannon Morris can help it.

Publisher’s note: If you or someone you know has potential space for Artful Cleveland to relocate to, contact Shannon Morris at shannon@artfulcleveland.org.

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KSU MUSEUM

NANCY CROW: ON MY MIND CONSTRUCTIONS/RIFFS/ DRAWINGS/MONOPRINTS through December 15, 2024

Museum Hours

Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday 12 - 4 p.m.

SHANNON ROGERS AND JERRY SILVERMAN: DAZZLING DAY AND NIGHT through February 16, 2025

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Possibility for Repair Lyndon Barrois Jr. Mark Thomas Gibson Sarah Kabot M. Carmen Lane Jessica Pinsky Through February 9 Cleveland Institute of Art Reinberger Gallery 216.421.7407 @reinbergergallery

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11610 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH 44106

Artwork “They Can’t Forget Us All” by Mark Thomas Gibson, ink and acrylic on canvas, 2022.

West Collection, Philadelphia

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 35

Shining Onstage

More than a decade in, Teatro Público de Cleveland continues to fulfill demand for Latinx culture, stories and conversations

By Abigail Preiszig

W

hen Raymond Bobgan assumed his leadership role at Cleveland Public Theatre in 2006, he was thinking about how to connect with Cleveland’s underserved demographics. It’s a diverse city, yet the reach of the public theater in sharing those narratives was limited, he says.

“We’re supposed to be the public theater, yet almost all the actors and directors and playwrights are either white or they are Black,” says Bobgan, executive artistic director at Cleveland Public Theatre and an “artist-activist,” adding that Cleveland is home to the nation’s oldest Black theater, Karamu House in the Fairfax neighborhood.

Capitalizing on the organic relationship Cleveland Public Theatre already had with the Latinx community, Bobgan held some free workshops specifically for that demographic. And in 2013, the theater company, located in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on the city’s west side, created Teatro Público de Cleveland, a local Latinx theater company.

Comprised of a collective of Latinx theater artists, the company has now produced more than 20 performances, including at least six full-length productions, that preserve and promote Cleveland Latinx cultures for Spanish-speaking audiences and the broader public.

“Each play is really a celebration of a voice and a story from the Latinx community, so by amplifying that voice, it’s exposing, it’s educating and it’s celebrating the Latinx culture,” Bobgan tells Canvas.

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“Alter,” written by Tania Benites and directed

by Kari Barclay, from Teatro Público de Cleveland’s 2023-2024 season.

Photos / Steve Wagner

TEATRO PÚBLICO MAKES HISTORY TEATRO PÚBLICO HACE HISTORIA Teatro Público’s work reflects the artistic goals, interests and ideals of its more than 30 members, according to its website. The company aims to explore the diversity and perspectives of Latinx-Cleveland culture. It also aims to fulfill Cleveland Public Theatre’s core mission: to raise consciousness and nurture compassion via performances and programming.

With 521,308 Hispanic/Latinx residents in Ohio, that population has grown by 140% since 2000, and its diaspora has increased in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties, according to a 2021 report from the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission based on 2020 U.S. Census data.

Between 2010 and 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population in Cuyahoga County grew by 22,057 people, or 36%, with a total population of 83,327, according to 2020 Census data.

The largest population is among seven counties in the greater Cleveland area.

The city of Cleveland saw the greatest growth among Cuyahoga County communities with the Hispanic or Latino population growing by 9,165 people between 2010 and 2020, according to 2020 Census data.

Teatro Público made its debut performance in November 2013 with “Cuando Cierras Your Eyes,” directed by Bobgan with an ensemble cast of amateur and professional performers.

He was uncertain about turnout, but the show oversold the

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Benites

Bobgan

Olivera

130-seat James Levin Theatre every night, he says. People wanted to see more. They were moved, excited and left the show in tears.

“Not because the play was particularly emotional necessarily, although there were some emotional parts – because they were just so proud to see their cultures shared onstage and it was so moving to hear their own language spoken onstage,” Bobgan says. “Representation matters.”

On the closing night of the play, he says the cast came out after curtain call and said, “We are introducing ourselves. We are the newest theater company in Cleveland, and we are called Teatro Público de Cleveland.”

“So, that’s how it was born,” Bobgan says.

A PLACE TO CONNECT AND GROW UN LUGAR PARA CONECTARSE Y CRECERSE Monica Olivera recalls her early fascination with theater, sparked while attending shows with her mother and grandmother as a young girl in Lima, Peru.

However, the first year Cleveland Public Theatre offered workshops for the Latinx community, she declined the opportunity to participate. She was busy working and caring

Teatro Público de Cleveland celebrated its 10th anniversary in November 2023. for her two children after moving to Cleveland – where she met her husband – in 1996, she says. But, she did not miss the opportunity to see the budding company’s first show.

“I was just blown away by what I saw,” she says. “… I said, ‘I’m doing this. This year, next year, I’m going to be there.’”

There were more than a dozen actors onstage during the production, and not all of them had a background in theater.

They were a tapestry of different identities and cultures – Colombian, Puerto Rican, Uruguayan, Panamanian, Mexican, Guatemalan – Olivera says. The theme was touching “so close to home,” and at the end of the play, the ensemble sang “En Mi Viejo San Juan.”

“I remember the ensemble started singing that and then I started singing it and suddenly a good amount of the audience was singing the song,” she says. “This is from Puerto Rico, I am from Peru, and it was so emotional because the song talks about how much it means being home in your country and it’s

“La Gringa,” written by Carmen Rivera and directed by Ernesto Luna Camargo, from Teatro Público de Cleveland’s 2018-2019 season was performed in Spanish with English subtitles.

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Winter 2024 | Canvas | 37

Above: “The River Bride,” written by Marisela Treviño Orta and directed by Bridgett Martinez, from Teatro Público de Cleveland’s 2021-2022 season. Right: “Marisol,” written by José Rivera, translated

by Aurora Lauzardo and Waldemar Burgos and directed by Julia Rosa Sosa, from Teatro Público de Cleveland’s 2019-2020 season. something that we all experience in a similar way.”

Since then, Olivera has participated in at least 15 productions with Teatro Público in different roles including director, stage manager, sound and her favorite – actor. Her first time ever onstage during the production “A Recipe para la Vida” was one of the “most satisfying and happiest experiences” in her life, she says.

Through Teatro Público workshops, Tania Benites, who studied theater arts with a focus on performing at Cleveland State University, was also empowered to pursue different aspects of theater. She wrote an original play, “Alter,” a horror/thriller workplace dramedy performed by Teatro Público to sold out crowds in 2023.

“That has by far been my favorite experience,” says Benites, who was also born in Lima. “It was such an honor to have my work produced. … Playwriting is not something that I explored previously, I’ve always just been an actor.”

And as an actor, Benites never had the opportunity to portray a Latin American woman onstage prior to Teatro Público, she says. In 2015, she played Johanna Orozco in “Johanna: Facing Forward,” inspired by the true story of Orozco – a Cleveland teen who survived a gunshot wound to the face by her boyfriend in 2007, and whose story built a movement drawing attention to teen domestic violence.

Benites recalls the program was well-received, and Orozco attended opening night.

“We had community support because it was a local story, but also it’s something that is hard to talk about because, in a way, a topic like that is something one can be embarrassed about,” Benites says. “But I think it’s important to tell those stories because I think it helps people to kind of see themselves onstage, but also to help raise awareness about things like that.”

She has since been involved in more than a dozen Teatro Público productions through which she has been able to explore her culture, identity and “really revel” in being Peruvian – something Benites was always proud of but values even more through her theater experience, she says.

“By just existing, (Teatro Público) provided such a gift to those of us in the community,” she says. “It allowed for us

38 | Canvas | Winter 2024

to have a platform to not only perform and express ourselves through theater but also to tell our own stories.”

Olivera shares a similar sentiment, as Teatro Público has allowed her to explore her emotions, culture and appreciate the diversity within the Cleveland Latinx community.

“We are all different and we are all so worthy of being appreciated, individually … in our rich diversity, sharing our differences, opening the doors to art at different levels” Olivera says.

CAUSE AND EFFECT CAUSA Y EFECTO Since Teatro Público was founded over a decade ago, it has directly and indirectly contributed to “so many amazing things,” Bobgan says.

The “broadly inclusive” company led by the people involved has empowered leaders, made cross-cultural connections, reduced stereotypes and fear, and created greater tolerance, he says. Teatro Público even added English subtitles to reach a wider audience.

Additionally, Bobgan has seen more roles for Latinx characters and organizations popping up throughout the city’s theater scene, such as LatinUs Theater Company, which formed in 2018.

“We went from a community that had almost no Latinx theater makers to being in a community where there are now different theaters,” Bobgan says. “… So, we really spawned this kind of movement here in Cleveland. That’s leadership.”

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

• “Grandeza” – Dates TBD in 2025: By Ernesto Luna Camargo, a Teatro Público member, “Grandeza” will be performed in the company’s play development series, Test Flight. The satire is based on popular novellas, or Latin American soap operas. A teenager decides to come out of the closet and realizes the entire world lives inside a closet, clinging to cultural traditions that have been wrong all their lives. For more information, visit teatropublico.org.

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Winter 2024 | Canvas | 39

Five ways to find creative gifts and support the local artistic community in the process

By Kirsten Beard

s the holiday season approaches, finding meaningful, one-of-a-kind gifts becomes a priority. Supporting local makers not only helps you discover unique, handcrafted and customizable items, but also allows you to give gifts that carry a personal touch and a story. For finding these types of special gifts locally, here are five tips to consider.

1. Choose custom merchandise and clothes from local sources

Looking to local resources for custom merchandise and clothes during the holiday season offers a chance to find something

truly unique and tailored for anyone on your list. Chrystal Robinson, co-founder of LemonChrystal Artist Sanctuary in Alliance, explains, “Going custom is one of the best gifts you can give. It’s about creating something special for that special someone. Anyone can buy something on Amazon – it’s just not special anymore.”

LemonChrystal Artist Sanctuary, a disabled woman-owned business, she notes, focuses on revitalizing the local art scene in Alliance by selling customized clothing, accessories and other items that make lasting, meaningful gifts.

Robinson also says supporting local businesses goes beyond the gift itself – it can support a family and help the community grow, making a more significant impact than supporting large corporations. In addition to personalized gifts, shopping locally allows you to discover a diverse range of handmade items that reflect the spirit of a community. This holiday season, take the time to uncover hidden gems in your neighborhood that celebrate both creativity and connection, and help ensure your community thrives long after the holidays end.

2. Visit local makers in-person or online for ideas

“Flowers In the Grey” is a hand-painted leather bag by Chrystal Robinson, LemonChrystal Artist Sanctuary co-founder and interdisciplinary artist. Photo courtesy of LemonChrystal.

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Exploring local creators in your area, whether by visiting them in-person or browsing online, can help you find holiday gifts that stand out. Many artists showcase their work at pop-up shops, markets, craft fairs and online platforms. And, inperson visits allow you to connect directly with makers to hear the stories behind their work that you might not see online.

Though some local makers also have online stores, Josh Chefitz created ActLoCLE, at actlocle.org, to help shoppers and browsers find Northeast Ohio makers easier and faster, referring to it as a “local Etsy.” Chefitz says the artists he spoke with when creating the website were all for the idea.

“They wanted a place where locals could easily find them and find their events, a place where they as artists could find exhibitions and places to show their work and storefronts – like businesses that wanted to be storefronts,” he says.

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Chefitz also began an Instagram account, @actlocle, where he promotes artsy events and more off-the-radar things that have minimal advertising. “People reach out and they’re looking to find those places,” he says. “I’m somewhat of a connector and can kind of guide them and tell them where to go.”

Chefitz says uploading content to his website is free, helping creators save funds for their work rather than advertising.

Whether browsing booths at a market or scrolling through a maker’s website or one like actlocle.org, supporting small businesses adds a meaningful touch to your gift giving while simultaneously strengthening the local economy.

3. Select books by local authors

Snuggling next to a fire and reading a good book with a cup of hot cocoa could be someone’s dream this season. As such, books by local authors serve as great gifts.

For example, local author and artist Scott Kraynak released the second volume of “heART of Cleveland,” featuring a more diverse and colorful history of Cleveland arts and artists than its first edition, published in 2018.

Kraynak said his new book is more than just pictures and art history but also essays from some of Cleveland’s renowned writers and artists including Robert P. Madison of Robert P. Madison International Inc.; Julian Stanczak, the late world-famous optical artist, and his wife and artist Barbara Stanczak; and Douglas Katz, chef and owner of local restaurants Zhug, Amba and Kiln.

Henry Adams, a featured author in the book, writes, “And as it happens, considering visual art alone is to capture only part of an even more remarkable story. What was striking about Cleveland at its height was the surge of creativity that broke through the usual firewalls that stand between painting, architecture, literature, music and other forms of creative activity.”

Kraynak says he hopes people get a glimpse of the diverse history of Cleveland through the book, showcasing the innovation and artists who were born here. “I don’t think people realize just how much Cleveland artists have changed the world,” he says.

Published by his company, Malenky Lizard Press, and co-published by Red Giant Books, the book can be purchased

“heART of Cleveland: 2” is a 180-page book with essays from renowned Cleveland writers and artists, compiled by Scott Kraynak and filled with visual art. Photo courtesy of Kraynak. on their websites and from local booksellers. The 180-page book was set to be released on Nov. 15, and had a sneak peek event and related exhibit (on view through Dec. 28) at HEDGE Gallery in Cleveland. Kraynak says the book will be available in softcover, and hardcover for a limited time as he will only make around 200 copies, signed by Kraynak.

Whether it’s a novel, poetry collection, memoir or a deep dive into local history, a book by a local author offers a unique perspective and connection to your area.

4. Invest in student work

Consider investing in the creativity of emerging artists by purchasing student-made artwork. For those interested in these types of artistic gifts, the Cleveland Institute of Art offers two concurrent opportunities: the Student Holiday Sale and the 100 Show + Sale.

“The Student Holiday Sale is a time-honored tradition that invites you to shop for creative, handmade gifts made by CIA’s

Students showcase and sell their artwork at the Student Holiday Sale at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Photo / Leah Trznadel / Cleveland Institute of Art

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Winter 2024 | Canvas | 41

Left: “Maroon Bells” by Christabel Devadoss, a 12 x 18-inch metal print of a photograph that captures the beauty of nature with rich colors and a sleek finish, displayed at Valley Art Center. Photo courtesy of Valley Art Center. Right: “Family” by Norbert and Victoria Koehn. Cherry wood sculpture, 21 inches tall. Photo courtesy of Victoria Koehn. talented students,” says Michael C. Butz, director of college communications and external relations at CIA, adding that both sales are great opportunities for those looking to start or build their art collection.

Some items available at this year’s Student Holiday Sale include glass art, screen prints, crochet art/wearables, necklaces, earrings, ornaments, ceramic cups, bowls, shirts, tote bags, stationery and plushes. Butz says more than 80 CIA students across majors will have work for sale.

The 100 Show + Sale will feature paintings, drawings and more created by CIA students, faculty and alumni. The works in the student-organized show and sale will cost $100 each, or be in denominations of $100.

Both sales take place from 5-9 p.m. Dec. 6, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 7 at CIA. During those hours, shoppers can park free of charge in CIA’s parking lots. More information is available at cia.edu.

“Shopping CIA’s Student Holiday Sale or 100 Show + Sale offers a two-for-one benefit,” Butz says. “Not only do you get to give a friend or loved one the gift of original art – something that’s one-of-a-kind – but you also give something back to the student artist who created that art.”

The 100 Show + Sale’s proceeds will go toward the school’s annual spring break trip to New York City, where students visit museums, galleries and artists’ studios.

When embracing the spirit of giving this holiday season, look to student work as the earnings will go to helping them grow their artistic practices and let them experience the sense of reward that comes from a shopper valuing their creative work.

5. Visit and buy from community galleries

Local art galleries provide an opportunity to find meaningful, beautiful gifts while supporting regional artists. Whether you’re looking for original artwork or something more budget-friendly, these spaces offer a variety of options that suit different tastes or price ranges.

“The wonderful part about art is that when you’re shopping for someone else, you don’t need to dive into an art history mindset,” says Julie Polsinelli, assistant director

42 | Canvas | Winter 2024

and gallery manager at Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls.

“Essentially, there’s art for everyone.”

One option to consider is prints, Polsinelli says, which offer an affordable way to buy from artists without the financial commitment of purchasing a larger piece.

And, when you visit a gallery, spend time with what’s available.

“When you visit a gallery or unique gift shop, be sure to take your time to make your decisions and to look at everything,” says Victoria Koehn, owner of Koehn Sculptors’ Sanctuary on Green in South Euclid, in an email. “The inventory in galleries is very unique. Art gifts usually end up becoming heirlooms and are less likely to be discarded. When they are re-gifted, much thought and emotion go into deciding who the next receiver will be.”

Koehn also says without support for local galleries and shops, they will close.

“A local gallery has a unique relationship with the community,” she adds. “We take our customers’ comments very seriously and purchase and create gifts that we think they would like. We strive to create and search for versatile and new collections and ideas that keep our customers excited to visit often.”

As such, buying from area galleries has a deeper impact.

“When you’re investing in these unique stories and voices ... you’re basically purchasing a tangible example of what’s making the local economy and soul of the community,” Polsinelli says.

By visiting and purchasing from local galleries this holiday season, you can give a gift that not only carries a personal touch but also supports your community’s artistic vibrancy.

A “LOCAL ETSY” SCAN TO FIND NORTHEAST OHIO ARTISTS AND CREATORS IN-PERSON AND ONLINE FOR UNIQUE HOLIDAY GIFTS

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McDonough Museum of Art

Winter Exhibitions January 21 - February 28 Closing Reception: February 28, 5-7pm 525WickAvenue Youngstown,OH44502 Tuesday-Saturday11AM-4PM 330-941-1400 mcdonoughmuseumofart@ysu.edu

Emerging Artist Abby Cipar Sometime, Somehow, For You Artist talk: February 12, 5:30PM

Anna Chapman Underworld / Otherworld Artist talk: January 22 5:30PM

Youngstown State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, race, religion or veteran/military status in its programs and activities.

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Winter 2024 | Canvas | 43

Presented by:

Holiday Gift Guide 2024 Holiday Happenings

Markets | Art Walks | Bazaars

Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 • Akron Bazaar: 5-9 p.m. Nov. 29; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; 153 S. Main St., Akron and Summit Artspace, 140 E. Market St., Akron (free shuttle between locations); bit.ly/3AjdXnY Nov. 30 • Avon Winter Avant-Garde Art and Craft Show: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 30; Emerald Event Center, 33040 Just Imagine Drive, Avon; shorturl.at/6AIxs • WinterLand: Maker market from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 30; 5th Street Arcades, 509 Prospect Ave. E., Cleveland; bit.ly/3CbmHgh

Dec. 6 to Jan. 10, 2025 • Morgan Maker’s Exhibition: Opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Dec. 6. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 1754 E. 47th St., Cleveland; morganconservatory.org/2024-exhibitions-schedule Dec. 7 • Cleveland Bazaar at Lake Affect Studios: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 7; Lake Affect Studios, 1615 E. 25th St., Cleveland; bit.ly/3Yo2vPR Dec. 7-8 • Christmas in Zoar: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 7; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 8; Historic Zoar Village, 198 Main St., Zoar; bit.ly/4f6huVm • Artists at the Twist Holiday Show and Sale: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 7; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Dec. 8; Twist & Drill Building, 1242 E. 49th St., Cleveland; artistsatthetwist.com

Dec. 6-7 • Cleveland Institute of Art Student Holiday Sale and 100 Show + Sale: 5-9 p.m.

Dec. 6; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 7; 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland; cia.edu/events

Dec. 13-15 • Cleveland Bazaar 20th Anniversary at 78th Street Studios: Preview shopping event (ticketed), 6-9 p.m. Dec. 13; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 14; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dec. 15; 78th Street Studios, 1305 W. 80th St., Cleveland; bit.ly/40oAD0C • Holiday Market at the Screw Factory: 6-10 p.m. Dec. 13; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dec. 14; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 15; Screw Factory Artists Lofts, 13001 Athens Ave., Lakewood; bit.ly/4f0Ld2e

Dec. 6-8 • The Butler Institute American Holiday Arts & Crafts Show: Preview night (ticketed), 5:30-9 p.m. Dec. 6; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 7; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 8; The Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown; bit.ly/4eXvOA3 • Passport to Little Italy – Holiday ArtWalk: 5-9 p.m. Dec. 6; noon to 9 p.m.

Dec. 7; noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 8; galleries and shops around 12018 Mayfield Road, Cleveland; bit.ly/3UeisXG

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

Dec. 4-5 • Beary Merry Show: Handmade arts & crafts market; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 4-5; La Vera Party Center, 32200 Chardon Road, Willoughby Hills; bit.ly/3YDQCp8

Dec. 14 • Solon Hometown Holiday Market: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 14; Solon Community Center, 35000 Portz Parkway, Solon; shorturl.at/U5xtl

AT THE GLIDDEN HOUSE You are Adjacent to Arts... Moments from Music...

Close to Culture... Steps from School... Doors from Dining...

Whatever brings you to University Circle, stay in the heart of it all and be a part of History in the Making.

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

For more information go to www.gliddenhouse.com

GLIDDEN HOUSE A HISTORIC BOUTIQUE HOTEL

1901 Ford Dr. | University Circle | 216-231-8900 44 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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Two Great Shows Coming Soon from The Musical Theater Project

Music by Richard Rogers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II Book by Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse

THE GERSHWINS ARE GIRL CRAZY! January 25 at Maltz Performing Arts Center TMTP and members of Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, directed by PAUL FERGUSON, join forces to celebrate George and Ira Gershwin’s classic 1930 musical set out West. Featured are such songs as “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You” and “But Not for Me.”

LEGENDARY BLACK SINGERS— GREAT BROADWAY SONGS (VOLUME 2) March 23 at Wiley Auditorium

Live on stage NOW through DECEMBER 15

at CHAGRIN VALLEY LITTLE THEATRE 40 River St. in downtown Chagrin Falls

No worries if you missed Volume 1! A salute to singers such as Ella, Nat, Lena, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Short, Johnny Hartman and many more immortals whose recordings of songs from stage and screen glowed. Hosted by LEON BIBB and featuring JOE HUNTER, EVELYN WRIGHT and NICOLE SUMLIN.

MusicalTheaterProject.org | (216) 860-1518 Discover the 20th-century classic American musical through songs, stories and social history.

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Custom back lighted mirror

SHOWROOM HOURS: M-F 8 to 4:30, Saturday by appointment Winter 2024 | Canvas | 45

Holiday Gift Guide

TRI-C® PERFORMING ARTS A Powerful Season of Jazz and Dance Raphael Xavier: Skiff

Matthew Whitaker

Presented by:

2024 -2025 SEASON For more information, scan the QR code or visit

tri-c.edu/ tricpresents

(presented in partnership with DANCECleveland)

Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 7:30 p.m.

Simon and Rose Mandel Theatre, Tri-C Eastern Campus

Saturday, April 12, 2025 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 13, 2025 2:00 p.m.

John P. Murphy Foundation Theatre, Tri-C Metro Campus

The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 7:30 p.m.

24-0820

Tri-C Metro Campus Auditorium

24-0820_PAS-Season-Ad_7.75x5_Canvas.indd 1

11/8/24 12:22 PM

MUSEUMS THE ARTISTS ARCHIVES OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1834 East 123rd St., Cleveland P: 216-721-9020 : artistsarchives.org : facebook.com/ artistsarchivesofthewesternreserve Nov. 14, 2024 – Jan. 11, 2025 The AAWR invites you to celebrate humor with two simultaneous exhibitions in our new expanded home galleries.

Satirical works by published illustrator and celebrated fine artist “George Kocar in Retrospective” shine in two gallery spaces, concurrently with “Funny Stuff,” a group exhibition of 32 artists created in a variety of ways that are sure to “tickle your fancy.”

AAWR is always free and gallery open hours are Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday noon to 4 p.m.

Pat Shandy, “Pulp Fiction”

46 | Canvas | Winter 2024

THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown P: 330-743-1107 : butlerart.com : facebook.com/butlerinst Free and open to the public since 1919. Free family programming.

Community events.

American Holiday Arts & Crafts Show (Dec. 7 and Dec. 8). Exhibitions on view: “My United States of America” by Mateo Blanco (Sept. 29 to Dec. 1); “Facades” by Richard Hahn (Oct. 6 to Jan. 5, 2025); “Entangled Attraction” by Sally Weber and Craig Newswanger (Oct. 27 to Feb. 16, 2025); “The Audacity of the Mundane” by Charlee Brodski (Dec. 22 to March 2, 2025); 85th Area Artist Annual (Jan. 5 to Feb. 23, 2025).

Visit our museum store for unique gifts.

Café open during the week. Free parking.

Wheelchairs available. Strollers welcome.

MASSILLON MUSEUM 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon P: 330-833-4061 : massillonmuseum.org : facebook.com/massillonmuseum Visit the Massillon Museum – where art and history come together in the heart of downtown Massillon. “Aaron Siskind: A Survey of Life in Harlem during the Great Depression”; “Brown’s Town: Art Inspired by Ohio’s Football Heritage”; “Stark County Artists Exhibition”; Stephen Tornero and Grant Ederer: “A Fair Trade”; The Immel Circus; “90 Years of Community: Massillon Tiger Football Booster Club”; “Ethiopian Expedition of 1903”; Local History Gallery; Fine and Decorative Arts Gallery; “Innovators of Massillon”; and more everchanging exhibitions! Unique shop and sensory room. Workshops and classes, many specializing in ceramics. Free admission and parking.

Everyone is welcome!

Lou Camerato, “Time Well Served.”

Assemblage, 43 x 33 x 1.5 inches. Honorable Mention, “Stark County Artists Exhibition.”

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Alice, manager

Loganberry Books Annex Gallery

13015 Larchmere Blvd  Shaker Heights, OH 44120 www.loganberrybooks.com gallery@logan.com  216.795.9800

2025

WINTER

EXHIBITIONS January 10 – March 15

Betty and Howard Taylor Main Gallery FRESH: Soft Offerings

Horizon Gallery

Mutual Aid | Eric Tuck-Macalla

Welcome Gallery

Paperland | Mark Jaroszewski

Forum Gallery

Milestones & Roadside Attractions Group Exhibition

Intersections Gallery

Over, Under, Sideways, Down

A Day in the Life Robert Wright

FREE & OPEN Fridays and Saturdays

summitartspace.org

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Scan code to view exhibitions virtually

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 47

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Holiday Gift Guide GALLERIES CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART 11610 Euclid Ave., Cleveland P: 216-421-7000 : cia.edu/events : @cleinstituteart Two beloved shopping events will return to CIA this holiday season: the Student Holiday Sale and the 100 Show + Sale. At the 2024 Student Holiday Sale, shop for creative handmade gifts in glass, metal, ceramics, illustration and other media — all of which will be made by CIA’s talented students.

During the 100 Show + Sale, works by faculty, students and friends of CIA will be sold for $100 each (or denominations of $100).

Both sales take place from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.

TRICIA KAMAN STUDIO/GALLERY 2026 Murray Hill Road, #202, Cleveland P: 216-559-6478 : triciakaman.com : facebook.com/ TriciaKamanStudioGallery Little Italy’s Holiday Art Walk: Dec. 6, 7 & 8.

Friday: 5-9 p.m.; Saturday: noon-9 p.m.; and Sunday: noon-5 p.m.

Join us for our 35th anniversary open house Saturday, Dec. 7, from 6-8:30 p.m. Featuring original oil paintings, artist signed limited edition Giclee prints, framed prints, note cards and gift certificates.

KOEHN SCULPTORS’/ SANCTUARY ON GREEN 1936 S. Green Road, South Euclid P: 216-691-1936 : sanctuaryongreen.com : facebook.com/sanctuaryongreen Celebrating our 45th Annual Open House & Christkindlmarkt from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, through Dec. 27. We are Northeast Ohio’s destination gift shop showcasing thoughtfully created sculptures from our studio, and gifts and ornaments from around the world – an unparalleled shopping experience. We feature: exquisite ornaments of wood, blown glass and metal; German nutcrackers, smokers and pyramids; candles; giftware; toys; handmade jewelry, scarves, purses; nativities, angels and everything imaginable for the holidays. We invite you to enjoy a personalized shopping experience in our century home. Celebrate the season with a stroll in our gardens adorned with sculptures and yard art. Visit our website at: sanctuaryongreen.com.

LEE HEINEN STUDIO 12402 Mayfield Road, Cleveland P: 216-469-3288 : leeheinenstudio.com : lee.heinen This image was chosen by Aurelie Razimbaud for the jacket of her book “Je danserai pour toi.” It will be released in France in January. The original painting is still available at my studio in Little Italy and is priced at $1,000. As this is a working studio, I don’t keep regular open hours, so I ask that you call 216-469-3288 or email me at leeheinen@gmail.com and I will happily meet you there at your convenience.

I have a varied selection of original paintings and giclee prints at reasonable cost. My work is also available through saatchionline.com and leeheinenstudio.com. The studio will be open during the Little Italy Holiday Art Walk Dec. 6-8.

“Dove of Peace Obelisk,” 6 feet tall, fir wood.

Private collection. Norbert & Victoria Koehn.

“Innocence,” 16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas by artist Lee Heinen.

Interested in more Northeast Ohio arts coverage?

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Tricia Kaman Studio/Gallery celebrating 35 Years!

48 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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Advertisement

Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub

D

uring the early 1900s, Cleveland was a leading arts center with print production at the core of the city, home to the headquarters of Time, Fortune, and Life magazines.

Hundreds of artists were flooding the city to work in the largest commercial printing hub that even surpassed New York City. In 1911, a group of artists from the Otis Lithograph Company got together and formed the Kokoon Arts Klub.

The aim of the Kokoon Klub was to encourage interest in modern art, a new movement growing in Europe that was bright, colorful, and controversial. The organization was modeled after the Kit Kat Klub in London where artists would gather and create. The founders wanted to mirror the alliteration of the Kit Kat Klub and decided on the term “kokoon” to symbolize an awakening for both the artists and the city of Cleveland – like butterflies from a cocoon. Although the club sought to follow the

spelling of the Kit Kat Klub, the press never came to a consensus and spelled “Klub” both with a “K” and a “C.” Their effort to champion modern art put Cleveland at the forefront of the movement, ahead of the 1913 Armory Show in New York.

The Kokoon Klub was a fixture of the Cleveland arts scene and members expressed their artistry through classes, exhibitions, and productions. However, of all events, none were as memorable as their celebration of self-expression: the Kokoon Klub Bal Masque. The Bal Masque was a way to attract fellow free spirited bohemians and handmade costumes based on the annual theme played a central role in and requirement for the celebration.

Explore the history and legacy of the Kokoon Klub in Bohemian Chrysalis: Unveiling Cleveland’s Infamous Kokoon Klub on display at the Canton Museum of Art November 26, 2024March 2, 2025.

Left: David Samson. Poster Invitation for the 1921 Kokoon Arts Club 9th Annual Bal Masque, 1921. Lithograph, colored printing ink, manuscript in black crayon on wove paper. Cleveland Public Library, Special Collections (OWL Image). Right: Ray Parmalee. Bal Masque Ticket, 1924. Lithograph ticket on card stock. Kent State University, Special Collections and Archives.

LISTINGS GALLERIES

STAGES

LEMONCHRYSTAL ARTIST SANCTUARY

BECK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

412 E. Main St., Alliance P: 330-614-2789 E: ghostrighterzartisitservices@gmail.com : lemonchrystal.com

Welcome to LemonChrystal Artist Sanctuary, where we offer inclusive and immersive arts experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds. Located in the heart of beautiful downtown Alliance, our artist sanctuary provides a creator’s space, gallery, art supply store and boutique in a beautiful late 1800s historic building. We also offer various arts services such as custom merchandise, sewing alterations, graphic design, murals, marketing and administration catering to artists. Whether you want to create in our creator’s space, take one of our workshops or purchase custom artwork or merchandise, you can unleash your creativity with Chrystal and Lennon at LemonChrystal.

17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood P: 216-521-2540 : beckcenter.org

Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood produces Tony Award-Nominee Mary Bridget Davies as The Narrator in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” running Dec. 6 to Jan. 5. Last season this production SOLD OUT! Get your tickets for the entire family now at beckcenter.org.

MUSEUMS KSU MUSEUM 515 Hilltop Drive, Kent P: 330-672-3450 E: museum@kent.edu : kent.edu/museum : facebook.com/museumatksu

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

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

M. GENTILE STUDIOS 1588 E. 40th St., 1A, Cleveland P: 216-881-2818 : mgentilestudios.com

A personalized art resource for individuals, collectors and businesses. We offer assistance in the selection and preservation of artwork in many media. Our archival custom framing services are complemented by our skill in the installation of two- and three-dimensional artwork in a variety of residential and corporate settings.

VALLEY ART CENTER 155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls P: 440-247-7507 : valleyartcenter.org

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

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

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

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

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

FRIENDS OF CANVAS CLEVELAND ISRAEL ARTS CONNECTION Jewish Federation of Cleveland E: israelarts@jewishcleveland.org : jewishcleveland.org/israelarts

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

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

hundreds of artworks representing myriad styles and periods.

50 | Canvas | Winter 2024

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CURATOR CORNER “Untitled Escape Collage” by Rashid Johnson

By Lydia Kacala

T

he Akron Art Museum shows a wide variety of contemporary artwork created by artists from all over the world and in many different media.

Among them, now on display is American artist Rashid Johnson’s “Untitled Escape Collage,” a 2018 mixedEarle media piece that immediately grabs your attention yet is open to many interpretations upon closer look.

Johnson’s work is part of a larger exhibition at the museum centering around “Images of Blackness,” which brings together representations of Black experiences by artists from around the world. Wendy Earle, curator at the Akron Art Museum, tells Canvas about the importance and relevance of the engaging piece.

Canvas: What makes “Untitled Escape Collage” noteworthy?

Earle: The imagery that notable artist Rashid Johnson has created offers many different interpretations. Some may be interested in the iconography, with its depictions of palm trees and lush jungles (from stock images) that could represent parts of Africa and the African diaspora.

The foliage could also represent Vietnam – as a child, the artist found boxes of photographs his father took when deployed in the Vietnam War. There are also depictions of African masks and numerous almond shapes that recall portals or shields. The very idea of escape, from the title of the piece, could represent different ideas for different visitors.

What response does the piece create for the viewer?

Earle: This piece will invoke a range of responses and interpretations, depending on the viewer’s personal experiences and point of view. We hope people spend time with this piece and think about its context within world history. Because the artist has used black soap and wax, which have strong smells, other senses might contribute to viewer response.

@CanvasCLE

Rashid Johnson (b. 1977), “Untitled Escape Collage,” 2018, ceramic tile, mirror tile, vinyl, spray enamel, oilstick, black soap and wax, 72 1/4 x 96 1/2 inches. Art Bridges.

How do the materials used add to the overall feeling of the collage?

Earle: “Untitled Escape Collage” uses a variety of materials: ceramic tile, mirror tile, vinyl, spray enamel, oilstick, black soap and wax. The mirrored tile creates a strong sense of reflection in the collage, but their shape also evokes portals and escape. The ceramic tiles invoke both the public and private sphere, from bathrooms to subways. Black soap, which Johnson uses frequently in his artwork, can be seen as a symbol of the search for culture and self-hood within the African diaspora.

What was happening at the time that might have influenced the artist?

Earle: This piece was created in 2018, around the same time Johnson was creating the film “Native Son,” his directorial debut based on the acclaimed 1940 novel by Richard Wright.

What makes this a notable work from Johnson?

Earle: This wall piece is a large collage the combines different materials and artmaking practices. Johnson is recognized

as an important voice of his generation who creates artwork in a huge variety of media that can be seen as meditations on race and class. Johnson will have a midcareer retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum that opens in spring 2025.

What else should we know about this piece?

Earle: In his own words, Johnson uses “alchemy, divination, astronomy and other sciences that combine the natural and spiritual worlds” to augment Black history.

ON VIEW

“Untitled Escape Collage” Artist: Rashid Johnson Year: 2018 Find it: On display as part of an “Images of Blackness” theme, running now through the end of September 2025 at the Akron Art Museum at 1 S. High St. The gallery will be closed from March 31, 2025 through April 18, 2025 for another installation.

“Untitled Escape Collage” is on loan from the Art Bridges Foundation.

Winter 2024 | Canvas | 51

PICASSO AND PAPER

See Picasso as never before.

Featuring nearly 300 works, Picasso and Paper is a groundbreaking new look at the artist’s lifelong experimentation with paper, organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

December 8, 2024, through March 23, 2025 Reserve tickets early at cma.org!

This exhibition is presented by CIBC. Major support is provided by Anne H. Weil. Generous support is provided by the Carol Yellig Family Fund. Additional support is provided by Carl M. Jenks and Frank and Fran Porter.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

cma.org

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.

Women at Their Toilette, Paris, winter 1937–38. Cut wallpapers with gouache on paper pasted onto canvas; 299 x 448 cm. Musée national Picasso-Paris, Pablo Picasso Gift in Lieu, 1979. MP176. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Adrien Didierjean. © 2024 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York