Artist Emily Duke, at work in her studio. Duke was to be part of the two-person show Revealed, with Chelsea A! Flowers. The exhibit has been postponed during the COVID-19 crisis. In the meantime, Duke and Flowers have created video montages to give insight into their studio practices.

The Sculpture Center closed the galleries to the public on March 18 and postponed all exhibitions and programs. This included the exhibition and opening reception of Revealed artists Emily Duke and Chelsea A! Flowers. The loss to these artists, who had spent months preparing and making new work for their exhibitions, is acute. TSC is building a mentorship program with the Cleveland Institute of Art, where Revealed artists would mentor, demonstrate, and talk about their work with specific classes. These programs were also cancelled. Chelsea A! Flowers’ Negotiating the Art World artist talk about organizing a studio practice was cancelled. The Sculpture Center’s education program Photographing on a Budget, a popular series of four workshops for effectively documenting artwork scheduled to occur at the end of April and into May, was also cancelled.

Although this is a quiet time in the galleries and our space is dark, The Sculpture Center is shining light on Revealed artists Emily Duke and Chelsea A! Flowers by presenting two separate video montages of still frames and videos of the artists’ work, studio spaces, and studio practices. The artists are producing these videos themselves and adding voice-overs discussing the inspiration behind the work that would have been on view in the galleries. It is our hope that this presentation will create an opportunity for the public to not only see the artists’ work, but also gain a better understanding of their thought processes. These presentations will be available via The Sculpture Center’s website and social media. Frankly, we may continue this type of media presentation as an add-on to future Revealed artists’ exhibitions. It is our hope that the quarantine will demonstrate ways we can be relevant to the public at all times. Of course, we hope the quarantine will be lifted in time for the artists to install at minimum a two- to three-week exhibition at the end of May, and thankfully the artists are flexible.

For now, The Sculpture Center is planning to move ahead with its summer exhibition: The Shape of Sculpture, Recent Cranbrook Graduates, from June 12 to August 7. This would be a first-time partnership with the preeminent Cranbrook Institute of Art, and show a juried selection of current work by 2021, 2020 and 2019 graduates of the sculpture program.

THE SCULPTURE CENTER

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Cleveland, Ohio 44106

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