So Much Art That Won’t Be Seen, It’s NOT Business as Usual!

The Medical Trials of the Saints: Artemis & Athena, by Mandem, Best in Show Winner 2019.

It saddened me when I was forced to close early the from WOMAN XIII exhibition that I curated in The Gallery at Lakeland Community College. Forty-three women artists from Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Oregon and Pennsylvania had submitted 138 artworks. It was the largest collection of women artists assembled in the region. The artist reception was also cancelled. The artists missed the opportunity to see their glorious artworks hanging together; to acknowledge each other’s work or engage in a conversation at the reception. We lost that sense of community, the social interaction.

I filmed a video walkthrough/guided tour of the exhibition, as an archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNW2WvxTT0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0ZtzNa6iqoSk8-QQoy1mK7t9Ak7eAaS9cC5TNq1uURVz5pNTKNwZKS_84

The Lakeland Visual Arts Student Exhibition—CANCELED. Our students won’t get the opportunity to share with everyone what they’ve accomplished this past year. Their creative time was cut short. I wonder how they will find closure? I hope that this doesn’t discourage them from making more art.

I also CANCELED the 11th Annual May Show Juried Exhibition. I could not proceed with “business as usual,” or plan a reception and awards ceremony. I did not want to put my artists at risk while they were delivering/submitting the artworks to be juried. Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell hope to judge in 2021 if their schedule permits. I feel bad for the artists who have been working towards entering this exhibition. This year, there will be no acknowledgment of their accomplishments, no cash awards, and no potential sales of their artwork. We are all disappointed, but there’s always next year!

As I scrambled to readjust my exhibition schedule into the summer months, I pushed one show up and rescheduled my textile show to September 2024. I am now organizing a Lakeland Employee Show for late August, and have challenged my colleagues to make good use of their extra time—to be creative and make some art!

I am optimistic for the future and anxiously awaiting the REUNION: The Cleveland Institute of Art, Class of 1980 exhibition I’m curating, to begin in late September. Excited to see what my classmates submit. It’s been forty years since I’ve seen some of them. I will be creating art for this exhibition. Alert the media!

A lot of readjustments to the “new” normal going forward. We’ll get through this, just not today.

So artists, please keep making art—Carry on!

LAKELAND EMPLOYEE SHOW | AUGUST 23-SEPTEMBER 10

ARTIST RECEPTION: 11:30AM-1:30PM WEDNESDAY, SEPT 9

REUNION: THE CLEVELAND INSTITIUTE OF ART, CLASS OF 1980, CURATED BY MARY URBAS |

SEPTEMBER 24-NOVEMBER 6

ARTIST RECEPTION: 5-8PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

THE GALLERY AT LAKELAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE

7700 Clocktower Drive

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Lakelandcc.edu/gallery

440-525-7029