Jay Workin’ on the Next Generation of Designers

Jay Workin’ is a designer and creative media consultant from East Cleveland known for his work at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and elsewhere. He has been extensively covered by local news for his endeavors and for staying connected and engaged by using social media to turn young people on to design and the opportunities that lie therein. […]

Read more

Aawful Aaron Explores Mental Health

Aawful Aaron Williams uses a variety of media to get inside your mind and get you to see the world through a different sense. Aawful’s works are included in the group show, The Nexus of Art and Health, curated by Sienna Brown and on view at the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery in Columbus, October 29 through January 6. He’s […]

Read more

Jacques P. Jackson Explores Sensuality through Mosaics and Paint

Jacques P. Jackson’s art opens up conversation and explores sensuality, the human form, and the inner soul with his mosaics and paintings. It demands a space of its own. His work was a part of CAN Triennial 2022, on view at the Hildebrandt Artist Collective and at the Pivot Center. We met at his home studio to talk about infertility, […]

Read more

Donald Black Jr.: The Spook Who Sat By The Door

Donald Black Jr. is a fine artist with a vision—you can ride with him or without him. We talk about selling art at an early age, what his camera is trying to say and the luxury of the (pre-assembled) Parachute Man. Also, if you make art Cleveland doesn’t see, is it still art? JIMI IZRAEL: Where you from, Mr. Black? […]

Read more

Theadis Reagins Jr. Will Draw Your Soul on the Page

  Theadis Reagins Jr., a 17 year-old senior at the Cleveland School of the Arts, is a graphic artist with an eye towards portraiture. Using pencils, he explores his subjects from the inside out under the tutelage of artists like painter Antwoine Washington and the esteemed Edward Parker.  Reagins Jr. talked with CAN about experimenting with paint, selling his art […]

Read more

Aja Joi Grant Can See What You Can’t See

Aja Joi Grant is a printmaker and photographer who uses digital media elements powered by spirituality and a commitment to The Community. Beginning with this issue of CAN Journal, she curates a street photography feature called Photo Poets, highlighting different photographers each quarter. We talk about her show at The Current, the photographer as G-d and Steely Dan. Also, the […]

Read more

Edward Parker and Snickerfritz, His World of Pure Imagination

A trip to Snickerfritz, the Edward E. Parker Museum of Art, is an ascension into the mind of Edward Parker himself: his passions, his politics, and his process. Nestled in the heart of what was East Cleveland’s Millionaire’s Row and surrounded by a few of his rentals—including a bed and breakfast—this may be one of Northeast Ohio’s best-kept secrets. Every […]

Read more

DAVID RAMSEY: WHAT’S BLACK, BROWN WITH ROOTS ALL OVER?

Sitting down with David Ramsey, owner of Deep Roots Experience, a Black-owned and operated art gallery at 7901 Central Avenue in Fairfax, Cleveland, who also has a second location (Wood and Green, 2905 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights) that he just opened. Ramsey talks about working only with Black and Brown artists, creating space for the artwork, and presenting artwork in a […]

Read more

ANTWOINE WASHINGTON WANTS MOCHA TO LIFT YOUR SPIRIT

Anwtoine Washington—artist, curator, and creator of the Museum of Creative Human Art (MOCHA)—found work at the post office, but made a choice to commit himself to his vision full-time. We talk about finding funding for MOCHA, the therapy of working with pencils and paint, and how the pandemic has actually been good for his movement. JIMI IZRAEL: Tell me about […]

Read more

KENT STATE: FOUR DEAD IN OHIO – A Review of the Latest Graphic Novel by John “Derf” Backderf

Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by John “Derf” Backderf is a graphic novelization of the four days leading up to the Kent State Massacre of May 4, 1970, where bystanders were shot by the Ohio National Guard, which had been called upon to suppress student protests of the war in Vietnam. Derf is a storied underground comic-book artist, but this will […]

Read more
1 2