Antoine 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
For the third installment of “What’s Next,” Amanda D. King spoke with Kelsi Carter, cultural organizer, producer, and impact director of Shooting Without Bullets. Carter explains the role of artistic activism within social movements, the use of culture to encourage the abolitionist imagination, and discusses fostering BIPOC-led social innovation as a means to build power and impact within communities of […]
Read more
At a time when life has certainly never been more surreal, frightening, and unsure, painter Arabella Proffer is facing the unthinkable. The well-known artist is living with terminal cancer, during a global pandemic, and she is doing it with a strength, determination, and grace that few could muster. But if you know Arabella well, this is hardly surprising: with a […]
Read more
Near the shore of an ocean—or along Lake Erie where the fiber artist Rebecca Cross lives during much of the year—the world is mainly water, topped with sky. Storm or calm above is reflected in the tone and motion of the waves, and the line between water and sky, the distinction, is often broken, though the long curve of difference […]
Read more
Shadi Ayoub greets visitors to his 961 Collective in the parking lot of the Osborn Building on Hamilton Avenue. He then walks them through industrial space occupied by Ingenuity Festival, back to his small, rectangular studio. On one side of the room are machines: two Heidelberg windmill letterpresses, an industrial paper cutter, a desk. On the other side are three […]
Read more
John Wallace Carlson died December 20, sealing, for those who knew him, 2020’s reputation as a truly horrible year. Carlson was 66. His passing robbed Cleveland of a kindly, creative force whose art and teaching leave a memorable mark. Carlson was tall and skinny, his fashion casual and faintly glam, his hair electric. Walk into a show and he’d beam […]
Read more
John Farina and Adam Tully don’t just collect art: they live it. Pieces from their eclectic collection ranging somewhere between 600 and 700 works adorn every room in their home, including the attic, bathrooms, closets, and hallways. About 85 percent of that, Farina estimates, is work by local artists. Even their cats—Emma, Hex, and Roosevelt—play with charming little toys crafted […]
Read more
When Mary Urbas was a sixteen-year-old Cleveland Heights High School student, she went out and got a job. So did her twin brother. To her dismay, she learned her brother was getting paid more than she was—something she said hadn’t occurred to her, since at home they were treated as equals. Forty years later, Urbas is making sure women artists […]
Read more
Norman Rockwell painted our cover image, From Concord to Tranquility, in 1971, and it was used to illustrate the Boy Scouts of America calendar in 1973. Rockwell—who famously painted hundreds of covers for the Saturday Evening Post—also painted dozens of illustrations for the Boy Scout magazine Boy’s Life, and for the Scouts’ annual calendars from 1925 to 1976. The people […]
Read more
Your easy, chronological guide to exhibits and opportunities at Northeast Ohio galleries, studios, and museums coming in the next few months. More information about many of these exhibits can be found elsewhere in the pages of CAN. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, most art events planned for this spring have limited admission, and while almost all of them remain free, […]
Read more