In junior high, I began covering the walls of my childhood bedroom with clippings from fashion and music magazines. The growing collages began to the cover the adjoining walls and door frames, containing images as disparate as Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran to Claudia Schiffer channeling Brigette Bardot in a Guess jeans ad. Sprinkle in some horses, Dali Paintings, and […]
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The subtle patterns and collage-like layers of Petra Soesemann’s textile-based works are like core samples, skimmed or extracted from a not-quite-physical dimension found near the frontiers of memory and human understanding. At the same time, they read as desirable, touchable, and the tension between these qualities lends them a lapidary oscillation – like precious stones seen in a shallow lake. […]
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James Peake, Comb When most people hear the word “origami,” they probably think of small folded paper animals. Although I am sure James Peake can create a paper bunny or bird, that is not where his passion for paper lies. Peake creates sculptural paper forms. Peake creates non-representational origami through corrugation and tessellation techniques. Corrugation is a fold pattern […]
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Cleveland’s Loftworks Gallery had the look of a miniature Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with its recent Rock and Roll Perspectives 2 show. The exhibition featured the works of Cleveland-area concert photographers Joe Kleon and (CAN contributor) Anastasia Pantsios. Gallery walls were plastered with mostly 16×20 matted prints of rock and roll legends from Paul McCartney to Tina Turner […]
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“Those guys are being jerks” – a message from Nikki popped up as I was in the midst of dealing with something that every female writer has to contend with, but was new for me – being trolled and mansplained at the same time. “Well, I guess I’m officially a journalist now!” I said. “Baby’s first empowered white male trolling! […]
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Since his death in 2006, Rev. Albert Wagner’s family has been working to establish a museum to commemorate the self-taught artist and minister. After many years and setbacks, the Wagner Museum of Art has officially been established as a nonprofit. Bonita Wagner Johnson, the reverend’s daughter and driving force behind the museum, said she is also close to regaining […]
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Josh Usmani’s Funny Money series shows the power of a medium as a kind of collaborator with the artist to give meaning to the work. The series consists of paper currency, which the artist has vividly colored with markers and pens. A new set of these drawings, Altered Value, is on view at Tregoning & Company October 19 through December […]
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Democracy rules every edition of the biennial People’s Art Show in the Galleries at Cleveland State University, an unjuried, un-curated, uncensored display of just about every artistic pursuit on the Cleveland art scene. The 23rd iteration is on view October 26 – December 7. This year, a couple of interactive works in the show are particularly relevant to democracy, and […]
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For a city to be considered alive, a certain number of lights must be shining at night. I am sure there is an equation that factors in the size and population and spits out the number of watts necessary to achieve the appropriate lumens required for an “Alive” rating. Two years ago, Downtown Akron began shifting into that category when […]
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This is an outstanding opportunity for a Cleveland-based mural artist: The city of Rouen, France–Cleveland’s sister city–will pay for your travel, accommodations, and supplies to go to Rouen and work with two local artists there to create a mural. It’s a big mural: 80 feet long, 32 feet high. Click here: RFP for application details. The deal is reciprocity, […]
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