Simple, Subtle, Quiet Beauty: The Verne Gallery Celebrates Its 70th Year

It’s being done very quietly, but this month the Verne Gallery celebrates a remarkable anniversary—its seventieth year in business—making it the second-oldest gallery in Cleveland after the Bonfoey Gallery, established in 1893. Such longevity in itself is remarkable, but in this instance all the more so, because the Verne Gallery is a bit of an anomaly in today’s art world, […]

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Zen Master Laurence Channing at Bonfoey

For years Laurence Channing was director of publications at the Cleveland Museum of Art, but would rise every morning hours before dawn to put in a few hours of drawing before he went to work.  As this suggests, while his effects are delicate, there’s a stubborn intensity to his vision.  He seems indifferent to the usual artistic tricks for calling […]

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JEANNINE deNOBEL LOVE, CLEVELAND ARCHITECTURE, 1890-1930: BUILDING THE CITY BEAUTIFUL, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

To lure buyers, it’s common to say that a book is a “page-turner.” That’s not the case here, but nonetheless it’s well worth buying Jeannine deNobel Love’s Cleveland Architecture, 1890-1930: Building the City Beautiful, and keeping it close at hand. For anyone who lives in Cleveland or who’s interested in the arts, this is an indispensable reference. Cleveland’s greatest period […]

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Thirty Years After The Perfect Moment

Dennis Barrie was director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center when he and the museum became the first in the US to face obscenity charges over the art they exhibited–a retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe’s provocative photos, titled The Perfect Moment. He went on to serve as executive director of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and subsequently […]

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The bow: Tregoning & Company preserved, made art history

Tregoning & Company was born in 1982, over lunch. Having cut his teeth at American University and Washington, D.C.-area museums, Tregoning had come to work for a prominent Cleveland framing and appraisal company. However, he quickly found himself in philosophical clashes with the owners. The firm only hung a few paintings on the walls at a time. To Tregoning, this […]

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The Invisible Man: William Robinson

  This is adapted from a letter from Henry Adams, nominating William Robinson for the Cleveland Arts Prize. When there’s a great exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, not many people stop to think about who was responsible for creating it, or about the challenges of making it happen.  The key visionary and impresario behind a great many of […]

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Creativity Matters: Grafton Nunes and the New Unified Campus of the Cleveland Institute of Art

“Our values today are not very different from the values of  Viktor Schreckengost.  We believe in discipline, a close reading of the reality around you, a connection with the viewer and end user.  We give our students traditional drawing skills, and knowledge of color theory, composition, and perspective.  Today these very important foundational skills are being applied to 3D animation, […]

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Peter van Dijk, FAIA, Architect 1969 CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE RECIPIENT FOR ARCHITECTURE will be the 2016 Cleveland Arts Prize Special Honoree

Few figures have so profoundly shaped Cleveland—and done so for the better—as Peter van Dijk. The architect designed some of the best buildings in the region, including the Blossom Music Center; has played a major role in historic restoration; and for decades has quietly played an active and positive role in civic design and planning, and arts activities of all […]

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