MORE THAN A BORDER OF FLOWERS In April, William Busta brought to the CAN office a yellowed, newsprint tabloid we had never seen before. The Guide to Cleveland Art Week was published September 19, 1980. The occasion was a week-long celebration of art coordinated by NOVA—the New Organization for the Visual Arts—in cooperation with the Cleveland Press. The Guide offered […]
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“I always like to say I am a painter,” says Jen Omaitz, standing in her kitchen. She lives in Kent with her husband Steve Collier, and two large dogs—an Akita and an Alaskan Malamute—in a house surrounded by oaks and pines. Inside, there’s plenty of evidence of that medium: in addition to works by several other Northeast Ohio artists, the […]
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An artist’s residency, if it is defined by a finite (and, face it, usually short) period of time, can only have lasting impact if the community is engaged, and if relationships are formed, and if both the artist and the host community learn something in the process. Since last fall, we’ve been following the Madison Residents—a group of national, international, […]
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The number of artists who applied to the curated CAN Triennial exhibition was enormous, and the range of their experience and accomplishment, the diversity of their techniques and perspectives all were inspiring. We should not be surprised: this is emblematic of the energy and intensity visible every week in the Cleveland art scene. In all, curators William Busta, Angelica Pozo, […]
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When an object has the power to compel a closer look, it is almost always has something to do with the way in which it was made. Paintings draw us in not only with their content, but with their brush strokes. Prints cause us to consider the cuts in a wood block, the burr on the edge of a dry […]
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Calm before the storm? Nah. We love the butterflies and peaches, and the warm colors on our cover this issue, but above all we love the magnifying glass, because it calls to mind curiosity. For my money, curiosity is the most precious commodity in the art world—the desire for knowledge, for connection, for discovery, for new things. The photo is […]
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Maybe it’s ironic to present images of Lin Ke’s virtual art in a print magazine. Or maybe printed photos representing works that are made on a laptop and exist on screens or in projections, with the internet experience as their subject matter, are just another layer in the experience of removal from reality. The artist from Beijing, China discussed the […]
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Talking to a crowd of about 30 people at the FRONT Porch in January, LA-based Juan Capistran described himself as a “post studio, conceptual artist,” which is not a term a person hears very often in Cleveland. Northeast Ohio artists for the most part not only have studios, but outfit them to work in a specific medium, and define themselves […]
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When Juan Capistran visited Cleveland for a week in January, we took a driving tour, starting in University Circle. There’s nothing like showing Cleveland to a visitor to reveal the city to yourself anew. Los Angeles-based, Mexican-born Capistran is one of the Madison Residents, a cohort of national, international, and Cleveland-based artists whose residencies are supported by the Cleveland Foundation […]
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When CAN launched as a quarterly, we were stricken with the glow of potential. This column began: There’s a moment, sure as flipping a light switch, when you realize something is possible. The visual art scene in Cleveland is at that moment. Five years later, that potential has grown in every way, and another moment has arrived. In the summer 2018, […]
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