Waterloo Arts Gallery has mounted ambitious shows in its renovated storefront space since 2004, in a long foreshadowing of North Collinwood’s current fine-arts thaw.  After two tantalizing decades of big promises and slow progress around the intersection of East 152^nd and Waterloo, that pioneer space and the entire Waterloo Arts District are more lively than ever.  And some of the area’s most interesting visual arts shows can still be found at Waterloo Arts Gallery itself, which continues to mount a number of solo and focus exhibits each year.

 

Waterloo Arts Gallery mounts its third Annual Juried Exhibition June 3 – July 22 , coinciding with this year’s 14^th area-wide Arts Fest, and with the support of three other non-profits (and fellow members of CAN): Brick Ceramic + Design Studio, Praxis Fiber Workshop ( two very bright new arts organizations along the North Waterloo block), and the Sculpture Center, one of Cleveland’s lesser known cultural treasures located in University Circle.

 

WAG’s National Juried Show is a relatively new development, licked into its present shape over the past three years by Diane Shoemaker.  This year the exhibit, which in past seasons has included paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, photography and small sculpture,  builds on its growing national  reputation, offering several cash prizes and a juror who brings curatorial skills and a bit of institutional sheen to the proceedings. Rob Lehr, in charge of the 2016 picks, is Canton Art Museum’s Director of Marketing and Communications, as well as gallery director at Summit Artspace operated by the Akron Area Arts Alliance. In 2014 he founded the respected critical blogspace, curatorialcollective.com. Lehr was recommended to WAG by last year’s juror, Akron Art Museum Associate Curator Theresa Bembnister.

 

Waterloo Arts Executive Director Amy Callahan, who like her 501c3 colleagues wears many hats on the job, does her share of curatorial decision-making and impromptu gallery design in any given year.  But while she has taken many other exhibits under her own wing, organizing shows of national import like last year’s I Am Trans show of transgender art and artists from around the country, she says the Juried Show  has prospered in large part due to Shoemaker’s initiative and hard work. Additionally, WAG’s new gallery partners each offer a  $75 award for outstanding work in fiber, ceramic, and sculptural media this year.

 

Other top prizes include a $500 award, two $250 awards, and several of $50. All artists accepted into the show will receive a small honorarium. The entry fee is $30.

 

Waterloo Arts Third Annual Juried Exhibition: June 3 – July 22

Walk All Over Waterloo: June 3, July 1, August 5, September 2

 

Waterloo Arts

15605 Waterloo Road

Cleveland, Ohio 44110

artscollinwood.org