Nobody Knows the Glory: Karamu Artists Inc. and Cleveland’s Black Art Resurgence

Eighty years after Karamu Artists Inc.’s 1941 exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, CMA highlights the collective’s role in shaping Cleveland’s Black arts scene and its broader cultural influence, with Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community. The exhibition opens March 23. In 1938, the United States was enmeshed in unflinching racial segregation and widespread poverty. Black Americans, already […]

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Spring 2025 Events

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 Journal.These listings are based on announcements from each presenting organization, at press time. Due to changing circumstances, events may be added, cancelled, or […]

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This Moment in US Art History: CAN Journal, Spring 2025

At press time, it’s come to this: under a new White House administration, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has revised the guidelines for its primary grant program to say funding preference will be given to patriotic art, in the form of projects that “celebrate the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity by honoring” its 250th birthday, in 2026. […]

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From Woman 18 in 2025, at Understory

Last year, Mary Urbas left her longtime post as Director of the gallery at Lakeland Community College after the administration cut her position and closed the gallery amid deep budget cuts and financial woes. During her tenure as director, she curated long-running themed exhibitions, including the annual the Skull and Skeleton Show, and, in honor of Women’s History Month, the […]

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When Expectant Mothers Have a Village

I recently went to moCa Cleveland for the opening of Dear, an exhibit of photos provided by Birthing Beautiful Communities. Dear is a tribute to the strength, resilience, and beauty of Black motherhood and the community that supports it. Birthing Beautiful Communities is an organization in Northeast Ohio that holistically supports pregnant women from the time they find out they […]

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Connecting to Futures: Kyra Wells is … how an early re-purposer found her purpose in graphic design

“Hi, I’m Kyra!” reads the top of the homepage of the website of Kyra Wells. “I am a Graphic Designer.” And then a vertical line, like the cursor of a text, swipes left and erases that job title, replacing it with Motion Designer. Then Brand Strategist takes its place. Next is Design Educator, followed by Community Advocate, and finally Champion […]

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Build It and They Will Come: Cleveland Print Room’s Property Inventory

Take the river of data that maps 163,000 parcels comprising the built environment of Cleveland. Add layers of interpretation from entities like the City of Cleveland, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. Then introduce the shimmering catalyst of art to the mix, and explode the reality of place. Welcome to the Cleveland Print Room’s Property […]

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Photo Poets: Rachel Yurkovich

Photographer Rachel Yurkovich, with her well-traveled perspective, highlights nooks of Cleveland that represent a microcosm of the macrocosm. The color, composition and framing remind you of the things you notice out of the corner of your eye. The shapes and patterns formed by the movement of life, and the settled debris from that movement. Yurkovich was born in South Carolina […]

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