Collective Arts Network – CAN Journal

Artists build careers by their individualism. They function on their own clocks, and get attention with original ideas.  That means the people who organize them have a tough job. They not only take time away from their own art, but also to  tiptoe around opinions and hover above chaos. And they’re almost always volunteers. Nonetheless, Cleveland has plenty of artists working to organize their colleagues at the grass […]

    Randall Tiedman’s body of work spanned nearly five decades. It began with a comic book cover when Tiedman was 15  and included forays into portraiture, abstract and experimental depictions, and romantic Hudson River School inspired  landscapes. Tiedman’s most recent work featured industrial landscapes with factories bordering cascading waterfalls, unseen lighting  sources spilling over sporting arenas and tumultuous lake water sloshing over entire city blocks. The dramatic industrial  images […]

This fall, as two of Cleveland’s most prominent art exhibitors unveil undeniably spectacular pieces of new construction, it’s fair to say we’re enjoying the fruit of an arts building boom. MOCA Cleveland for the first time ever will have a purpose-built home in which to present the best of the world’s contemporary art. It anchors the intersection of Euclid and Mayfield like a faceted block […]

Saturday, Sept. 15 SPAR X City Hop If an art exhibit is like a visual circus, then Sparx City Hop has a little bit in common with the a jungle safari. Multitudes of artists open their studios for the curious to come and see them in their natural habitat. You can ride the trolley on four routes where varied species dwell—The Orange Route runs from 11:00am […]

There is no word for a space such as this, but until someone establishes said word, “atrium” will have to do. No matter. In here, insufficient words and spatial statistics slip away along with the rest of the world. Contradiction blooms from all points, starting from points within, such as your expectations. Instead of feeling daunted by the vastness, you are wholly absorbed in a […]

by Douglas Max Utter No matter how talented (or how much of a geek) you may be, you can’t really whip up a batch of iPads in the basement; the “I” in that product will never be “you.” But the “hand” in “handmade paper” could easily be the one at the end of  your arm. Nothing but a mud pie is as personal or […]

Sifting through the evidence of life after a person passes away inevitably reveals untold stories. So it goes with East Cleveland artist Ronald Carvell Meaux (1945-2012). When Meaux died of natural causes alone in his apartment in February, 2012, no one noticed. No family member, friend or anyone else took responsibility for cleaning up the details of his estate, or even to claim his body. […]