Presenting two exhibitions on geometric abstraction, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve draws attention to both the history of and the continued impact that the style has had on our region. While the companion exhibition Tangents (curated by Jenniffer Omaitz) pushes the boundaries of geometric abstractions, A Hard Line takes on a more Formalist approach utilizing works from the […]
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The arts sector in Cuyahoga County has long sought a way to stabilize the revenue stream for its public support, which since 2006 has been a 30-cent per pack tax on cigarettes. Among many other possibilities discussed by policy makers or suggested (taxing real estate, hotel stays, dine-in restaurant meals, beer and wine, soft drinks) the prospect of a tax […]
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Cuyahoga Arts and Culture’s entire budget for partner organizations making individual artist grants each year–$400,000 –is less than one percent of Deshaun Watson’s annual salary. Indeed, the sum of all grants CAC’s board recently approved for all organizations combined amounts to less than 25 percent of that one football player’s annual salary. This tangential comparison doesn’t just highlight the difference […]
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Cuyahoga Arts and Culture’s Board of Directors meets at 3:30 Wednesday, December 13 in the Louis Stokes Wing of Cleveland Public Library, and if you care about the arts or if you like reality television, you should go. The Board’s public behavior has been an embarrassment to the sector for all of 2023. The good news is that the terms […]
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In speaking with any number of local artists both amateur and professional, there is a shared observation that the juried exhibition ecosystem is not serving the artists. For the uninitiated, the juried ecosystem is a ‘pay to play’ exhibition model, wherein the non- refundable entrance fees (usually about $15 a painting) are aggregated to pay for juror(s) services, award money, […]
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Dual exhibitions at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve explore North East Ohio’s long running interest in geometric abstraction. The first, Tangents, asks the question: “Why is making abstract work still important?” Jenniffer Omaitz’s curatorial debut boasts a serious panel of artists working in abstraction, primarily of the geometric variety, each with unique and individual voices. (A second exhibition, […]
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David Buttram estimates that he went 42 years without having a solo show: between a 1982 exhibition at Karamu House (during which he says he sold every painting) and one in 2022 at Framed Gallery on Waterloo, he appeared regularly and was even sought-after for group shows, but didn’t get the spotlight himself, to present a broad collection of his […]
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The cigarette tax had two goals: provide funding for the arts and reduce smoking in our region. It worked, but as smoking fell, so did revenue for the arts. Now what? The Ohio legislature, not known for favoring progressive policies, art, or Cleveland, nonetheless responded positively to Cuyahoga County arts advocates’ early-aughts request to create a revenue stream to fund […]
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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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When they opened their first store, no cars swooshed by their display windows. Women’s skirts swept the sidewalks and their jewels glittered under gaslights at the Opera House, just down East 4th Street from the first store. John D. Rockefeller had just started his vertical integration into wealth, Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams had recently introduced a line of marine […]
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