CAN’s Most-read stories of 2025

It’s become tradition at the end of each year for CAN to look back on which posts from the last twelve months were most-read. We’ve got a few rules: it’s limited to stories published within the calendar year, excludes any of CAN’s own announcements, and excludes “listicles.” But apart from that, the year-end tradition shows you unfiltered popularity. It’s not a judgement of what is important or profound. We feel the need to clarify, because in the past some of you have felt the need to ask, “What about this?” or “What about that?” or “What about us?” It’s just the numbers here.

At the time this is posted, CAN has published online 192 stories in 2025. That includes all the stories from the printed magazine, plus another 70 or so reviews on CAN Blog–more than one a week, on average. One notable thing this year is that readers spread their love around: the 2025 Top Ten list includes 8 different writers. Another notable thing is the huge variety–from DIY spaces, like Doubting Thomas, to the Cleveland Museum of Art; from think-pieces, reflections, and reviews, to personality profiles and straight-up reporting. Without further ado, here are CAN’s ten most-read stories of 2025.

10. Dance Seismography: Robert Wright’s Over, Under, Sideways, Down at Summit Artspace, by Michael Gill
CAN’s tenth most-read post of the year takes us to Akron. “It’s kind of like I’m a human seismograph, and I capture the instantaneous spirit of the motion,” artist Robert Wright said, responding to a question about how different types of dance affect his work. But even if it is inspired by dance, and represent its movements, and is actually inseparable from it, what the painter does is not dance notation. His paintings are to dance more like what ekphrastic poetry is to painting. […] Rather than documenting so that someone else could replicate the same performance, he’s taking inspiration from it to create a completely distinct art. […] Many of the paintings don’t immediately bring dance to mind at all. In fact, Wright says they are often mistaken for some kind of Asian calligraphy. It is easy to understand why. The gestures accumulate in lines; they develop a rhythm. In that sense they have a lot in common with calligraphy, or handwriting in any language. In fact, the name of the show—Over, under, Sideways, Down—sounds like the kind of command a handwriting teacher would repeat to guide cursive practice drills. Read more here.

9. Altars, Amplifiers and Expired Beef: Ron Sims II At Studio 215, by Bob Peck
When Ron Sims II presented his exhibition at 78th Street Studios Studio 215, one Cleveland writer was right for the job of reviewing it: Someone who had known Sims for 30 years, dating from both their time running the streets and writing graffiti: Bob Peck. Bob had proven himself as a writer with his excellent autobiographical book, Train Tracks, Tribulations, and Egg Fu Young. And few Clevelanders are more knowledgeable about local graffiti culture. Here’s an excerpt: “Whether you see graffiti as art or vandalism, you may not realize there’s a culture that comes along with it. It goes far beyond just painting. In that culture, disagreements and disputes often happen. Graffiti writers call it “beef.” These arguments can arise for any number of reasons: someone painting over someone else’s work, one writer “biting” (copying) another’s style, and everything in between. Typically, it ends with the parties involved painting over each other relentlessly until someone gives up. If that doesn’t work, fists have been known to fly. … Ron and I fell victim to such beef. Read the rest on CAN Blog.

8. Nobody Knows the Glory: Karamu Artists, Inc. and Cleveland’s Black Art Resurgence, by Amanda K. King
In the last half century, Karamu has been known primarily as a theatre. The Cleveland Museum of Art. We asked artist / writer Amanda D. King to reflect on the show. King—who works in photography, as well as printmaking and other techniques—has exhibited her work at Karamu. As she wrote, “The exhibition reveals a pivotal, untold chapter in Karamu’s history, spotlighting its commitment to graphic arts. James A. Porter, a leading art historian of the early twentieth century, named Karamu a “veritable bastion” of innovation, shaping the cultural landscape despite fewer resources than wealthier, predominantly white-led institutions. Karamu thrived on limited means, sustaining creative spaces and supporting artists with what it had—enough, though not on the scale of its better-funded counterparts.” The exhibition is notable for multiple reasons, not least of which is scarcity of scholarly attention the Museum has paid to 20th century art in Cleveland. Read more of Amanda D. King’s thoughtful reflection on the exhibit here.

7. The Collector’s Collector: Teresa Vasu Dechant, by Christopher Johnston
As a curator for the Cleveland Clinic from 1982 til 2003, Teresa Vasu DeChant was responsible for building the institution’s fine art and healing art collection of more than 3,000 works in all locations. Writer Christopher Johnston talked with her about buying art as investment, and for the love of art. “Among her favorite investment pieces were two paintings by Willem de Kooning and a couple Jim Dine works that she sold to make a profit,” he wrote. “But it was a Tom Wesselmann portrait of Elizabeth Taylor that represents the risks of the art market for her. She had purchased the painting for $5,000 and gave it a prominent placement by her front door. When she later sold it for $20,000, she thought that was a good price. ‘It’s now worth close to $80,000, so I’m wishing I had it back,’ she says. But ‘The best advice is buy what you love.’ Read more about Teresa Vasu DeChant here.

6. Artificial Insanity and the Urge to Walk All Night, by Michael Gill
Rita Montlack and Meryl Engler both work in print media, and the artists are presented as such at HEDGE Gallery, but they could hardly be more different. Montlack’s work is digital, while Engler’s is 100 percent analog; Montlack’s photo-based works are fully chromatic; Engler’s relief prints sometimes use just one color, and even the multi-color prints have a palate limited by the process; Montlack lampoons artificial intelligence and embraces the noise and energy of modern life, while Engler goes for the peace of the natural world. But in two separately titled shows merged and on view together, they share HEDGE Gallery like skilled drivers in traffic at rush hour. Read the review here.

5. Looking Defiant and Badass: Pats in the Flats at Doubting Thomas, by Lyz Bly, PhD
Doubting Thomas –itself iconic for its unlikely endurance as a DIY space–appears here thanks to Lyz Bly, PhD, who captured the zeitgeist of a show celebrating the memory of another iconic DIY venue, Pat’s in the Flats. Of the the dive bar known for presenting original, local bands, Bly wrote: “Shawn Mishak, who worked alongside Pat booking shows for 20 years, assembled an exhibition honoring Pat and the community she made happen at the bar at Doubting Thomas Gallery, which is just up the hill from the site where Pat’s once stood. The exhibition serves as a time capsule for those not fortunate enough to have been here for the real Pat’s in the Flats experience, and Mishak brings together superstar-photographers / videographers Jay Brown, Lou Muenz, Anastasia Pantsios, and Malcom Ryder, as well as images Mishak took during his tenure at Pat’s. […] The images capture the anger, energy, and utter joy of the place, as well as the range of artists who played there over the years. Read more here.

4. Artful Moves: A New Home for the Cleveland Heights Arts Hive, by Carlo Wolf
Carlo Wolff followed the drama of Artful Cleveland’s contentious relationship with former landlord Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries literally for years, and one of those stories reached last year’s list of ten most-read posts. Artful found a new home in a former church in 2025, which was welcome news—as indicated by the fact that Wolff’s report on the subject reached #4 on CAN’s most-read chart. But the story is not over. “The former church was built in 1993 after a disastrous fire destroyed an earlier church building on the same property in 1989, according to episcopalassetmap.org. Prior to Artful’s purchase, it sat vacant for five years and needs a lot of work—including a new sprinkler system. It can’t stage major events like Artful’s annual Lantern Festival until that system is installed, which requires more fund-raising, Morris said.” Read more of Carlo Wolff’s reporting here.

3. Love is Resistance: The Kind of Show We Need Right Now, by Michael Gill
“The Cleveland Institute of Art’s Love Is Resistance, which opened on Valentine’s Day at Transformer Station, is in a multitude of ways The Kind Of Show We Need Right Now. After a year with no visual art programming at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s West side exhibit space, after decades during which Cleveland artists have pined for any measure of attention from the Museum (beyond being deployed for outreach purposes), and just a few weeks into the new White House administration, the Museum’s re-opening of Transformer Station with a show about love and resistance is not only a Valentine for the local art sector, but it comes with much more gravity than the holiday celebrated with chocolates and flowers.” That’s due to love of country, love of humanity, and love of the natural world, all of which face such strong headwinds right now. Click here for more, and especially to see a short video of Thomas Smith (2023)’s larger than life Donald Trump puppet, head bobbing and seeming to conduct the unquiet rumble of the hardcore band Private Prisons, featuring Mike Meier (singer/drummer) and Zak Smoker (Guitar) [which performed on opening night].

2. She did it her way: Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, by Grace Carter
Few Ohio artists have had such enduring presence as Pat Parker, or as much acclaim. After she passed away – choosing to end her life by Voluntary Assisted Death on Thanksgiving Day in Liestal, Switzerland–Grace Carter wrote this reflection on her relationship with the iconic painter and educator, focusing more on Zinsmeister’s personal kindness than her professional accomplishment. It was the 2nd most-read post of 2025. “’I want to send you on a studio visit,’ said Liz Maugans, director of YARDS Projects and, at the time, my boss. I was in my first year of college and had landed my dream internship helping Liz in the Worthington Yards gallery, where we were preparing to open a new exhibition: Material Cleveland. I was stoked to be writing my first-ever article for CAN Blog, about how the exhibition would feature artists working with locally-sourced media. Liz connected me to one of the exhibiting artists, Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, and the next thing I knew I was driving to her home studio in North Canton to meet her for the first time. […] atricia welcomed me into her house, which was bursting with color and personality at every turn. Works by the likes of Guston, Picasso, and Warhol casually adorned the walls. She led me down a precarious spiral staircase into her studio, where we hand-selected pieces to include in Material Cleveland. “What do you think of this one? Do you think it’ll work for the show?”, she’d ask me, as I stood dwarfed by her larger-than-life canvases. To tell the truth, I had no idea how to answer that question. I was just starting out in my career, but Patricia was one of the first people who took me seriously and treated me like a professional.” Read more from Grace Carter here.

1. Fans and Cameras: 45 years of taking photos of unpopular bands and weird people, by Michael Gallucci
The #1, most-read post on CANjournal.org in 2025 came from a veteran rock writer, contributing to CAN for the first time: Michael Gallucci. “For his first photography show in over 25 years, Cleveland artist Jim Lanza dusted off dozens of recently rediscovered negatives of alternative rock bands and fans he shot in the ‘80s and ‘90s. More than 150 photographs make up Fans & Cameras: Jim Lanza – 45 Years of Taking Photos of Unpopular Bands and Weird People, on view at Sixty Bowls Gallery from April 12 through May 10. […] Lanza, accompanying his older brother to local punk clubs and armed with a fake ID, began photographing the scene around 1982. “On any given weekend, kids with pink mohawks would mingle with bikers and transvestites,” he recalls. “I wanted to capture it all.” Read more from Michael Gallucci here.