John W. Carlson: A Retrospective, at HEDGE

A long-awaited memorial exhibition for Cleveland artist John W. Carlson opens this September at HEDGE Gallery and ARTneo Museum featuring paintings, prints, and drawings created during his extensive artistic career in Northeast Ohio. John passed suddenly in December 2020, leaving behind a remarkable collection of his artwork, some very recently completed and never seen in public. At the pinnacle of […]

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SOUVENIRS OF AN INDELIBLE TIME: The passing of John W. Carlson tears Cleveland’s cultural fabric

John Wallace Carlson died December 20, sealing, for those who knew him, 2020’s reputation as a truly horrible year. Carlson was 66. His passing robbed Cleveland of a kindly, creative force whose art and teaching leave a memorable mark. Carlson was tall and skinny, his fashion casual and faintly glam, his hair electric. Walk into a show and he’d beam […]

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John W Carlson, Rest In Peace

  The social media outpouring of grief over the passing of John W. Carlson in recent days provided a small window on the scope of impact made by an artist who loved to engage with people, ideas, and art. John was taken to the hospital in an ambulance Friday night, having had an abdominal aneurism.  Officially he died at 2:02 […]

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BAYarts Juried Exhibition 2020

BAYarts Juried Exhibition has become an important outlet for northeast Ohio artists. Opening March 13 in BAYarts Sullivan Gallery, this year’s judges are well-known local art influencers John W. Carlson and Shari Wilkins. Part of BAYarts community for over fifteen years, Carlson teaches Figure Drawing and The Basics and Beyond. His work has been featured in several solo and group shows […]

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Form and feeling: John W. Carlson and Steven Standley at NY’s Field Projects

This Valentine’s Day, two Cleveland-based artists will open an exhibit in the nation’s art capital. Next week, The Carlson/Standley Experience will open at Field Projects Gallery in New York. The show is named for the contributing painters, John W. Carlson and Steven Standley. Though the style and content of both artists diverge from one another, they complement one another. Based […]

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By the People, For the People, At CSU

Democracy rules every edition of the biennial People’s Art Show in the Galleries at Cleveland State University, an unjuried, un-curated, uncensored display of just about every artistic pursuit on the Cleveland art scene. The 23rd iteration is on view October 26 – December 7. This year, a couple of interactive works in the show are particularly relevant to democracy, and […]

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Bay Arts’ “Presence and Projection”: Humanity at extremes and in intimacy

John W. Carlson and Douglas Max Utter  explore the ability of painting, print, and drawing to create self-sustaining worlds of feeling in their joint exhibition “Presence and Projection”. The show is ongoing at Bay Arts’ Sullivan Family Gallery, and is hosted in collaboration with HEDGE Gallery. Carlson is a painter and drawing instructor. Utter is an artist, critic, and 2013 […]

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