A Burning First Post

Someone told me Cleveland was a good place for an artist to hide. Well, must be true because only recently have I discovered many that were being hermits, or just showing in galleries outside of Cleveland. I should have figured there were more than I thought initially; Cleveland is where American Greetings is based, many illustrators and painters work there getting their soul destroyed before heading home to work on their "real" projects. And we do have the Cleveland Institute of Art -- Dana Schutz did her undergrad work there, a fact they like to pimp.
Sure I have my issues with this city, but honestly, no more than I did with Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Boston or Ann Arbor. The difference is that in Cleveland my wallet isn't being raped and my credit cards aren't racking up debt just trying to pay for car insurance. I also don't have to deal with people who are on a mission to be a "star" constantly or out to see how I might be useful to them. Cleveland is trying more to cater to the young and creative class, so you can get a sweet loft or just a cheap apartment for little money. And if you want to step it up a bit, you can get a luxury condo for less than the price of a shack in the Bay Area. If you are a creative type, being able to work part-time or even do your art full-time is something you can actually accomplish here with little stress. Most huge work space lofts go for between $130-250 a month with is pretty amazing considering how big they are. See, it isn't all American Splendor here, although that side of Cleveland is well and alive.

And yes, Cleveland does have galleries and a small art scene. I think the problem of why more hasn't been written about it is just the fact the galleries don't try hard enough to be known on a national level. Sometimes they don't even care enough to have a regular schedule and do shows sporatically. Heck, some don't even have websites, or if they do, they are not updated or functional with proper meta tags etc. This can be said for many artists too -- which I really don't understand -- hence you need to do some digging.

Where to start? The area of Tremont you'll find everything from underground contemporary stuff to the "does this match my couch?" and Thomas Kinkade-esque fare. It's also where many bars and restaurants are located. This is the "arty" area I guess, as I'd compare it a bit to the Silverlake neighborhood of L.A. except with nicer restaurants. But don't worry, you're just as likely to get your car stolen and torched here as you are in Echo Park if you are one of those people who like to "keep it real" in your urban experiences. I think my two favorite galleries in Tremont are Brandt Gallery and Asterisk Gallery. But there are many I haven't been to yet like Raw & Co.














Heading into the downtown area you'll find spaces like Convivium 33 Gallery, which is pretty freakin' cool.




There's also a new space that just opened in the Tower Press Building called the Wooltex Gallery. I don't have a shot of the inside, but it is really nice believe me. Another newer one in downtown that the space is really nice is William Busta's Gallery. He has no website it seems though, so I can't show it to you. The work of Timothy Callaghan was the opening show in the new space.
Front Room Gallery is another that is doing some interesting things in both 2D and installation shows; the space is on the 3rd floor of a warehouse, but once inside it is quite nice with great lighting. Zygote Press is where you wanna get you print fix on and has a loyal following it seems. Shaheen Fine Art has been a mainstay, they feature contemporary works as well as a few blue chip artists in their inventory. A newer gallery that just opened with a focus on street art and illustration, it is called Artchitecture Gallery it is a beautiful space run by a few employees of JakPrints.

On to the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, a neighborhood in "transition" so I'd avoid going there late at night. My husband refuses outright to set foot there after we nearly got car jacked in front of the theater; I try to make the best of it as there are some nice shops and things sprouting up. The Cleveland Public Theater is the anchor of the area, a very fun theater with all sorts of events and pretty inside too. Their annual art auction and the All Go Signs events are big here. I haven't been to 1Point618 Gallery yet, but they have a nice little set up too...

M% Gallery and Gray's Auctioneers (which does art exhibits as well as fun live auctions) just moved to this area as well -- this is all very nice for me since I live down the street. I still mourn the closing of 1300 Gallerywhich I considered the La Luz de Jesus of Cleveland, but I know a new gallery has taken over in its place called Tregoning and Co. It shows blue chip established artists and has a frame shop and restoration area too. In fact the former American Greetings HQ is now dubbed the Creative Arts Building. Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery, Kokoon Arts, GalleryRachel Davis Fine Arts, a couple of recording studios, offices of Alternative Press magazine and the studios of a number of artists, including Derek Hess, are located here.

And if crafts and DIY is your thing, there's plenty of that here too; we have a wonderful chapter of Stitch N Bitch, and in fact check out the newly opened http://www.stitchcleveland.com/Of course we have a Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, various non-profit spaces and the like. There's just too many for me to list and frankly some of them I'm not too crazy about anyways. So, I thought I'd leave you with a list of some Cleveland based artists to sift through:
http://www.timothycallaghan.com/
http://www.amycaseypainting.com/
Chris Ryniak
Melissa Forman
http://www.thomasfrontini.com/
Bridget Ginley
Scott Radke
Jorge Lacera
Julie Langsam
Thu Tran
Joe Ayala
Susan Danko
Derek Hess