Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Cleveland Institute of Art ... LOF and some wednesdays...




CIA is rockin' ... all term long.

We've got some amazing Lunch on Fridays talks coming up and we're busy at work for the spring. Put it on your calendars and be there. Also make note... Wednesdays are starting to crank as well with "Some Wednesdays" now providing additional opportunities to hear people talk about the things you love. And... of course... there's Cinematheque. John Ewing and Tim Harry keep us entertained when no one else can. (Did you see the NY Times Travel section on Cleveland. So True.) Check out Cinematheque.

To kick off the Wednesdays... This Wednesday, September 30, 5 pm ... Cuban Contemporary Art Specialist Helmo Hernandez will be speaking in Aitken. This is a great chance to really see some edgy work and there will be a reception to follow. This amazing event is being made possible by The Cleveland Foundation. If you're at all interested in Cuban OR Contemporary Art you should definitely come.

One of our focuses for the fall LOF talks has been the professional activities of Cleveland Institute of Art Faculty. Royden Watson speaks tomorrow and he's shown all over the place including Berlin... and then on October 2 we will have the opportunity to hear Photography Head Barry Underwood speak. Both artists are amazing and Underwood has been instrumental in blazing the residency trail. He has had a number of residencies, including one at The Banff Centre, and more recently at the Headlands in California. I personally find his work intriguing and beautiful and am looking forward to his talk.

As many of you may know Saul Ostrow and Charles Tucker were the organizers of The Banff Centre's Spring Residency "Analogous Fields." A perfect artist fit for this investigatory look into the overlaps between art and science was the Institute's own Amanda Almon. As a residency participant she spent the spring in the Canadian Rockies pursuing her own work. Almon, the Head of CIA's remarkable Biomedical Arts program, works in an overlap of her own exploring the intersects of studio art through the skills and knowledge of her applied field. The results of her explorations are currently on view as part of CIA's faculty exhibit and the public can hear her speak about her work on Friday, October 9.

LOF, October 16 – Matthew Beckwith -- Industrial Design's up and coming young faculty member is one of Cleveland's hottest talents. He is also notable for his abilities in connecting with his students and his outreach work ... including his current engagement with the students of Design Lab, located at Jane Addams High School.


LOF, October 23 – Megan Ehrhart

Like her colleague Amanda Almon, Ehrhart is another young and exciting artist crossing boundaries in her digital media-based work. Over the course of the summer she lived and worked in the remote French countryside while an Artist in Residence at Camac Centre D'Art in Marnay-Sur-Seine. While there she generated the piece, "Echoes of Abandonment", a facet of a larger media installation entitled "Grounded."

While in France, Ehrhart has said the remote location forced her to slow down and look to innovation and self-reflection to generate her work. Consequently, while there, her worked thrived. Another talk I'm really looking forward to...

Really one of my favorite things about being in Cleveland is getting to meet so many truly interesting people who are as into what they do as I am.