I received an informative email this afternoon from Richard McDougald Enty, Planning Team Leader, Programming & Planning Department, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, about some of their Transit Oriented Development initiatives and vision. It is very exciting to see this as an active subject for discussion and planning here. I am a strong supporter of Transit Oriented Development and consider it the core foundation on which we should rebuild the City of Cleveland and surrounding suburbs.  Here is the vision from RTA:

This week's edition of Dee Perry's arts & culture television program Applause!, on WVIZ, features a segment on REALNEO... so I'd like to invite all the friends of realneo to join us for a screening party for the first broadcast of the program, Thusday, March 29, from 7:30 - 8:00 PM, at the great A.J. Rocco's Cafe, at 816 Huron Road, by East 9th Street. As a special treat, I was pleased to learn that A.J. Rocco's had already planned a very cool and complimentary event for that evening - Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman will be the guest bartender from 6-8 PM.

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There are not many opportunities to see African art in Cleveland -- especially while the Cleveland Museum of Art is under renovation. Fortunately, there are some generous collectors with outstanding African collections in Cleveland. Art: Trilogy, Anonymity, and Eclecticism, 100 pieces of African Art and African American Art is an exhibition going on now through May 15th 2007 at the Cleveland Public Library, Main Library Building, 2nd Floor Exhibit Corridor, which taps into the collectors' and creators' spirits.

The Church at Varengeville, Morning Effect is the most powerful work Monet created while on a painting campaign in Varengeville in 1882. The church of Saint-Valery is a Romanesque medieval church, built in the 12th-century, perched dramatically near the edge of  a towering cliff. It has long been a mariners' church and many generations of local fisherman are buried in the cemetery.

Carl Topilow conducts works by Dvorak and Stravinsky, with cellist Chia-Ling Chen. Don't miss hearing some of the best young musicians in the United States, many of whom will soon be playing with the world's great symphonies. Free, tickets will be distributed 30 minutes before the concert.

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Stephen Marley (son of reggae legend Bob Marley) play the House of Blues.
Visit Stephen Marley's website to hear his music and learn more.

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Majorie Williams, Director of Education, The Cleveland Museum of Art, lectures at the CMA as part of the Monet Lectures series accompanying the exhibition "Monet in Normandy". This lecture is free, open to the public and in the Recital Hall.

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John House, Professor, Courtauld Institute of Art, lectures at the CMA as part of the Monet Lectures series accompanying the exhibition "Monet in Normandy". This lecture is free and held in the Recital Hall.

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Hollis Clayson, Professor, Northwestern University, lectures at the CMA as part of the Monet Lectures series accompanying the exhibition "Monet in Normandy". This lecture is free and held in the Recital Hall.

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Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1867

Renowned Impressionist and Monet scholar, and professor at the University of Massachusetts,  Paul Tucker lectures at the CMA as part of the Monet Lectures series accompanying the exhibition "Monet in Normandy". Paul Tucker has written many scholarly books on Monet and has curated several Monet exhibitions.

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Untitled (from the Silueta Series, August 1978,

Photograph, 8 x 9 15/16"

Wednesday, March 28 there will be a free screening of short films by Ana Mendieta that document her performances from the 1970s and 1980s, notably her earthwork/body art siluetas.

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I was quite honored to be contacted, a few weeks ago, by the producer of one of my favorite television programs, Dee Perry's "Applause", asking for information about REALNEO. Seems he was doing research on the spectacular Convivium 33 Gallery, which we have featured extensively on REALNEO, covering Christopher Pekoc here and Clarence Van Duzer here (photos from which were featured in Cleveland Magazine), so REALNEO came up in search results. The producer saw REALNEO as in interesting source of insight on arts and culture in NEO and suggested to his staff doing a segment on Applause about REALNEO. Even though we scheduled the interview, this seemed very abstract until I just saw a promotion on WVIZ for the show, featuring a scrolling view of the REALNEO home page.

Proud to see my parents support this exciting expression of the arts in NEO, hosted at the Main Branch of the Cleveland Public Library - thanks to Charles Burkett for pointing out this notice about the show on the CPL website. - it is worth checking out this exhibition, organized by the very cool Elmer Buford

3rd Annual Art Fur Animals Benefit & Auction, all proceeds go directly to the care of animals at the City of Cleveland Kennel.
I went to this even last year and it was a lot of fun. Various artists painted about 30 ceramic dogs that were sold by auction. There were other types of art (prints, photos) being auctioned too. The low admission price brought in a fun crowd. There were free appetizers and a cash wine bar. I liked how the whole event was done at a very low cost allowing most of the money to go to the animals. But, what I enjoyed most was seeing all that creativity. I bought a dog with scenes of the Mediterranean painted on serveral areas of his anatomy. This year should be no less interesting!

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Always one of the most important arts events of each year, in NEO, the Cleveland Institute of Art Student Independent Exhibition (now in its 61st year) proves, as promoted, "Tradition doesn’t always have to be stodgy". Far from stodgy - this show is always exciting, in your face, over the top, fun and inspiring. It is also one of the best places in the world to see what art and artists are influencing this region now and will continue to change the world throughout our lives.

Dana Schutz, Relic, 2006
30 x 22 inches, #28 of 100

While chatting with my parents the other day, my dad mentioned they had just bought the above print by globally-hot NEO/CIA trained artist Dana Schutz, who blew the NEO art scene wide open this Fall with her fantastic exhibition of paintings that drew international acclaim and such massive crowds the MOCA gift shop sold out of everything on hand... here's a write up about this print from a Dana Schutz fan in Houston, and gushing praise about the show and MOCA from a visiting arts champion from Detroit (who I quote, about MoCA/Cleveland: "For me MOCA in Cleveland was bittersweet.  It was great to see that places like Detroit can build up and become something and even support young artists.  It is hope that Detroit ,too can have a contemporary.  But it was also a sad reality check that we are a city lacking a fertile art environment.  Let's hope that the talks of Detroit getting a contemporary will actually go somewhere.  Maybe we can kidnap some of the city planners from Cleveland????"). I hadn't heard anything about this important print (or any Schutz prints on the market), which my parents said Dana donated to MoCA to raise funds for them, so I asked my parents how they had heard about it and they said they believed they read about it in the international arts magazine ArtNews - not anywhere in NEO. They sought it out - bought it - and MoCA made money. There are more for sale... more money to be made for MoCA (at $2,200 a piece, making good money for MoCA)... more great arts investments to be made by arts patrons, here or elsewhere.

How many people in NEO could have an uplifting, inspiring and positive documentary film made about them - how many people in NEO would come out looking all good... great? "Citizen" Ed Hauser is surely unique to Northeast Ohio, having stood up to many other "citizens", including NEO community and government "leadership", in a 9-year fight for what Ed felt was best for all in the community. The documentary "Citizen Hauser", about Ed's battle, which officially led to victory on March 02, 2007, has aired on public television in Northeast Ohio - an outstanding work by Blue Hole Productions - will be featured with other short films at the Cleveland Film Festival, as posted below.

Let's make this a victory party!

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This in today from Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia and CIA Future Center Director David Moss... their personal invitations to all to join them at Future Center for a reception for artist Guy-Vincent Ricketti's Identity Remix... read on... hope to see you there.

Now Showing : Indentity Remix

Stop into FUTURE Gallery and experience the work of Guy-Vincent Ricketti and the thought-provoking Identity Remix.

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