After what seemed like quite a lapse in postings, Northeast Ohio's original b'logger (billboard logger), Harry "X" Sysack, recently put on-line what he promises is "the truth & the whole truth your overpaid teachers & benighted college professors never teach you". Sysack's line is on the RTA, on his private property where W.25th forms Pearl, and his "truths" begin with "Yo, students" and include "What is Christian America all about? Everybody is fuckin' everybody & everybody is lyin' about how they're fuckin' everybody. All politicians are evil & dishonest...". And, one of my favorites, "All lawyers are legal ho's."

Dana Paterson's shop is on Detroit across the street from the Save-A-Lot store. 
see more info on the Mr. Paterson's neon shop on Realneo here

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10.18.11 Occupy Cleveland needs a permit for Willard Park and for Public Square.   Downtown Cleveland Alliance needs access for Xmas decor. Right.

Christmas in Cleveland will be hard for many.

But some have shelter, colored with red, white, and green.

The FREE STAMP is a negative, as is much of Cleveland.

Spectrum: The Lockwood Thompson Dialogues

Dave Eggers and Michael Kimmelman to speak at Cleveland Public Library as part of Spectrum: The Lockwood Thompson Dialogues. Thursday, December 13th at 7:15pm with a reception in the lobby prior to the conversation at 6:30pm

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Three reasons to shop at Gray's Auctioneers this Sunday.

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This Friday CIA grad and local artist Scott Miller will present his new works (never before exhibited in Cleveland) at Gray's Auctioneers Gallery. Scott Miller is an internationally acclaimed painter who typically shows and sells his work in L.A. Though it is far too simplistic to call them floral paintings, Scott Miller has titled this series "Epiphyte." If you are not up on your botany, an epiphyte is a plant that relies on another for physical support but does not feed off of it parasitically -- think ferns and orchids. These paintings are dark and sensuous and as visually interesting as they are conceptually stimulating. Come enjoy a glass of wine or maybe something stronger, meet Scott Miller, and be among the first to see what will certainly be a world class art exhibition. Suddenly I feel fortunate to be in Cleveland.

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The Cleveland Institute of Art is extraordinarily important to Northeast Ohio and the world for the great artists and designers educated there, and for the great artists and designers who are the educators, and staff. Each year, the work of the diverse CIA faculty is showcased in an exhibition not to be missed... the reception for 2007 was last Friday, December 7, and a great event, as always... perhaps the last ever in the historic Gund Building Reinberger Gallery space, as the CIA moves in total to Euclid Avenue.

 

As part of the Star Neighborhood Development planning for the Star Complex and surrounding one mile radius, I have been planning the redevelopment of the current Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Building and land, on East Boulevard in Cleveland, shown below (full size image here).

 

 

(Continued from the web site)
“This was truly a wonderful experience for so many reasons. First, I learned a lot about murals, especially since I've never done one outside before! I also got really good at climbing scaffolding with an armload of painting stuff. But besides all of that, I saw personally what an impact positive public art makes in a community. Because I was there working on it for 6 weeks I got to see a lot of the people of the neighborhood and no matter what their lives were like all the rest of the time, for the few minutes that they stopped to look at the mural or to talk to me, they were happy. I got to see the people driving by slow down and crane their necks around to see what was on the side of the building and many times people would shout compliments or encouragements out their window as they passed by. The experience gave me a first hand look at how art affects people's lives. I want to make the distinction that most of the people who witnessed my mural getting painted and who will see it forever afterwards are the not the type of people who get exposed to art in either museums or galleries. They were in no way conditioned to see things in a certain way or with a certain attitude. The reaction I got from people was a pure unfiltered response from the heart.
Art has the ability to communicate to all of us through very simple means. People respond to things that are aesthetically pleasing and beautiful and when art can embody those basic principles it has the capability to reach out into the soul of Everyman and begin to awaken our higher self. Because art has the means to become the key, more people need to be exposed to art, not just any art, but art that can establish that raw and pure connection to our very core. This, in my opinion is the goal of public art. Our world today needs all the positive influence it can get and having something available in the community that can passively affect everyone that walks or drives by it is essential.”

From: http://www.transcendentbird.com/about12.html  

November 28, 2007, renowned architect Carl Stein, FAIA, Principal of elemental architecture, llc, of New York City, shared his valuable understanding about the environment in Northeast Ohio and the world, focusing on the energy of buildings and a specific analysis of the Breuer Cleveland Trust Tower, in downtown Cleveland. This is the only high-rise by revolutionary architect Marcel Breuer, and it is globally appreciated as a masterpiece of modern design and construction... yet it is planned for demolition by Cuyahoga County Commissioners Dimora and Hagan.  Stein worked with Breuer for many years, including when Breuer built the Cleveland Trust Tower, and Stein's conclusion is there is no rational excuse for demolishing the Breuer. As Stein states, "just that Breuer and this building are so important is enough reason to preserve the Breuer"... although Stein gives many other reasons!

Cleveland is rightfully championing local hero Mike Symon for his national recognition.  Tremont has hung a banner in his honor.  We should all be thankful, at this time of year, to live in a part of the country that knows how to live well.  

Third and Last of 3 Bauhaus-Breuer events this week: Wednesday, November 28 at 6 pm at Judson Manor —Green building and modernism; are they antithetical?  (I'm  posting this for Susan Miller who's one of the organizers)

Be sure to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art and see the Modern Master’s.  Really, it is way too much to take in during one visit. 

 

Rockefeller / MLK Drive is as beautiful a place to enjoy nature - these days, fall colors - as any place on Earth that has been touched by man.  As I've been thinking about the Native Americans of this land, and Indians of India and America, and the current hostility in this county of past invaders against all others who want to live here too, I was drawn to the Indian Cultural Garden, today, and it was spectacular (full size image here).

I stood there alone, in one of the world's most beautiful places, as commuting suburbanites whizzzed by, and I thought of the last photos I took near here, of the demolition of historic apartment buildings on East Boulevard, that were part of this park's historic fabric and culture, quietly demolished for parking lots, for the whizzzzzing commuters (Full size images: above and below).

The Shaker Lakes Regional Nature Center has a photography club and last week Judith K. McMillan presented a (her first) power point presentation outlining her evolution from teacher to photography experimenter par excellence.   Ms. McMillan has a voracious curiosity - producing mosaic photo images of a tire dump in Maine to stark black and white photos of bird nests in the CMNHIstory archives.  

 

Neither the Gund Foundation nor the Cleveland Foundation made a peep to preserve the Breuer, and two of our County Commissioners (with the exception of Mr. Lawson-Jones) are (at best) too ignorant to appreciate the international architectural jewel which Jacobs bought and sold to the County  (The Breuer Tower, like the Coast Guard Station, shows Jacobs has erudite architectural taste?).

Though you might not get down to see the show in its current installation in the windows of the Cleveland Chapter of the AIA, you will have a chance to see it reprised when you attend Bauhaus in America/ a film by Judith Pearlman at Cleveland Cinematheque on November 17.

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The John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection is especially visible in this community, right now, as one day following the reception celebrating the addition of work #45 to University Circle - the stunning "Inner Circle", by David Deming - the collection welcomed to NEO the landmark sculpture "Acrobats", by important regional artist Keith Haring (born in 1958 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, qualifying him for the collection).

The Friends of Art, CWRU staff and the John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection team of Harvey Buchanan and Evelyn Kiefer picked the perfect time and day to hold a reception celebrating the addition of work #45 to the world-class Putnam Sculpture Collection, at University Circle, as David Deming's "Inner Circle" is a work of art that changes dramatically with light in the environment, and sunset is an especially beautiful time to view this work.

University Circle is a community of overlapping circles of interdependent institutions, boards, patrons and public interests that in some way touch every life in the NEO universe, worldwide (well illustrated by the current Cleveland Orchestra tour of Europe). So thoughts of "Inner Circles" within this star-power constellation bring illusions of grand people and designs. So true, as the latest "Inner Circle" added to University Circle is a very sharp and strong sculpture by Cleveland Institute of Art President David Deming, commissioned by the Putnam Sculpture Collection, of Case Western Reserve University... a great collision of worlds.

This Tuesday, the day before Halloween, The John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection and The Friends of Art have a treat for all of NEO. The day begins with a tour from 12 noon - 1 pm of some of the highlights of the John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection. The John and Mildred Putnam Collection is a remarkable collection of over 35 sculptures by "regional" artists located indoors and outdoors around the campus of Case Western Reserve University and in University Circle. The tour begins at the sculpture MERGING, infront of Guilford house, Belflower Rd., behind The Cleveland Institute of Art's Gund Building on North Campus. Tour is weather permitting and will be cancelled if there is substantial rains during 12 pm - 1pm. Please wear comfortable walking shoe and warm clothing if necessary!

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