Sun 1/10 @ 1-6PM
Cleveland has a problem with professional sports and its attachment to them. Prodded by the media, the city over-identifies with its sports teams, thus tying its self-esteem to something it has no control over: whether the teams win or (more typically) lose.
And lose they do. With a half century of failure behind them, the teams’ records leave a patina of failure over a region that holds them up as symbolic of that region’s culture. It’s not a scenario for rebuilding the area’s self-esteem or public reputation.
Instead of “Take me out to the ballgame,” how about “Take me out to the art gallery”? A much more vibrant and successful — and locally generated — northeast Ohio sector, its arts community, will reflect on the region and its outsized relationship with its sports teams in an exhibit titled Fandom 216, with 20 artists participating at three galleries. The artists include some with serious credentials and resumes as well as some newcomers.
Among them are exhibit curators Dana Depew and Michael Loderstadt, SPACES executive director Christina Vassallo, Zygote co-founder Liz Maugans, ceramicist Kristen Cliffel whose work is currently on display at the Canton Art Museum, 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize winner painter Michelangelo Lovelace, photographer Lori Kella, light sculptor Jeff Chiplis, painter Timothy Callahan and CAN Journal publisher/editor and printmaker Michael Gill. Others include Rian Orso Brown, Bruce Checefsky, Elizabeth Emery, Kevin Everson, Bob Kelemen, Karin McKenna, R Eric McMaster, Ricky Rhodes, Anderson Turner and John Williams.
It will have staggered openings, starting this week Sun 1/10 at Waterloo Arts, followed by the HEDGE Gallery at the 78th Street Studios on Fri 1/15 and finally at Zygote Press on Fri 1/29. The kickoff “tailgate” party takes place at Waterloo Arts from Sun 1/10 @1-4pm. There will be food, drinks, polka music from Malphonia, spoken word by youth poet athletes from America Scores and an in-person appearance by colorful Cleveland Browns booster the Bone Lady, whose memoir about her own fandom just came out on Cleveland’s Gray & Company press.
But while the city’s excessive adulation of its teams might lead one to stereotype all Clevelanders as overweight beer swillers sitting in front of their TVs, that’s far from the truth. The number of local residents who are active in participatory sports is growing — and one of the biggest growth areas is bicycling. So bicycle fans are building on the exhibits — as well as the fact that 2016 is Sustainable Cleveland 2019’s Year of Sustainable Transportation — to create the Fandom 216 Department of Transportation.
“Bicycling fans in the Fandom of the 216 don’t watch as other athletes perform miraculous feats,” they say. “We have not pegged our hopes to games beyond our control. The journey is our game, and in our game everyone who rides, wins.”
To join the group, just snag your free official Fandom 216 Passport at one of the participating galleries, including Waterloo Arts today. Get it stamped at each of the three locations. The stamped passport will be good for buy one/get one deals at participating bars and restaurants and will earn you a free letterpress poster by Elizabeth Emery. The exhibits run through 2/20.
waterlooarts.org/fandom216-the-art-of-sports-in-ne-ohio/
Cleveland, OH 44110
Cleveland, OH 44114