Art could be everywhere in Cleveland. But it’s not.
There is so much art that artists can’t give it away. Cleveland artists occupy so much space they could fill seven Terminal Towers. Creative triage is every living artist’s blind spot — and it becomes their loved one’s obligation when they die.
Downsizing an artist’s creative accumulation over a lifetime rarely happens because they are constantly creating more new stuff. That stuff quickly multiplies, and artists have no long-term plan, leaving it for others to resolve.
I’ve had the great fortune to visit hundreds of artists’ studios and collector’s homes. Art is in every closet, attic, basement and under every bed. I’ve met families of deceased artists who rent storage units, second homes, barns and buildings where the overflow is stored and the art’s future is heartbreakingly grim. Galleries, museums and auction houses are already packed and have similar capacity issues. During the pandemic, a surge in artistic production compacted this problem with a steady decline in art sales, particularly in this town, where the art market has always been historically flat.
Millennials just surpassed baby boomers as the largest generation on record. The boomer population in Cleveland is 25.2% and ranks 12th nationally. The Cleveland millennials grew 6% just in the last three years. The average age of an artist in the U.S. is 40 years old and life expectancy on average is 77 years old. In 2020, Art Basel and the UBS Global Art Market reported that High Net Worth (HNW) millennials are now the fastest-growing constituency of collectors at the top end of the market, spending more on art than any other demographic. This is all good data to meditate on, thinking about possible opportunities.
Some say being able to live and work as an artist in Cleveland is a great honor. That many artists go about making art anyway — despite not getting esteemed awards or validation — there is something heroic in being an artist here. We have archive and access problem here in Cleveland and it creates a low valuation with limited appreciation of artist’s work. We have full art at half price.
What if we had a vehicle to drive this work out into Cleveland — instead of art being in storage or tossed into the trash?
Artists are not going to recycle their way out of this problem at the rate we are going. The art being produced barely grazes the tip of the iceberg of what is being shared beyond the artist studios, exhibiting venues archives and public spaces. One begins to imagine the landfill not just as a big, inert dump but as a giant, living and breathing organism, a kind of Frankenstein’s monster, which, properly contained and cared for, might contribute to the well-being of others here in Cleveland. Let’s save the art!
Many might remember the 1987 barge of garbage that floated from NYC for months looking to dispose of the trash because the city reached its landfill capacity. Newscaster Dan Rather said it was, “the most watched load of garbage in the memory of man”. The Mobro 4000 barge was coined the Barge to Nowhere because it unsuccessfully tried to transport its garbage from countless ports that emphatically rejected the waste. The EPA got involved because of the outrage and rejuvenated the recycling movement. Clevelanders identified because of our city’s infamous moment of the fires burning on the Cuyahoga River. This moment prompted environmental action and advocacy that inspired the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Water Act. Cleveland’s cultural community can learn lessons from these two environmental tales.
Even when prestigious artists have someone with financial resources championing their work, many estates and legacy projects can’t get off the ground. An example of this is the late Cleveland industrial designer Victor Shrekengost, who had an abundant influence on 20th century American life through his design of popular bicycles, pedal cars, toys and dinnerware. Following his death, even with countless attempts and institutional backing, a museum dedicated to his work never came to fruition. Despite Shrekengost winning the Presidential Medal of Honor at 100 years old by George W. Bush and receiving the Cleveland Arts Prize (1973), his work is still in limbo sitting in boxes, unprotected and not seeing the light of day.
I recognize that excess is not just a problem here, but everywhere, but some of the issues and potential opportunities can be leveraged for the benefit of Clevelanders. Artist, painter Douglas Max Utter, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2013, said, “ I am very fortunate that I have family members that would take over and champion my life’s work and estate.” Utter’s current show at Hedge Gallery, Family Life and Other Fancies (Painting Then and Now), spans 39 years of his esteemed painting career pairing works he created in his mid 30s with work he made this year.
Utter is also an archived artist at the Artists Archive of the Western Reserve (AAWR) located in University Circle. It is an archival facility and regional museum that preserves representative bodies of work created by Ohio visual artists. Utter plans to put a small fraction of selected works into this archive.
Cleveland is fortunate to have the AAWR and ARTneo (both museums that preserve this region’s art), and auction houses that sell art in the secondary market, like Aspire Auctions, Wolfe’s Gallery, Gray’s Auctioneers and Rachel Davis Fine Art among others. We have independent consultants who appraise and help families to sell and/or donate the artwork like Bellamy Printz at Deep Dive Art Projects. This is all equally challenging work and these activities depend on flame carriers to take on the incredibly emotional, expensive and time-consuming work.
Seeing that the Millennials are surpassing the Boomers, and the environmental conditions are worsening, wouldn’t this be a wise time to have these conversations and put into action a city-wide arts program that can activate Cleveland art again? How can this surplus of art benefit the residents of Greater Cleveland and the memory and history of what could be remembered as the New Cleveland School?
In 2000, internationally recognized painter Squeak Carnwath, sculptor Viola Frey and community advocate Gary Knecht incorporated the Artists’ Legacy Foundation (ALF). These artists planned to leave their artwork estates to the foundation. The founders established a vision centered on artists coming together to support and encourage fellow artists through awards and grants, promoting and protecting the legacy of deceased “Legacy Artists,” and generally supporting the visual arts in Oakland, California.
Great cities should care about their artists and their contributions, and a “Living Museum” celebrating the art of this region could be possible. Cleveland Art Again is a viable idea. Imagine a space like Upcycle Parts Shop, where people bring in unwanted art, craft, and surplus supplies they no longer use, and people buy them. The materials are affordable and appreciated. Like the Dollar Stores that are present in every neighborhood, people can purchase art from Cleveland Art Again, which could have art available with prices starting from a dollar on up where artists can get art out of their flat files and storage units and put it in the rotation of people’s homes, businesses, government buildings and commercial spaces.
People from every neighborhood could have Cleveland-made art in their life. Cleveland Art Again could be at the West Side Market. Collectors that support artists and want to downsize could bring their art there too. Do you think that Upcycle Parts Shop threatens the Blick and Michael’s art supply stores? Will Cleveland Art Again harm Cleveland’s local art market?
The answer is hell no! There is so much art out there and something for everyone to take home. A Tweet responding to a Wall Street Journal story “Local Malls, Stuck in ‘Death Spiral’, Plunge in Value,” caught my eye, said, “Take these empty malls and stuff them full of art. Dig all the deep-cut, minor and overlooked stuff out of storage and get it into rotation. Let 100 Dia Beacons bloom,” a reference to the New York museum that pioneered the conversion of massive industrial buildings for the installation of contemporary art.
The opportunity for Cleveland to fill “meanwhile spaces” that are in transition right now, from the pandemic with art, like vacant storefronts, floors of empty offices and the historic Euclid Arcade, is a NO BRAINER. Cleveland Art could be installed in Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, buildings, libraries, treatment centers, transitional housing agencies, community centers, churches and schools. That artwork could be accessible, activated and appreciated with additional tours and programming that drive more people to artists and the other galleries across Cleveland Greater. Cleveland Art Again could take a page from the White Zinfandel Effect playbook.
In 1972, winemaker Bob Trinchero attempted to make his Amador County Zinfandel even bolder, by bleeding off and fermenting the free-run juice from the Zinfandel grapes. This happy accident created a new affordable, sweet wine that became the most popular varietal in the United States. White Zin became the gateway wine for the masses which drove newcomers to explore more sophisticated wines offered in the market. Clevelanders drank that wine, too.
Some of these ideas sound possible while many seem out of reach, but what does the alternative look like? Let’s use the Mistake on the Lake moniker and turn it on its head. Have the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority collaborate and host an art fair on a barge celebrating all of our creative surpluses.
Cleveland-made art that can float around on the Great Lakes celebrating the North Coast terroir of Cleveland.
Liz Maugans is a Cleveland-based artist, mom of three great kids, a social justice advocate, an educator, a gallerist, and curator. Maugans co-founded Zygote Press, the Collective Arts Network, the Cleveland Artist Registry and the Artist Bridge Coalition. Currently, Maugans is the Chief Curator of the Dalad Collection and Director of Yards Projects at Worthington Yards. Maugans teaches Artist-in-Communities and Museums and Collections at Cleveland State University and is Chief of Community Engagement at Art Everyspace. Maugans sits on the Board of the Collective Arts Network and Refresh Collective. Her work is represented by Hedge Gallery at 78th Street Studios. https://www.lizmaugansart.com
4 Responses to “CULTURATI: Art Barge to Everywhere by Liz Maugans”
Robin Robinson
I always appreciate your viewpoints.
Christina
Brilliant. Creative. Necessary. Let’s re-use malls for art that’s under $100!
Fran Belkin
Always thinking, Liz! What a great idea, art, art, everywhere, and lots for people to buy that is affordable and can transform their spaces.
Mark Kuhar
This is a great idea. I have hundreds of pieces of art piling up in the basement and my wife keeps asking me what I am going to do with it.