It’s not the dead of winter. It just looks like it.
For 20 years, CoolCleveland has been trying to send a wake-up call. I think we’re finally starting to get through.Open up to the diversity all around you at moCa Cleveland’s four new shows. Get ready for your own spring awakening at the Cleveland Seed Swap. Check out Cleveland pianist/vocalist/composer Rob Kovacs just-released soundtrack for the virtual reality game STRAYLIGHT. Attend a live streaming event on the link between food & mental health.
It’s about time we take notice of the emerging artists and entrepreneurs in our midst. EDWINS restaurant trains those returning from prison, and this week showcases small-batch American-made cheese pairings. Scottish-born vocalist Carol Leslie honors Robert Burns in an online concert. Painter Tricia Kamen just won the Governor’s Award for the Arts. This much we know: keep your eyes open.
This week moCa Cleveland opens four shows which embrace diverse communities and mediums and showcase new partnerships. Cleveland-based Puerto Rican artist Bruno Casiano (whose work “Cleveland” is seen above) debuts a collaboration with the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center to showcase Latino art & culture. And Sam Falls, whose large-scale paintings comprise We Are Dust and Shadow, will be working with Holden Arboretum to incorporate Northeast Ohio-derived materials into a new ceramic work.
One of Cleveland’s most gifted photographers, Amber N. Ford, surprises us by doing a sound work, based on stories about grief and trauma she collected while doing a residency at the museum last year. And Nina Chanel Abney’s powerful images look at strong Black women and those who defy traditional gender roles. Read more.
Cleveland pianist/vocalist/composer Rob Kovacs has performed all kinds of music all kinds of ways. His latest project is an album/soundtrack for a virtual reality game called STRAYLIGHT, which incorporates both vintage and contemporary electronic technologies. Read more.
Painter Tricia Kaman’s sensitive portraits, especially of woman, are well known to local art mavens, perhaps through visits to her Little Italy studio during artworks. She’s just won the Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts in the “Individual artist” category. Read more.
Former Cleveland musician/composer Ryan Lott’s trio Son Lux just snagged an Oscar nomination for scoring the film Everything Everywhere All At Once; Lott himself earned a nom for the song “This Is a Life” from the same film, which he co-wrote with Talking Heads’ David Byrne and singer-songwriter Mitski. Lott lived in Cleveland for six years in the mid ’00s & won the 2006 Cleveland Arts Prize for Emerging Artist. He moved to NYC in 2007. Read more.
