John Jackson  Works and Processes Opening Friday, Nov 3rd 6-9 p.m.   Zygote Press Gallery 1410 East 30th St. Cleveland OH 44114

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Steven Litt shared very exciting news today in the Plain Dealer - the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) has announced their choice of architect to design their relocated facility in University Circle, and the potential for something spectacular is astounding. The choice is Foreign Office Architects, of London, which Litt calls "one of the hottest young architecture firms in the world", and their portfolio shows some exciting designs from around the world (some examples posted above and below) - it seems the MoCA project will be their most important ever in the USA... they will be working with Cleveland's Westlake Reed Leskosky. Also mentioned in Litt's column, University Circle Incorporated seem to be making progress working with MRN, Ltd. (developers of E. 4th Street), and Zaremba, Inc., for remaining planning of the Triangle area, so a complete development picture for this important zone is coming into focus.

While I still “live” in NEO, I now largely work in Toronto, and post most of my insight from there. I believe such global insight sharing offers unique perspectives to NEO not otherwise available and encourage more cross-boundary insight trade. As someone long associated with the Northeast Ohio economy and arts, I can't help but compare what I experience in Toronto (and Canada) with my experiences in Cleveland (and the USA), and I feel lessons learned far and wide, like in Toronto, will help NEO develop a stronger new economy at home. For those far and wide, I encourage you to post your observations here!

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

I saw the work of Meat in a show at Asterisk a few months ago and was quite impressed. Only a few works though, I can't wait to see more. Meat has actually had a few shows in Cleveland recently, a show at Kelly Randall Gallery in 2004 and a show at Miller-Weitzel Gallery this past January. (The image I posted is from the MW show). The other two artists are new to me!

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Trick My Vote: Science, Intellectual Courage, and the Battle for America's Soul" is the topic of a free public lecture by Ken Miller, biologist at Brown University, expert witness at the Dover, PA "Panda Trial," and author of the book Finding Darwin's God. He will explain why every college student must vote. Program will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, October 26, in Ford Auditorium, Allen Memorial Medical Library. Visit /scholars/Events.htm for more information.

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The Plain Dealer published early details for a wonderful vision that has been developed by the Beck Board of Directors, with the City of Lakewood and the Lakewood schools, that will offer all of NEO a wonderful arts and learning asset for the future. "The Beck Center for the Arts will stay in Lakewood and form a partnership with city schools to create an arts-education academy that would anchor a possible cultural district in Lakewood's west end." "Other potential partners could include colleges and businesses." Sounds like a great opportunity for the CIA, and perhaps Kent State, wo have a valuable presence on the West Side!

Come to Cleveland's Cool Detroit-Shoreway Neighborhood

Join us for a family-friendly guided stroll by lantern through the storied past of  Cleveland's  Historic Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

Meet notable, notorious, & spooky former residents and hear their real life tales of life, love, murder and mayhem

45 minute tours leave every 15 minutes from 7 - 9 pm from Gordon Square Arcade -- 6500 Detriot Avenue (Parking Lot entrance off W. 65th Street)

Made possible with the generous support of the Cleveland Foundation and its Neighborhood Connections Grant. Additional support provided by The Near West Theatre, Ward 17 Councilman Matt Zone, the Detroit-Shoreway Community Development Organization, and the generous residents of the Franklin/West Clinton Block Club.

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An eye-opening exhibition on environmentally friendly design of affordable housing opens with a panel discussion at The Cleveland Institute of Art at 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2006. The traveling exhibition, HOME House Project: The Future of Affordable Housing, will be on view in the Institute’s Reinberger Galleries from November 3 – December 22, 2006. See images from the exhibition at the Weisman Museum here. Read On:

The exhibition began in 2003 with a competition sponsored by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Designers and architects were challenged to create appealing, affordable single-family house designs using Habitat for Humanity house plans as a starting point. The 440 entries originally submitted by designers from the U.S. and six countries were judged on their design appeal, affordability and use of environmentally sustainable materials, technologies and techniques.

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2nd Annual Distinguished Alumni Lecture in Art History

William H. Robinson (PhD, Case Western Reserve University, 1988)

Curator, Modern European Art, Cleveland Museum of Art

Adjunct Professor, Department of Art History & Art, Case Western Reserve University

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Humanitarian Interests: Anti-Slavery Activism in Concord, Massachusetts

a lecture presented by Case Western Reserve History Department and the American Studies Program

Robert A. Gross, Draper Professor of Early American History, University of Connecticut, Author of The Minutemen and Their World, Winner of the Bancroft Prize in American History.

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Today, at WVIZ IdeaCenter, Ingenuity Festival founder and director James Levin hosted his peer Steve Dietz, director of a remarkable "sister" arts and technology festival ZeroOne San Jose, along with a group of NEO arts leaders, for intimate planning for the 3rd Ingenuity Festival, which will be held around Playhouse Square and Cleveland State University in 2007. James introduced the discussion by explaining he had been in San Jose last month for ZeroOne and is working with the organizers of that event in his brainstorming for our festival, which is one of the most exceptional of its type in the world. And, based on what was presented and discussed today with Steve Dietz, Ingenuity Festival is about to get much more exceptional... James is looking and partnering very globally and focused on strengthening the integration of "technology" into Ingenuity 2007. This was clearly a strength in the exciting artistic expressions of ZeroOne, as presented in an impressive overview by Dietz.

The Cleveland Institute of Art will showcase designs from a diverse collection of Northeast Ohio companies – from a skateboard manufacturer to an alternative magazine publisher – in an exhibition in the Institute’s FUTURE: Center for Design and Technology Transfer. The exhibit, “Startup Ink: The Subculture Entrepreneur,” opens with a public reception from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 13, and will be on view until Nov. 24, 2006.

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"Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali" -- one visitor called it the most ambitious show she has ever seen at The Cleveland Museum of Art. I think she is right!

One could safely say, before Cleveland went to the dogs it went to the pigs... but, that is a whole other story. Today, the dogs and pigs I'm talking about relate to the public arts series sponsored by the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation to have local artists paint fiberglass sculptures recognizing the animals of the Chinese zodiac - this year was of the dog... next year is of the pig. Much more interesting than the painted guitars concept, these animal forms offer great creative opportunities for artists and the results of the year of the dog efforts were extraordinary - you may see many of them posted here. So, if you are artistic or know someone who is, check out the following details on designing new pigs for Cleveland... below

Artists, architects, contractors, fabricators, & engineers will have the opportunity to hear from members of successful design teams and learn how to build partnetships and create new job opportunies through public art.

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"Art For Lunch"
Lectures by
CWRU Art History Faculty,
CWRU Art History Graduate Students
Guest Faculty, Cleveland Museum of Art Curators

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PROFESSOR ELLEN G. LANDAU
Department of Art History & Art

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Case History Associates presents Professor Henry Adams, Professor of American Art "Viktor Schreckengost New Discoveries"
Come for refreshments and to hear Professor Adams present his new discoveries and to discuss his new book -- Viktor Schreckengost: American da Vinci.  Read the review and order a copy of the book at the  Schreckengost Foundation website: http://www.viktorschreckengost.org/Archives/viktor-schreckengost-america...

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In 2020 - the year, and with such vision - what postcard do you want to send from your hometown of Cleveland... the "Cleveland of my Dreams" vision above, or the the toxic "Nightmare in Cleveland" reality planned for us by ODOT, below, which is planned to be worse than anyone ever imagined. By 2020, ODOT plans to blight the entire dream zone of the Cleveland Flats and the East and West banks of the Cuyahoga River Valley shown in these renderings, and surrounding neighborhoods, even worse than they and the port have blighted there today. By 2020, ODOT will have finished their slash of concrete and steel rendered in the nightmare reality below, destroying these opportunity zones as freeways have destroyed so much else in NEO. Read on to see how we may be able to make these mightmare visions dreamy, instead.

Two major art exhibits opened Friday night, September 29, showcasing the importance of glocalization of NEO art at its best. Barbara Stanczak is showing a large body of recent sculptures, photo manipulations and constructions at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens Gallery, and Painter Dana Schutz and photographer Catherine Opie are exhibiting large bodies of work at Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Each artist has strong ties to NEO, yet are globally successful and influential in their own unique ways - rooting their accomplishments back to NEO is how glocalization of arts propels our economy to a higher level, as NEO leverages the  global significance of our arts industry.

In a unique and powerful arts development in town, the Cleveland Foundation has started an initiative to showcase artists studying at the Cleveland Insitute of Art in a series of exhibitions at the Foundation offices, at 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1300, starting with "Heterotopia", now showing - the public is welcome to view the exhibition at The Cleveland Foundation offices Monday through Friday during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

I just got the following event details from our Tech Czar Michael DeAloia about an important international conference coming to Cleveland - The International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers - with keynote by Case VP of IT Lev Gonick (congratulations, Lev). I've worked with lots of high level global IT managers and they are an excellent draw to Cleveland... they like to explore and they spend money, so this conference is a gem. And they are offering a special deal for Cleveland IT companies worth checking out. Most interesting to me and you is how they are selling Cleveland to their international membership... check out our forum on 22 reasons to attend this conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and add your ideas to share with these important guests of our community, and all others! See conference details below...

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Photo of Peter B. Lewis Building, by Frank Gehry, accented by Athena Tacha's Merging, 1986, of the Putnam Sculpture Collection. Photo by Evelyn Kiefer

Catch this award winning documentary on WVIZ about world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, dessigner of the exceptional Peter B. Lewis Building of the Weatherhead School of Business at Case University... Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 9pm. About the documentary...

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On October 20th, artists Grant Smrekar, Paul Sydorenko and Bill Rupnik will be the first to Leave ‘Em Wanting More when they initiate the final one-night only shows at the 1300 Gallery.   “We’re excited to have Grant, Paul and Bill as our first three artists for the last shows at 1300,” Martin Geramita, owner of 1300, said. “A strong opening show will be great momentum for the final series.”   With three known, Cleveland-based artists, drawing a crowd shouldn’t be an issue. Smrekar, a mixed-media artist known for his political street art, graffiti images and most recently landscape imagery and collage compositions, will join Paul Sydorenko, a multi-media artist currently showcasing work from his upcoming children’s book titled, Grounded.  Rounding out the first of the final shows at 1300 is Bill Rupnik, a self-described “visual terrorist”, whose combination of stencil art, photography and mixed media is inspired by “grime and sleaze”.

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