CLEVELAND, Ohio – Does the Great Lakes region agree on sense of place? “Common Currents,” a joint presentation from visual artists of Northeast Ohio and Western New York, endeavors an answer.
The lofty thought experiment pairs Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) in partnership with The Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo.
“Currents” opens at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 11, with a reception at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland and will run through mid-June. It will reopen in Buffalo at Burchfield Penney in mid-July.
There’s much in common between Cleveland and Buffalo – namely that they’re two once-thriving industrial cities engaged in a 21st Century reboot, nestled along one of the world’s largest freshwater resources.
Both cities are at once embracing and shedding the term “Rust Belt” in “Currents” – with the visual arts playing a key role in this renewal.
According to AAWR executive director Mindy Tousley, it’s the kind of show with possibilities; one that could expand into a series, or even a consortium.
“I think it’s an important show for that very reason,” Tousley told Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer in an interview this week.
“It’s a small thing I guess, but everyone involved thinks it could have big repercussions,” she added. Tousley should know. Her decade-plus tenure at AAWR was preceded by living in Western New York.
Those commonalities led Cleveland artist and AAWR board member John A Sargent III and Buffalo artist Gary Wolfe to imagine a collaborative exhibit.
Susan Danko, “Fluid Nature (Brown),” from is one of many works on view at AAWR’s “Common Currents” exhibition.Susan Danko
Having a willing executive director with an intuitive Venn diagram in life didn’t hurt, either. She gave the artists and curators carte blanche to explore, well, common currents.
“There’s also been a big conversation in the art community around how we make things better,” she said.
“How do we draw attention to artists here? How do we get artists exposure outside of Cleveland? How do we alert those outside that this is a great place to live and work?”
How the past influences the ways artists negotiate the present is the overriding theme of “Currents,” despite a wide range of mediums explored.
R Kauff, “foraslongaswewant 8” (the sea, gutter) 2024, hand-drawn ink, screen printed gouache, and acrylic on two panels. It is part of the “Common Currents” exhibition at AAWR, opening Friday, April 11.©FieldStudio2024, Jen P. Harris, R. Kauff
It was an idea that Tousley and Scott Propeack, executive director of Birchfield Penny, were into. With an eye on expanding community relationships, the will was there almost immediately – even if “it took a number of years to match our schedules,” Tousley said.
Jurors Grace Chin, executive director of Sculpture Center in Cleveland and Kyle Butler, assistant professor of fine art at Villa Maria College in Buffalo reviewed hundreds of entries and made multiple in-person studio visits to build the exhibition’s a roster of 23 artists.
In the curator’s statement, Butler’s statement seems to reinforce a theme:
“It seems like the ‘Rust Belt’ narrative has overstayed its welcome. When projected from those outside, it feels like a tired characterization to which we object.”
Timothy Callaghan, “Immobile Home,” 2024, Gouache on paper, 30 X 50 inches. The piece is an anchor image to “Common Currents,” a joint Cleveland-Buffalo art exhibit at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.Timothy Callaghan
While the exhibition began life as a “survey show” or “open concept,” thanks to Chin and Butler it transformed into a meditation on change, reinvention and even some psychic spelunking.
“Currents” sets aside any “past informs perception” mindset; the spirit is much more aligned to William Shakespeare’s notion that “past is prologue.” It has an eye on the future.
“Currents” features work of Buffalo artists Dennis Bertram, Lydia Boddie-Rice, Chantal Calato, Frani Evedon, Bob Fleming, Robert Hirsch, Sun Young Kang, Matt Kenyon, Robert Pitts, Paris Roselli, Mizin Shin and Jeffrey Vincent.
Cleveland artists Timothy Callaghan, Nicole Condon-Shih, Susan Danko, Jen P. Harris, Chauncey Hay, Michael Hornyak, R Kauff, Mark Keffer, Sarah Paul, Katy Richards and Jean Weigl round out the show’s roster.
Paris Roselli, “Untitled” (2022) Full-spectrum digital image printed on archival pigment paper (this piece has a sound component). The capture at Niagara Falls, 47th Street at Royal also features a sound file.Paris F. Roselli
It’s a show that Tousley thinks could be done recurrently – with different partner cities and artists – with a different look and feel every time.
“Curatorial process can be subjective in a lot of ways. That feeds into what gets chosen. There are many themes running through this,” Tousley said.
“The interconnectedness of time, relation to the environment, geographic displacement seen in all the work, and of course, the impact of big industry is hard to ignore,” she said. “I think the immediacy will surprise people.”
Artists Archives of the Western Reserve presents “Common Currents” at 1834 E. 123rd Street, Cleveland beginning Friday, April 11 at 5: 30 p.m. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Saturday 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. The show runs through Saturday, June 21.
