Founded in 1882, The Cleveland Institute of Art is an independent college of art and design committed to leadership and vision in all forms of visual arts education. The Institute makes enduring contributions to art and education and connects to the community through gallery exhibitions, lectures, a continuing education pro- Link gram and The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. FALL 2011 NEWS FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART CIA to Host Five Cuban Artists Cleveland Foundation-funded residencies will spark year-long cultural exchange CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: “Volver A CASA,” 2007 ABEL BARROSO “UNTITLED,” 2006 LINOLEUM REDUCTION AND WOODCUT ON COTTON A N A V OSMEIVY OrteGA HA , T AR OF E T “AVE MARIA,” 2010 U TIT R INS MIXED-MEDIA installation IO ER P U JOSÉ TOIRAC AND MEIRA MARRERO S ND A T S TI R A HE T OF ESY T UR CO OTO PH RY ACTO RESS F att ND ND M A A S T S TI R A HE T MOCA CLEVEL OF OF ESY ESY T T UR UR CO CO OTO OTO PH PH “Creative Fusion is Despite 50 years of strained relations According to Assistant Professor Lane Alex Hernández will be in residence from between their national governments, Cooper, CIA’s visiting artist coordinator, early January through early March. He will unique among artist residency Cubans and Clevelanders will exchange the artists will conduct workshops for CIA overlap with the collaborative husband-wife programs because each ideas freely over the coming year, when students, visit students’ studio spaces, and team of painter/installation artist José Ángel the Cleveland Institute of Art hosts five critique their work; they will create their own Toirac and art historian Meira Marrero, who residency is a community contemporary Cuban artists for eight- work in dedicated CIA studio space; give will be in residence from early February partnership requiring week residencies. talks to students in Cleveland public high through the end of March. Thanks to generous funding from the schools with which CIA already collabo- In panel discussions featuring the guest collaboration and because Cleveland Foundation through its Creative rates; and present community talks at gal- artists, and presentations by guest schol- residencies can be crafted to Fusion initiative, CIA is launching The Cuba leries, libraries, and other public venues in ars, the fall and spring symposia will air Project, bringing these artists to Cleveland addition to the two mid-semester symposia. critical ideas on Cuban culture, including suit the missions of host to live, teach, create, share, and learn. Artworks from all five artists are on view in a Cuba’s unique ethnic, racial, and religious Each artist will spend approximately half of collaborative exhibition at MOCA Cleveland. mixtures; poverty and shortages; Cuba’s organizations.” a semester in residence at CIA and partici- The Cuba Project: Cleveland Institute of Art place in a global context; and the contrasts pate in a one-day public symposium. at MOCA runs through Dec. 31. between institutionalized notions of a national Kathleen Cerveny “This residency program will offer the society and the realities lived by Cuba’s Cleveland Foundation entire Cleveland community wonderful THE LINEUP citizens. Alejandro de la Fuente, author opportunities to connect with Cuban people Installation artist/sculptor Abel Barroso will and University of Pittsburg professor, will who are creating artwork and conveying be CIA’s first Cuban artist-in-residence, be the guest scholar at the the October 13, ideas about a culture that is not well known arriving in mid-October and staying until 2011 symposium; while Rachel Weiss, in the USA,” said CIA President Grafton mid-December. Printmaker Osmeivy author and professor at the School of the J. Nunes. “We are enormously grateful to Ortega will overlap with Barroso, arriving Art Institute of Chicago, will be the guest the Cleveland Foundation for making these in early October and staying through scholar at the Feb. 11, 2012 symposium. enriching exchanges possible.” early December. Painter and video artist Continued on page 2 Cuban Artists, continued from page 1 CIA faculty members — Associate Professors THE CUBA PROJECT: SAVE THE DATE Saul Ostrow and Charles Tucker — traveled to Cuba in the fall of 2010 looking for can- Plan to attend one or all of the Cuba Project events planned for the year ahead. didates for the CIA residencies. Funded by Check cia.edu/cubaproject for additional events and to confirm dates, which are an initial planning from grant from the subject to change. Cleveland Foundation, the three faculty members interviewed 44 Cuban artists in FALL 2011 SEMESTER their own studios. Oct. 15 – Dec. 10 Abel Barroso, installation artist/sculptor, in residence “We were surprised to observe that Sept. 22 – Dec. 31 The Cuba Project: Cleveland Institute of Art at MOCA, Cuban artists don’t necessarily identify an exhibition of works by each of the artists who will be with a particular school or movement, but in residence at CIA (mocacleveland.org) instead distinguish themselves by gen- Oct. 7– Dec. 2 Osmeivy Ortega, printmaker, in residence eration. Younger artists tend to respond Oct. 13 Symposium featuring author Alejandro de la Fuente to Cuban culture and social conditions and Ortega somewhat differently than do artists whose careers were established in the 1980s and Oct. 14 Cuban film, Fallen Gods (Los Dioses Rotos) at Cinematheque. 1990s,” he said. Cuban actress Annia Bu Maure will answer questions after this Hart, Ostrow and Tucker were not screening of Cuba’s official entry for the 2010 Best Foreign necessarily looking for representation from Language Film Oscar. (cia.edu/Cinematheque) two different generations of Cuban artists SPRING 2012 SEMESTER when they began their interviews last fall. Jan. 9 – March 5 Alex Hernández, painter and video artist, in residence “We were looking for artists with a record of socially responsive work, the desire and ABEL BARROSO IN TRANSIT WITH ONE OF HIS Feb. 3 – March 30 José Ángel Toirac, painter + installation artist, and qualifications to teach in a school of art and PIECES, “Pais EN TRANSITO.” Meira Marrero, art historian, in residence design, and the ability to engage with the Feb. 13 Symposium featuring author Rachel Weiss and artists community and local institutions,” said Hart. Hernández, Toirac, and Marrero CREATIVE FUSION OF ART, CUltURE AND IDEAS BRIDGING CUltURES AND The Cleveland Foundation established community through extended engagements GENERATIONS Creative Fusion as a multi-year initiative and frequent interaction. T S TI to bring accomplished artists from diverse “We believe Creative Fusion is unique R A One element that will distinguish CIA’s HE T cultures to Cleveland for extended periods among artist residency programs because OF Cuban artist residencies from similar resi- ESY of time. These artists are “embedded within each residency is a community partnership T UR dencies held across the country is that the CO existing cultural institutions to facilitate requiring collaboration and because visits are timed so that mid-career Cuban OTO PH the exchange of ideas and experiences,” residencies can be crafted to suit the artists — those who established themselves according to the Foundation. In its first year, missions of host organizations. The pro- STILL FROM THE VIDEO in the 1980s and 1990s — will overlap at the program hosted a dancer, two visual gram is meaningful both for the artists ZONA AFECTADA (2006) CIA with emerging Cuban artists. Professor artists, writers and a playwright/director and the organizations that host them,” BY ALEX HERNANDEZ David Hart, a contemporary art scholar who from Turkey and South Africa. Cerveny added. has written about Cuban art, said he Kathleen Cerveny ’69, the foundation’s expects that having both emerging and director, institutional learning and arts initia- established artists participate in the symposia tives, said “Many cultural institutions are will spark some interesting dialog. passionate about world cultures but rarely Hart, who is faculty coordinator of the have the resources to host international Cuba Project along with Cooper, learned artists for more than one performance or about a generation gap of sorts in the exhibition. Creative Fusion permits a Cuban art world when he and two other deeper engagement at the artistic level and a richer, more lasting impact on our “In my short tenure at The Chris Whittey Named Vice President of Cleveland Institute of Art, I have Academic and Faculty Affairs already become profoundly Held leadership posts at MECA and MICA impressed with the intellectual Christopher Whittey became CIA’s vice president of academic and faculty affairs effective August 1, 2011. and creative capital, in the form “Chris brings a dynamic resume of thought leadership in both academic administration and fine arts,” said CIA President Grafton J. Nunes. “At this important time of growth at of both its faculty and staff,that the college, I am confident Chris will be a key factor in strengthening our core academic areas and building our national and international reach.” the college can rightfully boast.” Whittey came to CIA from the Maine College of Art where he served as vice president for academic affairs and dean since 2009. Prior to that, he served as dean for academic Chris Whittey services and a faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Vice President of Academic and After a comprehensive international search, his appointment was unanimously approved Faculty Affairs by a search committee of CIA’s faculty, key staff, and board members. A practicing artist, Whittey received a master of fine arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting from Wayne State University. He also studied at Harvard Institute for Higher Education and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.