I don’t know about you but I live in Cleveland Heights and when I pick up my morning paper I’m interested in Cleveland, not Columbus, not Cincinnati, not Toledo, not Akron and not Dayton. But Cleveland.

Martha Stewart rewards dreamers (sorry guys, this only applies to gals).  Deadline is July 11th.

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SMART publishing! Really SMART--Capitalize on our biggest asset.

How can the Internet be used to preserve an artist's legacy? Can the Internet make an artist accessible to the world when their work is not exhibited in museums or found in art history books? Is art experienced through the Internet and never seen in person as meaningful and inspiring as art experienced in person? Most of the Realneo community would agree that the Internet and social networking is a useful tool in promoting artists and arts events, but what are the untapped possibilities and limitations. What role can the Internet play in preserving art for the future? As we begin the 21st century there are more artists in the world than ever before, more art work created and probably larger audiences for art as well. But with more artists and art created there is also more art being lost.  
 
Several recent experiences have led me to ponder how the Internet might be used as a cost effective and space saving way to preserve and promote an artist's work for the future. One such experience was Wednesday afternoon February 6th, I had the pleasure of visiting the studio of local artist Gina Brand. Gina Brand is a sculptor, though I am reluctant to give her such a limiting title. On this recent visit I learned that for her entire career she has also painted and produced beautiful charcoal drawings.  
 
Gina Brand has been part of the Cleveland arts scene for many years. A Cleveland Institute of Art graduate, she has been tirelessly producing work that is consistently high quality, both technically and aesthetically strong for many decades. Her studio is filled with works in progress, recently completed works (may of which are sold) and older works that represent her artistic development over the years. Her studio space is in an old warehouse, which I would guess was once used by Cleveland's thriving turn-of-the-century garment industry, is filled with natural light and well organized, though it is obviously the site of much artistic activity.  

On Wednesday, January 16,  Stephanie Spears testified at the Cleveland City Council Public Utilities Committee's PURPA Hearing.

More than 16 people testified asking Cleveland City Council Public Utilities Committee to cancel, or at the very least, delay their vote on whether or not to allow Cleveland Public Power (CPP) to sign a 50 year contract to buy power from the American Municipal Power of Ohio's (AMP-OH) proposed 1,000-megawatt conventional pulverized coal powered plant to be located in Letart Falls in Meigs County Ohio.

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A Two-Day Workshop at

Thank you Norm for beginning the practice of locating your photo banners for the readership.  We have been enjoying great panoramic views, but depending on where we live, some of us had no idea where to go to personally enjoy the view.  Let's make a catalogue of these Cleveland banners.

Robert Storr was a curator at MOMA from 1990-2002, he taught at New York University, and has published on aspects of Modernism. this forum is moderated by cultural commentator Kurt andersen, and focuses on visual and popular culture issues, in partnership with Cleveland Public Library and Cleveland Public Art.

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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.

Salvador Dali (Soft Construction with Boiled Beans   Premonition of Civil War), 1936, oil on canvas 100 x 99 cm

Artists, intellectuals and anarchy – sounds like just what Cleveland needs? It worked for Barcelona!

The Cleveland Museum of Art reopens October 15th with an absolutely incredible exhibition that is not to be missed: “Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali.” Any one of these artists would be a huge draw for a museum exhibition -- Cleveland is lucky enough to get an exhibition with all four. This exhibition, for the first time, puts these four great artists and their contemporaries into the context of the unique city of Barcelona and the region of Catalonia. The show includes hundreds of works (painting, sculpture, prints, textiles, decorative arts; furniture, ceramics, jewelry) never before seen together by masters you should be familiar with and their contemporaries -- they will amaze you as well.

So you think you would not last a day on Project Run Way? Maybe you never learned to sew or maybe you are the creative type but fashion is just not your media? This past Friday I realized anyone can make "wearable art." Tie-dying is easy, no sketching, cutting or sewing, most of the process is left up to chance. Park Works (a great oganization that brings fun events to Cleveland parks) held a tie-dye event at Fairview Park near where I live in Ohio City. Park Works made it easy; they provided free white t-shirts, coolers of cold water for soaking the shirts, rubber bands and rubber gloves and bottles of dyes in every color you could want.

I am very excited! I recently volunteered to become an Energy Ambassador at Case Western Reserve Univeristy, part of the Adopt a Building program. I will be adopting Mather House, the building where I work. Mather House is a  century old Gothic Revival former girls dorm  turned office building -- probably not the most energy efficient on campus. I suspect the most  significant improvements at Mather House will be directly related to changing the residents' behavior. I think I could be a good energy ambassador; I am always turning out lights, I go to great pains to recycle, I hate air conditioning and I walk rather than using the campus shuttle bus. But I am looking for suggestions as to how myself and the other residents of Mather House could really make a difference. Please post your ideas. I would also appreciate links to good energy conservation sites. The Adopt a Building program is just getting started. My first "Ambassador's" meeting will be next Wednesday. I will fill you in with more details late next week.

I was saddened to hear of the untimely death of Kenneth Lay. At the young age of 64, there was so much more he could have done -- like go to prison for 20+ years. The days would have passed quickly with visits from his children and 12 grandchildren. On visits with his wife they could have reminisced (about their last $200,000 cruise). But, life is not fair. I find it difficult to feel any sympathy for Lay -- a New York Times Article and the article in the PD "Lays passing produces some mixed feelings" suggests some did feel sorry for him. Shamefully, Lay maintained his innocence and always blamed others -- rogue executives beneath him -- for the fall of Enron.  Most disturbing to me is the the self-rightiousness, bordering on insanity he reveals in this statement: "We believe that God in fact is in control, and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord," he said outside the courthouse in Houston after the verdict. Did God bless Kenneth Lay's lies? A convenient death or did God strike down Kenneth Lay? Perhaps Lay did not escape his sentence after all, perhaps he was just called before a higher judge.

Robert Banks: local filmmaker, photographer, CIA professor/film instructor, one of the cool residents of the Tower Press Building. I tend to think of film as a less artistic medium than painting or sculpture. It may be wrong of me to make such a generalization about a medium, but I have never questioned the level of artistic merit in Robert's films -- his films are like painterly collages.  I know I forgot to post an "Art of the Day" for Sunday, so Robert can be the "Art of the Day" artist for Sunday and Monday.

Are you a sculptor or do you know one? The following is a great opportunity for NEO sculptors -- but you need to act fast! Please pass this information on to anyone you know who may be interested in submitting their work.

This work is in the Putnam Sculpture Collection at Case Western Reserve University. It was purchased recently from a show at the Sculpture Center but It is not on display yet -- so very few people have seen it. This work is only a few inches tall but it has a monumental quality. The color of the stone is very beautiful. The form, which is similar in shape to a human heart, is very sensuous and organic. I Believe it is one of Kiderman's best works. She creates both abstract and figurative sculptures. Visit Alice Kiderman's website to see more of her sculptures.

Each of Keri Mortimer's paintings presents a simple story. In it the present is more important than the past, but the lonely, iconic elements (the house, the factory) do allude to a human presence and activity that took place in the past. Mortimer's paintings are also about her fears, though she says "growing up in the comfortable Midwest, my subconscious had to go out of its way to find things to be afraid of."

eBay was probably my first experience with social computing -- if you can really call it that. eBay is a community of buyers and sellers that for the most part control the environment (what the buy and sell). Like Realneo, eBay users have a profile and choose what personal information to reveal, they post pictures, and writing (though in the form of descriptions of things they are selling). After several years of using eBay on and off to buy and sell, I feel like I don't really understand how eBay is working in an economic sense. Maybe you have some insights? Please post them!

Have you seen any of the dogs around the St. Clair/Superior neighborhood? I went looking for them on a Tuesday evening shortly after they were installed in their summer locations. I won't tell you where these two are, but they are probably the easiest to find.

Most of the NEO residents I know are animal lovers and most have at least one pet. What is your favorite pet? For many NEO residents its the Chihuahua! I don't have a Chihuahua, but I was invited to my first Chihuahua meet up yesterday afternoon.

Season Finale!

Opera-in-concert, sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Join The Cleveland Orchestra, Music Director Franz Welser-Most, and an internationally renonwned cast of singers led by Renato Bruson in the title role of Verdi's comic opera Falstaff. Based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Henry IV, this opera was a huge success when it was first heard in Milan in 1893 and has been acclaimed by many to be Verdi's greatest opera.

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