Beauty inside the mind of the beholder? sure, but education from our peers who know the difference helps get us up the ladder of appreciation.  Here's a shot from the plebian street...GOT UGLY?  Marcel Breuer – do you get it?

My sister and her husband just returned from an arts residency at Masereel Centrum.  This is a photo of the lovely courtyard and living quarters provided to the artists.  The deadline to apply for next year is August 1st, 2007.  Art residencies...hmmm...what an idea???  Where do artists want to live while they are in Cleveland??

I've appreciated having Cleveland Magazine pick up some of my photos from REALNEO for publication in their print edition - last time featuring the Van Duzer show at Convivium and this month featuring Gallery U-Haul, and my wife Evelyn and son Claes, at the April 11, 2007 Tremont Art Walk... I look forward to seeing you at Patsy Kline's homeless gallery at the July 13 Tremont Art Walk, where she will hold a Gas Money Garage Sale.

My wife and I are big fans of NEO artist Gina DeSantis - I started buying her functional ceramic pieces when she first showed at Buzz (we love her rice bowls designed with chopsticks in mind). When Buzz closed, we hunted Gina down to continue buying her work. So, when she announced Level Three Gallery it was such good news... be sure to check Level Three Gallery and Gina's work (above) out at their upcoming show, described below...

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2007 Midtown Brews Series: Midtown Brews connects innovative thinkers with global perspectives on our regional economy. Join us for our next conversation...Thursday, July 5

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Maybe you were there at Gray's Auctioneers Inaugural Auction on Sunday June 17th? Doors opened at 10:30 am for one last opportunity to preview the over 200 lots of fine art, furniture and decorative items, and by noon, auction time, the room was packed with excited bidders.  Some of the people in the audience were old pros and others were new to the auction world.  This first auction had something to suit  everyone's taste and price range. Those who attended were glad they did!

Friday, June 22, 2007, "Storage Spaces" opened at Spaces Gallery - continuing their orientation on "Shrinking Cities". It is a very cool show, with many great works in a variety of mediums. And Spaces is a cool arts anti-establishment. As I was up there on the Viaduct, shown in the header attached below, I reflected it has changed character so much, with the growth of condos contrasting with the shrinking cities theme of the moment, since I lived in one of the loft buildings a bit further down... before the viaduct went glass and chrome. I already miss the old days of industrial decay.

The Cleveland Arts Prize is pleased to announce the winners for 2007. They are:

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Why are we so behind in Northeast Ohio when it comes to preservation?

Two articles converged onto my conciousness this week in the midst of an attempt to save the Breuer from destruction.

Brooklyn Waterfront Called Endangered Site

here's a quote: “The buildings really represent an important part of Brooklyn’s heritage, and it would be a tragedy to lose it,” Richard Moe, president of the trust, said in an interview. “We’re very concerned that there’s such a rush on to demolish everything.”

and

Great Architecture Finds a Home in Indiana

here's a quote: "Columbus (Indiana) is a small town (population 39,000) that just happens to have the most incredible collection of modern architecture in the Midwest (outside Chicago, of course). Everyone from Eliel Saarinen and his son, Eero, to Deborah Berke and Richard Meier has worked there, designing so many schools, churches and libraries that, at least in theory, you can’t walk a single block without stumbling on an elegant glass-and-concrete building or a house of worship soaring like a Euclidean fantasy.

“You actually have to see it to believe it,” wrote Christopher Porter, a reader."

An exciting new business has opened in NEO -- Gray's Auctioneers. Cleveland now has the largest auction house between New York and Chicago! Gray's inaugural auction of furniture, decorative arts and fine arts will be this Sunday, June 17th at 12 noon. Most of the items in this auction came from Florida estates and are entirely new to the Cleveland market. There are some great deals to be had! Check out Gray's Auctioneers's website and online catalog that just went live this past weekend and stop by their location at 10717 Detroit Avenue to preview the 212 lots this week (Wednesday 10-6, Thursday, Friday 10-8 and Saturday 10-2). There's sure to be something you have always wanted. Maybe you will find a Father's Day gift. This auction even has vintage ties!

With this June 15, 2007, Inner Circle Open House, it is safe to say the NEO Excellence Roundtables are back, as this week we will feature a very unique discussion and performance by Cleveland Orchestra violist Eliesha Nelson, who is in the middle of a sophisticated recording project at George Lucas' Skywalker Sound, in Marin, California. Eliesha will discuss with us how she decided to get into the "recording business" and how the community can help her project succeed - and the purpose of this roundtable is to help Eliesha's project succeed.

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7 lush Cleveland Heights gardens plus Heights Youth Club Tour by members
Private nature park, glacial escarpment, lakeviews, historic formal garden and more ...
Gardening demos on site (vegetable, roses, perennials, shade, ...)

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Sometimes a sliver of an image, a hint of fragrance, a word or a small gesture has the power to transcend time and space where intimate collections of buried imagination are stored.

Such is the work in Storage Space (Jun 22-Aug 3, 2007), the artists invest the art with pathways to real or imagined histories.

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It is great to see more progress in the growth of the art scene in the mid-town and St. Clair arts district area, with the opening of Level Three Gallery this weekend... another sign of vibrant life. I like the work of the artists I know from this group so am glad to see them situated again - some showed together at Buzz, on W. 25th, which I liked very much. I look forward to seeing this new space and their new work. So, this Friday, June 1, art and culture lovers should start with a tour through the Hough bakeries, at the Inner Circle, for Happy Hour, then head over to CIA for their opening of Design Values 2, and then to Level Three for their opening, described below. By the end of the evening, you will not have driven far, will have done lots of great, authentic Cleveland things, and had plenty of opportunites for good company, art, food and cheer.

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Ever wondered how a designer conceives a product? What the process involves? Top CIA graduates innovating products for corporations such as Chrysler, Hyundai, Hasbro and Kyocera will open the vault, displaying sketches, concept drawings, renderings and actual consumer products at the second-annual Design Values alumni exhibition at CIA’s FUTURE Center for Design and Technology Transfer, June 1—August 3, 2007.

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Located in the heart of the historic Hough Bakeries Complex is the Inner Circle, a weekend club and reception facility operated for the past 7 years by the Hot Sauce Williams family. Starting shortly, operation of the Inner Circle will expand to extended hours every day, featuring a cybercafe, meeting space, computer terminals, free wifi, independent film, the Linux Cafe, art, culture, and great food, coffee, and even wine tastings, via a broader partnership of friends. This pan is from the deck and patio area, and features Guyanese chef and reggae performer and DJ Edwin, who will help operate the Inner Circle, shown with Hot Sauce Williams founder LeMaud Williams, as well.

I recently received an email from ClevelandSGS giving props to realneo, with a link to the ClevelandSGS space on Flickr. I hadn't heard of ClevelandSGS so I checked it out and was awed - it is an amazing assemblage of scanned historic documents and current photos of signage and scenes in Cleveland - a significant community asset in those respects - and a powerful gallery of "Mash-ups" not to be missed. But I still don't know what is ClevelandSGS. Do you? It is the Art of the Day, so read on

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The Cleveland Restoration Society is pleased to announce the return of our popular SNOOP! tours, which give members the chance to see hidden architectural treasures and projects in progress.

On May 26, with the help of Society trustee R. Kevin Madison, we will step inside the Phillis Wheatley Association building for a hard hat tour of the "Chicago style" building as it undergoes rehabilitation. Guided tours will begin at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the building, which is located at 4450 Cedar Ave., Cleveland. Parking is available at the building's lot at East 43rd and Cedar or on the street. Founded in 1911 by J. Edna Hunter, the Association was patterned on the YWCA and was the principal social agency for African-American women in Cleveland. The building was

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This fabulous biennial extravaganza returns Thursday, May 24 - Monday, May 28 in all its splendor. Tour the designer gardens and fill your mind with dreams and practical ideas of what your own garden could be. Learn about the latest trends in horticulture and flower arranging and take the opportunity to buy live plants, and horticulture related products and gifts from around the world.

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The exhibtion was extended one week, until May 28th, but now time has almost run out. If you have not seen Monet in Normandy you have four days left. Exhibition hours have been extended until Midnight on Friday and Saturday and the Museum will also be open from 10-5 on Monday.

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Bill Callahan and I are pleased to offer a last moment opportunity to join an important conversation just beginning on making NEO a global leader in the use of Free Open Source Software, with the man who wrote the Open Source Definition, Bruce Perens. Bruce is Vice President of Developer Relations and Policy for FOSS-related SourceLabs, of Seattle. NEO is fortunate to have a local connection with Bruce, as the Director of Marketing for SourceLabs, Athena Diamantis, lives in this region. Digital Vision Director Bill Callahan and East Cleveland CIO Abu Alli met with Bruce and Athena last week to discuss how to make NEO a world FOSS leader, and we decided that is a topic deserving much broader and more open attention. So tomorrow we continue growing the dialog.

Join us, if you may... 8 AM breakfast tomorrow at the Juniper Grill.

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One of my favorite works of public art in NEO is "Merging", by Athena Tacha, which is a large scale stone and water installation on the campus of Case University, nicely positioned near the Gehry designed Peter B. Lewis Building. The sculpture is part of the Putnam Sculpture Collection, and additional information and other images of this work are found here. This panorama was taken on a beautiful, brisk, sunny spring day, May 18, 2007, from the top of the sculpture.