Transformer Station Opens Friday, 2.1

The Transformer Station at 1460 West 29th Street in Ohio City once powered streetcars that crossed the Detroit-Superior Bridge, but gains a second life when it opens Friday as Cleveland’s newest high-level exhibit space for art.

The renovation of the old industrial structure is a joint project of nationally respected art collectors Fred and Laura Bidwell of Peninsula and the Cleve. Museum of Art.

The Bidwells will use the non-profit gallery for six months every year to mount shows based primarily on their world-class collection of cutting-edge contemporary photography. The art museum will take over the rest of the calendar with edgier shows than it could organize in the more sedate atmosphere of its renovated and expanded complex in University Circle.

Visible Voice: Budimir, Bree, and Goldberg 2.1 7–9PM

Come out and celebrate 'Groundhogs Eve' with three Cleveland poets; Miles Budimir, Bree, and Steve Goldberg. 

Miles' newest chapbook is Departures (Burning River Press, 2012). His poetry has recently appeared in The Long Islander, Red Fez, Compost 2010, and MoonLit, among others.

Bree is a Cleveland poet and the woman behind Green Panda Press which has produced chapbooks and anthologies by independent poets since 2001. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines such as Arthur, Big Bridge, Ecstatic Peace, Bottom Dog, Bottle of Smoke, Kirpan and other presses.

Steve Goldberg has been part of the Cleveland poetry scene for longer than anyone expected. He has been published in many of Cleveland’s small press anthologies and even tied for third place in the 2008 Hessler Street Fair poetry competition. 

Art Show Closing Night at Vision Yoga 2.1 6:30–9PM

Start your weekend right with happy hour in Ohio City! Join us as we spotlight oil landscapes by local artist Mark Common. Mix, mingle and network with a lovely backdrop. Enjoy light appetizers, wine and beer sponsored by Michael Dolezal, CPA. Friday, February 1st from 6:30–9PM.

Vision Yoga & Wellness
1861 W 25th St, Cleveland, Ohio 44113
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Then & Now @Loren Naji Studio Gallery 2.1 6PM

Check out one of Cleveland's better gallery scenes as The Loren Naji Studio Gallery presents an Invitational Show with various artists' interpretations of self portraits, past and the present! With LIVE music by XELA and EXO 4.

Loren Naji Studio Gallery
2138 West 25th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44113
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Evil Ohio Exhibition @Breakneck Gallery 1.26 6-11PM

The Evil Ohio exhibition intends to collect some of the finest of Ohio's artists, depicting views of what they find compellingly dark about their home state. It means to showcase the time, focus, dedication, insight and imagination put forth by the members of Ohio's creative communities." Artists Include: James Bulloch, Sean Burns, Ralph Walters, Derf, Frank Walls, Matthew Sweeney, Karl Berringer, Steven Anderson, Geoff May, Erin Mulligan, Jason Byers, Mikey Arnold, Steve Ehret, Sean Kelly, Rich Cihlar, Grant Smrekar (Rustbelt Welding), Steve Knerem, Chad Kimes, Barb Merritt, Jordan Beier, Lauren Chaikin, Ashley Ribblett, Billy Ludwig, Karen Novak, Shawny Walthaw, Billy Ludwig, Angela Oster, Matt Bors, Briette Sheaffer, Richard VanOver and Elisabeth Wingerter. This show is being curated by Sean Burns of Breakneck Gallery, James “The Human Furnace” Bulloch, Ron Kretsch and Martin Geramita.

MLK Celebration! @Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory 1.21

Join the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh as they invite all the leaders, dreamers, believers and teachers to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, January 21st from 10AM until 5PM, with activities from 12-4PM. Everyone is invited to participate in hands-on interactive workshops and eat birthday cake. Later that night, we have invited Thaddeus Mosley and filmmaker Ken Love to join us for a screening of the documentary "Thaddeus Mosley: Sculptor" at 6pm. This film chronicles the life and artistic career of a Mattress Factory artist and Northside resident and is a touching portrait of an artist who has balanced his life as a father with a passionate and innate drive to create.

MLK Celebration!
1.21.13 | Monday
Activities from 12–4PM
Film Screening at 6PM
Admission: Give What You Can

Animatopoeia & Dante Rodriguez: New Works 1.18

Animatopeia: A Most Peculiar (Post Modern) Bestiary, a 'visual inventory of categories of animals beyond the familiar – a regrouping of our experience of the world through the naming of ideas in the form of animals; animals that are in the final analysis not animals but metaphors for categories of experience that mirror the complexity of our world.'

The questions this exhibition attempts to answer can be formulated simplistically: How does the contemporary artist – acting, as it were, on behalf of us all, our society, our culture, and our time – understand thehuman experience and the human condition through the depiction of animals? And further, why is the animal as subject matter peculiarly suited to the needs of the artist to explore these issues of the human condition andhuman experience?

Dante Rodriguez: New Works, graphic and conceptual works by one of Cleveland's most promising emerging artists. (In the South Gallery.)

CSU Gallery
1307 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
Friday, January 18, 2013
5PM–8PM

Booker T. Cleveland Society for the Learned 1.11

The Booker T. Cleveland Society for the Learned strives to unite through books. Inspired by the Book Club of Paris, the rules are simple: Bring a book that you have already read, and be prepared to swap it with another member of the society. Friday, Jan. 11th at 6:30PM will be a night of fun, conversation, and new friends. Remember NO BOOK, NO ADMITTANCE!

Market Avenue Wine Bar
2521 Market Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113
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PechaKucha Night Cleveland @MOCA 1.11 7PM

On Friday, January 11, 2013 PechaKucha Night Cleveland is partnering with MOCA Cleveland to feature 12 dynamic presentations inspired by the idea of “creative resolutions.” PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps—just about anything, really—in the PechaKucha format: 20 slides x 20 seconds per slide. Don’t miss these speakers in this amazing new environment.

PechaKucha Night

January 11, 2013 / 7PM
Free event, but space is limited.

BAR + MUSIC: 7PM
PRESENTATIONS BEGIN: 8:20PM
Full access to the Museum will be FREE on PechaKucha Night.

Scene's First Annual Comics Issue

Scene asked five artists to craft full-page comics for this inaugural issue, all based on the loose theme of "Cleveland: Past, Present, and Future."

The lineup: John G. of "Lake Erie Monster" fame (as well as those snappy Melt ads), his Lake Erie writing partner Jake Kelly, lifelong Cleveland artist and frequent Harvey Pekar collaborator Gary Dumm (currently drawing Scott MacGregor's graphic novel "A Simple Ordinary Man") and his wife Laura, Oberlin student MJ Robinson, and Kevin Czapiewski, who draws the webcomic "Protect: Ballad."

The Cinematheque at MOCA 1.3

GREGORY CREWDSON:
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS

January 3, 2013 / 7PM

$9 Gen. Admission; $7 for Cinematheque & MOCA members & CIA I.D. holders; $6: age 25 & under (in-person purchase only); no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

The Cinematheque unveils its 2013 season at MOCA with the Cleveland premier of Brief Encounters, a new documentary about celebrated photographer Gregory Crewdson that chronicles the artist's painstaking efforts to complete his “Beneath the Roses” series, shot in rundown Lee, Massachusetts. Crewdson’s photographs, which explore the surreal dark side of small-town American life, are realized with the help of a large crew and are fraught with drama and unease. Many of his photos evoke Edward Hopper, Diane Arbus, and film classics like Blue Velvet, Vertigo, and Safe. These elaborately staged and lit pictures mimic film images, making them the perfect subject for the big screen. Variety magazine calls this documentary "A must-see for art lovers.” For details, visit www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com USA, 2012, Ben ShapiroBlu-ray. 77 min.