You know, today I woke up and read about another company trying to bend Cleveland over and $%&# it.  I have had enough.  Lets put the spot light on the things tearing our city apart.  The Plain Dealer hasnt any nuts or journalistic fortitude to do anything... politicians seem to be treading water at best and nobody is speaking up... calling a lie a lie and a dirty deed a dirty deed.  I do not own a publication, I'm not an elected official and the company I started is too small to make waves yet.  But I can draw.

 

Lets get together our artistic minds and think how we can change perception in Cleveland.  I am thinking of doing political cartoon type paintings depicting monsters (conviently labeled EATON, FCE etc.) pillaging the city...  Right now I am full of ideas about how I can show the public, through art, what is actualy going on. 

 

An example, Salvador Dali's "AUTUMN CANNIBALISM"

Depicts (figuratively) Spain eating itself in mutual cannibalism... an image of the Spanish Civil War that tore Spain apart.

http://dali.urvas.lt/forviewing/pic09.jpg

 

What do you think?  Any other artists want to colaborate on some themes and make it happen?

I do.

 

I'm not sure what I'd like to do, but I'd love to contribute in some way. This sounds like a great idea.

 

Art needs to be expressive. What better way than to speak out?

 

I don't know if this should necessarily be a negative rant on Cleveland, though. How can we use art to raise the perception of Cleveland? To inspire pride in people through thought-provoking, and maybe even occasionally controversial, ways?

How about a message for small time entrepreneurs to build an enterprise in Cleveland?  Use imagery like fall colors, the lake, the professional football team that we love despite the foilbles. 

 

Coworkers who move here have told me:"I heard that people from Ohio were friendly".  Can you do anything with that?

Coworkers who move here have told me:"I heard that people from Ohio were friendly". Can you do anything with that?

 

30 Rock episode :-D

How about a message for small time entrepreneurs to build an enterprise in Cleveland? Use imagery like fall colors, the lake, the professional football team that we love despite the foilbles.

 

Coworkers who move here have told me:"I heard that people from Ohio were friendly". Can you do anything with that?

 

I think we need to think more outside-the-box than that.

 

I'm sick of seeing the same tired, cliche imagery.

^ I agree, hence I included the Dali example of abstract figuratism. (not sure if that is a word)  I still havent thought this idea through, how to get it in front of people, the edge etc.  I agree it shoudnt be a negative rant, you make a good point about keeping it positive... I need to take some time to think it out... 

Time to resurrect this thread!!

 

The Southeast Cleveland neighborhoods photo thread really made me question the use of art as a true redevelopment tool for neighborhoods in the city.  Having art as a driver for urban redevelopment has occurred in some of the more well-known neighborhoods in the city, while also helping the resurgance of neighborhoods such as Detroit Shoreway.  Though Detroit-Shoreway has more than just the Gordon Square Arts District going for it, the Arts District undoubtedly has changed the perception of the neighborhood to those throughout the region.  I can attest as even I have visited the neighborhood and browsed for the first time in probably 10 years, based on what I saw on this site regarding the Arts District.

 

Art naturally draws people... but could the use of art promote redevelopment in more distressed areas of the city?  It naturally takes time, as even some of the successes of North Collinwood's Waterloo Arts District (my old hood, selfless plug I know) hasn't led to too much of a greater investment in the surrounding area.  Though North Collinwood has a great deal of intact building and housing stock, reinvestment in the neighborhood has been slow- even around Waterloo Road and the connecting streets.  The recession hasn't helped matters much at all for the past 3 to 4 years, as the neighborhood has changed socioeconomically and demographically over the past few years.

 

There is an old theater in the Buckeye neighborhood on Buckeye Road which is planned for redevelopment by the neighborhood CDC.  Buckeye Road itself already has colorful murals on some of the buildings around the theater, along with (if I remember correctly) sidewalk work done recently.  My question is how much do socioeconomic and racial statistics of a neighborhood affect the pace of redevelopment in a neighborhood with art?  I may be naive to the amount of time it has taken Detroit-Shoreway, but it at least appears to have reemerged within the last few years (while North Collinwood has had the Beachland for a longer amount of time and has yet to see greater investment around that particular arts district).  Along with the art, does the surrounding racial profile of the neighborhood play a factor?

 

Buckeye and North Collinwood are truly urban neighborhoods with old charm.  How can art help their potential reemergances?