Browse Interviews

Artist Michaelangelo Lovelace (b. Michael Anthony Lovelace) discusses his personal background and career; including details on his family and art education, and insights on the intersection of art and race. Lovelace, a native Clevelander, describes the formative moments of his life, including his first encounters with racism, the mentorship of artist Reverend Albert Wagner, his art education experiences at Cuyahoga Community College and the Cleveland Institute of Art, his first art exhibit at…

Photographer Anthony Mahone discusses his life and art. Born and raised in Cleveland, Mahone spent much of his early adulthood elsewhere; first, while attending a military academy in North Dakota, and later traveling to Europe and Africa. The bulk of Mahone's education was in Ohio (at Cleveland State and Ohio State University), where he also pursued his interest in Engineering, Physics, and History. Mahone discusses the influence of Cleveland photographer Misumi Hiyashi, as well as other faculty…

Artist Kevin Snipes discusses his life and art. Born in Philadelphia, PA, Snipes and his family moved to Cleveland in the 1960s. Snipes distinguished himself as an artist at an early age in the public schools of Cleveland and Shaker Heights. After leaving Cleveland to attend Carnegie Mellon University, the artist returned to Cleveland to continue his education at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA). Although his earliest artistic inclination was toward two-dimensional line drawing, Snipes…

Artist Moe Brooker discusses his life and career. A native of Philadelphia, Brooker came to Cleveland in 1979 to teach at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he became its first full-time African American instructor. Shortly after arriving in Cleveland, Brooker won top honors at the prestigious May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, overcoming the common perception that no black artist could win the show. The artist describes his own artistic education and development from his early interest…

Mansfield native Kevin Everson discusses discovering his artistic ability in college and his interest in photography and film. He recounts attending the University of Akron and the masters program at Ohio University. He taught art at Akron and Oberlin College and is currently an instructor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Art films are his main focus at the present time. His subjects are people and objects that represent black working-class culture. Everson worked with a Widelux…

Artist Cushmere Bell describes his life and career. Raised in Cleveland, Bell knew he wanted to be an artist at an early age. An early interest in comics and a "part-time job" of drawing commissioned sports scenes from the covers of Sports Illustrated magazine for classmates typified his earliest artistic activities. After "discovering Impressionism in 12th grade," Cushmere decided to pursue a career in painting. Encouraged by teachers at Shaker Heights High School, Bell attended the Cleveland…

Filmmaker, Robert C. Banks, Jr. discusses his life and career. A lifelong Clevelander, Banks attended the Cleveland School of the Arts (CSA), where he learned many of the fundamentals of art and film. Despite having spent some years pursuing higher education at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland State University, and elsewhere, Banks credits much of his film-making expertise to self-education and collegial exchanges from within the Cleveland art scene. Banks discusses his service in the…

Artist Miller Horns discusses the role of art in his education, discussing how his artistic ability helped him cope with dyslexia in elementary school and how Mark Sopliln at the University of Akron encouraged him to study art at the college level. He was accepted at CIA and spent five years commuting by Greyhound bus from Akron to Cleveland to attend school. His education gave him an appreciation of other art forms, especially dance and theater. Miller became interested in electrostatic art…

David Buttram, a Cleveland artist and high school art teacher, recounts his childhood desire to draw cartoons and how art became his strength in school. He enrolled in Cooper School of Art, then CIA, and ultimately earned a Masters at Kent. He discusses how his thirteen-month tour of duty with the Marines in Vietnam influenced his work, his subsequent employment as a machinist, and his return to painting. The interview also focuses on characteristics of his paintings, which are mostly urban…

Artist Lawrence Baker discusses his life and career. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1947, Baker moved to Cleveland in the late 1960s. Baker's early education lacked art programs, so he looked over his brother's shoulder for art inspiration. Art is Baker's own endeavor, and he considers himself as the sole motivator for his artwork. He challenges himself to find individuality in his artwork and to be recognized by the art community. Baker identifies himself first as an artist, then as African…

Artist Virgie Patton-Ezelle, a native Clevelander, discusses her life and career as an artist. Ms. Patton-Ezelle describes the earliest recognition of her artistic ability and its impact on her identity. She notes individuals who encouraged her to pursue art as a professional, especially her teacher at John Hay High School, Mrs. Shidoba; artist John Ferguson of Karamu House; her instructors at the Cleveland Institute of Art, including artists Paul Travis and John Tyrell; and arts patron Richard…

Artist John L. Moore discusses his life and art. Born on the east side of Cleveland in 1939, Moore attended East High School and took art classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art before attending Cuyahoga Community College and later Kent State University, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art. The artist discusses his experiences at these institutions, including information about numerous individuals who had an impact on his artistic development. After high school, Moore joined the Army,…

Al Bright has been driven since childhood by his art, "a force inside him." He describes a childhood incident with racism, which taught him the feeling of "nothingness." The incident did not leave him hating white people, but did lead him to read philosophy, which has influenced his art. Bright won Junior Achievement award in high school, met CEO Ed Mosler who encouraged him to go to college and helped him attend the University of Youngstown. Bright came from a very musically creative family,…

Artist Mark Howard discusses his personal background and career, including his family and art education. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Howard realized he had artistic abilities as a young child. With early encouragement from his mother, Howard pursued his interests in drawing and had an "insatiable" demand for paper and art supplies. Although his early education did not provide arts programs, his teachers continued to encourage his abilities. Howard moved to Cleveland in 1981 and enrolled at the…

Artist Johnny Coleman discusses his personal background and career as an artist. Coleman was born in Saugus, Massachusetts, and grew up in Redlands, California. Early in life, Coleman struggled as an artist, "drifting in the streets" as a method of learning the arts, but eventually took a full-time job at a drugstore. After several years at the drugstore, Coleman's friends and especially his brother encouraged him to pursue his artistic abilities. Coleman took formal art classes at Santa Barbara…

Cleveland portrait artist Anna Arnold discusses her love of drawing and painting as a child, encouragement from her parents and teachers, and her ambitions to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art and become a "famous Cleveland artist." She found inspiration at the Cleveland Museum of Art, especially in the work of the Impressionists. Influential CIA teachers included Mo Brooker, Joseph Cintron, and Van Duser. Arnold discusses the importance of bright colors in her work, and the support of…

Artist Angelica Pozo discusses her personal background and development as an artist. Pozo grew up in the Bronx in New York, and attended boarding school on Long Island. Pozo first realized she had artistic ability after receiving painting lessons in the second grade. Pozo studied ceramics at Moore College of Art and Design but later enrolled at Alfred University which was a "ceramics heaven." Pozo initially resisted outside influences on her work, focusing on ancient and primal work. In later…

Artist and retired art teacher Malcolm Brown discusses his life and career as an artist. Brown describes the ideas and inspiration behind his landscape and seascape paintings, and he details the opening and continued operation of the Malcolm Brown Gallery. The artist discusses his early work for the Cleveland-based American Greetings Corporation, the company's trademark style and themes, and the importance of his employment there to his development as an artist. After leaving American Greetings,…