Browse Interviews

Stephen Harrison, curator of Decorative Art & Design at the Cleveland Museum of Art, discusses the career of influential artist and designer, Victor Schrekengost. Harrison reflects on Schrekengost's artistic contributions in Cleveland and beyond.

In this 2007 interview, Melvin Rose, son of founder Martin Rose, and current president of Rose Iron Works, talks about his family's iron works business in Cleveland since the early twentieth century. He also talks about a competitor, Samuel Yellin. Most of this short interview, however, consists of a discussion between the interviewer and interviewees about producing a story of the Rose Iron Works for the coming kiosks to be place along Euclid Avenue as part of the GCRTA Euclid Corridor project.

Steve Cagan came to Cleveland in 1970 for the New University Conference, but soon after arriving his job was eliminated. In his search for a new life direction he became interested in photography. Cagan discusses protests in Cleveland during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, especially the anti-war and the Latin-American movements. His exposure to and involvement in these movements spurred his interest in creating progressive and socially conscious art. In the 1970s and 1980s his creative focus took…

Derek Hess is a Cleveland artist that got his start while working at the Euclid Tavern, booking bands and creating concert posters. In this interview, Hess discusses his past and current endeavors, and shares stories about concerts he used to attend when he was younger.

George Shuba describes his career as a professional photographer, including one of his earliest assignments photographing The Beatles concert at Cleveland Public Auditorium in 1964, as well as a number of other popular music and political events.

This interview with Sharon Dean, director of the Cleveland Artists Foundation, focuses on WPA art in Cleveland.

This oral history with artist Joseph O'Sickey covers a number of topics, including recollections of events in 20th century local and national history, personal experiences as a soldier (World War II), artist, and educator.

Walter Leedy, professor of Art at Cleveland State University, discusses WPA art in Cleveland, as well as numerous architectural landmarks in the city, including Terminal Tower, Park Synagogue, and Breuer Building.

Walter Leedy, professor of Art at Cleveland State University, discusses WPA art in Cleveland, as well as the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the importance of architectural preservation.

Albert Albano, Executive Director of the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), describes the mission and operations of the ICA and its involvement in the preservation of WPA art. Albano goes into detail about regional styles of art and specific pieces of important WPA art in Cleveland.

Dale Hilton, an educator at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), describes his professional experiences at CMA and shares his knowledge of WPA art and history, including local examples.

Artist and art educator Joseph O' Sickey shares thoughts and details about his artistic and professional work.

Harvey Buchanan, Case Western Reserve professor emeritus of art history, is the Director of the John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection which consists of over 30 pieces of art scattered around University Circle, mostly on the Case Western Reserve University campus. The Collection began in 1981 with the establishment of a permanent endowment at the university funded by Mildred Putnam and her son Peter Putnam. In this 2009 interview, Buchanan discusses the creation of the endowment and his…

Three members of Recon, a subdivision of the politically active urban performance group The Shogun Assassins, discuss their involvement at the Ingenuity Festival. The members discuss their backgrounds and philosophy in depth, explaining how Cleveland's economic and social structure influences their progressive social agenda and performance. Discussions of race, class, and economic oppression detail the performers opinion of Cleveland as fertile ground for the broader struggle in America against…

Three students in the Building Bridges Program, Jerome, Chris, and Antonio, discuss their involvement as artists in a job training program on the west side. These students elaborate on their involvement in an artistic mural for the Ingenuity Festival and how art has affected their lives and education. They elaborate on being educated artistically in Cleveland and their feelings toward art education in general.

Steve Cagan, a native New Yorker, details a life of art and activism in Cleveland since the 1970s. Cagan's description of Cleveland as a center of social and political activism sheds light on the political and social culture of Cleveland in the wake of economic transformation. The correlation between art and politics is discussed at length.

An art specialist and dealer, John Kunikis discusses his booth at the 2006 Ingenuity Festival. Describing his experiences with art and culture in an urban environment and their influence on his work, Kunikis discusses the state of art and culture in the City of Cleveland.

In this 2005 interview, Penny Rakoff, currently (2010) a Professor of Art at Akron University, discusses her role in creating public art for the Cleveland Gateway Project of the early 1990s. Ms. Rakoff talks as an artist about the value of public art in an urban environment. She also discusses the research and other work that she did in preparation of two art projects she collaborated upon for Gateway. One of her projects was the "Market Place/Meeting Place" a concrete bench with ceramic tiles…

2005 interview of Cleveland artist Michaelangelo Lovelace. Mr. Lovelace grew up in the inner city of Cleveland; dropped out of school; took menial jobs and then discovered his artistic talent. Cleveland and its people are the subjects of his paintings. He painted "Born Again," a mural located at East 36th Avenue and Cedar near the projects. In this interview, Mr. Lovelace describes his troubled youth and his recollection of various districts of the inner city of Cleveland.

In this 2006 interview, Nina Gibans, a poet, author, and active leader in Cleveland's art community discusses her early life and the work of her husband, architect Jim Gibans. Growing up in Cleveland and Shaker Heights, Ohio in the 1930s and 40s, Gibans was the only Jewish girl in Laurel School. Her father was the head of surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Later on, as editor of the Sara Laurence College newspaper, Gibans had to deal with the censorship of the McCarthy era. Gibans met her husband on…

In this 2006 interview, Nina Gibans, an author and Cleveland arts advocate, discusses some of her memories of working and living in the city and shares her opinions on art and architecture in Cleveland. As the head of the Cleveland Arts Council from 1972-1979, Gibans became familiar with arts advocacy and the struggle to secure public funding for the arts. More recently, she has written a book on community arts councils and created two websites focusing on Cleveland art and architecture. Gibans…

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,…