Downtown Cleveland Alliance Amateur Photo Contest in partnership with Cleveland Public Art, Dodd Camera, Dollar Bank, The Plain Dealer, and The Theater District.

 Submit your amateur photos addressing Life and Built Environment in Downtown Cleveland.  Maximum of two (2) photos may be entered.  All submissions must be received by 11:58 pm on August 15th, 2008.

Monetary prizes, prints of the photo and projection on the Theater District video board and Dollar Bank’s LED Board at the Galleria.  All entrants will have the option to have their photos credited and archived in the Cleveland Public Library Photo Collection.   Jurors include Bill Gugliotta, Bob Herbst, Lillian Kuri, Mary Jo Toles, and Howard Tucker.

Contest winners will be announced by September 5, 2008.

 To enter and find more information visit: Downtown Photo Challenge

RED DOT Project artist, Beth Kappa, recently completed a commission for a hip couple living downtown Cleveland.  Nate and Niki came to RED DOT Project looking for artwork for condo.  Loving Beth’s style, but wanting something a little different, Nate and Niki chose to commission a piece of artwork. 

Detail of Untitled

Beth loved the process of working with a set of parameters, in this case color, size, and indication of imagery, while still staying true to her vision and style.  Nate and Niki have a showpiece for the living space and a story about working with a regional artist to create a piece of their own.

All in all a beautiful piece of artwork for a great space.  Thanks Nate and Niki!

Regina Brett, Plain Dealer columnist, wrote a beautiful piece on Wednesday, May 28 about The Gathering Place.  The Gathering Place is a caring community for those touched by cancer.  You can read the full column here.

Regina Brett described the space and the gardens at the Beachwood facility.  RED DOT Project artist, Melissa Daubert, created The Listening Man sculpture, shown above and described here:

The sculpture called The Listening Man is a favorite. Children whisper their fears in his ear, then open the door to his heart to see it sparkle.

Melissa describes herself as an experience artist.  Her work is meant to be interactive and engaging, sometimes serving as an educational tool or pure whimsy.  You can read more about this piece on Melissa’s website, http://www.melissadaubert.com/. 

RED DOT Project member Michel Ina stopped in the office today. Michel is the recipient of the Ohio Arts Council 2008 Individual Creativity Excellence Award for the design arts.  He is working on some exciting projects, which we look forward to highlighting when completed. 

Congratulations to Michel on the award and his work!

Mindy Tousley from City Artists at Work, Alenko Banco from Convivium 33 and Liz Maugans from Zygote Press did an great job Thursday, May 15 on Around Noon on WCPN.  You can listen here: http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/an/12008/.   Thanks for including RED DOT Project in the conversation. 

 The banners are up in the QuARTer and they look great!

Betsy Molnar  ::  Grandpa’s Pond, photography

 Trinity: Go Green opens Friday, May 16, 5:30 - 7:30 pm.  Trinity Commons is part of the Trinity Cathedral complex at 2230 Euclid Avenue.  RED DOT Project members Ann Caywood Brown, Rosalyn Gaier, Anne Kibbe, Liz Maugans, Jessica Maloney, Elizabeth Molnar, Susan Squires, Ezra Taxel, Mindy Tousley, Brock Winans and Chris Zielski have work in the exhibition.

Trinity: Go Green runs May 16 - July 6.  Regular public gallery hours are Wednesdays, 1 PM - 6 PM, Saturdays, 10 AM - 2 PM, and Sundays, 9 AM - 3 PM.

 Hope to see you at the event Friday night!

I have run into this in several emails and websites.  Please follow the links listed below to get more information and take action. 

A week ago Friday, two bills were introduced simultaneously in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. These bills are named/numbered respectively as The Shawn Bentley Orphan Acts of 2008 (S.2913) and The Orphan Works Act of 2008 (H.R. 5889). If these bills pass, they will change our copyright laws and substantially remove protection against infringement for visual artists.

For more information and some quick, easy ways to take action, try this link: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

 Robert Genn, artist - Painter’s Keys, wrote about the ‘Mickey Mouse Bill’ in his bi-weekly email this week:  http://clicks.robertgenn.com/mickey-mouse.php#CoulterWatt

Dan Morgan, photographer - Straightshooter, included information in his jpeg of the week with a link to http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

Special thanks to Sheila Markowitz, RED DOT Project artist, who prodded me a bit to get this info up on the blog.  Enjoy a taste of Sheila’s work.   

East Side, West Side  ::  Digital Montage  ::  13″ x 19″

Sheila Markowitz’s raw materials are digitally scanned photographs, prints, paintings and three dimensional objects which connect to her in a personal way. As she builds layers of texture, color, and detail by combining and manipulating these fragments of her life, she makes countless artistic choices. Part of the fascination of the process is how happy accidents as well as deliberate intention alter the character, emotional content, and sometimes the meaning of the image that results.

The Art Quarter banners are printed and ready for installation.  Look for the banners on Superior Avenue, East 18th Street - East 30th Streeet, East 30th Street, and East 40th Street.  The banners rotate artwork from RED DOT Project, City Artists at Work and Zygote Press with Art Quarter banners.

RED DOT Project artist member, Beth Kappa’s artwork from, Too Involved to Paint My Dress 2, is the RED DOT Project banner. 

It has been such a joy to see the trees coming out in bloom in the last few weeks.  Wouldn’t it be great to enjoy the emergence of spring all year round? 

Here are a few images from RED DOT Project artist members that celebrate the season.

Sara Guren  ::  Bud  ::  Photography on canvas

 Barney Taxel  ::  Daffodil Hill, Lakeview Cemetary  ::  Photograph

Fuchs & Kasparek  ::  Erie Spring  ::  Photograph

Lee Heinen  :: Earthly Delights ::  Painting

Here are a few shots of the piece that Rene Culler is working on for GCP Shared Services more commonly known as Positively Cleveland, Greater Cleveland Partnership and COSE.   This is a piece that has been commissioned for their reception area.  The work is comprised of lots (LOTS!) of flat round glass pieces that will be mounted from a the wall with a backing of wire mesh.

Rene has developed a technique to handpaint the glass that gives a range of color and pattern.  I am looking forward to the installation at the end of the month.  Look for more pics then.