Cleveland has a world-class art museum, a cutting-edge contemporary art museum and a top-ranked art college, but let’s be real: it’s the indie art scene that’s giving this city its creative street cred. Old factory spaces? Now, they’re buzzing with fresh exhibits and hipsters. Whole neighborhoods have sprung up around the local art movement like weeds.
These smaller galleries are where Cleveland’s real creative magic happens, showcasing work from independent artists near and far. Want to see the city's artsy side without all the fancy plaques? Check these spots out:
Where else can you find a recording studio, clothing line, architectural design firm and a pinball machine business all in one building? That’d be the 78th Street Studios in the Gordon Square Arts District. Located in the former American Greeting Creative Studios building, the space is chock full of more than 40 working artists, makers and other creative businesses. Best time to visit? During their wildly popular Third Fridays evening open houses.
Take a former substation converter used back in the day to power one of Cleveland’s streetcar lines and turn it into one of the most predominant art galleries around. That’s how we do things in CLE. The Transformation Station, with its 22-foot ceiling and clerestory windows, features 3,500 square feet of gallery space for shared use by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Bidwell Projects Collection. Inside, you’ll find contemporary art space for photography exhibitions, media installations, risk-taking abstract exhibits and the like. And it’s all at no charge to the visitor.
The Bonfoey Gallery has been around FOREVER. Okay, since 1893, to be exact. And it’s huge. Like 14,000-square-feet huge. As Cleveland’s oldest, most comprehensive and largest gallery between NYC and Chicago, this Campus District gallery offers up a pretty eclectic variety of artwork in various mediums from regional and national artists. They also specialize in art appraisals and art restoration.
Art schools are cool. Everyone knows that. But, art schools with art galleries? Super cool. The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), located in its new home along University Circle and the Uptown district, is one of the country's top ten professional colleges of art and design. Check out the school’s free Reinberger Galleries to see some of the nation’s most talented soon-to-be-discovered artists.
You can view art. You can buy art. But if you want to actually make the art, then the Glass Bubble Project is where you want to be. Inside the galleries and studios of this Ohio City facility, visitors can create unique works of art by hand-blowing glass and recycled materials. If making it doesn’t sound up your alley, you can also view work and watch demonstrations. Nicknamed “Clevetion Glass, ” the artwork created is “industrial and clunky, kind of like the way we see Cleveland – tough and durable.”
In a place where they used to make cars, they now make art. That’s very much the backstory of Cleveland’s resurgence and is beautifully showcased through the Screw Factory Artists. Located in the west side suburb of Lakewood, the former Templar Auto Factory building is today a studio for more than 30 artists who work in a variety of media. Take a tour during one of their many free events.
Bored with art that just sits on a wall? Try the Sculpture Center, which celebrates artwork of the three-dimensional variety. This facility is always free and open to the public, which is a good thing because the experience shifts with the seasons. During the fall, you’ll find the work of rapidly rising regional artists. In winter and spring, you can catch current trends through the work of four to six early-career Ohio sculptors. And, in the summer, view the juried artwork of over 20 artists.
SPACES has some serious cred when it comes to working with artists. Since its inception in 1978, the Ohio City gallery has hosted the work of more than 9,000 artists. Pretty impressive, eh? The FREE gallery focuses on artist interaction, experimentation, public programs and residencies.