Downton Abbey Withdrawl; Western Reserve Historical Society

Big changes are underway at Northeast Ohio’s oldest cultural center, the Western Reserve Historical Society. They’ve just completed phase one of a multi-million dollar renovation, and we sent our ideastream cameras there for a look at the newly remodeled Crawford Automobile and Aviation Wing.

And if you’re feeling a little restless this week, a little out of sorts, you may be suffering from a relatively new nationwide malady: Downton Abbey Withdrawal. As season three of this award winning PBS/BBC drama comes to a close, no doubt you’re missing the Earl of Grantham, his household, and his spectacular home and gardens. No worries, though! We sit down with Ohioan Kevin Hack, who won a chance to travel to the location where Downton Abbey is filmed - Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England.

Before there was a Downton Abbey series, the show’s creator Julian Fellowes did deep research on how British nobility lived their lives at the turn of the 20th century. One of the resources he used was a book by author Carol Wallace, titled “To Marry an English Lord.” Wallace’s writing helped Fellowes shape the character of the American heiress Cora Crawley, who becomes Lady Grantham. Carol Wallace shares some insight into the reality of Cora Crawley’s world.

Artist Don Harvey has been making art in spaces where opposite worlds collide, ever since he began painting seasonal landscapes on the side of his father’s machine shop in rural Iowa. Today, Don Harvey is a respected Northeast Ohio painter, photographer, environmentalist, and critic of the status quo. He is also a past winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, and in the following film by Ted Sikora, you’ll see how Don puts his principles into his paintings.