Hundreds of artists have been recognized by the Cleveland Arts Prize since it was established in 1960, including photographers, sculptors, painters and other visual artists. Pieces from 23 of those artists are on view at Downtown’s Bostwick Design Art Initiative Gallery.
“The CAP Show” is the first exhibit of its kind since 2009.
“Some of these people won many years ago. To see their new work, some of it has completely changed, but then some of it still has glimpses of their earlier works,” said Effie Nunes, executive director of the arts prize. “We've got photography, we have painting, we have lots of beautiful ceramics, we've got charcoal drawings by Laurence Channing.”
Although works by Channing and many of the artists can be seen at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Nunes said she hopes having them all in one intimate gallery will be inspiring.
“Especially with all the different, varied styles,” she said. “You could be inspired by the colors of the brush strokes. Or we have numerous ceramicists, including Kristin Cliffel and Bill Brouillard as well as Judith Salomon, whose work can be found in every hospital corridor. And then we've got our modern-era Kasumi video technology that many people have seen during Cavs games.”
Fiber artist Janice Lessman‑Moss created a new piece for the exhibit, as did glass artist Brent Kee Young. Michael Weil, co-curator with H. Scott Westover, said they tried create interesting sight lines within the exhibit.
“We hope that people will understand what we were doing by combining images where we have these visual rhymes that run through images that the artists couldn't have known would be shared by each other,” he said.
Two 2025 arts prize winners, painter Mark E. Howard and photographer Jennie Jones, are part of the exhibit. The earliest winners featured are Op Art pioneer Julian Stanczak and architect Peter van Dijk. Nunes hopes to create a second exhibit next year with more past winners, possibly including musicians.
“You don't have to be an art aficionado to walk through these doors,” she said. “No one is going to judge you. We're not going to quiz you. We want you to come and just see what you are drawn to.”
Also included in this year’s exhibit are CAP winners Clarence Carter (1972), Viktor Schreckengost (1973), David E. Davis (1980), Phyllis Sloane (1982), Moe Brooker (1985), Don Harvey (1991), Masumi Hayashi (1994), John L. Moore (1995), Barry Underwood (2011), Garie Waltzer (2012), Michelangelo Lovelace (2015) and Lauren Yeager (2021).
The show opens on Friday, 5-8 p.m., and will be on view Saturday through Monday from noon - 3 p.m.. There will be additional gallery hours announced before the exhibit ends on January 31.
