There's a new museum opening this week on the near west side of Cleveland, not far from the West Side Market. It's called the Transformer Station. It's an Annex - a satellite location for the Cleveland Museum of Art - and their first venture outside of University Circle. So, what's inside? Well, not what you might think. Inside there's not a single piece of art from the museum - it all comes from the private collection of two of the most prominent art collectors in the region, Fred and Laura Bidwell.
The Transformer Station was built during an era when industrial cities like Cleveland were booming and needed more office space, warehouses and manufacturing plants. But as times changed and the economy collapsed, many of these spaces were abandoned. Thankfully, some of these buildings like the Transformer Station are finding new life. This re-birth of forgotten spaces is the subject of a new book by Cleveland author Lauren Pacini. It's called "Shattered Dreams: Revisited The Death and Rebirth of the Midwest Industrial City."
New York based photographer A.D. Wheeler never got any formal training as a photographer and started off taking pictures of just about anything and everything. He says that it wasn't until he thought he had run out of subject matter that began seeking out the abandoned and decayed subjects.Fred & Laura Bidwell, Transformer Station
Author Lauren Pacini, "Shattered Dreams Revisited: The Death and Rebirth of the Midwest Industrial City"
Photographer, A. D. Wheeler