TO DO THIS WEEKEND Saturday, March 13

Arts Collinwood Gallery: Closing party for “A Little R&R” (George Roby’s ceramic sculptures, GR Hamilton’s dioramas), 6 - 9pm. Singer-songwriter John McGrail (“a hell of a guitar player” whose songs express the discontents of our times) will play at 7:30 pm.

Low Life Gallery: Opening Reception for “Junkmail and Advertisements: Paintings by Joshua Rex”, 6-10 pm; Trouble Books perform at 7:30 pm for their Record Release Party. Joshua Rex is appalled by the deluge of advertising flowing from and over “neon chain stores and ravaged cities”; he paints the products they lure us to buy. “Junk is a mood as well as a physical reality.” The show runs till March 28.

New Craft Shop Grand Open: Ever since Waterloo Design closed (quite some years ago), I’ve been agitating for a handicrafts shop – a source of handmade soaps, cushions, wooden objects, pottery (and, in Waterloo Design’s case, felt pierogis. Perfumed felt pierogis.) I’m not sure about the felt pierogis, but Salty Not Sweet, which opened last week next to Arts Collinwood on Waterloo, promises to fill the gap on giftable items in general. And it’s working on a letterpress studio.

YOU NEED TO KNOW

ARTS COLLINWOOD ANNUAL MEETING: STEADY GROWTH

The Arts Collinwood Center was crowded on Tuesday evening; we had to borrow chairs from the Café. Eight new trustees joined the board, and a new employee joined the beleaguered staff – both of which need that influx to handle this year’s ambitious schedule. The foundation to support that expansion was laid during 2008 and 2009, when Arts Collinwood worked with Janus Small, arts consultant (thanks to a grant from the Gund Foundation) to create a set of goals and procedures; then began to put them into action. More funding is in the works for capacity building and financial development – and for programs, which is why we exist.

MESSAGES FROM THE CAFÉ AT ARTS COLLINWOOD

If you’re an artist, film maker, video designer or musician, and would like to show at the cafe, contact Susan at 216-692-9500, 12-5pm Monday thru Friday, or stop in and leave a tape or contact sheet.

And  -- the Café is always looking for volunteers to help with gallery events, classes and other neighborhood projects!

And and – it’s also always looking for couches and easy chairs for its living room theatre, along with video screens, projectors and other artsy things. Don't throw it out! Call first!

Arts Collinwood  15605 Waterloo Road, 216-692-9500, www.artscollinwood.org. Gallery and Café hours: Tuesday –Saturday 11-11; Sunday 11-5.

 

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

A KID-FRIENDLY ART SALE

The Arts Collinwood Holiday Art Sale is the kid-friendliest anywhere. Not only does it have a supervised craft corner in the Art Center, where the kids can make art while you shop; not only does the Café understand the importance of cookies and cocoa (with cocoa, it’s the whipped cream); but on Sunday December 13, the last day of the sale, you can take the family to the Beachland for brunch and a puppet show, and shop afterwards. Food, entertainment, art – Waterloo Road has it all.

THE WEEK ON WATERLOO WATERLOO IS LIVELY

All the gallery shows I saw last Friday will hang through December 5, as (I believe) will Fragments of Fall at Waterloo 7. Enjoy!

Friday evening on Waterloo: three openings, a concert in the Arts Collinwood Art Center, the Arts Collinwood Café jammed and jammin’. The arts village was on display. At the Arts Collinwood gallery, the Casey-Omaitz show was as rewarding as expected; Jen Omaitz’s  constructions play off Amy’s meticulous prints and soft-toned paintings of urban chaos and breakdown, adding dimension and color in the form of orange barrels, wood and ropes. The artists’ statements on the AC Web site illuminate the thinking behind their mixes of falling apart and being tied together. (If you want to own a Casey, move soon! Her prints are very reasonably priced.)

TEN BANDS FOR TEN DOLLARS October 25 Now that Arts Collinwood is running the formerly Waterloo Café (you didn’t know? You have been informed.), every penny you spend there will go to Arts Collinwood programs. Eat in the café, keep the art center rockin’. Getting the takeover underway needs a little jump start, so we’re holding a little fundraiser (repetition deliberate). Come to the café on Sunday, October 25, 1-11 p.m., hand over $10 and you’ll get a hotdog and a beer and all the music you can listen to. (Yes, of course you can also buy more. Lots more.) You can also enjoy the lively gallery show of Gary and Laura Dumm’s cats and comics; then you can stroll Waterloo and visit all the other galleries and shops.The Café at Arts Collinwood  15605 Waterloo Road, 216-692-9500, www.artscollinwood.org. Gallery hours are Thur/Fri 6-9 p.m.; Sat/Sun 1-5 p.m., and whenever the Café is open.

REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS OCTOBER 9 ART DRIVE AT JOSEPH-BETH  October 10-12 

I know we keep telling you to stay out of malls and shop at galleries – but if you shop at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Legacy Village October 10-12, 20% of your purchase (10% of bistro purchases) will go to Cleveland Neighborhood Arts, a consortium of the groups sponsored by the Cleveland Foundation’s Neighborhood Connections program. All the money collected will buy musical instruments and art supplies for the children served by the groups; feel free to bring such donations with you, if you have them. Tell the cashier you’re donating to Cleveland Neighborhood Arts. 

 HAPPY HOUR ART AT ARTS COLLINWOOD   through October

The Arts Collinwood Art Center is offering happy-hour art classes on Mondays and Wednesdays; Michele Biondo will show you how to make jewelry from broken crockery (the small masterpieces created by china painters of the past come into focus when they’re not surrounded by a plate); she’ll also show you how to make