[NEohioPAL]Arts Collinwood - Grovewood Days

[Sarah Gyorki]

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Don't miss the opening for Grovewood Days at Arts Collilnwood Gallery.
  Read more from Douglas Max Utter's insightful comments on this eclectic artists' reunion and what it tells us about the creative spirit alive in small pockets of Cleveland (below).
   
  Free wine and cheese reception this Friday, Nov. 3 from 6-9pm.
  Arts Collinwood Gallery
  15605 Waterloo Rd
  216-692-9500
  www.artscollinwood.org
   
   
  Grovewood Days
  By Douglas Max Utter
   
  They say everyone has to come from somewhere. But certain places seem to nurture creative vision far more than others, providing especially fertile ground where the imagination can flourish. All over America such places form pockets of resistance to the norm, where wild young minds sprout like weeds between the cracks of expectation.
  Maybe it’s the presence of the Cleveland Museum of Art, or the multi-ethnic energy of Cleveland’s recent industrial past; maybe it’s the water, or some kind of lake effect, but the fact is that certain neighborhoods adjoining Cleveland, Ohio have produced a remarkable number of artists, writers, and thinkers of all kinds. And while it’s not exactly Athens or Florence, the North Collinwood area, stuck like an asphalt patch between the broader pavements of Cleveland and Euclid, has its own claims to fame.
  A group of young men who grew up near Collinwood’s Grovewood Avenue in the 1960’s began exploring ever widening realms of  art and literature. Probably it started with Gary Dumm’s fascination with drawing. All the friends soon became handy with pencil and brush, sharing an obsessive interest in comic books, sci-fi movies, and a dozen other dreams and nightmares of the American Cold War reverie. And as the action-packed months and years of adolescence passed, the inspirations became more diverse and profound. There was soon a sort of cultural vortex in the Grovewood area. Steven Verba’s penchant for poetry and fiction and his brother David’s fine art talents were complemented by Jan Sikorski’s far-ranging fantasies. Laura met Gary, and Randall Tiedman learned how to paint. Bob Gmeiner brought his own remarkable visual sensibility to the mix.
  Those extraordinary years ignited an indistinguishable spark in the spirits of seven people, who one way or another have sheltered it through the intervening decades. Randall Tiedman was destined to become a widely known painter of dark, lushly expressive figures and landscapes. David Verba eventually obtained a fine arts degree, living and exhibiting for some years in Japan. Eventually Laura and Gary were married, and Laura’s sense of color and design were added to Gary’s gifts. Together they produced celebrated graphic novels and comics, the best known being their collaboration with Harvey Pekar on many issues of his famed American Splendor. 
  Not all of them became professional artists, of course. The poles of Steve Verba’s interests and careers, for instance, have swung from anthropology to real estate. Jan Sikorski left his painting tools behind as he became interested in classical music and foreign film.
  There’s something very exciting about a group of teenagers who band together to search for horizons beyond their neighborhood, tuning in to visual art, literature, film, political philosophy, and more. It’s hard to say what made the chemistry possible, what ingredient set the whole thing to bubbling. Gary Dumm talks about the cries of children and adults wafting toward Grovewood from the amusement rides at Euclid Beach Park in those days. Maybe that was it, a special promise of excitement in the air, added to the rollercoaster changes of the early 1960’s.
  Whatever the case, let’s hope Cleveland can produce more neighborhoods and more kids like these.
   
   

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<div>Don't miss the opening for <EM>Grovewood Days</EM> at Arts Collilnwood Gallery.</div>  <div>Read more from Douglas Max Utter's insightful comments on this eclectic artists' reunion and what it tells us about the creative spirit alive in small pockets of Cleveland (below).</div>  <div> </div>  <div>Free wine and cheese reception this Friday, Nov. 3 from 6-9pm.</div>  <div>Arts Collinwood Gallery</div>  <div>15605 Waterloo Rd</div>  <div>216-692-9500</div>  <div><A href="http://www.artscollinwood.org">www.artscollinwood.org</A></div>  <div> </div>  <div> </div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Grovewood Days<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
 size=3>By Douglas Max Utter</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>They say everyone has to come from somewhere. But certain places seem to nurture creative vision far more than others, providing especially fertile ground where the imagination can flourish. All over America such places form pockets of resistance to the norm, where wild young minds sprout like weeds between the cracks of expectation.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Maybe it’s the presence of the Cleveland Museum of Art, or the multi-ethnic energy of Cleveland’s recent industrial past; maybe it’s the water, or some kind of lake effect, but the fact is that certain neighborhoods adjoining
 Cleveland, Ohio have produced a remarkable number of artists, writers, and thinkers of all kinds. And while it’s not exactly Athens or Florence, the North Collinwood area, stuck like an asphalt patch between the broader pavements of Cleveland and Euclid, has its own claims to fame.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>A group of young men who grew up near Collinwood’s Grovewood Avenue in the 1960’s began exploring ever widening realms of<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>art and literature. Probably it started with Gary Dumm’s fascination with drawing. All the friends soon became handy with pencil and brush, sharing an obsessive interest in comic books, sci-fi movies, and a dozen other dreams and nightmares of the American Cold War reverie. And as the action-packed months and years of adolescence passed, the inspirations became more diverse and profound. There was soon a sort of
 cultural vortex in the Grovewood area. Steven Verba’s penchant for poetry and fiction and his brother David’s fine art talents were complemented by Jan Sikorski’s far-ranging fantasies. Laura met Gary, and Randall Tiedman learned how to paint. Bob Gmeiner brought his own remarkable visual sensibility to the mix.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Those extraordinary years ignited an indistinguishable spark in the spirits of seven people, who one way or another have sheltered it through the intervening decades. Randall Tiedman was destined to become a widely known painter of dark, lushly expressive figures and landscapes. David Verba eventually obtained a fine arts degree, living and exhibiting for some years in Japan. Eventually Laura and Gary were married, and Laura’s sense of color and design were added to Gary’s gifts. Together they produced celebrated graphic novels and comics, the best
 known being their collaboration with Harvey Pekar on many issues of his famed <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">American Splendor</B>. </FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Not all of them became professional artists, of course. The poles of Steve Verba’s interests and careers, for instance, have swung from anthropology to real estate. Jan Sikorski left his painting tools behind as he became interested in classical music and foreign film.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>There’s something very exciting about a group of teenagers who band together to search for horizons beyond their neighborhood, tuning in to visual art, literature, film, political philosophy, and more. It’s hard to say what made the chemistry possible, what ingredient set the whole thing to bubbling. Gary Dumm talks about the cries of
 children and adults wafting toward Grovewood from the amusement rides at Euclid Beach Park in those days. Maybe that was it, a special promise of excitement in the air, added to the rollercoaster changes of the early 1960’s.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Whatever the case, let’s hope Cleveland can produce more neighborhoods and more kids like these.</FONT></div>  <div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></div>  <div> </div>
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