July 25, 2019

SPACES AWARDS 10 CUYAHOGA COUNTY ARTISTS $6,000 EACH IN PROJECT-BASED GRANTS, SUPPORTED BY THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION

The Satellite Fund, administered by SPACES, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that supports artists in the creation of new work, announces the grantees for 2019. Ten projects, proposed by individual artists and collectives, were selected from 73 applications.

“As part of the SPACES mission to be a resource and public forum for artists who explore and experiment, The Satellite Fund empowers, encourages, and provides local artists the freedom to create the work they want,” said Christina Vassallo, Executive + Artistic Director at SPACES. “These projects will expose Cuyahoga County residents to innovative artistic practices in mostly non-institutional venues and, in that way, will become part of our daily collective experience.”

Grantees for this first cycle of The Satellite Fund were selected by an independent jury of distinguished arts professionals: Roopa Vasudevan, Artist (Philadelphia, PA), Katherine Cooper, Art Writer (New York, New York), Jennifer Coleman, Senior Program Officer for the Arts, The George Gund Foundation (Cleveland), Rob Lehr, Program Officer, GAR Foundation (Akron), and Dee Perry, former TV and Radio Host (Cleveland). Jurors made their selections based on the applicants’ ability to demonstrate how their proposed project will realize the materialization of creative ideas, and they took an expansive approach to considering aesthetics, quality, relevance, and public accessibility.

The Satellite Fund grantees for 2019 include:

Misha Villanueva’s Land of the Free? is a mural of the American flag created from ceramic cast prison trays. The trays represent prisoners incarcerated for nonviolent offenses and those who have been wrongly accused. This work will draw attention to the privatization of the American prison system as a publically accessible mural installed on a building façade on Larchmere Boulevard.

Lori Kella’s Erie: Lost and Found explores facets of global climate change and its impact on the Great Lakes region through an installation that reimagines the shoreline over the coming decades. A collection of photographic panoramas—based on the personal histories of residents—will be coupled with representations of native species essential to the area.

In Transformative Stories, by artist Lexy Lattimore and Coalition to Stop the Inhumanity at the Cuyahoga County Jail, the collaborators will develop an ensemble presentation uniting artists, former prisoners, and activists in the protest of inhumane conditions. The exhibition and performance aims to effect system-wide change, address issues that disproportionately affect marginalized populations, and center voices of color.

Robert Banks: I’ll Tell You About That Later, by Michael Wendt, Mick Jones, and Shawna Kirk, is a portrait-style documentary that focuses on local artist Robert Banks as he works to finish an experimental film in time for its premiere screening at the Cleveland Cinematheque.

Tyler Shaw will explore the connection between art, culture, and the barbershop in Documenting the Culture. His photography and illustrations offer a glimpse into the world of barbering, from California to Ohio, and portray the moods of clients and barbers alike.

Peg & Deb: Sell Out, by Two Divorced Moms (Marcia Custer & Ben Oblivion), is a live-streamed, infomercial-inspired performance art experience which skewers the notion that money can buy you happiness. Over the course of 8-hours Two Divorced Moms and 5 regional visual artists will design and craft the products shown on MoMi TV and will appear throughout the live stream to present their wares.

The performance collective, Creative Destruction (Corrie Slawson, Kelly Korfhage, Christina Lindhout, Marc Lefkowitz, Dalindyebo Shabalala), will debut a classical ballet with sets and objects conveying the complex narratives of six commodities: Sugar, Bananas, Coffee, Timber, Oil & Minerals, and Beef. The entire work—comprised of movement, a soundtrack recorded by local musicians, and printed text—will illustrate the interconnectivity of environmental degradation, trade, economic theories, and wealth distribution.

Terrence Hubbard’s Project Space Jam will take the form of painted basketball courts throughout Cuyahoga County, starting with the court at Cumberland Park in the Cleveland Heights neighborhood. This project aims to encourage neighbors to go outside and meet in a common space.

Performing artist Chris Seibert will further develop and perform her live, intimate, visually evocative Love’s Lost Raree Box in public spaces, community centers, retail businesses, and arts events throughout Cuyahoga County. In this portable ‘pop up’ performance, audience members encounter an unusual woman who is in possession of a rare box of mysterious origins, and are encouraged to speculate how she came to acquire this artifact.

L. Taylor Ashton’s Ataba is a multi-media performance art piece that explores the intersections of identity, genetics, place, culture, and belonging. “Ataba” is an improvised, non-metric, traditional Arabic musical form that is usually sung by a soloist without musical accompaniment, in times of mourning and in times of celebration.

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The Satellite Fund is supported in part by The Regional Regranting Program of The Andy Warhol Foundaion for the Visual Arts. Major support for SPACES comes from the Cleveland Foundation, Eaton Charitable Fund, The Char & Chuck Fowler Family Foundation, Barbara & Peter Galvin, The George Gund Foundation, Mandel Foundation, John P. Murphy Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts: Artworks, Shannahley Foundation, The Nord Family Foundation, Toby Lewis Philanthropic Fund, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. We especially thank the residents of Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio who support the arts through tax dollars distributed by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the Ohio Arts Council. Additional support comes from James Anderson & David Wittkowsky, Jeffry & Cynthia Chiplis, Rebecca Dunn, Howard Freedman & Rita Montlack, Linda & Jack Lissauer, M.D., Shannon V. McCue, Charles & Patricia Mintz, Ohio Savings Bank, and John C. Williams. Community support for SPACES comes from FORM, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Marigold Catering + Events, Vedda Printing+, WONGFACE, and Wood-Lee International Art Handler.

SPACES is located at 2900 Detroit Ave., in Cleveland, OH. Gallery hours are Tuesday - Sunday: 12 – 5 PM, and the gallery is open until 8 PM on Wednesdays. Admission during regular gallery hours is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.SPACEScle.org, call 216.621.2314, or email contact@SPACEScle.org.