Artists Mrinalini Mukherjee, Robert Morris, and Zilia Sánchez experimented with materials in new ways and, at the same time, referenced divergent traditions and histories of art making. 

Join artist Surabhi Ghosh of Concordia University and CMA curator Sonya Rhie Mace as they discuss the work of these artists, the global scope of the CMA’s newly reinstalled contemporary galleries, and the investment in material exploration and craft traditions in contemporary art. 

What value does historical art have for contemporary artists and audiences? 

In his realist paintings, Mario Moore shows how traditional artistic practices can be powerful vehicles for exploring timeless themes and the provocative issues of today.  

Join Moore in conversation with CMA curator Cory Korkow as they discuss Moore’s work, the relevance of historical paintings, and the exhibition Variations: The Reuse of Models in Paintings by Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi. 

How many stories can a work of art tell? 

The series An Art Anthology accompanies the CMA exhibition Stories from Storage. Developed in collaboration with the creative writing organization Literary Cleveland, the series invites four local storytellers to offer artful interpretations of select objects on view in the show. 

For the third chapter, musical collective Mourning [A] BLKstar presents a meditative soundscape created in collaboration with multimedia artist Jenn Kidd and inspired by Buddhist and Hindu devotional objects Green Tara, Agni, God of Fire, and Bodhisattva Manjushri: Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Band members RA Washington and Theresa May join curator Sonya Rhie Mace to discuss their distinctive interpretations of these sacred and protective artworks. 

How many stories can a work of art tell?  

The series An Art Anthology accompanies the CMA exhibition Stories from Storage. Developed in collaboration with the creative writing organization Literary Cleveland, the series invites four local storytellers to offer artful interpretations of select objects on view in the show. 

For the first chapter, playwright Eric Coble (The Velocity of Autumn, Bright Ideas) draws from photographs of popular tourist locales to create the dramatic monologue “That Which Can Be Held.” Watch Coble’s live performance and, afterward, join him and curator Barbara Tannenbaum for a conversation about the fantasy and romance of travel in images and spoken word. 

Must an artwork be completely original to have artistic, historical, and educational value? 

Curator Seth Pevnick and conservator Colleen Snyder discuss this question, revealing some of the art historical and scientific investigative research involved in selecting, preparing, and determining the age of ancient Greek and Roman objects on display in the Stories from Storage exhibition.

How might close and mindful looking at artwork help us find comfort with the uncertain aspects of our lives today? Join Andrew Cappetta and Gwendolyn Ren, a mindfulness and contemplation guide, for an interactive conversation and guided meditation session inspired by the enigmatic Statuette of a Woman, popularly known as “The Stargazer.”

How do materials and fabrication processes convey meaning in a work of art or design?   

Join CMA research fellow Andrea Vazquez de Arthur and museum guide Leonardo Pérez Carreño from the Museo de la Mola in Panamá City, Panamá, for a conversation about making and meaning in molas, a key component of traditional dress among indigenous Guna women and the subject of the upcoming exhibition Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá.

In conjunction with the upcoming exhibition Bruce Davidson: Brooklyn Gang, join curator Barbara Tannenbaum and photographer Vincent Cianni as they explore the roles and responsibilities of the documentary photographer. In his projects We Skate Hardcore, Gays in the Military, and the Newburgh Community Photo Project, Cianni has explored issues of community, memory, and social justice. 

How do images of leaders from the ancient world influence our understanding of what leadership can look like today?  

Join Andrew Cappetta and curator Seth Pevnick as they discuss ancient Greek and Roman representations of leadership through both ancient and modern lenses. How have surviving images of ancient leaders conditioned our present understanding of them? And how have interpretations of these ancient images helped shape historical images of American authority, allowing certain archetypes of leadership to persist?

How do you define the word “care” and how does it relate to curatorial practice?  

Scholar, curator, and cultural organizer La Tanya Autry discusses her innovative approach to creating exhibitions that focus on collective community care, including recent projects Temporary Spaces of Joy and Freedom (moCa Cleveland, 2020), Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (Yale University Art Gallery, 2017), and The Art of Black Dissent (various sites, 2016–).  

La Tanya Autry has curated exhibitions and organized programs at moCa Cleveland, Yale University Art Gallery, Artspace New Haven, and other institutions. Through her graduate studies at the University of Delaware, where she is completing her PhD in art history, Autry has developed expertise in the art of the United States, photography, and museums. Her dissertation The Crossroads of Commemoration: Lynching Landscapes in America analyzes how individuals and communities memorialize lynching violence in the built environment. As a cultural organizer in the visual arts, Autry has co-produced #MuseumsAreNotNeutral, an initiative that exposes the fallacies of the neutrality claim and calls for an equity-based transformation of museums, and the Social Justice and Museums Resource List, a crowdsourced bibliography. 

Honor the origins of Pride Month and its connections to the Black Lives Matter movement. Join writer-educator Naazneen Diwan from the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and curator Nadiah Rivera Fellah to discuss the importance of BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) queer and trans activists and artists to movements for LGBTQ+ rights. This is a live event, and questions from the audience are encouraged. 

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Join curator Sonya Rhie Mace and meditation instructor Jennifer Bochik as they look closely at examples of Buddhist art and demonstrate how traditional mindfulness practices can help us manage the challenges we are facing today.

Have you found yourself developing hacks and work-arounds to put dinner on the table or celebrate a holiday? Join curator Nadiah Rivera Fellah and artist-educator Robin Heinrich to discuss how limitations helped artists Sanford Biggers, Louisa Joiner, and Robert Rauschenberg become resourceful and arrive at new creative solutions.