Mushroom and Leek Cake at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Provenance

With the expansion of the East Wing, the renovation of the 1916 galleries, and the addition of the beautiful Ames Atrium, the Cleveland Museum of Art has been elevated in recent years from a revered cultural institution to a work of art itself.

To complement the stunning renovation, the Museum has also rolled out community programming like its interactive, 12,000-square-foot Gallery One and monthly MIX Nights.

It was hard to think of anything that could make the Cleveland Museum of Art even better, until Provenance opened at the end of 2012.

Provenance at the Cleveland Museum of Art features a 3-part dining experience: a moderately-priced open-kitchen Cafe, Catering by Provenance, and a 76-seat fine dining restaurant and lounge.

The bar and lounge at Provenance

Through a partnership with Bon Appetit Management Company and Fire’s Chef Douglas Katz, the Cleveland Museum of Art has created a menu of locally-sourced, globally-inspired options for visitors.

After recent trips to the museum and nearby Botanical Garden, I’ve enjoyed grabbing quick bites at the Cafe. (My recommendation: try a claybread sandwich with lamb, hummus, eggplant, cabbage, and yoghurt sauce.)

But I hadn’t had a chance to try the restaurant until a few weeks ago. And lately I’ve been making up for lost time.

Left to Right: The ladies at Bloggers Night; Cured Meats and Cheeses; Scallops

Our first visit came earlier this month when Scott and I were invited to blogger night at Provenance. There we joined Cleveland’s a Plum, WhyCLE, Eat*Drink*Cleveland, The Dawg’s Dish and All Lacquered Up for a few drinks and some delicious bites.

We started with a selection of cured meats and cheeses, an excellent warm-up for the dishes that were to come.

Provenance’s Chef Partner Douglas Katz and Executive Chef Matthew Jankowski

As Chef Katz came out to introduce Executive Chef Matthew Jankowski, they brought with them a sampling of their talents: succulent, seared scallops; a mushroom and leek cake; and the winner of the night in my books – fingerling potato topped with shaved duck.

A finely-made Manhattan and their Thyme and Ginger cocktail had me equally impressed with Provenance’s drinks menu. The refreshing Thyme and Ginger will be especially welcome as we head into summer.

Provenance Manhattan

I was excited to learn during the blogger night that Provenance is open for brunch every Sunday in addition to lunch and dinner throughout the week.

So Scott and I checked out brunch at the museum this weekend. Spoiler: It was just as delicious!

Provenance’s brunch menu elevates traditional breakfast dishes like eggs and french toast with fresh, seasonal ingredients such as sweet onions, confit tomato and leek salad, and roasted garlic aioli.

Ranging in price from $16-$22, each entree also comes with a bounty of treats from the Chef’s Table.

A sampling from the Chef’s Table at Provenance Brunch

With buttery croissants, sweet blueberry scones and cinnamon rolls, house-made jams, and a fluffy gruyere biscuit, it was difficult to avoid filling up before our main course.

But with a Lump Crab Quiche and the Provenance Benedict on their way, we managed to save room.

In addition to camembert, caramelized onions and a herb custard, the quiche featured large chunks of fresh crab meat. It was paired with a shaved fennel and citrus salad.

Lump Crab Quiche at Cleveland Museum of Art Brunch

I’m not a huge fennel fan, but I loved how the fruit slices and citrus flavor balanced it out.

Scott has somehow gone 30 years without trying eggs benedict, but the herb-roasted trout that accompanies the Provenance Benedict called out to him.

I snuck a couple bites and really enjoyed the crisped texture and slightly smoked taste of the trout combined with the rich poached egg. And the colorful carrot salad that came on the side featured the absolute freshest-tasting carrots.

Provenance Benedict at Cleveland Museum of Art’s Brunch

Whether it’s brunch, lunch or dinner, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Chef Katz, and Bon Appetit have achieved a culinary masterpiece.

And I’m giving away a chance to indulge with a $100 gift certificate to Provenance!

There are 5 Easy Ways to Enter the Giveaway
**You must leave a separate comment on this post for each entry**

1) Leave a comment telling me what’s your favorite part about the Cleveland Museum of Art.

2) Follow @ClevelandArt and @ADHicken on twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me you did.

3) If you’re a fan of Clue Into Cleveland on Facebook, leave a comment on this blog post letting me know. If you’re not yet a fan, you can become one here.

4) Tweet: “I want to enjoy fine art and dining @ClevelandArt’s Provenance. Enter @ADHicken’s giveaway for a $100 gift card: http://wp.me/p2Ukr0-223” Get an extra entry each day for tweeting! (Each day you do this, you must leave a new comment.)

5) Subscribe to receive Clue Into Cleveland blog posts in your inbox or feed reader like Feedly and leave a comment letting me know you did. This can also include signing up to receive email notifications in the top-right “Subscribe” section of this page.

You have until this Friday, May 17 at Noon to enter. I will select a winner using Random.org and announce the winner’s name that afternoon on my blog. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry – good luck!

Disclosure: I was invited to attend a blogger night at Provenance with a guest and provided a $100 gift certificate to give away on my blog. My opinions about this visit as well as brunch are 100% my own.

Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation at Cleveland Museum of Art

From Good People and Much Ado… to next week’s War Horse, Scott and I have been spending a lot of time in theatre seats lately.

And as impressive and enjoyable as all of these shows have been, sometimes you need a palate cleanser. Something that’s a bit off-the-wall, that you’re not really sure what to expect from at any moment.

Enter Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation, currently “on loan” to the Cleveland Museum of Art as part of The Last Days of Pompeii exhibit.

The cast of Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation

You don’t really see a Theater Ninjas show, you experience it.

According to their website, the Theater Ninjas are “architects of out-of-the-ordinary experiences” creating “innovative, exciting theater events that use the power of the human body to tell stories.”

And I learned just what that means when I attended their performance of The Excavation at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Scott and I got to the museum a little early that Friday night. Fortunately, it’s the Cleveland Museum of Art, so there’s always something to do. After enjoying Gallery One, we made our way into the Atrium where the performance takes place.

Part of its interactive charm, characters from The Excavation mingle with the audience

While a few of us were meandering around, we ran into the Artist who led us on his tour of the contemporary galleries. Two parts irreverence, one part art history, our Ninja tour guide shared his offbeat insights not only about the art on the walls, but also the trashcan by the elevator.

As our guide took us back to the Atrium, we could see it was about time for the performance to begin. Once there, we noticed a few characters filtering into the waiting crowd – we met Luigi an archaeologist and a young lab assistant named Edith.

Gradually, all of the characters made their way to a platform in the center of the Atrium where they gave us a taste for what we were in for that night.

Like The Last Days of Pompeii exhibit, The Excavation explores how the ancient city of Pompeii lives on in our modern imagination. Why are we still so fascinated with the lives we never knew, trying in vain to piece together stories from the buried rubble?

We never did find out where she was going – just one of many reasons to catch a repeat performance of The Excavation

Unlike a traditional play, The Excavation has no seats and no single stage. Instead, short, interactive vignettes take place throughout the evening in all corners of the Atrium.

A hallway becomes a lecture hall, an escalator a lovers’ quarrel – with the actors fully responsible for setting the scene, not able to rely on stage dressing.

I loved the intimacy of it all – during each scene, you’re fully engrossed in what’s going on as the actors are performing just for you and a small handful of other people.

It’s important to note, though, that you will not be able to experience all of it in a single visit.  As with a Choose Your Own Adventure book, you can choose where you go and which performances you see, but at the expense of missing others.

The good news is that all performances of The Excavation are free, so multiple visits are highly encouraged and easy on the wallet.

Theater Ninjas’ The Excavation at Cleveland Museum of Art

While the performances had us laughing all night (The Vettii Brothers puppet show is a don’t-miss if you’re into pun-y groaners), don’t be mistaken that Theater Ninjas is doing this just for chuckles.

There’s an underlying layer of sobering and at times scary reflection about our obsession with Pompeii thousands of years later – and what it says about the modern human condition.

Jeremy Paul, Artistic Director of the Theater Ninjas, wrote in the program notes “It is a performance rooted in the idea that human beings are frequently, blindly and joyously wrong about mostly everything…The thesis of The Excavation is that we can never truly know Pompeii, but through attempting to do so, we might inadvertently learn something about ourselves.”

Credit is due to the Cleveland Museum of Art for partnering up with Theater Ninjas to provide this unique programming. It’s a smart complement to the Last Days of Pompeii and I would love to see similar programming based around future exhibits.

The next performance of The Excavation is this Friday, April 12 in the Ames Family Atrium. 

This is followed by performances on April 28 and June 12.  The shows this Friday and June 12 start at 7pm; April 28 starts at 2pm.

Additionally, stop by the museum for Ninja Days April 14, 19, 21, and 25 and May 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, and 19 (3-7pm on Fridays, 12-4pm on Sundays).  During Ninja Days, characters from The Excavation will be around the museum, performing scenes and bringing the art on the walls to life.

No two Ninja Days will be alike, so visit often. Just like performances of The Excavation, Ninja Days are free.

Learn more at theaterninjas.com and clevelandart.org.

At MIX Illumination, take a lantern tour of the Art Museum’s collection while learning more about Colum & Stripe, their new YP group

Over the last couple of months, the Cleveland Museum of Art has been — well, literally — mixing things up when it comes to drawing in new audiences to the museum.

The Art Museum’s First Friday MIX events take attendees on a unique trip of the museum every month. Whether it’s your first or nth time at the museum, these monthly happy hours each focus on a different aspect of the museum’s collection.

For instance, at last month’s MIX, guests could go on a scavenger hunt of the museum’s collection and solve a “mystery.” It also showcased the beautiful, brand-new atrium. After exploring the Martin Creed Half the Air exhibit, I was happy to escape the purple sea of balloons into the spacious atrium. Just hand me a gin and tonic to relax.

Bad hair day at the Cleveland Museum of Art! What a room full of balloons does to my hair.

At the Museum’s MIX: Illumination on Dec. 7, 5-9pm, dust off your holiday cardigan (mine’s getting a lot of work this year) and celebrate the season with warming winter drinks, live music and festive art activities.

After going on a lantern-led tour of the collection, relax in the MIX holiday lodge and take part in the museum’s White Elephant gift exchange (gift exchange for first 100 guests).

Advance tickets for MIX: Illumination are only $8; $10 day of event. And it’s free if you’re a member. Call (216) 421-7350 or visit clevelandart.org/MIX.

While the longtime University Circle mainstay has always been popular with younger audiences (best free date night in Cleveland, in my opinion), MIX is one part of a larger campaign to engage Cleveland’s recent college graduates and young professional crowd to the museum.

Complementing MIX is the Art Museum’s new YP group Column & Stripe. The new philanthropy group is a great way for the next generation of Cleveland’s artists, arts consumers and philanthropists to enjoy behind-the-scenes content about what’s going on at the Museum.

Members who want to get more involved with the museum also have the opportunity to sit on a committee and the Museum’s Emerging Leaders Board.

After launching at this year’s Solstice Party, they’ve been busy planning programming for 20/30-something Clevelanders. Check them out at this month’s MIX, where they’ll be sponsoring the holiday lodge with games and spiked hot chocolate.

And if you can’t make it Friday, Column & Stripes’ Holiday Party takes place on Thursday, December 13, from 6-10 p.m. If you’re a member or interested in learning more, join them for a trip to Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s tasting room for drinks and food. While tickets are free, limited space remains and reservations are required.

Membership for C&S starts at $50 per person with existing museum membership. Visit ColumnandStripe.org for more details.

Earlier in October Cleveland young professionals got a new monthly event to add to their calendars: Cleveland Museum of Art’s MIX First Fridays.

And after their first party showcased the Half the air balloon exhibit, November’s MIX turns its attention to the opening of the Museum’s stunning new atrium.

The Ames Family Atrium, along with the new Museum Store and Chef Doug Katz’s Provenance Restaurant and Café, are the latest additions to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s building expansion.

Museum guests have gotten a sneak peek at the space since it partially opened to the public in August. And this Sunday, Oct. 28 the whopping 39,000-square-foot piazza officially opens!

It’ll be the largest free public space in Northeast Ohio, bridging the original 1916 and 1971 buildings and new east and west wings with a beautiful curved glass roof.

Over 40 groups will come together on Sunday from 11am to 4pm to showcase Cleveland’s different cultures and celebrate with a day of music, dancing, art-making and other family-friendly activities.

And on Friday, Nov. 2 the Atrium will host its first public evening event at
MIX: Masquerade.

Now, in my opinion, that photo of the Atrium is reason enough to get tickets, but MIX: Masquerade has a few more tricks up its sleeve in case you need convincing.

For those who don’t get their fill of Halloween festivities earlier in the week, the Nov. 2 party will feature mysteries and ghost stories throughout the galleries from 5-7pm.

Then at 7pm, slip on a mask if you’re so inclined to get into the Masquerade spirit, as 2 DJs and an orchestra take over the Atrium.

There’s so much going on, the Museum is extending its hours until 11pm that night.

Tickets are $7 for members, $14 for non-members (yet another reason to join). Call 216.421.7350 or visit clevelandart.org/mix for tickets. Reservations are strongly suggested.

Sip a cocktail, explore the collection, dance the night away and enjoy the view!

Disclosure: I was invited to blog about MIX in exchange for attending. As always though, the choice of which events I share is my own.

The CMA exhibit ”Half the air…” is one way Cleveland’s art institutions are mixing it up right now (Credit: David A. Brichford)

A bit of blogkeeping: You have until 11:59pm on Thursday, 10/4 to enter my giveaway for two tickets to the CCFA Movie Gala at the Capitol Theatre. Also, check out WhyCLE’s giveaway for a second chance to win. Good luck!

When you think of classical or traditional art, it can be easy to think stuffy and boring. Wrong! Many of Cleveland’s traditional arts institutions are mixing it up with new events designed for younger audiences (or young in spirit).

Here’s a trio of upcoming events, in particular, that I’m looking forward to enlivening my week with:

CMA’s first MIX – this Friday, Oct. 5

MIX at Cleveland Museum of Art

Starting this Friday, Oct. 5, the Cleveland Museum of Art is unveiling a new monthly series for the first Friday of each month.  Like last year’s Buyers’ Remorse party, the MIX First Friday Happy Hours will feature after-work drinks, live music, and a look at a different part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection from 5-9pm.

The first MIX celebrates the re-introduction of CMA’s contemporary art galleries. Toast the end of the work week with a cocktail, music and more (a little bird tweeted me that @ClevelandPoet may be reading some poetry during it).

Plus, meet the artists from the DIY: Photographers & Books exhibit and the museum’s new acquisition Martin Creed’s Half the air in a given space.  

I’ve been excited by Half the air‘s concept since reading about it earlier last month. At the museum now through November 25, Creed’s work is comprised of thousands of purple balloons filling the East Wing’s glass box gallery. You can walk through the space and let your inner kid out as you interact with the balloons in this breathtaking glass bubble.

If you can’t make it this week, save the date for next month’s MIX on November 2 – more details to follow but what I’ve heard so far sounds very cool.

Each MIX event is free or discounted for members and only $12 for non-members. Reservations are recommended at ClevelandArt.org/MIX

After-party at Cleveland Orchestra’s Fridays@7

Cleveland Orchestra’s Fridays@7

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Fridays@7 series is also back with its first performance of the 2012-2013 season this Friday, Oct. 5. I attended my first Fridays@7 concert a couple years ago and it ranks high on my list of favorite events at the Cleveland Orchestra.

Since 2009, the Fridays@7 series has turned the Orchestra’s traditional concert hall experience on its head. Each performance includes a one-hour Cleveland Orchestra concert, followed by world music parties in the lobby of Severance Hall.

It always ends up being an electric evening of music – ideal for first-timers to the Orchestra or frequent guests who want to spice up their concert experience.

This Friday’s concert starts at 7pm – so you could make it a night of art by visiting the Museum at 5, and following it up with the Orchestra after.

The concert will feature a variety of sounds such as a poetic ballet piece by Ravel and some of Mendelssohn’s best-loved orchestral melodies juxtaposed with the Cleveland premiere of a work by Stewart Copeland (drummer and founder of The Police) and a large procession of world percussion.

You can purchase tickets for this Friday’s concert here. A subscription for the full series (December 7, January 18, and May 24) is also available.

Ballet in Cleveland wants to bring this classical art form back to the city – you can help on 10/11

Ballet in Cleveland @ Alex Bistro

While Ballet in Cleveland is an organization fairly new to the Cleveland arts scene, its focus is on returning classical ballet to the city. Founded by Jessica Wallis, a local dancer and teacher of dance, Ballet in Cleveland organizes performances and ballet-centered programming to introduce new audiences to the art.

Their next event is Oct. 11 at Alex Bistro in PlayhouseSquare from 5:30 to 8:30pm. The evening will feature free food, a delicious ballet-themed dessert and a cash bar with bartender Danny Murray creating ballet-inspired cocktails.  A pair of specially designed decorator pointe shoes and other prizes will be raffled off that evening to raise money for Ballet in Cleveland’s mission.

Guests at the event will also get to see the Cleveland premiere of Ballet in Cleveland’s new video “Mah City,” presented by Wallis and featuring choreographer Maria Puglisi and the University of Akron’s Terpsichore Dance Club. Members of  the dance company will be on hand for a meet and greet at the premiere.

You can learn more about Ballet in Cleveland in this recent article on Cool Cleveland and keep up-to-date at facebook.com/BalletInCleveland.

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Just because it’s traditional or classical doesn’t mean art needs to be boring, and this trio of organizations proves it through a range of fun programming designed to inspire. How do you like to “MIX it up”?

If you don’t have plans, a slate of festivals have you covered from the east to westsides.  Get out this weekend (bring a water bottle – it’s going to be hot) and experience the unique art and entertainment our community has to offer:

23rd Annual Parade the Circle takes place this Saturday in University Circle

Parade the Circle and Party in the Square

Parade the Circle returns this Saturday, June 9th from 11am-4pm (the parade itself starts at noon).  For more than 20 years, the Cleveland Museum of Art has been bringing this free signature summer event to Greater Cleveland – it’s one of my favorite things about June in Cleveland.

At the start of each summer, University Circle fills with color, music, and art for all ages. International and national guest artists join Greater Cleveland artists, families, schools, and community groups in a spectacular display of bright costumes, giant puppets, stilt-dancers, handmade masks, and colorful floats.

The 2012 parade route – themed around Branches Become Roots – will begin and end at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, moving in a clockwise direction along Wade Oval Drive and East Blvd. The parade will end by turning onto Wade Oval.  In addition to the Parade, University Circle Inc. hosts Circle Village, filling Wade Oval with activities, entertainment, and food.

Download the Parade Program here.  A parking map is also available and free valet bicycle parking will be provided by the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in front of the Cleveland Institute of Art from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Parade the Circle guests can take a free shuttle back and forth to Discover Gordon Square Arts District Day

For the third year, Parade the Circle guests can also hop over to the westside for Discover Gordon Square Arts District Day.  University Circle and Gordon Square Arts District will provide a FREE shuttle service to and from Parade the Circle and Gordon Square.

Round-trip shuttles will be available all day with the Eastside shuttle picking up at East Blvd. and Bellflower every hour between 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. and the Westside shuttle picking up at the corner of West 65th and Detroit every half-hour between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

At Gordon Square Day, you can enjoy free classic cartoons at Capitol Theatre, live performances at CPT’s and Near West Theatre’s outdoor stages, art galleries, pop-up shops and food and drinks.  For more information, visit www.gordonsquare.org.

WMC Fest runs all weekend long – starting Friday with an evening of bands

Weapons of Mass Creation Fest

If you can’t wait for Saturday, the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest starts tomorrow (Friday, June 8) and runs through Sunday.

The Weapons of Mass Creation Fest is heralded as the premier art, design, and music event in the Midwest. Now in its third year, 1,000+ attendees will descend on Cleveland to enjoy 20 inspiring speakers, 20 artists and designers, and almost 30 bands.

Part conference, part concert, part art show, and part festival, WMC Fest’s grassroots movement strives to educate, inspire, create and celebrate.

Get inspired by 20 speakers, 20 artists, almost 30 bands and the rest of the Weapons of Mass Creation community

Friday’s schedule revolves around a pre-fest mixer with music at Saigon Plaza.

Bands will continue to play there on Saturday and Sunday, while speakers take the stage noon to 7 both days at Reinberger Auditorium.

The speakers include a fantastic mix of Cleveland talent like Julia Kuo and CLE Clothing Co’s Mike Kubinski, as well as creative professionals and designers from across the country and our neighbor to the north.

WMC Fest’s Art & Design Show will take place at the iLTHY Workshop. Admission is free for the art show, while one-day tickets and weekend passes are available to purchase for the bands and presentations.

You can purchase single-day or weekend passes for the speakers and music. The art show at iLTHY Workshop is free.

So what are you waiting for? Cleveland is opening its doors this weekend to our neighborhoods, shops, and galleries and celebrating our thriving creative community. Whether it’s east, west, or both sides, hope to see you out and about!

Note: Graphics/photos of WMC Fest from wmcfest.com; Discover GSAD Day image from discover.gordonsquare.org. Parade the Circle photos are mine from a couple of years ago.

From ice skating in University Circle, to the Zoo, Metroparks and Progressive Field, there are plenty of ways to get outside and fight cabin fever this holiday season.

Cleveland winters get a bum rap. Although I know I’ll complain about it when we’re in the throws of February dealing with endless snow, during this time of year I’m not quite ready to hunker down indoors.

In fact, with my holiday shopping and errands nearly done, it’s time to enjoy the season, throw on my coat and head outside in the brisk December winds for some of these festivities:

The Frozen Diamond FaceOff is just one of the new features at this year's Indians Snow Days.

Cleveland Indians Snow Days

Cleveland Indians Snow Days was one of my favorite parts about last year’s winter (here’s last year’s recap). So as soon as tickets went on sale for this year’s return of Snow Days to Progressive Field, I bought mine.

I think it’s a perfect example of Cleveland’s ingenuity — transforming Progressive Field, which would sit mostly empty during the off-season, into a unique and fun wonderland.

Back again this year are The Batterhorn Snow Tubing hill (loved launching down the slick hills last year!) and the Frozen Mile ice skating track (the first non-symmetrical ice skating path in the U.S.).

The Cleveland Indians also added The Frozen Diamond, a regulation-sized ice skating rink covering home plate and stretching down the first base line. On January 15, The Frozen Diamond will host Ohio’s first-ever outdoor college hockey match when Ohio State and the University of Michigan play each other in The Frozen Diamond FaceOff.

I grew up watching the Philadelphia Flyers and hearing stories of the legendary Broad Street Bullies, so hockey’s been in my blood since I was a kid. I’ve never been to an outdoor game, so I bought the Snow Days Bundle Package, which gets you tickets to the January 15 game and a good-any-day combo pass for snow tubing and ice skating fun between now and the end of Snow Days on Jan. 16.

Thrillseekers can shoot down the Cleveland Metroparks' Tobogganing Chutes throughout the winter.

Take a Hike in the Cleveland Metroparks

Cleveland’s “Emerald Necklace” glimmers even more brightly this time of year with plenty of winter recreation opportunities.

Top of my list to try this season is tobogganing at the Chalet in Strongsville’s Mill Stream Run Reservation. If I thought snow tubing down the Indians’ Batterhorn was fast, I don’t know what to expect from the Chalet’s 1,000-foot ice chutes. And when the thrills get too much, I can head indoors and enjoy the warmth of their fireplaces.

For those who like to get some exercise while enjoying the great outdoors, the Cleveland Metroparks are also hosting a series of Holiday Hikes. The next two will explore CanalWay Center on Dec. 22 and Bacci Park on Dec. 29, both in the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation starting at 1pm.

Other upcoming hikes include this Saturday’s Candlelit Hike and Caroling through South Chagrin’s Look About Lodge, as well as this Sunday’s Winter Blues Hike with Naturalist Kelly McGinnis along Deer Lick Cave Trail.

The Cleveland Metroparks Calendar of Events lists the dates and locations for all of their programs.  And before you take a hike, check out these two Metroparks articles to learn a bit about winter birdwatching and the animals living under winter’s blanket.

During December Days, the Cleveland Zoo is offering discounted admission and plenty of holiday activities.

Cleveland Zoo December Days

I love visting the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and after October I love it even more because I can save $3 when I want to visit my favorite exhibit: the tigers, bears and wolves in the Northern Trek.

Starting this coming Monday, Dec. 19 and running until Dec. 30, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is hosting December Days at the Zoo. Admission is discounted even further to $7 for adults, $4 for children 2-11.

In addition to all of the exhibits, the Zoo is hosting a number of festive activities during December Days. From cookie decorating and holiday crafts in the Welcome Plaza’s Exhibit Hall to live music and visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus, it’s another low-cost way to spend the holidays with your family, especially if you have children.

Wade Oval lights up with lanterns from the Cleveland Museum of Art and festive trees and gingerbread houses at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Find Yourself (and the Holidays) in University Circle

My final favorite winter spot is the eastside’s University Circle. From more ice skating to winter lights and holiday treats, there are plenty of things to enjoy in the museum neighborhood.

The Cleveland Botanical Garden WinterShow boasts gingerbread houses made by professionals, amateurs and local families. Other festival highlights include the beautiful WinterShow Tree, holiday plants, trees decorated in the themes of children’s tales and fables, and Christmas cacti. It runs through Dec. 31st.

After the Botanical Garden, head over to the Cleveland Museum of Art for their Winter Lights Lantern Displays. Even though I missed the Procession of Lights during Holiday CircleFest, the Environment of Lights installation in Wade Oval is on view through this Sunday, Dec. 18.  The 5 indoor lantern displays will continue inside of the Museum of Art until January 16.

And for those who haven’t gotten their fill of ice skating at Progressive Field or in the Metroparks, there’s always the Rink at Wade Oval Circle. It’s free if you bring your own skates, $3 for skate rentals.

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As the season wraps up, I have to remind myself to relax and go out and enjoy these seasonal festivities. I hope you also find some free time this holiday – whether it’s enjoying the outdoors at one of these events or inside with a warming hot chocolate or glass of wine.

Check out Parts 1-3 of All I Want for Cleve-Mas 2011:

• OnStage in Cleveland This Holiday Season
• Shopping Local in Cleveland
• Lost in a Good (Cleveland) Book

Pictures from universitycircle.org, cleveland.indians.mlb.com, clemetzoo.com, clemetparks.com and clevelandart.org.

Granger, IN (detail), 2003. Brian Ulrich -- part of the Copia-Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art

How many times have you gone shopping, then gotten home, put your purchase in a closet and used it once or never again? Personally, I’m ashamed I’ve done this more times than I’d like to admit.

For the last decade, contemporary photographer Brian Ulrich has documented this habit of American consumers. He traveled throughout the United States and took photos of shoppers overwhelmed by the wall-to-wall goods found in malls and big-box stores.

To complement this, Ulrich then photographed thrift stores as they tried to catalogue the vast amounts of donated, discarded and unwanted consumer products. And from 2008 to 2011, his Dark Stores photographs highlighted the abandoned buildings and empty parking lots of the 2008 financial crisis — some of them in Cleveland.

This three-part collection, which was recently featured on Slate.com, is currently on exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Copia: Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores is in the East Wing’s Photography Galleries.

On November 18 – one week before Black Friday, the Museum is hosting Buyer’s Remorse, a young professionals’ reception to celebrate the exhibit.

Have something in your closet that you bought on a whim and never wore again or a vintage outfit you’ve been wanting the perfect opportunity to premiere? Wear it to the party, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet the artist Brian Ulrich and enjoy high-energy rock and roll from DJ Reena Samaan and the cash bar. 

I’m actually considering a two-fer: a vintage dress I bought last year I still haven’t worn (I know — horrible).  I’m looking forward to the event because it’s an excellent reminder to be a more thoughtful consumer when the holiday shopping season starts the following week.

Buyer’s Remorse starts at 7pm and goes until 10. Tickets are $8; $6 for students and museum members.  They can be purchased here or by calling 216.421.7350.

Copia: Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores can be seen at the Cleveland Museum of Art until January 16, 2012 and the entire Copia series can be found in the book Is This Place Great or What.

Cleveland Museum of Art / Brian Ulrich 411:

• Brian Ulrich: Copia – Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores, 2001-11
• Buyer’s Remorse Young Professionals Event
• Cleveland Museum of Art on Facebook
• @ClevelandArt

Disclosure: I was offered a pass to this event. However, the choice of which events I blog about and my opinions on them are 100% my own.

Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) is at the Cleveland Museum of Art until January 8th.

A couple of weeks ago I got to check out the Cleveland Museum of Art’s new special exhibit when they hosted a Young Professionals Night to kick off the exhibit’s opening.

Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) is the first retrospective of Fu Baoshi’s work in the Western Hemisphere.  It’s at the Museum until January 8th.

To bring the exhibit to Cleveland, the Cleveland Museum of Art partnered with the Nanjing Museum, one of the oldest and most comprehensive museums in China, and the Musashino Art University in Tokyo. After the artist’s death in 1965, the Nanjing Museum worked with his family to store and preserve his works — saving them from destruction during China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

At the Bamboo Grove Young Professionals Night, we were guided through the exhibit by curator Anita Chung.  As we started, she shared how the exhibit traces Fu Baoshi life — demonstrating how his personal self-discovery and struggles over time were reflected in his evolution as an artist.  

While each room in the exhibit chronologically covers a different stage in Fu Baoshi’s development, they also trace the revolutions in art and politics that were happening in Republican and Communist China at the time.

During the Bamboo Grove Happy Hour, guests enjoyed food and drinks while trying their hand at the painting technique Fu Baoshi used in his work

In the first few rooms, we enjoyed seeing Fu Baoshi’s earlier works, which exhibited his traditional landscape and figure paintings. My familiarity with Asian art is lacking, so to see the complexity of emotions that can be expressed in ink brushwork was revealing.  

As we continued to explore the exhibit, we learned how being an art history scholar in addition to an artist influenced a lot of Fu Baoshi’s style — even later in life when others were turning away from traditional styles. 

After the Communist victories in 1949, Fu Baoshi shifted his focus to producing ink and brush work that would speak to China’s people. And then later in the 1950s and 1960s, his landscapes of China’s beautiful natural wonders were used to express the patriotic values of the revolution – even incorporating Chairman Mao Zedong’s poetry. However, although his subject matter changed to fit modern China’s times, he continued to express himself with the beautiful, traditional ink painting he used earlier in life.

As much as I enjoyed his paintings, some of my favorite items in the exhibit were the seals Fu Baoshi created.  When he was younger, Fu had been a sealmaker. And throughout his life, he would continue to carve seals to imprint writing on his artwork. 

Sometimes the seal just had his signature; other times, though, they had poetry or phrases that expressed his mood. 

One of Scott’s and my favorites was the seal he used to imprint any works he made while drinking which expressed “often while being drunk.”  He said of himself that he could only touch the paper with the brush in the right hand if there was a glass of liquor in the left — a trait that was visible in the fluidity of some of his works.

My other personal favorite was the ironic, double-sided seal that said “Obsessed with seals.” 

One of my favorites from the exhibit: Fu Baoshi's Crossing the Dadu River, 1951

Another element that made it one of the more different exhibits I’ve experienced at the Cleveland Museum of Art was the beautiful fabric that each scroll was mounted on.  As I mentioned earlier – I’m not terribly well-versed in Asian Art. I’ve never really attended an exhibit in person so I wasn’t accustomed to seeing how a scrolled painting is mounted. However, after the Fu Baoshi exhibit, I was intrigued by that part of the process.

Much like a frame, selecting a fabric’s pattern and color for a hanging scroll’s mounting is a careful decision — chosen to complement the painting without distracting from it.  However, unlike changing a frame on a Western-style painting, once a scroll is backed with layers of paper and surrounded by a silk fabric, it will remain like that due to the extremely labor-intensive process to change the mounting.

If you go to the Fu Baoshi exhibit, take a look at how the aesthetic of the mountings change from piece to piece. For instance, the hanging scrolls from the early part of his career are surrounded by different kinds of fabric than the ones in the rest of the exhibition.

Those early paintings were created and mounted while he was in Japan and are on loan from the Fu Boashi collection at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo.  They have a Japanese aesthetic, while most of the rest of the artworks, from the Nanjing Museum, have Chinese-style mounting.

Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) is yet another extremely well-presented exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  Tickets for the special exhibit are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and college students and $4 for children ages 6 to 17 (free for museum members).  

For only $8, there’s no excuse to miss this exhibit.  If you’re new to Eastern art like I am, Fu Baoshi’s brushwork, seal carvings and mountings are breathtaking examples of the traditional art he was so talented in. And if you are familiar with the style, it’s still worth a visit to see the first-ever Western retrospective of his work.  After it leaves Cleveland in January, you’ll have to travel to the Met in New York to enjoy it.

Cleveland Museum of Art 411:

• Plan Your Visit (Hours and Admission)
• Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution: Fu Baoshi
• Current Exhibitions
• Calendar of Events
• @ClevelandArt
• Cleveland Museum of Art on Facebook

Photo from ClevelandArt.org

UPDATE: Because the original winner could not attend, I redrew a winner through random.org and it is entry #6 – mryjhnsn. Congratulations!

Happy Friday! Last night I had an amazing girls night out filled with wine and cupcakes. There will be a post next week about it, but in the meantime check out Miss WineOH who hosted the event. Tammy’s a great host and really knows her wine — it was a nice way to relax before a weekend of birthday celebrations for Scott.

Of course, before this weekend can really get started, it’s time to find out who won two tickets to next Friday’s Bamboo Grove Night at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

After using Random.org to select a winner from the comments (minus any WordPress pingbacks):

The winner is Crystal from Eat*Drink*Cleveland! Email me at clueintocleveland (at) gmail (dot) com to redeem your tickets.

If you didn’t win but still want to check out the Museum’s Young Professionals night, you can purchase tickets here or by calling 216-421-7350.

Qu Yuan, 1942 -- One of Fu Baoshi's works on exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Besides the food and entertainment, Fu Baoshi’s exquisite art is a huge reason to get tickets to the party. A few highlights from the exhibit (taken from the Art Museum’s website) include:

• Qu Yuan, 1942. Fu Baoshi created this compelling image of the ancient poet-statesman Qu Yuan, emphasizing his psychological suffering before his suicide in the Miluo River. The image sheds light on the grievances and pathos of China’s modern intellectuals in the face of war and political corruption.
• Gottwaldov, 1957. A vivid image of the smoggy, industrial city of Gottwaldov (present day Zlìn) in the Czech Republic, painted during his official visit to Eastern Europe, Fu’s portrayal is characterized by a dark mystery, which makes it a powerful statement on modern industrialization, subject to the viewer’s interpretation.
• Heavenly Lake and Flying Waterfall, 1961. This strikingly simple and abstract composition effectively captures the awe-inspiring beauty of Changbai Falls, which flows from a river outlet of the lake on top of Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province, on the border with North Korea. Glittering in the light, the silvery white water stands out against the deep, black ink washes creating the precipitous cliffs.
• Heaven and Earth Glowing Red, 1964. The red globe of the earth floats in rose-colored air. Natural phenomena, including a pine tree, rock, falling leaves, ocean, wind, mist and lightning, are incorporated in an abstract design for romanticizing Chinese communist revolution. This is Fu’s interpretation of the political abstractions of the time based on Mao’s poetry. It fulfills the political requirement to direct art in the service of the Party and the masses.

It’s the season for giveaways so keep an eye out on Monday for a chance to win passes to the Cleveland Lego Fest!