Art

I have to say this is the first time that I have received an invitation to go to hell. On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, I joined others that were invited for a preview of the Cleveland Museum of Art's newly opened exhibition, Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea I put this blog post together to share what I learned during the preview and to encourage others to visit this exhibition before it closes on Sunday, January 3, 2027.

Before attending the preview, I assumed that the artwork shown in the exhibition would be from only the Goryeo dynasty, which the announcement from the museum listed as existing from 918 to 1392. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "Goryeo dynasty, in Korean history, dynasty that ruled the Korean peninsula as the Goryeo kingdom from 935 to 1392 CE. During this period the country began to form its own cultural tradition distinct from the rest of East Asia. It is from the name Goryeo that the Western name Korea is derived." As I entered the galleries to see the the optical fibers of Anicka Yi's Bending Willow Branches (2025), I quickly realized that I was wrong. While most of the items are from medieval Korea, there are also several contemporary pieces.

As the date of the preview grew closer, invitees received an exciting email update. We would be hearing a performance by local soprano, Minkyeong Kim. She would be opening the Cleveland Museum of Art Ten Kings of Hell preview with her special vocal performance of classical Korean arrangements and "Golden" from the critically acclaimed KPop Demon Hunters.

After a welcome message and exhibition background information from Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Marketing Officer Todd Mesek, preview attendees heard details about the exhibition during a guided tour with Cleveland Museum of Art's Curator of Korean Art, Sooa Im McCormick.

I was very grateful to be able to attend the preview and curator tour of Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, and the many other exhibitions I have seen over the years at the Cleveland Museum of Art! I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future events at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

I enjoy attending Ingenuity Cleveland's IngenuityFest every year!! I particularly like the theme of this year's three-day (Friday-Sunday, September 25-27, 2026) annual event -- America Dreams -- on this the 250th year of our country. I really appreciated the stories and songs told by the circus performers about the American dreamer.

I highly recommend that you read the 2026 IngenuityFest Program Guide PDF file. Reading over the program guide as you look at my text and photos in this blog post will further explain the activities I participated in during this three-day Cleveland arts and technology festival. The guide will also show that there is a lot that I didn't have time to explore on this very full weekend featuring Cleveland creatives. Finally, and most importantly, please note (and thank if you get the opportunity) the list of financial supporters, volunteer Ingeneers, performers/participants, board members, and staff:

I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future fun events hosted by Ingenuity Cleveland!

I want to thank the Akron Art Museum leadership and the many volunteers who made the Thursday, September 24, 2026, Community Opening Celebration a great success! It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening! The new galleries in the museum's just-renovated historic 1899 Building are fantastic.

During the Akron Art Museum reopening, I was able to view three new exhibitions that were created through the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Ohio Arts Council:

• Shana Moulton: Meta/Physical Therapy
  September 23, 2026 – September 26, 2027 | C. Blake McDowell Jr. Gallery (New 1899 Building Gallery!)

• The Surrealist Impulse
  September 23, 2026 – September 12, 2027 | Susie and Tony Paparella Galleries (New 1899 Building Gallery!)

• Naudline Pierre: May the Light Reach You
  September 23, 2026 – April 18, 2027 | Karl and Bertl Arnstein Galleries

There was so much that I saw during the Community Opening Celebration, that I created the following outline of this blog post. If you want to jump directly to one of these sections of the blog post, please click on the following links:

1. Free Community Opening Celebration
   - Wave Space Studio
   - Idea Machine by CHIAOZZA
   - Zygote Press

2. New C. Blake McDowell Jr. Gallery
   - Shana Moulton: Meta/Physical Therapy

3. New Susie and Tony Paparella Galleries
   - The Surrealist Impulse

4. Music by The Sonder Bombs

5. Second Floor Previously Existing Galleries

I hope my blog post encourages readers to visit both the new space in the 1899 Building and the existing Akron Art Museum galleries.

On Thursday, September 17, 2026, we were fortunate to attend The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor preview. We are sharing here photos from the preview to encourage others to visit the museum to see this and other exhibitions. Those of us who live in Northeast Ohio are very fortunate to have this world-class museum here in Cleveland. General admission is always free, and members receive free tickets to the museum's special exhibitions.

After exploring the new exhibition on our own, we joined everyone attending the preview for a curator tour of this new exhibition. We first heard a welcome message and background information about the exhibition from Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Marketing Officer Todd Mesek. Thank you to the museum’s curator of prints and drawings, Britany Salsbury, for the guided tour of the exhibition.

In our last "Travel" blog post about our Great Britain adventure and Stuart's two backpacking trips we promised to do this follow-up post with information about our August 16-23, 2026, vacation, as we traveled home from Vermont.

Since Stuart was on the trail, Julie planned all the details for our vacation -- seeing the fun places we visited confirms the excellent job she did! We want to share with you some of the highlights of our vacation in Massachusetts and New York at the following locations:

• Monday, August 17, 2026 - Norman Rockwell Museum

• Wednesday, August 19, 2026 - Watkins Glen State Park Gorge Trail and Town of Watkins Glen

• Thursday, August 20, 2026 - The Solar Powered Buffalo Heritage Carousel

• Thursday - Saturday, August 20 - 22, 2026 - Niagara Falls USA and Canada

• Saturday, August 22, 2026 - Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

• Sunday, August 23, 2026 - Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center

We are sharing where we visited to encourage you to see these interesting spots.

On Saturday, June 13, 2026, my son, Michael Smith, and I had a great time at The Cleveland Museum of Art’s “Parade The Circle” and at “Circle Village” on Wade Oval, presented by University Circle. I would have liked to have published this blog post earlier, since it is my way to thank the organizers and participants, but two days later, I headed out to backpack the entire Susquehannock Trail System (STS) Circuit Hike. I also was busy preparing for a month-long backpacking trip in mid-July on the Appalachian Trail.

Thank you to all the participants in the parade, and to the partner organizations in “Circle Village,” which included:

• Case Western Reserve University
• Cleveland Botanical Garden/Holden Forests & Gardens
• Cleveland History Center
• Cleveland Institute of Art
• Cleveland Institute of Music
• Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• The Cleveland Orchestra
• Cleveland Public Library
• moCa (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland)
• The Music School Settlement
• Piano Cleveland
• and more!!!

I was grateful to be able to attend the Annual Parade the Circle and Circle Village, and look forward to future years of this great arts event! I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future events at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the other museums in University Circle.

On Sunday, April 19, 2026, I had a great time attending The Print Club of Cleveland's 41st Fine Print Fair in The Cleveland Museum of Art’s atrium. I enjoy attending this art event every year!

I put this blog post together to share my photos from the event and to lock in my positive memories from the day. Most importantly, I want to thank the event organizers.

A special shout-out to Jerry Smith, who is a member of the 41st Fine Print Fair organizing team.

When I first arrived at the Fine Print Fair, I watched a print demonstration by the Cleveland Institute of Art: College of Art + Design:

I hope you enjoy this sampling of prints from the 41st Fine Print Fair, and that it encourages you to attend in the future:

Last year, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, I took my mom to the 40th Annual Fine Print Fair. During the event, we watched printing demonstrations by both the Cleveland Institute of Art and Zygote Press.

In 2025, I did't have time to write a blog post about the event. Now, in 2026, I am taking the opportunity to share my 2025 photos here -- enjoy!

Thursday, April 9, 2026 -- My day of art!

I have created this blog post to share with you my impressions of the day I visited two art exhibitions at one venue, and the reopening of a second, renovated art venue. I want to encourage my readers to visit in person what I share online here. I also deviate from this one day to share my photos from a third art venue, which I visited on April 2nd.

The main blog post sections feature:

• Improper Frames - Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer Station

• Martin Puryear: Nexus - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Manet & Morisot - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Summit Artspace Grand Reopening Party

I want to take this opportunity to state how fortunate we are in Northeast Ohio to have these art venues to enjoy!

I appreciated being invited by The Cleveland Museum of Art Director of Communications Jacqueline Bon, to the Thursday, November 6, 2025, preview of Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses, but I did have questions about this new exhibition. I wondered what was meant by the statement that the exhibition would feature "art and fashion interwoven." I knew that I liked Renaissance art, but I was not sure that I would appreciate how this artwork impacted the development of ". . . fresh perspectives throughout the fashion landscape."

Fortunately, while attending the opening reception for the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show, I was able to talk to the museum's Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Mesek, and learned that the upcoming Renaissance to Runway exhibition would, indeed, be of interest to me!

The Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses exhibition runs from Sunday, November 9, 2025, through Sunday, February 1, 2026. Since the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show is currently being shown at Transformer Station through Saturday, December 27, 2025, I decided to also add information about this special, final, FRONT show. I put together this blog post to share my photos and observations about these two current shows, and to thank The Cleveland Museum of Art for bringing such exciting exhibitions to our community!

I have written 21 blog posts about Ingenuity Cleveland and their events: IngenuityFest and Bal Ingénieux/Ingenuity Bal. We are very fortunate to have this gathering of Cleveland creatives that is Ingenuity Cleveland. On September 26 and September 27, 2025, I attended the celebration of their 20th anniversary season at IngenuityFest 2025: Forging The Future.

I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future fun events hosted by Ingenuity Cleveland!