Museums

This blog post is about the creative and historical events I attended Friday, September 24, 2021, through Sunday, September 26, 2021:

• moCa Cleveland (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland) and more in University Circle
  
  In 2020 (pre-COVID-19 vaccine),  I stopped going to moCa Cleveland, so in 2021 (after being fully vaccinated), I had gotten out of the habit of looking to see what the new exhibits were at the museum. Therefore, I greatly appreciated receiving the following Twitter direct message on September 6, 2021, from @moCaCleveland reminding me to visit: "Stuart, have you been in to see our new season? Just an fyi we have a new Sr Marketing Director . . . moCa hopes all is well."

• Ingenuity at the Lake
  
  When I first arrived at Ingenuity at the Lake, I did not know what to expect. I ended up really enjoying some of the yard games with my family, and of course talking to people from different organizations providing services to our community.

• 16th Annual Remembering The Sights & Sounds of Euclid Beach Park
  
  My son, Kevin F. Smith, displays his Euclid Beach Park memorabilia collection every year. Learn more details about the history of this amusement park, and how Kevin and my wife, Julie, are on the board of Euclid Beach Park Now.

I enjoy attending the Cleveland Museum of Art's annual #CMAChalkFestival every year and sharing my favorite chalk artwork on my "Chalk Festival" blog posts. Therefore, I was very disappointed that a spur-of-the-moment trip south to take care of some family business prevented me from attending on Saturday, September 11, 2021.

I asked people on the Cleveland Twitterverse to share on Twitter their photos from the 2021 Cleveland Chalk Festival, so that I could at least attend an online version of the Chalk Festival.

I was rewarded greatly by the Cleveland Twitterverse and my son, Kevin F. Smith.

As I write this blog post, I am very busy preparing for an extended backpacking trip, but I still wanted to get this out, since I had such a great time at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I will let the photos in the tweets tell the story, and I invite you to learn more about this special Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition, Stories from Storage, . . .

As you view the photos we shared on Twitter, please note the incredible variety of artwork presented. We highly recommend seeing the exhibition in person, since photos can't capture all the details.

My mother joined me on my return visits on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, and Tuesday, April 27, 2021.

In 2020, our first adventure out to a public space during the coronavirus crisis was to the Cleveland Museum of Art's #WelcomeBackCMA Reopening. The spaciousness of the museum, along with their coronavirus protocols and site-specific safety measures, allowed us to feel safe while enjoying the artwork.

Now, in 2021, our first excursion of the year was again to the Cleveland Museum of Art. We had not expected to still be social distancing and masking, but here we are, writing another blog post in our "Social Distancing" series.

After the initial reopening in June 2020 for the summer, the Cleveland Museum of Art closed again in fall 2020. On January 18, 2021, the Cleveland Museum of Art reopened again with modified hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. With the 2021 reopening, we learned of a special exhibition created by "the Cleveland Museum of Art, with love," called Stories from Storage.

In 2019, I wrote that it was a special year, since it was the 30th year of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival. As the coronavirus crisis raged on over the summer of 2020, I wondered if the 31st anniversary of this wonderful event would need to be canceled as we entered September.

On September 1, 2020, I saw the Twitter announcement "Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chalk Festival goes virtual," stating that the event would take place with people sharing their art only on social media on Saturday, September 12, 2020, and Sunday, September 13, 2020.

It is now with mixed feelings that I gather the #CMAChalkFestival drawings for this blog post about the Cleveland Museum of Art's 2020 Virtual Chalk Festival: Love Your Community with All Your Art. While it is very sad that everyone could not get together this year, I am very pleased that the museum encouraged people to share their chalk drawings on social media.

I am glad to continue my annual tradition of creating a blog post with photos from the Cleveland Museum of Art's Chalk Festival.

On February 7, 2020, we attended the PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet opening at the Cleveland Museum of Art. This opening coincided with the #MIXatCMA party that we enjoy attending the first Friday of most months. There was so much to see at the exhibition that we returned to see more the following weekend (Sunday, February 16, 2020).

We enjoyed the PROOF opening so much that we wanted to share it with our son, Michael Smith, on our return visit. We wanted to show him the items we enjoyed on our first visit, and to see the photographs that we did not have time to see. PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet is the type of exhibition that warrants more than one visit.

Stuart had attended the Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art exhibition with our son, Mike, on October 26, 2019. What made their visit to the exhibition extra special was was learning special insights about the artwork from Curator of Exhibitions Theresa Bembnister.

After the October 2019 tour, Stuart knew he needed to return to the Akron Art Museum to share his experience with his wife and co-blogger, Julie. As we entered 2020, we made plans to go in late January.

We were excited to learn via a Twitter direct message from @AkronArtMuseum that now not only would we be able to see the exhibition together, but we would also be able to go on a "final tour" with Theresa Bembnister, on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. The exhibition is great, but seeing it with the curator who developed the show is extra special.

We had a great day at the Akron Art Museum, and want to again thank Theresa Bembnister for the tour, and Jeneé Garlando for taking time to tell us more about the museum. We look forward to attending future exhibitions at the museum.

I am a very lucky man! In October and November 2019, I was very fortunate to attend many great events. I am publishing seven blog posts today because I really want to thank the organizers of these events. With so much happening, I have not been able to publish my blog posts on a timely basis, but still wanted to recognize and recommend these organizations.

In the interest of time, these are not my usual full blog posts, so I encourage you to click on the links and watch the videos in the tweets to learn more:

• Akron Art Museum "Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art," Summit Artspace "Poe's Garden," and CVNP New Visitor Center
  October 26, 2019.
  I want to make a point to thank Curator of Exhibitions, Theresa Bembnister, for the excellent tour. Her depth of knowledge added great value to my son's and my visit to the exhibition at the Akron Art Museum.

I am truly grateful to all those who made these great events possible.

I am a very lucky man! In October and November 2019, I was very fortunate to attend many great events. I am publishing seven blog posts today because I really want to thank the organizers of these events. With so much happening, I have not been able to publish my blog posts on a timely basis, but still wanted to recognize and recommend these organizations.

In the interest of time, these are not my usual full blog posts, so I encourage you to click on the links and watch the videos in the tweets to learn more:

• Cleveland Museum of Art "Michelangelo: Mind of the Master" - MIX: Anatomy & Pop-up Drawing Lounge
  MIX: Anatomy - Cleveland Museum of Art on October 4, 2019.
  Pop-up Drawing Lounge on October 23, 2019.
  I have written several blog posts about Cleveland Museum of Art MIX events -- they are always a great time!

I am truly grateful to all those who made these great events possible.

This whole year, I have been looking forward to the Michelangelo: Mind of the Master exhibition, so imagine how excited was to I receive an invitation to attend the Media & Influencer Preview of "Michelangelo: Mind of the Master."

Once I entered the exhibtion, I found it interesting to see people interacting and learning about the exhibtion. I also greatly enjoyed talking to others I knew at the preview, and sharing impressions with people who I met for the first time, as we enjoyed the drawings.

On the same evening as the Michelangelo: Mind of the Master preview, I attended the last hour of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Think & Drink with the Extinct event. It was a great way to end the evening in University Circle.

I am grateful to be able to attend many great events as a member of both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History!