Brewed Fresh Daily

Have you picked up a copy of the FreeTimes this week? If not, what are you waiting for? This weeks Art's Lead is an article by Liz Bly entitled "Self Help for Struggling Artists". Once again Liz seems to have her finger on the pulse of the arts in Cleveland and writes about all our brothers and sisters in the Arts Army and their personal battles to get something cookin' in Cleveland. Abe Olvido is quoted as saying "You can't be a sissy and live here, There's a lot of work that needs to be done. But despite the hard work, you feel like you're making things better, changing things." Truer words couldn't have been spoken! Let's keep the ball rollin'.

Dott Schneider and Deborah Ann Marie Erska (who goes by the acronym DAME) of Viscous Arena recently mounted BITCH: verb or noun, an exhibit exploring gender stereotypes, at the ARTcade. Schneider was thrilled with the attendance and the energy at the opening reception. "It was packed from beginning to end; there were constantly 100 people in the space," she says. "This is the advantage of having so many art venues in one place; there is a communal spirit." The women of Viscous Arena are the sole funders of their projects. Schneider believes Cleveland artists are a dedicated, hard-working group, used to doing things on their own. "We're not holding symposiums about how we can keep our creative class," she says. "We're walking the walk, not just talking the talk."