“Cutting Edge Cleveland” Exhibition As Part Of Cleveland Photo Fest Opens At Good Goat Gallery, Lakewood

Bruce Checefsky, Photoscan Untitled 2019

With more than 125 people crowded into the Good Goat Gallery for the opening of the Cleveland Photo Fest exhibition on Friday, September 6th, co-founder and organizer Herb Ascherman, Jr. couldn’t have been happier. 

            “On behalf of co-directors and photographers Laura D’Alessandro and Jim Szudy, and myself, we can’t thank you enough for your support. We have a lot to look forward to in the next two months. Thank you so much for coming,” he said.

            Established in 2019 as an annual event for the benefit of the Greater Clevelanders who support photography as a fine art, Cleveland Photo Fest's mission is to strengthen the appreciation of photography as a major force in today’s visually driven culture. Exhibitions, publications, educational and fellowship programming are at the core of their active engagement with the Cleveland community. In addition to the eight galleries under their direct auspices featuring fourteen different exhibitions, The Cleveland Photo Fest will partner with approximately 30 local galleries and art-based communities to sponsor or incorporate CPF events. The Photo Fest will include more than 90 photographers from Cleveland, with several photographers from across the United States, and as far as London and India. Exhibitions, publications, educational and fellowship programming are at the core of their active engagement with the Cleveland community. 

            The Good Goat Gallery, Images Photographic Gallery, Macs Backs Books on Coventry, Orange Art Center, Prama Art Space and Gallery, Ingenuity Cleveland, McDonough Museum of Art, Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick, and the Dodd Company are just a few scheduled venues.

            “Cutting Edge Cleveland,” an inaugural exhibition of 10 photographers opened at Good Goat Gallery in Lakewood on September 6ththrough October 3rd, 2019. Other corollary exhibitions run throughout September and October, into early November 2019. 

            The photographers include for “Cutting Edge Cleveland” include Donald Black, Bruce Checefsky, Jennifer Gleason, Ben Hauser, Stephen Kasner, Kasumi, Tom Masaveg, Don Penn and Chad Michael Ward.

            Local art world followers and supporters turned out for the opening reception which included real estate developers, curators, museum and gallery directors, art collectors, artists, photographers, writers and poets, and an occasional walk-in from the Lakewood neighborhood.

            “The organizers of Photo Fest pulled this together in just a few months. It’s very impressive,” said Nancy Heaton, Executive Director of BAYarts, an art campus on Cleveland's west shore in Cleveland Metroparks.

            “I’m very impressed,” added Michael Gill, CAN Journal's co-founder and executive director. “I like what they’re doing.”

            “There’s something going terribly right with Cleveland Photo Fest,” said Liz Maugans, director of YARDS Projects, and curator of the Dalad Collection at Worthington Yards in Cleveland’s Warehouse District. “In recognition to both the local and national artists, this is really great.”

            Cleveland Photo Fest exhibitions and lectures are free and open to the public. In addition to exhibitions, lectures, and workshops designed to enhance the art of photography experience, Cleveland Photo Fest will hold the First Annual Greater Cleveland Photography Sell and Show. The sale and show will be held at Lakewood’s Good Goat Gallery, on October 5th, 2019, from 10am-4pm, with a reception immediately following. This one-day, open to the public, over the counter sale of photography, with no commission on the sale of works for this event, is a limited space, $50 per table special event. At the end of the afternoon, each participating photographer will be invited to post four images on the gallery wall, which then become a featured exhibition for the remainder of the month of October.  

            For more information contact Cleveland Photo Fest at clevelandphotofest.org, or phone 440-554-5644.

            Good Goat Gallery is located at 17012 Madison Ave, Lakewood, OH 44107. Phone (440) 799-0675.

Bruce Checefsky is a contributing writer for the Plain Press, CAN Journal, Tremonster, and others. He's an award winning photographer and filmmaker. 

Bruce Checefsky

Bruce Checefsky is a contributing writer for the Plain Press, CAN Journal, Tremonster, and others. He's an award winning photographer and filmmaker. 

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Volume 15, Issue 18, Posted 3:47 PM, 09.18.2019