Cleveland-based artist Kristen Newell’s sculptures harness the scent of freshly burnt sage: mild but potent, transformative, warm and redemptive. The figures, animals, and vessels she sculpts all seem to carry the sound of water: rain, tears, the silence of shallow vernal pools, a rushing river, the crash and hush of an oncoming or receding tide. Adamantly whole and conspicuously vulnerable at once, this body of work seems to breathe a collective sigh of relief. The pandemic has passed, but what did it cost?
BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Winslow Homer drew inspiration from the wave-lashed coast of Maine. Claude Monet reveled in the ripples on his waterlily pond in Giverny. And Joseph O’Sickey found artistic nirvana in the dappled shade of his backyard in Twin Lakes.
Over a five-decade career, O’Sickey (1918-2013) became one of Northeast Ohio’s most beloved artists in part because he found inspiration close to home.
OPEN HOUSE featuring works by JOSEPH B. O’SICKEY
Exhibtion and Sale
Friday, November 25th from 2-7pm
On behalf of the CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART, WOLFS is pleased to present an exhibition and sale of important works by Joseph O’Sickey. This is the first in a series of exhibitions from the monumental bequest to the Institute from the estate of the famous Ohio artist. Containing major unseen works, both large and unique, small and charming, all in the colorful and exuberant style for which O’Sickey is so well-known.
Joseph O'Sickey, born in Detroit in 1918, was a painter and teacher throughout his career. As a child he attended Saturday classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which retains one of his paintings in its permanent collection.
He graduated from the Cleveland School of Art (Cleveland Institute of Art) in 1940 and taught at Ohio State University (1946-47), Akron Art Institute (1949-52), Western Reserve University School of Architecture (1956-64), and Kent State University (1964-89).
Among the most honored painters active in the region, O'Sickey won the Cleveland Arts Prize in Visual Arts in 1974, and was called "a dean of painting in Northeast Ohio" by Steven Litt, art and architecture critic of the Plain Dealer.
“I love drawing and I love painting. It is a privilege to be a painter, but I do not advocate for the ‘art career’ syndrome. Painters should not reject their crucial personal development and observation. I have always held a job as a teacher or graphic artist so that I could be free in my work, and separately concentrate on my growth and development as a painter.” - Joseph O’Sickey
BEACHWOOD, Ohio — A posthumous and partial retrospective exhibition at WOLFS gallery on the impressive abstract paintings of the late Cleveland-area artist Richard Andres from 1950 to 1975 is a bittersweet revelation.
The revelation is that Andres, (1927-2013) who has been overlooked for decades, became a very strong artist in Northeast Ohio after World War II. Combining idiosyncratic abstract shapes, bold colors, and wide-ranging moods, his paintings are very much worth appreciating today.