March 2020 Art Show

Gallery W at Crocker Park

Hours: Monday - Friday 10 a.m - 5 p.m. Sat. & Sun. CLOSED

One American Boulevard, Westlake, Ohio 44145

Located on the first floor of the American Greetings building

(Below the giant rose, off Main Street)

Gallery W presents 40th Street Studio Works. This exhibition offers an opportunity to recognize works by Helen Frankovits Libens, Susan Donovan Lowe, Lucette Johnson and Johanna Page.

The Opening Reception will take place on Thursday, March 12th from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM, and the show runs through April 30th.

Hope to see you there!

40th Street Studio Works opening March 12th in Gallery W

This exhibit features selected works spanning the extensive careers of Helen Frankovits Libens, Susan Donovan Lowe, Lucette Johnson, and Johanna Page, a group of four artists who share studio space in the Shovel Works, a Victorian-style brick factory built in 1875.

Libens, Lowe, Johnson, and Page attended the Cleveland Institute of Art in the late eighties and early nineties and bonded over their shared experience as nontraditional students. The four artists returned to school after conventional college age to complete CIA’s five-year Bachelor of Fine Arts program.

After the four artists became close friends in college, they decided to move into shared studio space in May of 1993, dubbing the space the 40th Street Studio. A little more than two years later, on June 13, 1995, a fire broke out in the attic of the Shovel Works, causing an estimated $250,000 worth of damage to the 10 businesses housed there, including the 40th Street Studio. Despite this setback, the artists have maintained this studio space for more than twenty-five years.

Libens, Lowe, Johnson, and Page were members of the original group of artists involved with City Artists at Work (CAAW), an organization founded by artist William Martin Jean in 1997. The primary mission of this grassroots organization was to demystify art by inviting the public into the intimacy of artists’ studios. In what would become a signature event, 27 artists from three buildings, including the Shovel Works Building, opened their studios to the public for the first studio tour on October 23, 1998.  Libens, Lowe, Johnson, and Page were among the first to open up their studios in this effort. CAAW disbanded in 2018, but their open studio events attracted more than 7,000 people over the course of its 20-year span, helping to erode the distance between art and viewer.

After nearly thirty years in the same studio, despite the fire and other setbacks, these four artists have only grown closer as friends and colleagues. While they work in the same space, each has maintained their own individual identities as artists, as these works show.

Upcoming Shows:​

March 12 - April 30, 2020 - 40th Street Studio Works

Previous Shows:

2019

  • January 16 - March 12, 2020 - Nature Preserved: Eileen Dorsey, Marc Petrovic, Kari Russel-Pool
  • November 14, 2019 - January 9, 2020 - American Greetings Annual Fine Art Show
  • September 5 - November 7 - Artificial Horizon: Matthew Kolodziej, David Biro
  • July 11 - August 2 - Harmonious Domains: Stephanie Craig, Hilary Gent, Todd Leech 
  • May 2 - June 27 - Tightly Unwound: Jen Craun, Dana Oldfather, Stephen Yusko
  • March 7 - April 25 - Memories in Transition: Libby Chaney, Alice Kiderman
  • January 17 – February 28 - Intrinsic Momentum: Hilder Asgeirsdottir Johsson, Isabel Farnsworth, Rebecca Cross

2018

2017

2016

  • Nov. 3 – Dec. 23 - Beauty In Distinction: Zygote Press, Jim Baker, Mark Hartung
  • Oct. 4 – 21 - 37th Annual American Greetings Fine Art Show