Art visionaries, regional ties feature in Cleveland Arts Prize ‘Conversations’

CLEVELAND, OH – Cleveland Arts Prize is doubling down on its summer fundraisers for 2025, offering two unique programs for the region’s fine art enthusiasts at the Midtown Collaboration Center, 6539 Euclid Ave. Both have captivating special guests.

“The Visionaries of Optical Art: Stanczak, Mieczkowski and Anuszkiewicz” promises an engaging morning exploration of art history Saturday, June 14, from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Then in July, “Art on Trial: Dennis Barrie, Barbara Tannenbaum and the Legacy of the Mapplethorpe Controversy” delves into one of America’s most controversial art history moments.

At Saturday’s event, celebrated art historian Henry Adams, eminent architecture and visual arts critic Steven Litt and celebrated sculptor-educator Barbara Stanczak will explore the lives and legacies of three key figures in the international Optical Art movement.

All three of figures have ties to Cleveland and are Cleveland Arts Prize winners: painters Julian Stanczak (2015), Edwin Mieczkowski (1966) and Richard Anuszkiewicz (1977).

“Visionaries” will explore how these artists “challenged visual perception, revolutionized color theory and shaped geometric abstraction” in influential ways, said Effie Nunes, executive director of the Cleveland Arts Prize.

Fortifying Adams and Litt’s scholarly analysis, Stanczak will offer “a personal glimpse into the friendships, professional intersections and artistic journeys” shared by the trio through decades of teaching, learning and creative collaboration.

The program focused on Mapplethorpe takes place Saturday, July 26, at 10 a.m.

Mapplethorpe, whose depictions of Black men and exploration of sexuality through male nudes, homoerotic scenes and bodybuilders, sparked debate about what constitutes art.

Controversy over obscenity ensued, with some critics arguing that his work “objectified and fetishized” these subjects.

Barrie, director of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati at the time, defended the institution’s right to exhibit them. Both he and the museum ended up in the legal hot seat.

If convicted, CAC would have faced fines upwards of $10,000, with Barrie facing smaller fines and a year in jail. Both CAC and Barrie – who went on to become the executive director of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – were ultimately exonerated.

A jury of four men and four women “determined that the photographs did not meet the Supreme Court test of obscenity,” were not “patently offensive” taken as a whole, or “lacking in ‘serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.’”

Both Barrie and Tannenbaum – the esteemed curator of photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art – will offer curatorial perspectives on how museums navigate provocative works and the complex legal, social and artistic implications of them.

Censorship and freedom of speech and expression will surely be front and center.

“We are always looking for unique ways to fundraise,” said Nunes, adding that restricting fundraising to a big annual gala can be limiting to audiences in multiple ways.

“We’ve done tours of the hospital art collections and last year’s behind-the-scenes exploration of the theater district with [theater studies professor] Joe Garry about his part in saving Playhouse Square from the wrecking ball,” Nunes said.

“Both of those events went over very well and we expect these will also be enticing,” she added.

“We are continuing to create programming for the audience at large with the idea of looping them into what our organization does.”

Tickets for both Cleveland Arts Prize CAP Conversations at Midtown Collaboration Center, 6539 Euclid Ave., Cleveland are on sale. Free parking is available in the center’s lot on E. 65th St. between Euclid and Chester Avenues. Space is limited.

Visit clevelandartsprize.org for more information and tickets.