Amanda King

Dear Stuart,

I am excited to share with you an update and an invitation to celebrate the opening of the second edition of FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Prem Krishnamurthy, our FRONT 2022 Artistic Director, has assembled a brilliant exhibition sprawling across 30 venues in Northeast Ohio and featuring a dazzling array of over 100 artists, including art stars like Julie Mehretu, Firelei Baez, Renée Green, Yoshitomo Nara, Jacolby Satterwhite.

Anticipation is high, and the press is calling FRONT one of the must-see art events of the year, along with documenta and the Venice Bienalle.

The title of FRONT 2022, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows is inspired by a couplet by Langston Hughes, . . .

Our preview days are July 14 and 15, and we would be delighted to have you join artists and art lovers from across the country to share a packed calendar of events and programming. . . .

Laura and I  would be pleased to have you as our guests for an open house brunch at our home from 10:00 to 12:00 on July 15 and 16. . . .

Of course, FRONT runs through October 2, and we would love to see you any time this Summer. I would love to hear your thoughts and impressions.

With warm regards,
Fred Bidwell
Executive Director

I am grateful that Fred Bidwell emailed me an invitation to attend the 2022 FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art preview events. It was great to learn more about, and get an advanced look at some of the venues before “Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows” opened to the public on July 16, 2022. It runs through October 2, 2022.

As background, I put together both "Preview Exhibition" and "Personal Prequel" blog posts, which cover my interests and activities relating to FRONT International between the 2018 events and the start of the 2022.

The scope of this second FRONT International is so large that the preview barely gave a nibble of the full banquet of northeast Ohio art that is now available for exploration. As I prepared this blog post, I learned more and more, but also realized that there still is much more to learn. In 2018, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, enjoyed visiting and blogging about many of the venues we visited, and we look forward to exploring the new art at the 2022 venues.

This blog post includes both the two days of preview events and the kickoff block party, plus additional information:

• Thursday, July 14, 2022 -
  * FRONT Press Conference - Cleveland Museum of Art

  - Provenance Café and Importance of Accessibility to FRONT Venues
  - FRONT Web Resources
  - Inaugural FRONT Art Futures Fellows

   

• Friday, July 15, 2022 -
  * Director’s Open House Brunch Presented by J.P. Morgan Private Bank - Fred & Laura Bidwell Home
  * Remembering Tamir Rice
  * Friday, July 15, 2022 - Picnic Lunch - University Circle
  * CIA Sparkling Toast Exhibition Preview - Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery
  * FRONT VIP Preview Party - moCa  Cleveland (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland)
  * CWRU Mandel School & Western Reserve Historical Society Grand Carousel

• Saturday, July 16, 2022 -
  * FRONT BLOCK PARTY - Cleveland Public Square, Gund Foundation Green

I entitled this blog post starting with the words "Personal Prequel," since it covers my interests and activities relating to FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, between the 2018 events and the start of the 2022 events. It certainly does not include all that has taken place between the years of the first event and the second, but instead is my attempt to capture some of the spirit of FRONT International that I enjoy.

I wanted to make a point to thank Fred and Laura Bidwell for opening their home to announce the plans for the next FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art.

I am writing this blog post as we enter the kickoff week of FRONT International. Please watch and share with others the tweets I share as I attend events, and watch for future blog posts. Also, feel free to tag me on Twitter as you explore FRONT International venues and activities, so I can share in your enjoyment, and retweet.

As I mention in my last blog posts, I have been "delayed" in my normal activities for much of the summer. Well, the week after I published those two blog posts, my activity level increased dramatically due to the large number of events happening in Cleveland the last week of August 2021.

As I wrote on Monday, August 23, 2021, "If you are in #Cleveland and have nothing to do this week, you are just not trying!"

This blog post is an attempt to capture some of the spirit of the events I attended. The one common element of all these events is that I learned about them from following interesting people/organization on Twitter.  I created this blog post to serve as a reminder for me of the fun I had at these events, and I hope it encourages you to go out yourself to learn about the organizations that sponsor these events.

The in-person events included:

• MidTown Hosts the CLEVELAND WALLS! International Mural Program - August 23-28, 2021

• USS Cod Return to Cleveland Party

• Irishtown Bend Tour Hosted by West Creek Conservancy

• 75th Annual One World Day! #OWD2021CLE

In addition to these in-person events that I attended, this was also the week of online events for the 2021 Cleveland Foundation Annual Meeting Week Presented by KeyBank: It Starts With Community.

When we published our FRONT - Oberlin blog post about our Sunday, August 5, 2018, visit to Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum, we expected to not have time to visit any more FRONT venues. Stuart had planned to be out of town in September 2018, but a change in plans brought him home early.

With a very busy weekend coming up at the end of September 2018, we decided to make time on Wednesday afternoon, September 26, 2018, to visit the Ohio City FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art venues.

Since the opening of the FRONT International Triennial on Thursday, July 12, 2018, we have visited over fourteen venues. We want to take this opportunity to thank the organizers of, and the venues that hosted these great FRONT International Triennial exhibitions.

PechaKucha Nights in Cleveland rock, which is why we enjoy both attending them, and writing blog posts about them!! On Friday, August 25, 2017, it was very appropriate that the PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 31 rocked out at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! The presenters reflected the creative spirit for which the Rock Hall is known.

We really appreciate the PechaKucha Night Cleveland leadership team, presenters, and sponsors.