Museums

On Saturday, June 13, 2026, my son, Michael Smith, and I had a great time at The Cleveland Museum of Art’s “Parade The Circle” and at “Circle Village” on Wade Oval, presented by University Circle. I would have liked to have published this blog post earlier, since it is my way to thank the organizers and participants, but two days later, I headed out to backpack the entire Susquehannock Trail System (STS) Circuit Hike. I also was busy preparing for a month-long backpacking trip in mid-July on the Appalachian Trail.

Thank you to all the participants in the parade, and to the partner organizations in “Circle Village,” which included:

• Case Western Reserve University
• Cleveland Botanical Garden/Holden Forests & Gardens
• Cleveland History Center
• Cleveland Institute of Art
• Cleveland Institute of Music
• Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• The Cleveland Orchestra
• Cleveland Public Library
• moCa (Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland)
• The Music School Settlement
• Piano Cleveland
• and more!!!

I was grateful to be able to attend the Annual Parade the Circle and Circle Village, and look forward to future years of this great arts event! I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future events at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the other museums in University Circle.

On Sunday, April 19, 2026, I had a great time attending The Print Club of Cleveland's 41st Fine Print Fair in The Cleveland Museum of Art’s atrium. I enjoy attending this art event every year!

I put this blog post together to share my photos from the event and to lock in my positive memories from the day. Most importantly, I want to thank the event organizers.

A special shout-out to Jerry Smith, who is a member of the 41st Fine Print Fair organizing team.

When I first arrived at the Fine Print Fair, I watched a print demonstration by the Cleveland Institute of Art: College of Art + Design:

I hope you enjoy this sampling of prints from the 41st Fine Print Fair, and that it encourages you to attend in the future:

Last year, on Sunday, April 27, 2025, I took my mom to the 40th Annual Fine Print Fair. During the event, we watched printing demonstrations by both the Cleveland Institute of Art and Zygote Press.

In 2025, I did't have time to write a blog post about the event. Now, in 2026, I am taking the opportunity to share my 2025 photos here -- enjoy!

Thursday, April 9, 2026 -- My day of art!

I have created this blog post to share with you my impressions of the day I visited two art exhibitions at one venue, and the reopening of a second, renovated art venue. I want to encourage my readers to visit in person what I share online here. I also deviate from this one day to share my photos from a third art venue, which I visited on April 2nd.

The main blog post sections feature:

• Improper Frames - Cleveland Museum of Art's Transformer Station

• Martin Puryear: Nexus - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Manet & Morisot - Cleveland Museum of Art

• Summit Artspace Grand Reopening Party

I want to take this opportunity to state how fortunate we are in Northeast Ohio to have these art venues to enjoy!

The unusually warm weather on Saturday, April 4, 2026, brought huge crowds out to the annual Sakura Festival in Akron, Ohio. This was Stuart's second time attending the Festival, but it was a first-time visit for Julie and our son, Kevin. The Festival was hosted by the Downtown Akron Partnership.

Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. The Japanese cherry blossom trees, planted by the Japanese Association of Northeast Ohio (JANO) along the canal in downtown Akron, were beautifully in bloom. The crowds enjoyed the delicate, pink blossoms as they walked along the canal and patronized the many vendors who participated. There were crafts, and performances by a drumming group and dancers, as well as opportunities to learn about Japanese culture, including a traditional tea ceremony.

Thank you for reading our blog post, and we hope you will share it with others so they can learn about this fun Akron event and scenic trail.

I was so pleased to have participated in the academic activities that were part of this year's celebration of the 60 years of Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP). After attending the Wednesday, October 1, 2025, Archives 60th Anniversary Open House, the Executive Director of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, Cathy Faye, Ph.D., invited me to return for a full day of learning about the history of AHAP at the Saturday, November 8, 2025, Symposium: Reflecting on 60 Years of the Archives of the History of American Psychology. Following the symposium, a HUGE surprise announcement was made at the celebratory cocktail party: A one-million-dollar challenge grant!

Over six years ago, I learned about the National Museum of Psychology. When I finally visited on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, I learned that there was much more to the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology than just the psychology museum.

I really enjoyed all the times I have visited the Center, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about its history on this 60th anniversary. I put this blog post together to congratulate the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology board members, staff, and supporters, not only for the progress made over the Center's history, but for the bright prospects for the future!

I appreciated being invited by The Cleveland Museum of Art Director of Communications Jacqueline Bon, to the Thursday, November 6, 2025, preview of Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses, but I did have questions about this new exhibition. I wondered what was meant by the statement that the exhibition would feature "art and fashion interwoven." I knew that I liked Renaissance art, but I was not sure that I would appreciate how this artwork impacted the development of ". . . fresh perspectives throughout the fashion landscape."

Fortunately, while attending the opening reception for the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show, I was able to talk to the museum's Chief Marketing Officer, Todd Mesek, and learned that the upcoming Renaissance to Runway exhibition would, indeed, be of interest to me!

The Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses exhibition runs from Sunday, November 9, 2025, through Sunday, February 1, 2026. Since the New Work: FRONT Fellows Show is currently being shown at Transformer Station through Saturday, December 27, 2025, I decided to also add information about this special, final, FRONT show. I put together this blog post to share my photos and observations about these two current shows, and to thank The Cleveland Museum of Art for bringing such exciting exhibitions to our community!

As I parked my car, it was a beautiful summer day for the Cleveland Museum of Art 36th Annual Chalk Festival on Sunday, September 21, 2025. Less than ten minutes later, it started raining, but fortunately, it was a short cloudburst. The rain only returned on and off for the rest of the afternoon. Despite the fact that I missed seeing the pre-rain chalk drawings by just a few minutes, I still found the artwork most enjoyable, along with the festive environment of the Fine Arts Garden.

I heard a fellow attendee of the event state that the brief rainfall brought a “soft focus” to the chalk artwork! That was an astute observation.

For this, my fourteenth Chalk Festival blog post, I want to thank all the creative people who participated. The chalk art created at the Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival every year is outstanding!

We had not vacationed in New Hampshire since 1997, so when Stuart finished a month-long backpacking trip in southern New Hampshire, Julie joined him for an August 17-23, 2025, vacation in New Hampshire, Vermont, and on the USS Enterprise. We put this blog post together to share some of what we explored during this trip.

We want to note that this vacation was after two long backpacking trips that Stuart had already completed this year. Stuart's month-long Appalachian Trail backpacking trip is where he finished the final few miles in Massachusetts before hiking all of the Vermont section, and 50+ miles into the New Hampshire section.

We are sharing our photos and trip observations with you here to encourage you to explore the places we visited.

We had not been to Colorado since 1998, so when we were invited to attend our niece's wedding (celebrating Anna Bonebrake's marriage to Thomas Porricolo), we took the opportunity to extend the trip to include Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, and the Denver area. We were on this exciting trip from Friday, June 13, 2025, through Monday, June 23, 2025.

Due to our other travels, we had to delay writing this blog post, but we enjoyed putting it together as our way of remembering the good times we had in Colorado in June 2025. We are sharing our photos and trip observations with you here to encourage you to explore the places we visited in Colorado.

On Friday, March 7, 2025, I was in University Circle attending the Stand Up for Science 2025 Rally at Case Western Reserve University. While there, I made a point of visiting University Circle Artist-In-Residence Sylvia Munodawafa's exhibition, and then, since it was right across the street, I rode the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.

I met artist Sylvia Munodawafa at the end of the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) opening of their "2025 Student Independent Exhibition,” and she let me know that her artwork is being featured in the University Circle headquarters building.

Also, back in November, at the "Illuminate the Circle” event, I met University Circle Engagement and Outreach Manager Debbi Abela and Chief Engagement and Collaboration Officer Sheffia Randall-Nickerson. They told me about a new University Circle Community Room, which I also made a point of visiting. I learned that artist Sylvia Munodawafa and others are providing community programing in this new space.

I hope reading this blog post encourages you to contact University Circle to visit their headquarters, and to ride the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel. Have fun!!!