University Circle

I have to say this is the first time that I have received an invitation to go to hell. On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, I joined others that were invited for a preview of the Cleveland Museum of Art's newly opened exhibition, Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea I put this blog post together to share what I learned during the preview and to encourage others to visit this exhibition before it closes on Sunday, January 3, 2027.

Before attending the preview, I assumed that the artwork shown in the exhibition would be from only the Goryeo dynasty, which the announcement from the museum listed as existing from 918 to 1392. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, "Goryeo dynasty, in Korean history, dynasty that ruled the Korean peninsula as the Goryeo kingdom from 935 to 1392 CE. During this period the country began to form its own cultural tradition distinct from the rest of East Asia. It is from the name Goryeo that the Western name Korea is derived." As I entered the galleries to see the the optical fibers of Anicka Yi's Bending Willow Branches (2025), I quickly realized that I was wrong. While most of the items are from medieval Korea, there are also several contemporary pieces.

As the date of the preview grew closer, invitees received an exciting email update. We would be hearing a performance by local soprano, Minkyeong Kim. She would be opening the Cleveland Museum of Art Ten Kings of Hell preview with her special vocal performance of classical Korean arrangements and "Golden" from the critically acclaimed KPop Demon Hunters.

After a welcome message and exhibition background information from Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Marketing Officer Todd Mesek, preview attendees heard details about the exhibition during a guided tour with Cleveland Museum of Art's Curator of Korean Art, Sooa Im McCormick.

I was very grateful to be able to attend the preview and curator tour of Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, and the many other exhibitions I have seen over the years at the Cleveland Museum of Art! I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future events at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

On Thursday, September 17, 2026, we were fortunate to attend The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor preview. We are sharing here photos from the preview to encourage others to visit the museum to see this and other exhibitions. Those of us who live in Northeast Ohio are very fortunate to have this world-class museum here in Cleveland. General admission is always free, and members receive free tickets to the museum's special exhibitions.

After exploring the new exhibition on our own, we joined everyone attending the preview for a curator tour of this new exhibition. We first heard a welcome message and background information about the exhibition from Cleveland Museum of Art Chief Marketing Officer Todd Mesek. Thank you to the museum’s curator of prints and drawings, Britany Salsbury, for the guided tour of the exhibition.

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!

This a blog post about two stories. First, as the title indicates, it is my opportunity to share my photos, the people with whom I connected, and some of what I learned at the Futureland AI Forward Summit on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The second story is how I am having a busy month, and to save time, I used AI for the first time to write part of this blog post.

First Story

I want to mention here that it was great to see the performance of Myles "Humble G" Smith of International Multimedia Group, and later have a great conversation with him and Jalá Smith. I had written a blog post which featured Humble G many years ago , so it was great to see him perform again!

In the afternoon, I attended TerDawn DeBoe's presentation, "Workshop: From AI Overwhelm to 10X ROI in 90 Days." You can learn more about her work at WorkWithTerDawn.com and InstituteOfBusinessai.org. I was interviewed about what I thought of her presentation, and if she uses it in a future promotional video, I will add it to this blog post.

Second Story

The second story was driven by my goal to create the text for this blog post quickly. It was after 11:22 pm, and I was finishing the draft of my blog post about the Grand Opening: Upland Sims Park Expansion - City of Euclid. I was tired, but I had set a goal of starting the text about the Futureland event, and I did not want to go bed without beginning to write it. I decided that since the Summit was about using AI, and was sponsored by Google, I would try for the first time using the Google Gemini AI platform. I gave it minimal promps and the text I had shared on social media. By 11:40:38 pm, I had an OpenDocument (.odt) file of a blog post text, and then decided it would be easier for me to add an HTML file to my website. I had Gemini create the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - HTML5 version). I finished the evening at 1:02:09 am by choosing the following privacy option: "The activity you selected is being permanently deleted from your account and no longer tied to you."

The most important takeaway from the Summit is that our Northeast Ohio leaders are looking to use AI and other technology to better serve our community. I did talk to a couple of the presenters about how many unscrupulous people are using AI to steal creative people's intellectual property, to create false propaganda, and for other unethical activities. I shared with them the case of the felon in the White House creating an AI video of himself as a king dropping feces on the public that does not support him. They shared my concerns, and I was impressed that they did make the Summit focus on positive uses of technology in the world. As I shared on Bluesky social while I was writing this blog post, many ". . . of the presentations weren’t even about AI per se, but just about how to use good data and technology to better serve the community. Technology in the hands of good people can truly improve lives."

I currently don't plan on using AI, since it does not meet my current needs, but at the same time I think it is important to learn what it can do. I highly recommend attending future Futureland Summits, since their presenters did an excellent job of introducing technology that could further positive objectives in our community.

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!

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!!!

On Monday, January 20, 2025, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, volunteered at the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel at the Cleveland History Center, while my son, Michael, and I spent Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2025 visiting four of the museums in University Circle.

It was an unusually cold day (the outside temperature varied between 7°F and 11°F). We used drawstring bags to carry our multiple layers of winter clothing while we were in the comfortably warm museums, and then wore the clothing when we walked between the venues. At these low temperatures, the cold hurts any uncovered skin, such as our faces. Despite the extremely cold weather, was saw many families visiting the museums throughout the day.

I put this blog post together to share my photos and experiences of our visit to the following museums:

• Cleveland Museum of Art
  - Zygote Press
  - Specialty Departments and Programs
  - Picasso and Paper Exhibition

• Cleveland Botanical Garden

• Cleveland Museum of Natural History

• Cleveland History Center
  - Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel
  - Cleveland History Center Exhibitions

I want to thank these museums for welcoming the community every year to visit as part of celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. I am grateful that we have such excellent, educational, and engaging museums in our community. Michael and I had a great time touring all the museums.