December Exhibitions and Event Listings for the Cleveland Museum of Art

Events 

Chamber Music in the Atrium: A Musical Interlude for the Holidays 

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; No Ticket Required 

The museum’s popular Chamber Music in the Atrium concert series continues with a special holiday edition. 

This evening’s program, titled “A Musical Interlude for the Holidays,” features musicians from Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics and graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music performing festive chamber music, including waltzes, virtuosic piano works, songs, and sonatas. Some selections are accompanied by dancers from the Cleveland Ballet. 

MIX: Art of the Game 

Friday, December 6, 2024, 6:00–10:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Ticket Required 

Join us on December 6 at MIX: Art of the Game, presented in partnership with the Cleveland Cavaliers, to celebrate the release of the CMA-inspired City Edition Cavaliers jersey. Members from the Cavaliers Dance Team and Scream Team make guest appearances as DJ Steph Floss, the Cavs’ official DJ, spins an all-night set of party music. Visit the Cavs pop-up store and check out a display featuring the latest line of Donovan Mitchell’s D.O.N. Issue #6 signature Adidas shoes. Themed food and drink items, including cocktails, beer, and wine, are available to purchase from Bon Appétit. Be sure to wear your classiest pair of sneakers to this evening’s extravaganza, which promises to be a slam dunk. 

Disclaimer: No full-face masks, heavy face paint, glitter, weapon-like props, or excessively oversized costumes are permitted. All outfits are subject to security screening. The Cleveland Museum of Art may refuse entry to any visitor whose attire does not comply with these requirements. 

Magos Herrera 

Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 7:30–9:00 p.m. 

Gartner Auditorium 

Ticket Required 

Mexican arts and culture are on full display at the CMA. Coinciding with the museum’s exhibition Picturing the Border, Grammy-nominated vocalist Magos Herrera makes her Gartner Auditorium debut with her quartet. 

Born in Mexico City and currently based in New York City, Magos is a dazzling jazz singer-songwriter, producer, and educator declared as “one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of song” by the Latin Jazz Network. With a sultry voice and an unparalleled presence in the contemporary Latin American jazz scene, she is best known for her eloquent vocal improvisation and her singular bold style, which embraces elements of contemporary jazz with Ibero-American melodies and rhythms in a way that elegantly blends and surpasses language boundaries. 

An accomplished artist, Magos has performed in leading international cultural venues—such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (NYC), the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), the Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid), Union Chapel (London), and the Palau de la Música (Valencia, Spain)—and has been part of the lineup of some of the most memorable jazz festivals, including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Featured as one of the most creative Mexicans in the world by Forbes magazine, Magos has garnered important awards and recognitions throughout her career, including a Grammy short-list nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category for her album Distancia (2009), and received the Berklee College of Music’s Master of Latin Music Award. 

In 2018, Magos released her album Dreamers (Sony Music) in collaboration with Brooklyn Rider. This highly acclaimed album made the top lists of the New York Times, Billboard classical, and NPR Music, among others, and was nominated for a Grammy for best arrangement for the song “Niña.” 

Magos is a spokesperson for UN Women for UNiTE, a campaign to end violence against women, and for HeForShe, a promoter of gender equality. She is also on the faculty at Mannes School of Music at the New School. 

In May 2023, Magos released her 11th album, Aire (Sunnyside Records), which is a celebration of our humanity and the healing power of music. 

Featured Performers:

Magos Herrera: Vocals 

Vinicius Gomes: Guitar 

Matt Penman: Bass 

Alex Kautz: Drums 

More information about Magos Herrera can be found on her website. 

Music in the Galleries: Jacob Trombetta 

Friday, December 13, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m. 

ArtLens Gallery 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Join us for a free concert that celebrates the intersection of art and technology. Jacob Trombetta, a pedal-steel guitarist who utilizes electronics in his playing, performs in ArtLens Gallery, a space that allows you, your family, and your friends to discover the museum’s collection using award-winning digital technology. 

Trombetta is a composer, producer, and multimedia artist residing in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Drawing inspiration from Harold Budd and Jon Hassell, Trombetta is known for bringing novel applications of technology to bear in artistic spaces. With the pedal steel as a focal point, Trombetta brings compositional expertise and a background spanning robotics, computer vision, and cryptography to produce uniquely atmospheric experiences. Trombetta has collaborated with artists such as Mark Mothersbaugh and Patrick Carney, and he has accumulated more than 20 million listens on Spotify with the Six Parts Seven.  

Transfixed by the ambient goth soundscapes of his upbringing in northern Appalachia, and with an eye for shadows, Trombetta invites the audience into a meditative journey with this pedal steel, guitar, and electronics performance. 

More information about Trombetta can be found on his website. 

The views expressed by performers during this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

Chamber Music in the Galleries: The Music Settlement Faculty 

Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m. 

The Keithley Galleries of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern European Art | Gallery 222  

Free; No Ticket Required 

We are thrilled to continue our popular Chamber Music in the Galleries concert series. The repertoire performed at each concert is inspired by the art on view in the gallery in which the performance occurs. 

This evening’s program features faculty from the Music Settlement performing works by Jules Massenet, Erik Satie, Antoine L’Hoyer, and Antonín Dvořák in front of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (Agapanthus).  

Performers 

Craig Slagh, guitar 
Jenny Cluggish, violin 
McKenna Glorioso, violin 
Christopher Jenkins, viola 

This concert is made possible by support from the William O. and Gertrude Lewis Frohring Foundation. 

The views expressed by performers during this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

Chamber Music in the Atrium: Holiday Brass with Gabrieli’s Horns 

Friday, December 20, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m.  

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; No Ticket Required 

The museum’s popular Chamber Music in the Atrium concert series continues with a special holiday edition. This evening’s free concert features Gabrieli’s Horns, a classical brass quintet, performing arrangements of holiday favorites. Enjoy hot holiday beverages and snacks from Provenance Café and shop for unique holiday gifts in the museum store.  

The 2024–25 Performing Arts Series is sponsored by the Musart Society. This program is made possible in part by the Ernest L. and Louise M. Gartner Fund, the P. J. McMyler Musical Endowment Fund, and the Anton and Rose Zverina Music Fund. 

New This Month! 

Picasso and Paper 

Sunday, December 8, 2024–Sunday, March 23, 2025 

The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and Gallery 

Ticket Required 

Pablo Picasso’s prolonged engagement with paper is the subject of the groundbreaking exhibition Picasso and Paper, organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris. 

Showcasing nearly 300 works spanning the artist’s career, the exhibition highlights Picasso’s relentless exploration of paper. His appreciation of and experimentation with the material is revealed in the works ranging from collages of cut-and-pasted papers to sculptures from pieces of torn and burnt paper, manipulated photographs, drawings in virtually all available media, and prints in an array of techniques. The exhibition’s highlights include Femmes à leur toilette (1937–38), an extraordinarily large collage (9 13/16 x 14 1/2 feet) of cut-and-pasted papers, which will be exhibited for the first time in the United States; outstanding Cubist papiers collés; artist’s sketchbooks, including studies for his best known paintings, including Les Demoiselles d’Avignon; constructed paper guitars from the Cubist and Surrealist periods; and an array of works related to major paintings and sculptural projects. 

The exhibition presents these works on paper chronologically alongside a limited number of closely related paintings and sculptures. For example, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s La Vie (1903), from Picasso’s Blue Period, is featured with preparatory drawings and other works on paper exploring corresponding themes. In the Cubist section, Picasso’s bronze Head of a Woman (Fernande) (1909) (Musée Picasso, Paris) is surrounded by a large group of associated drawings. Seen together, these groupings highlight the connections that Picasso saw between media and the integral role that paper played throughout his artistic practice.  

Picasso and Paper is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by the Royal Academy of Arts. It features essays by distinguished Picasso scholars and leading authorities in various aspects of technical art history, including William H. Robinson, formerly of the Cleveland Museum of Art; Ann Dumas of the Royal Academy of Arts; Emilia Philippot of the Musée national Picasso-Paris; and Claustre Rafart Planas of the Museu Picasso, Barcelona. Specific aspects of Picasso’s engagement with paper are addressed by Christopher Lloyd, an expert on Picasso’s drawings; Stephen Coppel, curator of prints and drawings at the British Museum; Violette Andres, photography curator at the Musée national Picasso-Paris; Johan Popelard, Head of the Conservation and Collections Department at the Musée national Picasso-Paris; and Emmanuelle Hincelin, a paper conservator with scientific expertise in the types of paper Picasso used at key moments in his career. 

This exhibition is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris. 

This exhibition is presented by CIBC.  

Major support is provided by the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund and Anne H. Weil. Generous support is provided by Martin Kline and the Carol Yellig Family Fund. Additional support is provided by Carl M. Jenks, Frank and Fran Porter, and Robert G. Simon. 

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. 

On-Site Activities 

Member Shopping Days 

Sunday, December 1, and Monday, December 2, 2024 

Museum Store 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Shop till you drop! 

Members can enjoy an extra 10% off with their regular CMA store discount from Friday, November 29, through Monday, December 2. 

This discount is available online and on-site, and we offer free curbside pickup for your shopping convenience. 

*Sale and consignment items are not eligible for further discount. 

Give the gift of endless art, live performances, and a year of memories. 

A gift membership supports the museum and offers many benefits and privileges, such as free exhibition tickets, members-only previews, and discounts in our store and café. 

Current members receive 20% off all year long on gift membership purchases. 

Gifting is easy! Stop by the ticket center, visit cma.org/gift, or call 216-421-7350. 

Lunchtime Lecture 

Collaborations with Cambodia: Krishna, Hanuman, and Beyond 

Tuesday, December 3, 2024, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Gartner Auditorium 

Free; Ticket Required 

Speakers: George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art Sonya Rhie Mace, Head of Objects Conservation Beth Edelstein, and Director of Collections Management Alyssa Morasco 

Come to the CMA for a quick bite of art history. Every first Tuesday of each month, join curators, conservators, scholars, and other museum staff for 30-minute talks on objects currently on display in the museum galleries. 

The monumental 1,500-year-old Cambodian sculpture Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan, one of the CMA’s most celebrated masterworks, is back in the galleries. Join Sonya Rhie Mace, George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, and Beth Edelstein, head of objects conservation, for an introduction to the sculpture and its recent reconstruction. Director of Collections Management Alyssa Morasco discusses how the reconstruction of Krishna led to the establishment of a training program at the CMA for staff of the National Museum of Cambodia. 

Art Up Close: Paper! 

Wednesday, December 4; Tuesday, December 10; and Thursday, December 19, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Inspired by the exhibition Picasso and Paper, view a selection of artworks that explore the use of paper.  

Play Day: Glow 

Sunday, December 8, 2024, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.  

Ames Family Atrium  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Join us this December as we embark on a captivating journey exploring the mesmerizing beauty of light. Play Days at the CMA are opportunities for the whole family to be creative, be curious, and connect with art. This winter’s program explores illumination with lantern making and interactive games. 

The event features the following activities: 

• Lantern Making 
• Giant Light Bright 
• Experiment with creating images using color and light with our giant light bright! 
• Glow Village 
• Play and relax in our village of small glowing tents.  
• Music, Games, and More 

Monsters Among Us with Claire Dederer 

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 6:00–7:00 p.m. 

Gartner Auditorium 

Free; Ticket Required 

“Monsters Among Us with Claire Dederer” is a wide-ranging discussion of this central question: What do we do with great art made by bad people? Pulling from her best-selling book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, Claire Dederer explores the problem of separating the art from the artist. 

Dederer’s lecture walks audiences through several additional questions: Is monstrosity a key ingredient in the making of great art? Are all monsters men, or do audiences have to balance greatness and terrible behavior when appreciating art by female artists? And what happens when we put ourselves in the middle of the conversation and acknowledge our own failures? 

A book signing with Dederer immediately follows the lecture, with limited copies of Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma available on-site. Guests are encouraged to preorder a copy through the CMA store below. 

This lecture is made possible with support from Case Western Reserve University’s Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities. 

The Fran and Warren Rupp Contemporary Artists Lecture 

In Conversation: Zoe Leonard, Guadalupe Rosales, and Josh T Franco 

Saturday, December 7, 2024, 2:00–3:00 p.m. 

Gartner Auditorium 

Free; Ticket Required 

Capitalizing on the prevalent issues of the Mexico-US border today, the CMA exhibition Picturing the Border aims to spark vital conversations on migration and displacement as well as complex negotiations of personal identity as it relates to the border.  

Join artists Zoe Leonard and Guadalupe Rosales, and art historian and artist Josh T Franco as moderator, as they discuss their own artistic approaches to the intersection of identity, community, politics, and their connection to the spaces of the borderlands. 

This lecture is made possible by the Fran and Warren Rupp Contemporary Artist Fund.  

Artist in the Atrium 

Papermaking and Picasso 

Saturday, December 14, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Every third Saturday of each month, stop by the Ames Family Atrium between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to get a firsthand look at the art-making process. Each session provides the opportunity to engage and interact with a different Northeast Ohio maker during pop-up demonstrations and activities. See their work unfold and learn how artists create. Explore a related selection of authentic objects from the CMA’s Education Art Collection in a pop-up Art Up Close session. See, think, and wonder.     

Join the Morgan Conservatory for an introduction to papermaking. In connection with the exhibition Picasso and Paper, learn the basics of fiber processing, sheet formation, and studio tools through hands-on demos. Leave with your own handmade paper—no experience needed! 

The Morgan Conservatory is a 501(c)3 nonprofit institution and the largest arts center in the United States dedicated to every facet of papermaking, book arts, and letterpress printing and to cultivating the talents of established and emerging artists. 

Material Matters Gallery Talk 

Through the Trapdoor: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Museum Display Cases 

Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 12:00–1:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; Ticket Required 

Speaker: Laura Gaylord Resch, Assistant Preventative Conservator 

Have you ever wondered how artworks in the CMA’s collection are cared for? Join CMA conservators and technicians for guided tours of the galleries. Investigate artists’ materials and processes and learn about how the museum preserves artworks for the future.  

In this session, join CMA preventive conservator Laura Gaylord Resch to learn how the museum creates state-of-the-art displays and how conservators use principles of chemistry and physics to ensure safe environments for artworks. A view inside hidden drawers and secret compartments illuminates the science behind the beautiful exhibits in the galleries.     
  

Holiday Pop Up! Open Studio 

Thursday, December 26 through Sunday, December 29, 2024, 10:00a.m.–2:00 p.m.  
Ames Family Atrium 
Free; No Ticket Required 
Open Studio days provide free, drop-in art-making sessions designed for the whole family, encouraging creativity and bonding through hands-on activities. Join us in the Ames Family Atrium for this special winter-break studio!  

Sensory-Friendly Saturday 

Saturday, December 21, 2024, 9:00–10:00 a.m.  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Sensory-Friendly Saturday events offer adaptations to meet diverse sensory-processing needs every third Saturday of each month from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Guests on the autism spectrum, people experiencing dementia, and those of all ages who have intellectual or developmental disabilities are invited to participate in a calming museum experience with less stimulation in a section of the museum’s galleries before they open to the public—reducing crowds, noise, and distractions. 

Guests can explore the galleries at their own pace and share this time and space with open-minded members of the community. The designated “calming corner” is temporarily closed due to renovations.  

Things to Know While Planning Your Visit 

• All guests must pass through metal detectors at the museum entrance. 
• Attendees are encouraged to bring adaptive equipment, including wheelchairs, walkers, and noise-reducing headphones and technology. The Cleveland Museum of Art also offers a limited number of wheelchairs. 
• The museum store and café open at 9:00 a.m. on these Saturdays.  
• Sensory-Friendly Saturday events are free. Parking in the CMA garage is $14 for nonmembers and $7 for members. 
• Once participants enter, they are welcome to stay for the day. The museum opens to the public at 10:00 a.m. 

Daily Guided Tours 

Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; Ticket Required 

Public tours are offered daily at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and at 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Art and Conversation Tours are offered at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesdays. 

Art and Conversation Tours 

Tuesdays, 10:15–10:45 a.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; Ticket Required 

Join us for 30-minute close-looking sessions, from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesdays. This program offers a focused look at just a couple of artworks, versus the traditional 60-minute public tours of the museum’s collection. 

Jewish Ceremonial Art Tours 

Thursdays and Sundays, 2:30–3:30 p.m., through Sunday, December 15, 2024 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; Ticket Required 

The Cleveland Museum of Art now offers special docent-guided tours highlighting the Jewish Ceremonial Art loans from the Jewish Museum in New York, on view at the CMA through Sunday, January 5, 2025. The pieces are shown in six permanent collection galleries, representing the diversity of Jewish cultures throughout the world and time. Among the objects are silver Torah ornaments from Italy, France, and Georgia; a rare German festival lamp; and spice containers made in Ukraine and the United States. They convey the creativity of Jewish communities and artists from different backgrounds in which they adapted traditional forms of Judaica to changing fashions, styles, and needs, often drawing on broader cultures. Visitors can explore the artistic and cultural significance of these objects and learn about the rituals for which they were created. 

These works may be also featured in some of our Daily Guided Tours and Art and Conversation Tours. To schedule private tours for adult groups of 10 or more, please contact grouptours@clevelandart.org or call 216-707-2752.  

Principal support is provided by Rebecca and David Heller. Major support is provided by Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang. Additional support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Marjorie Moskovitz Kanfer and Joseph Kanfer, Margo Roth, Dr. Linda M. Sandhaus and Dr. Roland S. Philip, Dr. Daniel Sessler and Dr. Ximena Valdes-Sessler, and Herb and Jody Wainer. 

Open Studio 

Sundays, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Open Studio days provide free, drop-in art-making sessions designed for the whole family, encouraging creativity and bonding through hands-on activities. 

Continuing Exhibitions  

Ancient Andean Textiles 

Through Sunday, December 8, 2024 

Jon A. Lindseth and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Galleries of the Ancient Americas | Gallery 232  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Between about 3000 BCE and the early 1500s CE, ancient Andean weavers created one of the world’s most distinguished textile traditions in both artistic and technical terms. Within this time span, the most impressive group of early textiles to survive was made by the Paracas people of Peru’s south coast. Most artistically elaborate Andean textiles served as garments. 

Native North American Textiles and Works on Paper 

Through Sunday, December 8, 2024 

Sarah P. and William R. Robertson Gallery | Gallery 231 

Free; No Ticket Required 

On display from the permanent collection are two Diné (Navajo) textiles from the late 1800s and early 1900s, both of them rugs woven for the collector’s market, modeled on the Diné shoulder blanket. Also on view is a watercolor from the 1920s by the Pueblo artist Oqwa Pi (Abel Sanchez), who was key to a major development in Southwest Indigenous arts as Native people took control of representing their own cultures after centuries of marginalization. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Simon Family Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. 

Picturing the Border 

Through Sunday, January 5, 2025 
Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries | Gallery 230 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Picturing the Border presents photographs of the US-Mexico borderlands from the 1970s to the present taken by both border residents and outsiders. They range in subject matter from intimate domestic portraits, narratives of migration, and proof of political demonstrations to images of border crossings and clashes between migrants and the US Border Patrol. The earliest images in this exhibition form an origin story for the topicality of the US-Mexico border at present, and demonstrate that the issues of the border have been a critical point of inquiry for artists since the 1970s. Many serve as counternarratives to the derogatory narratives of migration and Latino/as in the US that tend to circulate in the mass media. 

Capitalizing on the prevalent issues of the border today, Picturing the Border aims to spark vital conversations of what constitutes citizenship, as well as complex negotiations of personal identity as it relates to the border. The exhibition shows through these images that Latinx, Chicano/a, and Mexican photographers have significantly rethought what defines citizenship, nationality, family, migration, and the border beyond traditional frameworks for decades. 

 This exhibition is made possible with support from Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer. 

Jewish Ceremonial Art from the Jewish Museum, New York 

Through Sunday, January 5, 2025 

Various Galleries 

Free; No Ticket Required 

The CMA, famous for the quality and breadth of its collection, partners with the Jewish Museum, New York, and displays a group of Jewish ceremonial objects from the latter’s world-renowned collection of Jewish art. The objects are shown in six permanent collection galleries, representing the diversity of Jewish cultures throughout the world and time. Among the objects are silver Torah ornaments from Italy, France, and Georgia; a rare German festival lamp; and spice containers made in Ukraine and the United States. They convey the creativity of Jewish communities and artists from different backgrounds in which they adapted traditional forms of Judaica to changing fashions, styles, and needs, often drawing on broader cultures. Visitors can explore the artistic and cultural significance of these objects and learn about the rituals for which they were created. 

Principal support is provided by Rebecca and David Heller. Major support is provided by Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang. Additional support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Marjorie Moskovitz Kanfer and Joseph Kanfer, Margo Roth, Dr. Linda M. Sandhaus and Dr. Roland S. Philip, Dr. Daniel Sessler and Dr. Ximena Valdes-Sessler, and Herb and Jody Wainer. 

Demons, Ghosts, and Goblins in Chinese Art 

Through Monday, January 20, 2025 
Julia and Larry Pollock Focus Gallery | Gallery 010 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Demons, ghosts, and goblins feature in Chinese art as creatures that either bring harm or ward off evil spirits. This exhibition presents 20 sculptures and paintings of secular and religious subject matter from a private collection and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The show explores the stories in which they appear and the supernatural power that they exert. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer. 

The Dancing Brush: Ming Dynasty Calligraphers and Eccentrics 

Through Sunday, March 2, 2025 

Clara T. Rankin Chinese Art Galleries | Gallery 240A 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Calligraphy, poetry, and painting are considered the high arts of China. By the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), calligraphers used the term qi (eccentric or strange) to describe novel approaches to their writings, expressing more artistic freedom, sentiment, and personality in their individual styles. This exhibition presents about a dozen works of calligraphy from the collections of the museum and a private collector, some on display for the first time. 

Imagination in the Age of Reason 

Through Sunday, March 2, 2025 

James and Hanna Bartlett Prints and Drawings Galleries | Galleries 101A–B 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Although the Enlightenment period in Europe (about 1685–1815) has long been celebrated as “the age of reason,” it was also a time of imagination when artists across Europe incorporated elements of fantasy and folly into their work in creative new ways. Imagination in the Age of Reason, pulled from the CMA’s rich holdings of 18th-century European prints and drawings, explores the complex relationship between imagination and the Enlightenment’s ideals of truth and knowledge. During this unprecedented time, artists used their imaginations in multifaceted ways to depict, understand, and critique the world around them. 

The Enlightenment adopted a revolutionary emphasis on individual liberty, direct observation, and rational thought. Enlightenment society valued learning and innovation, encouraging an unprecedented flowering of knowledge with major advances in fields as diverse as art, philosophy, politics, and science. Important thinkers of the time questioned long-held beliefs, instead using scientific reasoning to uncover new, objective principles on which to base a modern society, free from superstition, passion, and prejudice.  

During this same period, a number of artists reveled in the power of the imagination to expose hidden truths, conjure strange worlds, or concoct illusions. François Boucher and Francisco de Goya, among others, drew on their imaginations to devise novel compositions, envision far-off places and people, attract new buyers for their art, and comment on society and its values. They also blurred the boundaries of fact and fantasy, incorporating real and invented elements into their compositions, often without distinguishing between the two. Imagination was a dynamic tool through which Enlightenment-era artists marketed their work, revealed or obscured truth, entertained or educated viewers, and supported or criticized systems of power.  

The exhibition presents an exceptional opportunity to see exciting recent acquisitions on view for the first time as well as rarely shown collection highlights, including prints and drawings by Canaletto and Goya and a pastel portrait by Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. 

Temples and Worship in South Asia 

Through Sunday, March 9, 2025 

Gallery 242B  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Six paintings and 13 photographs illuminate contrasting approaches of depicting sacred Hindu sites. Indian artists, who created paintings for Indian viewers, emphasized the devotee’s intimate interaction with the divinity. Conspicuous are the offerings intended to please the living deity believed to reside in an object of worship, either in human or nonhuman form.    

When early British photographers documented Hindu temples in the mid-1800s, they focused on creating a visual record of impressive premodern architectural achievements, avoiding traces of devotional activity. Contemporary photographers, on the other hand, emphasized the bustling interiors in scenes that evoke an overwhelming multisensory experience. The colonial and contemporary photographs invite reflection on how non-Indians interacted with Hindu temples and projected their images to non-Indian audiences. 

Pattern and Decoration in Royal Art of the Joseon Dynasty 

Through Sunday, March 30, 2025 

Korea Foundation Gallery | Gallery 236 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Pattern and Decoration in Royal Art of the Joseon Dynasty presents a selection of painted screens and porcelain ware that uses decorative motifs and designs as the main subjects. Dragons, peonies, books, and scholarly accoutrements are among the most popular subjects that developed into decorative patterns in response to social and cultural changes during the 1700s and 1800s. By highlighting patterns and colors, this thematic presentation explores how Korean art vividly originated and offered powerful codes of communication, for example, peonies that symbolized prosperity and the mythical dragon that had the power to make rain. 

Rose B. Simpson: Strata 

Through Sunday, April 13, 2025 

Ames Family Atrium 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983) has envisioned a site-specific project for the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Ames Family Atrium titled Strata. Simpson’s installation was commissioned specifically for the expansive, light-filled space. According to the artist, Strata is inspired by time spent in Cleveland, “the architecture of the museum, the possibility of the space, tumbled stones from the shores of Lake Erie,” as well as her own Indigenous heritage and the landscape of her ancestral homelands of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, where she was born and raised and where she lives and works.  

Strata comprises two monumental figural sculptures constructed from the artist’s signature clay medium, in addition to metalwork, porous concrete, and cast bronze. The figures’ layers mimic rock eroded through geologic time and the structural materiality of man-made architecture. Intricate welded metal structures mounted to the heads of each figure, intended to cast shadows, mimic the structures of the mind in relationship to time and space.   

Simpson’s identity as a Native woman has greatly impacted her work. She is from a long line of women working in the ceramic tradition of her Kha’po Owingeh (Santa Clara Pueblo) tribe dating back to the 500s CE. Her large-scale sculptures represent a bold intervention in colonial legacies of dependency, erasure, and assimilation, and balance her tribe’s inherited ceramic tradition with modern methods, materials, and processes. Her work asserts a pride of place and belonging on land where Native residents have been forcefully dispossessed of their territories and cultures. 

Simpson has had solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, ICA Boston, the Wheelwright Museum, and the Nevada Art Museum, and is represented in museum collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Princeton University Art Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship and a Women’s Caucus for Art President’s Award for Art & Activism and was recently appointed by President Biden to the Institute of American Indian Arts Board of Trustees.   

The CMA’s presentation of Rose B. Simpson: Strata includes a richly illustrated catalogue with contributions by Nadiah Rivera Fellah, the CMA’s associate curator of contemporary art; Anya Montiel, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; Karen Patterson, executive director at the Ruth Foundation; Natalie Diaz (Mojave / Akimel O’odham), Maxine and Jonathan Marshall Chair in Modern and Contemporary Poetry at Arizona State University; and artists Rose B. Simpson and Dyani White Hawk (Sicangu Lakota).   

Major support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.  

Contemporary Calligraphy and Clay 

Through Sunday, June 15, 2025 

Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Japanese Art Galleries | Gallery 235A  

Free; No Ticket Required 

Calligraphy and ceramics are two major art forms in Japanese culture. They have historically been appreciated together, often paired in spaces called tokonoma, or simply toko, a term that can be translated as “display alcove.” For centuries, people have hung calligraphy or paintings on the wall of a toko and placed ceramics, lacquers, or metalworks on the deck to create a particular mood for an occasion. Traditional reception rooms, living rooms, guest rooms, and teahouses, places where people hold small, significant gatherings, often feature toko. While toko are less common in newer architectural structures due to various factors, including limited space and a shift away from floor culture, today’s artists continue to create with them in mind but also increasingly envision new environments for their works. This installation considers the bond of calligraphy and clay through contemporary artworks set in the modern space of the museum gallery. 

Creation, Birth, and Rebirth 

Through Sunday, July 27, 2025 

Gallery 115 

Free; No Ticket Required 

The exhibition explores some of the fundamental moments in the sacred narratives of the medieval world: the creation of the universe, the birth of its gods and its humans, and visions of the end of life conceived as a new beginning. The exhibition asks a series of questions: How was the creation of the world imagined in different religions? How were the creators of that world visualized in several religious cultures? How were ideas about conception, incarnation, and birth depicted in the objects created by these cultures? How did they perceive the difference between birth and creation, and the connections between death and rebirth? What parallels were drawn between miraculous and everyday births? How did religious teachings on reincarnation and resurrection manifest in medieval material culture? What, more broadly, was the role of images in making sense of the universe?  

The objects in the exhibition span from the 800s to the 1500s, drawn from several collections in the Cleveland Museum of Art, including medieval art, Chinese art, Indian and Southeast Asian art, art of the Americas, and prints and drawings, offering possibilities of forging connections across cultures and geographies.   

The exhibition is a culmination of several years of collaboration between the medieval art program at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art, made possible by the support of the Mellon Foundation. 

From the Earth through Her Hands: African Ceramics 

Through Sunday, September 21, 2025 

Gallery 108A 

Free; No Ticket Required 

African women have worked in ceramics for millennia, yet their accomplishments are underexhibited compared to male artists who sculpted in wood. This rotation considers key western, central, and eastern African ceramics spanning the first through 20th centuries. Three themes highlight their makers’ technical and aesthetic accomplishments: inspiration and instructors; idealized portraits; and practical beauty. The intimate presentation illuminates the deeply historical practice of African women working in ceramics and considers connections between functional and display (“fine art” ceramics). It highlights the technical, training, and aesthetic links among 20th-century female African artists working in ceramics. One of the 10 works is newly acquired (a mid-20th-century bowl by renowned Nigerian ceramicist Ladi Kwali OON MBE), while others have not recently been on view or are being exhibited for the first time.   

Reinstallation of Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan 

Through Sunday, October 12, 2025 

Gallery 243 | Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Gallery | Gallery 244 

Free; No Ticket Required 

The monumental sculpture of Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan returns to the permanent collection galleries for the first time since its new reconstruction was completed in 2021. To complement this major addition, 13 stone and bronze works from India, Cambodia, and Indonesia are also brought out for display. 

Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry 

Through Sunday, October 12, 2025 

Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Gallery | Gallery 234 

Free; No Ticket Required 

This exhibition spotlights the rich artistic traditions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia during the late 1800s and the early 1900s, through a display of elaborate textiles and fine jewelry in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. These works introduce the specialized skills of North African artists, both Amazigh (Berber) and Arab, Muslim and Jewish, and the diverse aesthetics of their multifaceted communities. The CMA’s founder J. H. Wade II began forming the collection during his personal travels across the region, and many works are on view for the very first time. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund and Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer. 

CMA Community Arts Center On-Site Activities   

2937 West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113  

Free Parking in the Lot off Castle Avenue | Estacionamiento gratis en la Avenida Castle  

Genghis Con 

Sunday, December 1, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. 

Free; No Ticket Required  

Genghis Con, Cleveland’s much-loved small-press and independent comic convention, returns for the 15th year to bring together many prolific practitioners of independent print media! Cartoonists, “zinesters,” printmakers, authors, illustrators, small-press publishers, educators, and advocates converge to exhibit their work, converse about their processes, and celebrate the independent print community thriving throughout the greater rust belt region and beyond! 

The Community Arts Center features art-making workshops throughout the day, offers board and card games led by Superscript Comics and Games, and provides a space for artists and those of all ages and skill levels to engage. 

Genghis Con, la muy querida convención de cómics independientes y de prensa pequeña de Cleveland, regresa por 15º año para reunir a tantos profesionales prolíficos de los medios impresos independientes. Caricaturistas, artistas de revistas, grabadores, autores, ilustradores, pequeños editores de prensa, educadores y defensores se reúnen para exhibir su trabajo, conversar sobre sus procesos y celebrar la comunidad de impresión independiente que prospera en toda la región del cinturón industrial y más allá. 

 
El Centro de Artes Comunitarias cuenta con talleres de creación artística durante todo el día, juegos de mesa y cartas dirigidos por Superscript Comics and Games, y proporciona un espacio para que los artistas y personas de todas las edades y niveles de habilidad participen. 

Family FUNdays | Día De Alegria Familiar at the CAC  

Monthly on the first Sunday, 1:00–4:00 p.m. 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Enjoy free family fun and explore art celebrating community. This event features family-friendly games, movement-based activities, and art making, open to all ages and abilities! December’s activity is inspired by the talented artists exhibiting the same day for Genghis Con! 

Únase a nosotros para divertirse con familia, mientras exploramos el arte celebrando comunidad. Gratis para participar. Juegos para toda la familia, actividades basadas en movimientos, y creación de arte. ¡Abiertas a todos los edades y habilidades! 

La actividad de diciembre estÿ inspirada en los talentosos artistas que expodrán el miso día para Genghis Con! 

Comic Club | Club de Cómic  

Saturday, December 7, 2024, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Be inspired and venture into the world of storytelling with artist Kobe Saunders. Work in the company of others to develop your own style and collaborate!  

Explore the long history of sequential art through various genres and cultures including newspaper comic strips, American superhero comics and graphic novels, Japanese manga, and media adaptations (film and television) of these stories. Practice techniques to improve drawing and storytelling skills with a focus in character design, visual language, and panel structure.  

Inspírate y aventúrate en el mundo de la narración de historias con el artista Kobe Saunders. ¡Trabaja en compañía de otros para desarrollar tu propio estilo y colaborar!  

Explora la larga historia del arte secuencial a través de varios géneros y culturas, incluidas las tiras cómicas de periódicos, los cómics y novelas gráficas de superhéroes estadounidenses, el manga japonés y las adaptaciones de medios (cine y televisión) de estas historias. Practique técnicas para mejorar las habilidades de dibujo y narración con un enfoque en el diseño de personajes, el lenguaje visual y la estructura de paneles.  

Open Studio | Estudio Abierto at the CAC 

Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00–4:00 p.m., through Saturday, January 4, 2025 

Free; No Ticket Required 

Enjoy free, drop-in art making. A monthly theme connects community, art, and exploration.  

Disfrute el arte con toda la familia. Gratis para participar. Cada mes presenta una temática connectando el arte, la comunidad y la exploración.  

Needle-Felted Ornaments | Adornos de Fieltro de Aguja 

Sunday, December 15, 2024, 1:00 –3:00 p.m. 

Free; All Ages; Reservation Required | Gratis; Todas Edades; Se Requiere Reservación 

Join artist Emmy Osicka at the Community Arts Center to learn the technique of needle felting. Craft your very own holiday ornament. Needle felting consists of using barbed needles to help intertwine wool fibers to create solid forms of felt. Finger protectors are provided though young children require adult assistance and monitoring. All celebrations are welcome! 

Osicka has been felting since 2019 and loves how versatile and imaginative the process can be. Reserve your spot by emailing commartsinfo@clevelandart.org. 

Te invitamos al Centro de Artes Comunitarias con artista Emmy Osicka para aprender la técnica del fieltro con aguja. Crea tu propio adorno festivo. El fieltro con aguja consiste en usar agujas de púas para ayudar a entrelazar las fibras de lana y crear formas sólidas de fieltro. Se proporcionan protectores para los dedos, aunque los niños pequeños requieren la asistencia y el seguimiento de un adulto. Todos festivos bienvenidos! 

Osicka lleva fieltrando desde 2019 y le encanta lo versátil e imaginativo que puede ser el proceso. Se requieren reservaciones por correo electrónico commartsinfo@clevelandart.org. 

Greyt Big Talk 

Friday, December 20, 2024, 8:00–10:00 a.m. 

Ticket Required | Boleto Requerido 

Join us at the Community Arts Center for a special artist talk. Ariel Vergez, aka BlackBrain, is a pop-noir artist disrupting beauty and thought. His gifted art psyche develops stories that bring color to the mundane, dialogue to the mute, and personality to the dull. His work is a voice for the transitional generation.  

BlackBrain’s apprenticeship commenced at the Design and Architecture Senior High in Miami, Florida, and matured at the Cleveland Institute of Art. His in-demand talents have globally guided him to award-winning design firms, including Hasbro, Takara, Eleven, and Karten Design, where he was recognized with the CES Innovation Award and the International Design Award (IDA) in Residential Sustainable Design and was named the 2009 IDA product designer of the year.  

Since then, BlackBrain has joined forces with philanthropic groups and other artists/designers/dreamers to pursue his first love—art—most recently working with generosity.org, helping to end the world’s water crisis. BlackBrain also is co-owner of Vergez Inc., an arts-centric, high-concept environments design collective, alongside his artist/designer wife, Otelia.  

When not slinging ink, he plays superhero to his wife and five nuggets, Eva, Naya, Ezra, Viviana, and Nico (aka @BabyBlackBrain).  

If cost is a barrier, please email commartsinfo@clevelandart.org for information on a discounted rate.  

Te invitamos al Centro de Artes Comunitarias para una charla especial de artistas. Ariel Vergez, alias BlackBrain, es un artista de pop-noir que altera la belleza y el pensamiento. Su talentosa psique artística desarrolla historias que aportan color a lo mundano, diálogo a lo mudo y personalidad a lo aburrido. Su obra es una voz para la generación de transición.  

El aprendizaje de BlackBrain comenzó en el Design and Architecture Senior High en Miami, Florida, y maduró en el Instituto de Arte de Cleveland. Sus talentos en demanda lo han guiado globalmente a firmas de diseño galardonadas como Hasbro, Takara, Eleven y Karten Design, donde fue reconocido con el premio a la Innovación CES, el premio IDA Residential Sustainable Design y nombrado diseñador de productos IDA del año 2009.  

Desde entonces, BlackBrain ha unido fuerzas con grupos filantrópicos y otros artistas/diseñadores/soñadores para perseguir su primer amor, el arte, trabajando recientemente con Generosity.org ayudando a poner fin a la crisis mundial del agua. BlackBrain también es copropietario de Vergez Inc., un colectivo de diseño de entornos de alto concepto centrado en las artes junto con su esposa artista y diseñadora.  

Cuando no está lanzando tinta, juega a ser un superhéroe para su esposa, Otelia y 5 pepitas, Eva, Naya, Ezra, Viviana y Nico (también conocido como @BabyBlackBrain).  

Si el costo es una barrera, envíe un correo electrónico a commartsinfo@clevelandart.org para obtener información sobre una tarifa con descuento.  

Education programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.  

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage. 

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Fortney, David and Robin Gunning, Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art  

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the leading encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station. 

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.