Visual artists help Bethesda release new EP

A texturized acrylic portrait of a late grandfather. A silk-screen print of an hourglass wrapped in vines. A video installation displayed on a bed adorned with a mobile made of human hair and pig intestines. Indie-folk-rock band Bethesda’s new EP Dissolve inspired local artists to create all of these diverse works.

For its EP release party at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland Thursday night, Bethesda skipped a traditional concert and instead hosted a night that was more of a celebratory gathering of the local arts community. Trying its hand at curating an art show, the band asked 10 local visual artists to make pieces based on its new music.

“Whenever we do a release, we like to do things that reach out to the community around us and other artists,” says lead singer Shanna Delaney.

With shifting band members, Bethesda decided it isn't in a place to record a full-length follow-up to 2013's The Reunion. So band members opted to record an EP with two singles, “Wild Winter” and “Dissolve,” at Danger House Studio with Dave Douglas.

In true Bethesda style, the singles fearlessly confront the difficulties of life by rejoicing in them.

“I’m at the age where you realize most of life is a struggle. It’s a wild winter,” says songwriter and guitarist Eric Ling. “But there’s beauty in that too. Once you embrace that, it’s just a part of life.”

Partnering with Cellar Door, the night kicked off with a boot stompin’, beer swiggin’ set by folksy newgrass band Honeybucket including crowd pleasers “Honey for My Baby” off its self-titled EP and “Whiskey Drinkin’ Blues” off of its live EP.

Arlene Cassara Dance and Theater Center followed the high-energy show with a modern dance to an instrumental version of “Dissolve.” Then to a full crowd in the museum lobby literally got down to Bethesda's old and new music, taking in a live video accompaniment by Cory Sheldon with the debut of "Dissolve."

Despite the band being new to curating an art show, the members were impressed with the depths of the artist's work and the starkly different ways each interpreted the songs.

“I write the lyrics and it’s really cool to see people grab on to a certain line and relate it to life,” Ling says. “To me, that’s what making music is all about. Writing something in such a way that people can connect it to their own lives. They can actually physically see that not only did they connect, but it inspired them to create as well.”

Glow Stick

The garments flaunted in tonight’s In the Dark fashion show will be glowing, but it’s won’t be from the gleam of silk or the glint of sequins. Some of the pieces will literally light up as part of the 7 p.m. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland event that showcases wearable technology pieces created through collaboration between six Cleveland Institute of Art students and two Case Western Reserve University engineering students. 

“It’s trying to blur the lines between analog in digital, especially in art culture today to find a complex between what should be analog and what should be digital,” says Graham Baldwin, a participating designer and Cleveland Institute of Art student.

Back in October, Baldwin began working on his avant-garde garment titled “Compendium,” which is a crinoline dress made from 4 pounds of 3-D printed nylon filament that will allow light to shine through it.

“In this piece, I’m hand-sewing 3-D printed structures together, and the 3-D printed structures reference smocking [a way to embroider and fold fabric] used in old-time dresses, so it’s kind of this back and forth balance between the two ideas,” Baldwin says.

The competition is an opportunity to connect arts with engineering, says CIA adjunct professor Barbara Chira. The designers are using 3-D light refraction, glowing LED lights and motion sensors to make one-of-a-kind, futuristic pieces.

“We are very proud of these students' passion for and aptitude in emerging technologies, and in their desire to collaborate across disciplines and work toward creative outcomes that are innovative and new,” Chira says.

The students will also present their high-tech creations at the Brite Winter Festival Feb. 15, the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire March 29 and Great Lakes Science Center’s Yuri’s Night Space Party April 12. Designers will have a chance to revise their pieces throughout the competition until the April show, which features a judging of the garments with one lucky winner taking home a cash prize.

By Cassie Neiden

In the Mix

Strobe lights, loud music and plentiful mixed drinks transform the usually clean-cut atrium of the  Cleveland Museum of Art into a nightclub for one evening every month.

"It’s one of the only places you can go for a happy hour, to hear music, and be in this spectacular space," says Charity D'Amato, founder of the design studio Chartreuse. "It’s not just a bar you’re going to ... it is this large museum with very recognizable works of art that you can go and sort of hang out with."

The art museum hosts Mix events the first Friday of every month, each with a different theme ranging from masquerade balls to the apocalypse. All in one night, guests can cut loose on the disco-ball-adorned dance floor, unwind at the cocktail bar and peruse the galleries of centuries-old works as they please.

"It's about getting people into the galleries in a relaxed setting,"says Aaron Petersal, director of membership and visitor experience at the museum.

Since the museum started hosting the event last October, it has steadily been growing, now drawing more than 1,200 people each month.

The theme for the next event on June 7 is Mix: Connections, highlighting the relationship between the CMA and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. To show how modern artists are influenced by those of the past, you’ll get to see contemporary artist Kate Gilmore’s work compared to her inspiration, Jackson Pollock. Gilmore’s work is currently on display at MOCA, but there will also be a live rendering of her performance art piece Hold on Her at CMA.

Get the best of both museums with a free trolley that runs all night. Take in electronic artists Radio People at MOCA and check out other artworks on display as part of the museum's own WtF (Welcome to Friday) series. Keep the music going back over at CMA, where DJs Charles McGraw and Darrick Grant will spin funk and soul records until 9 p.m.

The connections theme trickles into the cocktail menu with custom blends such as Rusty Nails, a Scotch-based drink to pair with a piece on display at the museum by Damian Ortega titled Controller of the Universe, featuring carpentry and gardening tools suspended in mid-air.

D'Amato attended one of her first Mix events in November and has been back for a few times since then. "It was just a cool way of gathering young professionals who are interested in art on a Friday night and kicking off the weekend," she says.

Members to either museum can attend the happy hour for free.  Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Call 216-421-7350 or visit ClevelandArt.org/MIX for tickets.