Local gallery leaders gather at BAYarts for launch of arts journal's new issue

The Spring 2013 issue of CAN Journal makes its debut at BAYarts

Visual arts leaders from around Northeast Ohio will gather at BAYarts Friday, March 8, to celebrate the launch of the Spring 2013 issue of CAN Journal.

CAN Journal is the new quarterly arts magazine built to serve member galleries and organizations. More than 45 Northeast Ohio galleries, including BAYarts, are members of the Collective Arts Network, which publishes the magazine. The membership gathers for launch parties at a different location to celebrate the release of each quarterly issue, and for networking. 

BAYarts plays the host not coincidentally on the same night as writer and printmaker Michael Gill's exhibit of wood block and letterpress printed children's books, "Cats, Mice, and Movable Type," opens in BAYarts' Sullivan Family Gallery. Gill is editor and publisher of CAN Journal.

BAYarts director Nancy Heaton has been one of the driving forces behind the journal since its beginnings in 2011, when a group of executive directors and gallery directors met at Fuller House to begin moving the idea of the magazine toward reality. CAN was conceived by Bay Village resident Liz Maugans, who is director of Zygote Press. The magazine is distributed free through galleries, including BAYarts, as well as Heinen's grocery stores and more than 150 locations. It's accessible online at canjournal.org. 

"The CAN network has opened doors for westside organizations we never could have imagined,” Nancy Heaton says. “The perception was everything was happening downtown or east; when the reality is there's an active art scene that doesn't end with the borders of downtown."

With previews of coming events at dozens of galleries, as well as stories about op-art pioneer (and Clevelander) Julian Stanczak, a resurgence of interest in analog photography, and more, the spring issue of CAN Journal puts BAYarts in good company.

The CAN Journal launch party is from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Sullivan Family Gallery. It's free and open to the public.

Michael Gill

Michael Gill is editor of CAN Journal, an award winning writer, and wood block printer. He lives in Lakewood.

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Volume 5, Issue 5, Posted 9:50 AM, 03.05.2013