"Sacred Spaces--Forgotten Places #10," acrylic on canvas (Audra Skuodas).   Sacred Spaces--Forgotten Places on Display at Oberlin College’s Cleveland Gallery and Performance Space by Sue Kropp
Related Links: Oberlin College to Open Art/Performance Space at Cleveland's Here Here Gallery Oberlin Professor, Johnny Coleman, Art Installation on Display at Here Here Gallery Exhibition of Student Art Work on View at Cleveland's Here Here Gallery		FEBRUARY 28, 2002--Oberlin College will once again make its mark on the Cleveland art scene tomorrow, with an exhibition by local artist and former part-time faculty member Audra Skuodas at the Oberlin College Gallery and Performance Space at Cleveland's Here Here Gallery. The exhibition, Sacred Spaces--Forgotten Places, reaffirms Oberlin's presence within the Clevland arts community. The evening also will include a performance of new works composed by Tom Lopez, assistant professor of computer music, and performed by Kathleen Chastain, a flute instructor, and Lorainne Manz, associate professor of voice. "The Oberlin Arts Space is an opportunity for Oberlin to establish a presence in Cleveland," says Grover Zinn, associate dean of arts and sciences. "We're glad that Johnny Coleman and Adenike Sharpley have been able to have installations there, and feel that the exhibitions by John Pearson and Audra Skuodas will further put the space to good use. The gallery will enhance Cleveland's awareness of the arts community in Oberlin." Oberlin's presence at the Here Here Gallery began last May, after Nanette Yannuzzi Macias, associate professor of art, and Johnny Coleman, associate professor of art and African American studies, secured the space to create a formal association between Oberlin College and the Cleveland arts community. "We have long felt that it was important, if not necessary, for Oberlin's faculty and students to become part of Cleveland's arts community," says Macias. "Acquiring this space was a wonderful opportunity to increase Oberlin's visibility in Cleveland and begin a dialogue between the two arts communities." The gallery's first exhibitions included sculpture, installations, and performance pieces by both faculty members and students. Since then, there have been several exhibitions at the gallery, including a sound installation by Coleman and student exhibition titled Translations of Ashe. The latest round of shows have brought even more improvements to the space, which is continuously evolving to suit the needs of each exhibition. "We went in and removed walls that had been built for the previous installations, scraped and painted the remaining walls, cleaned the windows, cleaned the floor, and commissioned a sign that announced Oberlin's presence at the gallery so that it would be a recognizable venue," Pearson says. The newly refurbished space will house 120 works by Skuodas, including drawings, collages, and a series of large wall paintings. Skuodas' show will be on display at the Here Here Gallery until March 21. The gallery's next exhibition will feature works by Pearson, including the pieces that were commissioned for a show at the City Museum of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia, earlier this year. Pearson's show will run March 28 through April 18. "The renovations we've done have greatly improved the look and the use of the space," Pearson says. "The gallery is now equivalent to any other alternative art center out there. It is a very elegant space." The Oberlin College Gallery and Performance Space at Here Here is located in Cleveland's Theater District at 1305 Euclid Avenue.   "Yorkshire Series: Regeneration--Continuum," 5" acrylic on birch (John Pearson).
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