Only adding to the excitement surrounding the art auctions of the last few days, Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, a blue period painting by Picasso from 1903 was withdraw from Wednesday's auction, its provenance clouded claims that it  should be counted among the art looted by the Nazis. Andrew Lloyd Webber's charitable foundation is the current owner and consigner. The British composer bought the painting for the foundation in 1995. He had hoped  the funds from  the auction Wednesday would benefit the foundation. A Federal Judge in Manhattan, Jed Rakoff decided that the Federal court has no jurisdiction over the case and the auction could go on; however, the man who claims to be rightful owner, Julius Schoep, heir of a Jewish baker and art collector living in Berlin, plans to take his claims to the lower court. Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation willingly withdrew the painting. Hopefully these claims, which sound spurious will not hurt the value of the work.

I can't think of an artist more deserving of this award! Please read on ...

President Bush Announces Viktor Schreckengost as 2006 Medal of Arts Recipient
Washington, D.C. – Cleveland resident Viktor Schreckengost has been named one of 10 National Medal of the Arts recipients for 2006. President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush will honor him in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House Nov. 9th.

 “Even when it comes to a problem as big as global warming, doing Just One Thing can have an enormous, positive impact on our planet. For instance, replacing four light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs will keep a ton of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that causes global warming, out of the air. And if everyone in the U.S. unplugged their electronics, such as TVs, computers, DVD players, and stereos when they're not using them, we'd prevent 18 million tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. Just One Thing is so easy--and so effective.”

"Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali" -- one visitor called it the most ambitious show she has ever seen at The Cleveland Museum of Art. I think she is right!

Salvador Dali (Soft Construction with Boiled Beans   Premonition of Civil War), 1936, oil on canvas 100 x 99 cm

Artists, intellectuals and anarchy – sounds like just what Cleveland needs? It worked for Barcelona!

The Cleveland Museum of Art reopens October 15th with an absolutely incredible exhibition that is not to be missed: “Barcelona & Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali.” Any one of these artists would be a huge draw for a museum exhibition -- Cleveland is lucky enough to get an exhibition with all four. This exhibition, for the first time, puts these four great artists and their contemporaries into the context of the unique city of Barcelona and the region of Catalonia. The show includes hundreds of works (painting, sculpture, prints, textiles, decorative arts; furniture, ceramics, jewelry) never before seen together by masters you should be familiar with and their contemporaries -- they will amaze you as well.

And I would know, I grew up there. Only the developers of Crocker Park and such -- and their supporters -- would pretend this sculpture represents real art and culture in Westlake. Promoting it as such is part of an insidious plot I see developing. See the PD article Monday September 11th. The abstract stainless steel sculpture by Balazs is definitely an anomaly in Westlake. Westlake should be very proud to have had some hand in producing a nationally acclaimed sculptor, and at $30,000, I think they got a good deal, too. See the article on the dedication in the Westlife newspaper.

So you think you would not last a day on Project Run Way? Maybe you never learned to sew or maybe you are the creative type but fashion is just not your media? This past Friday I realized anyone can make "wearable art." Tie-dying is easy, no sketching, cutting or sewing, most of the process is left up to chance. Park Works (a great oganization that brings fun events to Cleveland parks) held a tie-dye event at Fairview Park near where I live in Ohio City. Park Works made it easy; they provided free white t-shirts, coolers of cold water for soaking the shirts, rubber bands and rubber gloves and bottles of dyes in every color you could want.

I am very excited! I recently volunteered to become an Energy Ambassador at Case Western Reserve Univeristy, part of the Adopt a Building program. I will be adopting Mather House, the building where I work. Mather House is a  century old Gothic Revival former girls dorm  turned office building -- probably not the most energy efficient on campus. I suspect the most  significant improvements at Mather House will be directly related to changing the residents' behavior. I think I could be a good energy ambassador; I am always turning out lights, I go to great pains to recycle, I hate air conditioning and I walk rather than using the campus shuttle bus. But I am looking for suggestions as to how myself and the other residents of Mather House could really make a difference. Please post your ideas. I would also appreciate links to good energy conservation sites. The Adopt a Building program is just getting started. My first "Ambassador's" meeting will be next Wednesday. I will fill you in with more details late next week.

Live music, Morrison dancers, hula hooping roller skaters, art, dogs, ice cream, ethnic and gourmet food -- The Taste of Tremont had it all.

My son celebrated his first birthday recently. Like most healthy, inquisitive one year olds he is into everything. Keeping him safe during this exciting stage of development is a challenge. Besides plugging up the electrical outlets, putting up baby gates and securing poisonous cleaning products, I decided to have our home tested for lead. We live in a Shaker Heights double built in 1926 – so its very likely that it was painted with lead paint at some point. Overall the house is in good repair, but there is pealing paint on the porch door in his bedroom, some of the window wells have paint dust and there is peeling paint in the garage. We also have some painted antique furniture that I am concerned about.

It has been a long time since I have blogged about car shopping, but I have n't forgotten that I need a new car. The squeeling bearing, rusted out muffler and check engine light on my car remind me of that every time I drive anywhere.

How does one shop for a car online? I am going to find out!

 I need a new car. I think I know approximately what I am looking for -- excellent safety rating, high fuel efficiency, attractive design, comfortable enough for long road trips, roomy enough to carry skiis, bikes or some large piece of art. I'm convinced I should buy foreign (unless someone can convince me otherwise) because what I hate most is taking my car in for repairs often. What ever I buy I plan to keep it 10 years or more.

The Cache Shop is a thrift store in the basement of the Church of the Covenant on Euclid Avenue in University Circle. It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays and staffed by some very nice volunteers.They have special tables set up for the holidays with holiday decorations -- some vintage and all very cheap. 

I'm not a fan of the Christmas Story leg lamp, but I thought these sexy little leg earrings were in good taste. I think it was the high quality of the craftsmanship or the beauty of the materials that appealed to me more than the subject, but I thought the concept was clever too. I bought these at the CIA Holiday Sale. I'm not sure who made them -- they did n't include their card with the box and they were not there at the sale. 

If you missed seeing Horst and all his gorgeous felt at The Gift Event at Kilgore Trout there is still the holiday sale at the Artcraft Building -- check the realneo events calendar for more details. The latice scarves he made exclusively for the event at Kilgore Trout were so cool!

Change of plans Friday night. I decided to stay in with the snow piling up outside in excess of 10". I searched Ebay for works by my favorite Pop Art artist Claes Oldenberg and found  some interesting things. Many prints, posters and books were affordable. Buyer beware though, Ebay has gotten some bad press lately with that guy who cheated people, supposedly selling Ohio State tickets

Yesterday was thrift store shopping, today will be all about art. Tonight I plan to go to the Cleveland Institute of Art Holiday Sale and the Hodge School Open Studio and Exhibition.

    Some of the artists at the Hodge School will have works for sale -- or maybe you could commission something for that special person on your list? One of my favorite locaI  artists Charmaine Spencer will have her basket weave sculptures for sale. The are so beautiful and very affordable!

Check out these pictures! The Side Door shop at St. Paul's Church (corner of Coventry and Fairmount) is the place for eclectic bargains. I could probably do all my holiday shopping there because there are so many interesting and practical things.

It's December 1st already! Only 24 days to find a special gift for everyone on my list -- and that includes some hard to please friends and relatives. Where do you shop in Cleveland if you hate Walmart and try to avoid the crowds and monotonous merchandise of the malls? There are plenty of galleries, boutiques, books stores, thrift stores and websites with unique gifts and shopping them can help support local artists, entreprenuers and charities.