COSE Update - July 2011

Cultivating Cultural Connections

COSE Arts, Business and Innovation Winner: The Intermuseum Conservation Association’s community partnerships are helping build appreciation for all types of art.

Northeast Ohio is rich with cultural material, from murals painted on buildings during the days of the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) federal art program to the numerous renowned institutions that house fine artwork. Sculptures, paintings, textiles— and other works all represent opportunities for people to build a connection with the art, with each other and their environment.

Focused on preserving these works is The Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), a 60-year old organization dedicated to cleaning, repairing and restoring art and objects of cultural and personal significance. ICA’s recent partnerships have made a real grassroots impact on the region.

“We continue to broaden the scope of the organization’s visibility through its involvement in even more significant and important community projects,” says Albert Albano, executive director of ICA, which is the recipient of a COSE Arts Business;&;Innovation;Award;in;the;non-profit organization category.

Specifically, ICA partnered with Cuyahoga Municipal Housing Authority (CMHA) and Cleveland State University (CSU) to recover and restore murals at Valleyview Home Estates, which was taken down to build CMHA’s Tremont Pointe. The three stakeholders worked together to disassemble and preserve the murals created in the 1930s by renowned local African American artist Elmer Brown.

“Through partnership with the CMHA, we helped them appreciate and understand what the material is, and in the process of doing that, they have become incredibly committed, responsible and enthusiastic stewards of this material,” Albano says.

Those murals were reinstalled at CSU’s student union building and are now viewed by thousands of people, Albano points out. “It was a tremendous win for everyone,” he says.

Another project Albano is quite proud of
is the recovery of a collection of playground
animals created by Edris Eckhardt and
others. “They had become almost unrecog-
nizable because of their state of deteriora-
tion,” he says, noting that of the two dozen
created, nine sculptures remained and just
four—a walrus, frog, squirrel and par-
rot—were recognizable. “Based on extensive
research we did, we found substantial period
documentation including newspaper photos
and clippings and a photograph of models
that were made for review and approval for
the animals to be constructed,” Albano says.

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