National, local artists explore how artists consider repair as a prospect in Cleveland Institute of Art exhibition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2024

CLEVELAND—The Cleveland Institute of Art's Reinberger Gallery is proud to present Possibility for Repair, a group show that will explore how artists consider repair as a prospect. The exhibition will feature work by Lyndon Barrois Jr. (Pittsburgh), Mark Thomas Gibson (Philadelphia), Sarah Kabot (Cleveland), M. Carmen Lane (Cleveland) and Jessica Pinsky (Cleveland).

Acknowledging the 2024 election as a backdrop, each artist questions dominant systems and reflects on ways of seeing and experiencing the world in order to inspire new perspectives. In a time of heightened fear and conflict, how can a creative community meet this moment with complexity and care? How can a creative community navigate difficult conversations as opportunities for meaningful change?

"Possibility for Repair represents perspectives from local and national artists," says Reinberger Gallery Director Nikki Woods. "I think it's important to both center and celebrate local creatives alongside artists from outside the region in order to continue, expand and support dialogue and scholarship across regions."

An opening reception for Possibility for Repair will be held from 5 to 8pm Friday, November 8 in Reinberger Gallery. The exhibition will remain on view through Sunday, February 9, 2025.

Possibility for Repair represents several collaborations across CIA. Reinberger Gallery partnered with the College's Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning as well as the Drawing, Graphic Design, Liberal Arts and Sculpture + Expanded Media departments to develop meaningful curricular engagement.

Among those collaborative efforts is Bespoke, an exhibition of CIA student work that responds to the research and writing of Sara Hendren, CIA's 2024–25 Bickford Visiting Artist. Hendren's book, What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World (Penguin Random House), explores what it could mean to design for the possibilities of the body rather than its limits. It also inspired the title of Possibility for Repair, a phrase borrowed from Hendren’s book.

Bespoke will open concurrently with Possibility for Repair—from 5 to 8pm Friday, November 8—in CIA's Ann and Norman Roulet Student + Alumni Gallery. It will remain on view through Thursday, December 12. Bespoke was organized in collaboration with CIA professors Sarah Kabot, Amber Kempthorn and Sarah Paul.

Image: "The One About George Washington" by Mark Thomas Gibson (2019). Courtesy of West Collection.