ICA News Online
Intermuseum
Conservation
Association
April 2011
- Vol 5, No 2
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The Vitrolite Building, home of the ICA Conservation Center. Photo by Chuck Mintz.


We are so pleased to present to you this special edition of ICA News Online, commemorating the culmination of a multi-year collaborative project of which we are especially proud. For more than five years, ICA has worked with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and Cleveland State University to preserve and showcase for the public a unique set of Cleveland murals. We are about to celebrate the completion of this project with the biggest special event in our organization's history...and you are invited! Read on to learn more about the murals, the conservation project, and the upcoming rededication event. We hope to see you there!

The two historic murals we come together to celebrate were originally painted for the Recreation Room in the Community Center of Valleyview Homes Estate, a public housing project formerly located in Tremont. Built in 1940, Valleyview benefited from the Ohio Art Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project, a depression-era program initiated to provide outlets for artists' work, often in decorating public buildings. The housing project included numerous WPA-funded artworks in multiple media.

The murals (see below for color images) depict the growth and development of Cleveland. In one mural are elements which built the city: immigration, farming and fishing, transport by canal and railroad, the Civil War, the telegraph, the loom, and the ballot box. A scholar wearing cap and gown and a jockey are references to a college and a racetrack once located in Tremont.

The other mural celebrates Cleveland in the first half of the 20th century, an industrial boom time for the city. Steel mills and factories are at the left of the painting and the building of the Terminal Tower is at the right. The central scene in this mural was possibly inspired by Eliot Ness, Safety Director when the mural was painted, who reformed the Cleveland police department and suppressed organized crime. At the far right is a self-portrait of the artist, Elmer Brown, with canvas, palette and brushes.

Detail of Elmer Brown's self-portrait.
After a disrupted and rootless youth that resulted in his being put on a chain gang for illegally riding freight trains, an experience that gave him "a sudden and harsh maturing," muralist Elmer Brown came to Cleveland in 1929. He associated with Karamu House, working as an actor and stage designer, and was awarded a scholarship for professional training to hone his natural artistic talent. Brown, a painter and printmaker, exhibited in the annual May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and in New York City and Philadelphia with the group Karamu Artists.

His work for the WPA included stage scenery, ceramic sculpture, graphic arts, and these murals. Brown was assisted in their execution by art student apprentices supported by another depression-era program, the National Youth Administration. Brown taught art in Cleveland for several years. In 1953 he was hired by American Greetings Corporation where he was the first African-American illustrator on the staff, and where he worked until his death in 1971.

Tremont Pointe
In 2005, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) began to demolish Valleyview in order to build a new housing project. The ICA was hired to remove the two murals from the walls of the Community Center. After a protective layer of facing tissue was applied, the murals were rolled on large-diameter tubes and stored until ICA began the conservation treatment in 2008.

Among the many steps of the year-long treatment was the recreation of the pinnacle of the Terminal Tower in the right-hand mural. This area had been cut out to accommodate a ceiling beam when the mural was originally installed at Valleyview, but a period image of the mural showed how the missing piece had looked. The murals were lined with canvas and edged with grommets for hanging.

Thanks to a long-term agreement between CMHA and Cleveland State University, the murals are now displayed in the beautiful new Student Center on Euclid Avenue, while slightly smaller reproductions of them have been placed in CMHA's new housing project, Tremont Pointe.

Cleveland State University Student Center
All ICA members and friends are cordially invited to join Cuyahoga County Executve Edward Fitzgerald, as well as other civic leaders and ICA conservators, for a reception celebrating the completion of this important project!

Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Time: 6:00PM to 7:30PM (program at 6:30PM)

Location: Cleveland State University Student Center Ballroom, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland OH 44115

Hors d'oeuvres and complimentary beer and wine will be served.

Please RSVP by April 18, 2011 to Matt Jurns at [email protected] or 216.658.8700.

This event is made possible by the generous support of the Cleveland Foundation, City Architecture, Marous Brothers Construction, and VIP Restoration. Thank you!

Cleveland Past


Cleveland Present


Grant Agency Logos


Nicole M. Hayes, Director of Education and External Relations
Intermuseum Conservation Association

p: 216-658-8700 f: 216-658-8709