Three spring exhibits at The Galleries at CSU:

Art for Hope: Helping Veterans Through the Healing Power of Art
Art created by local veterans who are homeless and participating in the Volunteers of America Art Therapy Program

Hold the Wall: Trends in Contemporary Painting
Curated by Dan Tranberg

Present and Accounted: A Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Cleveland Performance Art Festival (1988-1999)

Friday, May 17, through Saturday, June 22
Opening reception on Friday, May 17, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The exhibits and reception are free and open to the public.

Exhibit hours: Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The Galleries at Cleveland State University
1307 Euclid Ave. in the Cowell and Hubbard Building

For more information, call 216-687-2103 or visit www.csuohio.edu/artgallery.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITS

Art for Hope exhibits the work of homeless veterans who use art as a form of expression and healing. Cathartic for the veterans, the show provides a window into the emotional and psychological turmoil veterans face following their military service and return from war.

The 50 powerful pieces (including one group painting) shared by the veterans are meant to demonstrate healing through art therapy – to enhance coping skills, manage stress, identify strong feelings and strengthen personal well-being. The program is available to homeless veteran residents of the Volunteers of America Veterans Resource Center and Veterans Domiciliary at Wade Park in Cleveland.

Volunteers of America serves more than 1,750 veterans each year in the metro areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. Nationally, the group serves more than 7,500 veterans through 37 programs in 18 states.

Hold the Wall features paintings by 16 artists who live in the Cleveland area or have ties to Northeast Ohio. According to curator Dan Tranberg, "The show was conceived as a kind of snapshot of the current state of painting as a lively, diverse practice. It features a wide range of painterly styles, from abstract to representational, tight to loose and by a broad age range of artists from 22 to 75."

A highlight of the show is work by artist Julie Langsam, who will create an abstract painting directly on the gallery wall. Part of an ongoing series, Langsam's wall paintings begin with architectural floor plans, which create an underlying structure. She taught painting at the Cleveland Institute of Art and now teaches art at Rutgers University.

Well-known for his contributions to the local and national art scene, artist, author and critic Dan Tranberg has been teaching painting and writing since 2000 at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he is a full-time instructor. As contributing art critic, he has written about art for The Plain Dealer since 1999 and was also Northeast Ohio editor for Dialogue: Voicing the Arts. Tranberg published a book last year titled Acrylic Fusion: Experimenting with Alternative Methods for Painting, Collage, and Mixed Media. His work is exhibited throughout Northeast Ohio and is included in the collections of the McDonough Museum of Art, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Progressive Insurance, among others.

Present and Accounted: A Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Cleveland Performance Art Festival (1988-1999) is a video exhibition that is part of a citywide celebration of the history of performance art in Cleveland. The 25th anniversary salute includes performance art activity throughout 2013 at MOCA, SPACES, The Sculpture Center, Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art and Oberlin College.