As a gentle autumn rain fell on Cleveland’s Art House, 3119 Denison Ave., on October 23, it seemed the greening of the new Creative Garden couldn’t wait for the ribbon to be cut.
Inside, a cheerful crowd of neighbors and officials shook out umbrellas and listened as speakers praised the long, slow bloom of an idea.
“This is a very long project, and it’s not done yet,” admitted Adam Salter, vice president of the Art House board. But the mood was anything but weary: after years of planning, planting, and paperwork, something tangible — and green — had at last taken root.
Years in the Making
Executive Director Laila Voss spoke of the day as the flowering of a vision that had “lived in the Art House consciousness for a very long time.” The Creative Garden, she said, ties art to environmental stewardship — a marriage that, like most, will require continued tending.
Erica Raby, Art House’s program director, shared that feeling. “We’re excited for the celebration,” she said. “It’s been several years since the bioswale — a kind of planted ditch that drinks the rain before the sewers do — was developed, and then the sculptures were added. Now we’re opening it to the public, and there are plans for more art, including a mural.”
Phase One, the green-infrastructure work, is now thriving; Phase Two will bring convertible benches, a mural, and a small stage built from the foundation stones of houses that stood on the site. At its lively center stands Brinsley Tyrell’s new sculpture, The Tableau of Art in Action — a row of figures caught in mid-gesture, as though surprised by inspiration.
Creativity in the Crowd
Among the morning’s voices was Eboni Randall, a community partner from the neighborhood garden on 39th Street. She spoke warmly of Art in the Garden, the annual event her group hosts, and of how projects like Art House’s knit neighbors together. “We’ve been part of it for years,” she said, “and we’re just happy to see it growing.”
Nearby, Jan McAndrew — a retired public-school teacher who spent 20 years teaching in Lakewood Public Schools drafting and design — spoke of watching the old service garage turn into “a place alive with ideas.” Now a volunteer at Art House, she also leads a local belly-dance troupe — proof that creativity, like rainwater, finds its own channels.
Collaboration Beneath the Surface
Much of the morning’s focus fell on the partners who helped bring the landscape to life. The project received nearly $250,000 in funding through the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Green Infrastructure Grant — part of a citywide initiative to reduce stormwater runoff.
Jessica Cotton, who administers the NEORSD program, explained that it funds community projects of up to $350,000 each year on a reimbursable basis, easing the burden on small sponsors. She noted that Art House’s project, approved in 2022, is already being considered as a model for future rounds of funding.
“They’ve done a fantastic job — it looks great,” said Chris Hartman, the district’s stormwater technical specialist, noting that the system now diverts about 172,000 gallons of runoff each year. That’s a lot of puddles avoided, and more grace than one usually gets from plumbing.
Other partners — Big Creek Connects, West Creek Conservancy, and AECOM Environmental Design — were saluted for blending art, ecology and civic spirit into one tidy patch of earth.
Honoring a Cleveland Artist
When the talk turned to Brinsley Tyrell, the mood grew warm. A longtime friend recalled meeting the British-born sculptor in 1980, back when his bronzes were still small enough to fit through a doorway. Now his work dots the region, and Denison Avenue is the latest point on that map.
“His work is all over the city,” the speaker, who requested to be unidentified, said, “so it seemed only appropriate for it also to be here.” The figures in his Tableau seem to carry on with quiet purpose — much like the neighbors who made room for them.
Cutting the Ribbon
Then came the call that no civic ceremony can resist. “Who wants to do the official ribbon cutting with me?” Voss called out, to a chorus of yeses. Out came the umbrellas again, the big scissors and several smaller ones, and a thicket of camera phones eager to capture the happy cleaving.
Looking Forward
By noon the new frontage gleamed — a wet but hopeful strip of green along Denison Avenue. “The project transformed our frontage,” one staffer said, “and has positively impacted the character of Denison Avenue.”
For now, the Creative Garden is both a finish line and a beginning, a place where art, ecology and community take root together.
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