PHOTOS: art blooms at NewBridge spring exhibition

Bob Perkoski Monday, May 08, 2017
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This series of stories, "Grassroots Success: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods," explores how meaningful impact on our communities grows from the ground up. Support for "Grassroots Success" is provided by Neighborhood Connections and NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology.

On this Friday, May 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., the NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology will host its Spring Session Exhibition at the school, 3634 Euclid Avenue.

The event will feature food, fun and good company alongside the artwork of the school's youth program students. All displayed works are for sale.

Each year NewBridge provides approximately 300 at-risk high-school students with free classes in a number of disciplines, including ceramics, digital photography, film, and graphic design. Programs are offered three days a week for two hours daily in 10-week sessions. An eight-week summer session makes the school a destination for area students all year long.

Students learn various artistic techniques and styles and show and sell their creations at the end of the session. Professional and experienced artists lead NewBridge’s classes, but they make creating art just one aspect of the NewBridge experience, which also includes mentorship, one-on-one support and instilling professionalism.

NewBridge also provides a necessary safe haven in a city that Forbes deems to be among the ten most dangerous in the country. After school programs fight that reality on the ground as 3 to 6 p.m. — which coincide with the school's youth programming — are peak hours for juvenile crime. Teens who do not participate in after school programs are three times more likely to engage in risky behavior.

Nearly 100 percent of NewBridge students graduate from high school and 82 percent are accepted to college, many with scholarships. Those successful numbers in turn foster long-term better health, financial independence and lower incarceration rates.

Hence, through the arts, NewBridge aims to give at-risk Cleveland youth a fresh and different outlook on education and life.

Now Fresh Water invites you to take a look inside the school and preview the show courtesy of managing photographer Bob Perkoski.

<span class="content-image-text">Instructor Robert Banks works with photography students in the NewBridge after School program</span>Instructor Robert Banks works with photography students in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Photography students in the NewBridge after School program</span>Photography students in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Photography students in the NewBridge after School program</span>Photography students in the NewBridge after School program


<span class="content-image-text">Photography students in the NewBridge after School program</span>Photography students in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Photos set for judging to be in the Spring Session Exhibition</span>Photos set for judging to be in the Spring Session Exhibition

<span class="content-image-text">Photography student in the NewBridge after School program</span>Photography student in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Instructor Robert Banks works with photography students in the NewBridge after School program</span>Instructor Robert Banks works with photography students in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program</span>Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program</span>Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Ceramic instructor Billy Ritter working with a student</span>Ceramic instructor Billy Ritter working with a student

<span class="content-image-text">Student ceramic work at NewBridge</span>Student ceramic work at NewBridge

<span class="content-image-text">Student pieces ready to come out of the kiln for the Spring Session Exhibition</span>Student pieces ready to come out of the kiln for the Spring Session Exhibition

<span class="content-image-text">Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program</span>Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program</span>Ceramic class at the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">Instructor Natalie Eddy works with a graphic design student in the NewBridge after School program</span>Instructor Natalie Eddy works with a graphic design student in the NewBridge after School program

<span class="content-image-text">ign class at the NewBridge after program</span>ign class at the NewBridge after program

<span class="content-image-text">3-D printed student work for the Spring Session Exhibition</span>3-D printed student work for the Spring Session Exhibition

<span class="content-image-text">Cleaning up a 3-D printed piece for the Spring Session Exhibition</span>Cleaning up a 3-D printed piece for the Spring Session Exhibition

<span class="content-image-text">Graphic design work on a skateboard by students at NewBridge</span>Graphic design work on a skateboard by students at NewBridge

<span class="content-image-text">Graphic Design class at the NewBridge after program</span>Graphic Design class at the NewBridge after program

<span class="content-image-text">Graphic design work on a skateboard by students at NewBridge</span>Graphic design work on a skateboard by students at NewBridge

<span class="content-image-text">Instructor Natalie Eddy works with a graphic design student in the NewBridge after School program</span>Instructor Natalie Eddy works with a graphic design student in the NewBridge after School program
Bob Perkoski
Bob Perkoski

About the Author: Bob Perkoski

Bob is managing photographer with FreshWater as well as a Cleveland freelance photographer. His photographic approach is rooted in the art of storytelling. Whether freezing the energy of an event, encapsulating the magic of a performance, or astutely anticipating the decisive moments, his work displays an innate ability to distill the essence of any scene or subject into a single frame or series of work. In addition, Bob is the official photographer for LAND studio and Holden Forest and Gardens and has worked with various Cleveland organizations. In 2019 he published a book of his photos Rust Belt Burlesque. He's had work published in other books like LGBTQ Cleveland by Ken Schneck, Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology, Rust Belt Chic: The Pittsburgh Anthology and Moon Cleveland by Douglas Trattner. Previously he was co-founder/art director for Balanced Living Magazine. You can view his versatile portfolio of work, which includes news coverage, portraiture, architectural and fine art at Perkoski Photography. Originally from Conneaut, Ohio, Perkoski now lives close to the city in Parma. He has been Fresh Water's managing photographer since the publication's September 2010 inception.

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