As host to Earth Day and Arbor Day, April is a very green month indeed — and Fresh Water readers will delight in this roundup of alt options to honor Mother Nature, from toasting her trees to walking among them.
 

A sculptor, ceramicist, industrial designer and Cleveland Institute of Art professor, Viktor Schreckengost's legacy continues to live out loud throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond.

NewBridge Cleveland's adult job training programs have taken off since the center for arts and technology's 2010 opening, expanding offerings and tripling enrollment in its health-tech programming.

Cuyahoga County residents are going green by banding together to reap the benefits of solar energy — and they're saving plenty of green as well.

Managing photographer Bob Perkoski gives Fresh Water readers a peek inside the Cleveland Institute of Art's 71st annual Student Independent Exhibition.

From an elaborate renovation of Quicken Loans Arena to a series of residential construction projects, Fresh Water checks in on a handful of ambitious proposed and ongoing development efforts.

As some 76 million baby boomers retire, they are stirring a “silver tsunami” across the country, testing public and nonprofit agencies as well as the housing market. Fresh Water checks in to see how Northeast Ohio is preparing for the trend.

Two Cleveland Institute of Art graduates took the lessons they learned in the 216, became pioneers in web design and now helm one of Inc.'s fastest growing companies.

Last summer, MOCA Cleveland's fourth floor Mueller Family and Rosalie + Morton Cohen Family Galleries featured the works of Mark Mothersbaugh in a multi-media explosion of color and playful commentary with everything from a mutated Scion to the Booji Boy mask of DEVO fame.
 
Last Friday, Adam Pendleton's Becoming Imperceptible took over the space. Like the Mothersbaugh show, it's an immersive experience full up with sound and visuals that reflect the man behind it all. Unlike last summer's offering, the current multi-media exhibition is void of color. The ceramic floor sculptures, framed Mylar prints, collage, silkscreens printed on mirror and two film installations are all depicted in black, white and gray.
 
While the two shows have commonalities, the narrative arc in time, politics and culture that separates them could not be more stark. When Mothersbaugh's Myopia debuted, the city was on the verge of the gentle summer months and giddy with the prospect of the Republican National Convention. Cleveland was, essentially, preparing for its close up.

Adam Pendleton, Black Lives Matter #3 (wall work), 2015
 
Now a scant eight months later, division and uncertainty cloud the days. The city is covered in snow after an extended and eerie January thaw. Protests have filled Public Square with women and encroached on Cleveland Hopkins. More such events are scheduled.
 
Such is the current backdrop for Becoming Imperceptible. Different incarnations of the collection previously appeared in New Orleans and Denver, but both of those events closed prior to November 8, 2016. Hence, like the America it reflects, the exhibition woke to a new day when it debuted last week.

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The latest episode of "Neighbor Up Spotlight" is now available. "Neighbor Up Spotlight: What does Neighbor Up do?" is a 15-minute kitchen table conversation between host Carol Malone and Neighbor Up member Tom O'Brien focusing on how Neighbor Up came together and what members are doing to make change in Cleveland.

Hosted by Malone, a Cleveland resident and activist, each episode of "Neighbor Up Spotlight" focuses on members of Neighbor Up, a network of approximately 2,000 Greater Cleveland residents making positive change in their neighborhoods. This resident-driven social change movement is about bringing equity to all Cleveland neighborhoods.

Listen to “Neighbor Up Spotlight" on Soundcloud or download episodes from iTunes. Or just click below to hear the latest edition right now.




Support for this series, "Grassroots Success: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods," is provided by Neighborhood Connections.

While Congress floats a proposal to raise the full Social Security retirement age to 69, the impact will hit hardest in Cleveland's urban neighborhoods, where life expectancy is as low as 70—nearly nine years shorter than the national average.