Month: June 2021

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LGBTQ Center of Cleveland Ohio in the Gordan Square Arts District – Upcoming Exhibition 2021 CONVERGE – LGBTQ+ – My Husband Andrew Reach’s Art Has Been Selected – The Artwork SHINING LIGHT of a Photograph of Me (Bruce Baumwoll) From 1984 at the Christopher Street Subway Station

SHINING LIGHT by Andrew Reach, 2007
uv cured inkjet on acrylic, 24″w x 36″h

This artwork is one of two of Andrew’s artworks selected to be in the exhibition. Titled SHINING LIGHT, it’s from a photograph he took of me at the entrance to the Christopher Street subway station in 1984. It will be shown at the LGBTQ Center of
Greater Cleveland in the Gordon Square Arts District which is one of 3 other venues for the exhibition.

Andrew describes the artwork as follows:
“Shining Light is a visual love letter. The light above Bruce’s head softly illuminates him like a halo, while my “whimsies” surround him, attracted to his beautiful essence. SHINING LIGHT speaks to the simple universal notion of the deep love and commitment of two men spending a life together and the homage one man pays to the other he loves so deeply.”
ASTERISCUS I, 2021
uv cured inkjet on cnc cut acrylic, 48″h x 43″w

This is the other artwork selected for the exhibition. It will be shown at another venue, Metrohealth Hospital.

Andrew’s art is already represented at the center as he was commissioned during the buildings construction to do a permanent installation in the “Lounge” off of the main entrance (see photo below)

Me in front of Andrew’s commissioned artwork “Fifty Three Rhombuses” at the LGBTQ Center of Greater Cleveland, uv cured inkjet on cnc cut composite aluminum.


From the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve’s website:

“This August, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve presents CONVERGE, a massive visual art exhibition held in partnership with the LGBTQ Center of Greater Cleveland, Lake Erie College, and Cleveland MetroHealth. Shown across 4 venues, CONVERGE brings together the diverse stories of the LGBTQ community, including the historically underrepresented voices of women, transgender people, and people of color.”

Click here to read more about the exhibition on the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve’s website.

Screenshot of Artists Archives of the Western Reserves’ webpage about the exhibition.
Artwork PRIDE by Chuck Fischer – Mixed Media Assemblage.
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1984 Gay Pride Day in Greenwich Village in New York City. At the Pier with our beloved dog Katie – Andrew and I on Christopher Street and around the Village

SHINING LIGHT by Andrew Reach, 2007
uv cured inkjet on acrylic, 24″w x 36″h, edition of 3

This is an artwork by my husband Andrew Reach titled SHINING LIGHT from a photograph he took of me at the entrance to the Christopher Street subway station during Gay Pride in 1984.

Andrew describes the artwork as follows:
“Shining Light is a visual love letter. The light above Bruce’s head softly illuminates him like a halo, while my “whimsies” surround him, attracted to his beautiful essence. SHINING LIGHT speaks to the simple universal notion of the deep love and commitment of two men spending a life together and the homage one man pays to the other he loves so deeply.”

When Andrew was studying architecture at Pratt, he took photography classes and made me the subject of many of his photographs. Andrew became disabled from a spine disease and couldn’t continue practicing architecture and reinvented himself as a artist working in the realm of digital media. It turns out this photograph has been selected to be in a major exhibition being put on by the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in Cleveland. Titled CONVERVERGE: LGBTQ+ which will celebrate the legacy of the LGBTQ’s community in northeast Ohio within the visual arts.

I still find it rather odd that I am now a subject of the art world and to know that thousands of people will see me when I was young. It’s hard to explain watching people looking at me on the wall. This is not the first time he has taken me to such a place. A few years ago, he made a piece called THE WONDER OF BRUCE (see below), that went on to be shown at the Butler Instituted Of American Art in Youngstown Ohio at their 74th Mid Year Exhibition.
THE WONDER OF BRUCE by Andrew Reach, 2010
Pigment Print on Cotton Rag, 44″w x 77″h, edition of 3
Me and our Dog Katie on the pier in Greenwich Village
Me and our Dog Katie on the pier in Greenwich Village
INDUSTRY WHIMSY by Andrew Reach, 2007
Pigment Print on Cotton Rag, 42″w x 72″h, edition of 3
This is the original photograph taken in 1984 that was used for the artwork INDUSTRY WHIMSY (shown above). The photograph is at the corner of Charles Street and Hudson in Greenwich Village. The window above the Citgo sign was the apartment where we lived.
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH WHIMSIES by Andrew Reach, 2007
Pigment Print on Cotton Rag, 36″w x 24″h, edition of 3
This photograph was taken by Andrew in 1984 while we were walking in Washington Square Park with our dog Katie.