Living Inside an Art Gallery at Worthington Yards

Visiting a museum or art gallery is a common enough experience. 

But what if you could live inside a gallery?  That's the case for tenants of the Worthington Yards apartment complex in downtown Cleveland. 

Since last year the apartment building's hallways and public areas have been covered in local art, curated by Liz Maugans, former Zygote Press executive director. 

[photo: courtesy Worthington Yards]

Developer Neil Viny wanted the residence to be known for its art.

"It's an extraordinary, new moment for Cleveland to have this lifestyle [for] people who are connecting everyday to art like this and seeing it as an amenity for people who are creatively building Cleveland," Maugans said.

Now, for the first time, Maugans is giving the tenants the chance to choose the art themselves. 

Heidi Quicksilver, Liz Maugans and Andrea Hill

Six residents chose from 70 submissions for the exhibition that opens Thursday night in Cleveland's Warehouse District. 

Heidi Quicksilver was the first resident at Worthington Yards and eager to serve as a curator for the "Residents Select" exhibition.

[photo: courtesy Worthington Yards]

"If I'm going to walk past it five times a day, whether it's me running my dog outside or whether it's me actually spending time in the lobby where the gallery is, I want to pick what's hung up there," Quicksilver said.

Resident Andrea Hill moved to Ohio from Texas about a year ago and was surprised by Cleveland's cultural history.

"I moved here from Houston, which is actually a very large city with art and different museums and a lot of culture.  I didn't know much about Ohio and Cleveland, so it was very refreshing to move into a living space where everything was about art," Hill said.

"Proposition for the Uninvited" Michael Loderstedt [photo: courtesy Worthington Yards]

That's exactly what Maugans is hoping Worthington Yards can do for new residents, turn them into connoisseurs of local art.

"Finding new people that are connecting with art and that are also engaged enough to not only purchase art but to go and look for more art on their websites, this is the type of thing I think as an artist and a person that's really been connected to the artist community that we want to grow," Maugans said.

"Residents Select Exhibition 2019" opens Thursday in The Yards Project at Worthington Yards.  The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Email Liz Maugans at Yardsprojects@gmail.com to make an appointment.