Sound Sculpture is just off the road from the incredible Momentum Festival in Toledo, directed and managed by the amazing Arts Commission of Toledo.
I am from the midwest, and grew up not far from Toledo, in SE Michigan. I played gigs in Toledo through my 20’s in a drum and dance group, as well as with a reggae band. It’s a bit in the shadow of Detroit and other Ohio cities, and as a rust-belt gem, its not the shiniest… or the rustiest…
But the Momentum Festival and the Arts Commission punch way above their weight in just about every way. The energy and commitment of this solid team inspired me deeply from my first visit to conduct a workshop, to closing the bar with leadership on my last night.
The festival is directed by Crystal Phelps, and I knew I liked her style when the contract came through for the gig and it was simple. These people are straight shooters. Down to earth and well meaning. Our artwork was received by their team, and I had excellent help setting up and preparing for the opening…. Sound Sculpture was positioned just across the way from Aqueous - a popular artwork by friend and artist Jen Lewin. It was great to catch up with Jen, and meet her team (shout our to Austin and Liz!) at a restaurant roof deck overlooking the park where our works would show.
Big local resto shout-outs to Fowl and Fodder Toledo (an extremely loca-vore lunch spot that served up some of the healthiest food I have had on the road) and to Maddie and Bella Coffee Roasters, who have affordable health-nut toasts, pretzel-croissants (yes, rest of the world, its a thing in Toledo) and smoothy bowls like that nutritionist friend of yours makes in her vita-mix that make you consider buying that monthly pass for yoga classes.
Cail and Nate showed up big, on time and early (shout out to Nate, shout out to Nate). They helped other great artworks through installation and management over the weekend - 2 major works I really enjoyed were Kelly Bell’s Herdlings and Bradley Scherzer’s Poof. The Herd piece consisted of 130 inflated creatures, all with solar-charging LEDs and all just so super mellow floating in a reflecting pond at the festival site. The scale and just chill nature of what at many times seemed such an alive installation was so much fun.
Bradley’s piece was a triumph, not just because it worked, is weird and fun - but because he is a Toledo art teacher who was awarded a budget and the invitation to present his work by The Arts Commission. I just really want to recognize that it is very hard for local arts presenters to manage how much, and at what scale they present local art / artists. There is no one way to do it, and every city / presenter handles it differently. The way Momentum handled it was awesome. Brad is a riot (check out his festival gear below in the photo) and his work is just fun - and it was a huge hit. It is a jungle gym personified and with a pneumatic digestive system - placing poofy balls and items in the system rockets them around the pressurized translucent tubing and then back out. Everybody Poofs, man.
The daytime activities included a solid maker faire, complete with lock-picking demos, tons of robots, Liam who puts pickups on plants and sends them through modular synths, a sand-castle sculptor, an electric corvette, 7 or 8 typewriters - cause of course - and bands, a mini opera and poets. Tons more too - that’s just what I saw when cruising through with my parents - and they loved it too.
My run was made complete when I raised a glass (or 4) with the Arts Commission team at the amazing Bellwether Bar, the Toledo Spirits cool spot. This is a world class bar, easy down to earth done right. The East Side Gin is a winner as the label states “representative of east sides everywhere” - that’s right Toledo, it’s not all about you, or me, its about us.
And because I am me and there are other people in the world who say at 1 am when that super swish bar closes “wait! I know a 2 am spot!” I also hit up the Attic, which was a great idea, with - again - leadership from the Arts Commission, Ryan and Eric. Ryan treated me like a super special guest, the bar man shouted and poured heavy and I met amazing people. 2 standouts to me were “Not Tall Tim” Tim and Drizzy. Tim (who was actually quite tall) delivers pizzas, and he mentioned he was trying to get a different job, but just couldn’t pull himself away - the feeling of bringing people so much joy was just too good to give up. Even though he said he needed to make more money, he just loved that feeling pushing the doorbell and hearing the sounds of kids, the homies, everyone saying “the pizza guy is here!” And then Drizzy - what a cool cat, he told me about the 8 years he spent at one of the auto factories, and how much happier he is now cutting hair - helping people in that most essential way. As he put it to me “people get their car washed, they get lined up, and I know I am seeing them thru to feeling good about themselves.”
Well, Toledo, you delivered joy to me and to thousands who attended Momentum. The workshops, the showings the concerts and most of all, the vibe. As they say, “You’ll do better in Toledo.”
