Cleveland Morris

CLEVELAND MORRIS

Artist Statement: Comin' Atcha!

There is an expression in the theatre called "the fourth wall." It refers to the imaginary barrier between the audience and the stage. In naturalistic plays with realistic sets, the actors never acknowledge life on the other side of the footlights. If, for some reason, an actor does, this is referred to as "breaking the fourth wall," because the illusion of self-contained reality onstage is shattered.

In my show, Comin' Atcha, I am trying to do something similar. In many of these paintings, some of the still-life objects are not sitting so still. They are moving over the front edge of a tabletop, away from the confined security of life within the composition and thrusting out toward you, the viewer. In fact, in the theatre, this would be like staging a play on a thrust stage. This was always my preferred setting, as opposed to behind the proscenium arch, which is referred to as "the picture frame."

The still-life artist's game, like the play director's, is about playing with illusion. Although I used to think that I gave play directing, now I think I just changed the format of my productions!

Cleveland Morris
April, 2019

Cleveland Morris--Bio

Cleveland has been fortunate in having had two equally gratifying careers in the arts.

His first quarter century of professional life was spent in the theatre, primarily as a play director. His work was seen on regional, New York, and international stages and won many awards. He taught acting at leading colleges and universities, as well as at the renowned Stella Adler Conservatory in New York. In other media, he co-hosted Delaware: the State of the Arts for 20 years on WILM News Radio, Wilmington's all-news, all-talk station, and hosted The Morris Chair on WNYC-TV, New York City's owned and operated PBS affiliate. He collaborated with and created programs for the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Chorale Delaware, Brandywine Baroque, and other musical ensembles

In 1978, he co-founded the Delaware Theatre Company (now in its 40th Season), where he remained Artistic Director for twenty years. He retired from that position in 1998. In recognition for his work there, as well for his other contributions to the arts, the humanities, and the community, he was honored by the Governor's Award for the Arts (jointly presented by the Governor of Delaware and the Delaware State Arts Council), the Joseph P. Del Tufo Award (presented by the Delaware Humanities Council), the Christi Award (presented by the Christina Cultural Arts Center), as well as commendations from the Mayor of Wilmington, the City Council, both houses of the State Legislature, and then-Senator Biden. The economic impact and cultural significance of his contributions were heralded in the 50th Anniversary edition of Delaware Today, when he was named one of the "Fifty Most Influential Delawareans of the Last Fifty Years."

Realizing that his career in the theatre was a long—if rewarding—detour from an original ambition, he embarked on a course correction and returned to his first-love: the visual arts. In his second career as a painter, he has had 29 solo exhibitions in the past 20 years and has participated in more than 40 group shows. His paintings have won numerous prizes and have found their way into major collections. He has taught drawing at Southern Virginia University and Stuart Hall School. He is currently on the faculty of Beverley Street Studio School, where he teaches and has developed several regional and international tours, including four trips to Sicily and three to Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

His article, “The Joys of Travel Sketching,” appeared in the Summer, 2016 issue of Drawing.

Cleveland is a native of Wilmington, DE, and a graduate of Yale University, the University of Manchester, and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Although he enjoys museum-going, reading, listening to music, hiking in the nearby mountains, and foreign travel, esp. to Italy, he finds work, in the great words of Noel Coward, "more fun than fun."

The Cleveland Show (Delaware Today article, 2011)

Website: ClevelandMorris.com

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