Once again we are privileged to welcome an amazing group of international artists into our community. Clustered from two geographical locations – South America and Eastern Europe – these six artists have already formed a strong bond with each other and with aspects of the Cleveland art scene. As you will see from their first few weeks here, they have enbraced the cold, the city, our cultural institutions and many of our young people already. We can’t wait to see what will come over the next two months.

This is the sixth in a series of ongoing blogs introducing you to our new artists.

Mkrtich Tonoyan – Armenia
Hosted by The Sculpture Center

Two days after his arrival, Mkrtich Tonoyan gave a lecture on Armenian history and his own art practice to sculpture students in Irina Koukhanova’s class at Cleveland State University. After the lecture, he stayed into the evening getting to know the studio art professors at CSU.

Soon after settling in Cleveland, Mkrtich made contact with St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Church on Richmond Road, where he took fellow Creative Fusion artist Alexandru Patatics and his partner Andreea to a beautiful Sunday service. April 24th is the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and Mkrtich will work with the congregation at St. Gregory of Narek to prepare his own memorial commemorating the event.