Abstract

April Bleakney, known as APE MADE, is a public artist from Cleveland. She is the creative force behind APE MADE, where she skillfully utilizes a diverse range of mediums including mixed media, screen printing, and photography. Bleakney's art serves as a catalyst for self-reflection, promoting representation and empowerment while shedding light on societal issues she is passionate about.

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Interviewee

Bleakney, April (interviewee)

Interviewer

Kanewa-Mariano, Makialani (interviewer)

Project

Community-Based Public Art

Date

8-13-2024

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

48 minutes

Transcript

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:04] Today’s date is Tuesday, August 13, 2024. My name is Makialani Kanewa-Mariano, with the Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection at Cleveland State University. Today I’ll be interviewing April Bleakney. Thank you so much for meeting with me today April.

April Bleakney [00:00:17] Thank you.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:18] For the record, could you state and spell your name?

April Bleakney [00:00:21] Yeah. April. A-P-R-I-L. Bleakney. B-L-E-A-K-N-E-Y.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:28] Where and when were you born?

April Bleakney [00:00:29] I was born in Ravenna, Ohio, 1985.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:34] Where did you go to high school?

April Bleakney [00:00:36] Crestwood in Mantua, Ohio.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:39] And where did you go to college?

April Bleakney [00:00:41] Kent State in Kent, Ohio.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:43] What did you study at Kent?

April Bleakney [00:00:45] I got two degrees, so I got a BFA, fine arts, with concentration in printmaking, screen printing specifically, and then I got a BA in history.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:00:59] Do you primarily live in the Cleveland area now?

April Bleakney [00:01:02] Yes. Gordon Square, where we are sitting now.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:01:08] How did you end up here in Cleveland?

April Bleakney [00:01:11] Yeah, so I started my business, creative business, after college, which was the height of the Great Recession. It was a wild time economically, and, yeah, I started out of my basement in Kent. I’m still living in Kent even though I had been graduated for a few years. And I was just constantly commuting to Cleveland for markets and art shows, pop ups and things like that, so just felt like the natural place for me to be. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:01:44] And what is your current occupation right now?

April Bleakney [00:01:46] I am a self-employed artist and business owner. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:01:51] What year did you– What year was that founded?

April Bleakney [00:01:54] So officially 2011. I started the business, but even going back to, like, 2009, I was making APE MADE shirts and prints and stuff and selling them. So I just took the big plunge. In 2011.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:02:14] When did you first realize that you had an interest in art?

April Bleakney [00:02:18] Oh, probably like a little, tiny kid. Some of my life, I was like an only child, so only children get really good at keeping themselves occupied. So art was an outlet for that. And I was encouraged at a young age in arts as well. My grandmother was a huge lover of the arts, so she influenced me in that direction also.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:02:44] I know you said that you majored or focused in screen printing.

April Bleakney [00:02:50] Mm hmm.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:02:51] What is that, the medium of art that you specialize in then?

April Bleakney [00:02:54] I would say that’s my core still, but I do mixed media. I’ve just recently started branching out with cyanotype, textiles, photography. I’ve always done– Photography is just the joyful thing that I do because I love it. I don’t really monetize that in the way that I monetize the other forms of art, but it makes its way in through the prints. Like, I will use photographs as a basis for a lot of the layers in my prints, so it works in that way. So I remain a printmaker. But then in the last, I don’t know, eight or so years, maybe more, I’ve shifted to big installations and murals. And so a lot of times I will create a print and then have it enlarged for that. So I’m still a printmaker, but I get to create huge things in the public, which is fun.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:03:59] What inspired you to become an artist or just begin your journey with APE MADE?

April Bleakney [00:04:04] The recession? No, but really, it really was. It was like, it was so rough out there economically and the job market. So I graduated in 2008, which was the height of, like, the housing crisis and all of that, so, oh, my God. I was working, like, four to five jobs, and it was just really bad. I think, like, people your age can relate to the current economy and with the pandemic and everything, I see a lot of parallels. So there just wasn’t a lot for me to lose. I thought, you know, I was kind of doing it on the side and making money, and I thought, well, I’ll just see what happens. I did not really think it would be that successful. I just thought I could probably get by the way, I’m getting by with these four to five jobs, but I would enjoy my life doing something I love. So that’s how the business itself started. Yeah, it was really organic and also kind of out of necessity. So, yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:05:16] What was your original goal for yourself as an artist?

April Bleakney [00:05:19] Oh, so many goals. And this is something I still like, check in. I mean, I’m, like, 13 plus years in as a working artist now, and I think it’s good to always check in on what’s driving you and are you living the way you want to be living and doing the projects you want to be doing and that kind of thing. So I did the Artist’s Way book, which is kind of a corny. Do you know it? It’s by Julia Cameron. It’s great. It’s kind of like this bible for people who are starting a creative life, and it asks you these big questions like, what are your dream goals? Like, sky is the limit, but also, like, what kind of relationships do you want to have? So they look at the broader your whole life, not just working as an artist or creating a body of work. It’s really like the bigger picture. So it was really cool. I found when I was moving into this new studio space, I found the notebook, and I was like, I was young. I was, like, 25 when I started and I found the notebook with all of my answers, and they were still really aligned. And, like, community based art was a part of that, travel was a part of that for me, because at the time, that seemed impossible financially and making socially conscious artwork and all of those kind of things. So I was proud of my little 25-year-old self.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:06:59] You kind of touched on this a little bit already, but have your missions or goals expanded since you first began developing your skills?

April Bleakney [00:07:09] I would say yes, and maybe the scale has expanded, but really, like, the core goals or the core ideals, I guess, are the same for, like, the impact of the work and working in community, and those kind of things remain the same.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:07:34] Who else contributes to your work? Do you collaborate with other artists, or do you work primarily alone?

April Bleakney [00:07:40] Honestly, primarily alone. But I did just undertake a collaboration with Jordan Lee, who is a cyanotype artist and a leather worker. And now we’re gonna be doing a commission together, and it’s been really cool. I do a lot of pop ups where I might do, like, print sessions with groups of people or have classes come into my studio. So, you know, I think with printmaking, there’s so many ways that it can be interactive and collaborative in that way. Yeah, I was kind of underwater. I just remodeled this whole three-unit house by myself, so I’m just emerging from all of that now. So I finally have a bit more capacity, again to do those kind of things, so I’m very excited to be able to do that again.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:08:32] Besides the pop ups and kind of working within the community, how does your work engage public involvement?

April Bleakney [00:08:40] So I feel like there’s a lot of different tentacles of ways that could go. I mean, public art in general, right? Like, say you have a mural instantaneously, that’s you’re on the street, right? So there’s an impact in that way. I’ve done some projects where we work together to create that piece. So, like, I did this project with LAND and Soulcraft Woods, the wood shop, where we developed the designs together, and we executed making these objects together. I’ve also done some murals, like, in the recession days. So I actually worked in AmeriCorps right after college, so I think that really also set a foundation for me of the community engagement. So I worked in youth development, and I did a lot of things, but amongst those things, one was community arts program. So they would do murals, and I would assist. We would do workshops and all kinds of things. So that was my earliest basis after college. And then I. We did, like, for instance, we did a collaborative mural at a domestic violence shelter. The place I worked for, ran for the kids room. My first mural, I believe, was an MLK day, day of service in 2009 as an AmeriCorps VISTA, which I organized and designed. And then we had community members come in and help paint in the design for a senior center. I went to El Salvador early on in my business and did a service project there at an orphanage. And we did a big– Again, like, I created the design and then folks helped paint it once we were on site. Yeah. So. But then I also create prints that are responsive to things happening culturally or socially, politically. And then I will donate a percentage to local orgs. So, for instance, I just posted this morning. Cause I just was doing my donations yesterday. I did a whole book ban series. And so from the first round of those sales, I just donated to the Reading Room CLE, which promotes literacy and is anti-segregationist and just very cool organization to contribute to. And I’ve done stuff for reproductive rights and all kinds of other things. So those are the main ways. But I think the funnest ones are where we’re working together. So, like, I’ve done some Palestine poster print parties where we all come together and create posters around that, which are also fundraising posters, but then they can take those out to events and things like that.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:11:55] So you said a little bit about wanting to kind of create commentary on some of the social or political issues and conflicts in the community. What inspired you to then turn that into art involved in the community aspect of it?

April Bleakney [00:12:15] Honestly, I think art is just, like, my skill and my tool, and I think we all have a responsibility to, like, do what we can, and so art is what I can do. So it just seemed like a natural, a natural fit. And art can be really impactful in movements.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:12:37] So back to a little bit about APE MADE.

April Bleakney [00:12:39] Mm hmm.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:12:40] You’re the only one that runs and [inaudible]?

April Bleakney [00:12:42] Yeah, it’s just me. I did have some contract help for a while when I was doing a lot of pop ups, like every weekend. I did have some contract helpers, but I kind of, like I said, shifted away from that and more towards commissions and murals and stuff like that. Less pop ups. It’s a young woman’s game. I did that. I did that enough. It’s a lot of work. I do like one or two a year still, but, um, yeah, kind of shifting away from the clothing because I did a lot of t shirts and other clothing items. Shifting away from that and into bigger projects. So.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:13:24] In the community that you grew up in, were there any works of public art that you can remember.

April Bleakney [00:13:31] No. But they do have murals now. So the town I grew up in, it’s not even a town. It was so small. It’s a village. We had one stop light, so it’s like 45 minutes from downtown, but, you know, feels like a different world. No, there was no public art, but now I go there to go kayaking. And now they do have, like, a Mantua mural. It’s so great. They might even have two now that I’m thinking about it. So, yeah, there’s– I mean, I think there’s been a shift in public art in general. You see a lot more public art these days, maybe, than you used to. Yeah. Like, my grandmother really encouraged me, and I will say my. I have to give a shout out to my art teachers at Crestwood. So Mister Scott, who was kind of, like, on his way to retirement when I started, but then Mr. Beridan, Sean Beridan came in, I think when I was a junior, and he was fresh out of grad school at Kent and, like, rearing a go, and he built us a darkroom, which was amazing, which black and white photography, that was my first exposure to that. And he was very, I think, instrumental in, like, showing us how to be professional about it. Like, we would apply to shows and we would learn how to frame things and mat things and how to document our work and all that kind of stuff. So. And they let me kind of run with it in high school, which was really nice and something I really needed because, yeah, my high school was. My experience during that time was I could have taken a much different path. So, yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:15:23] So kind of maybe just like a lack of community art that when you were growing up, do you think that that shaped the work that you do today?

April Bleakney [00:15:32] Maybe. I mean, while my little town maybe didn’t have any community art, like, my grandmother, who I mentioned, Donna French, she was just a huge supporter of the arts, not just visual art, but theater and music and all kinds of things. So she would bring me up to the art museum all the time in high school, and, yeah, she would buy my art from me, which I’m like, you’re my grandma. I just want to gift it to you, you know? But I think she was trying to show me that, like, no, this has value, and you can actually, like, you know, make a living at this. So.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:16:20] Why do you think public art and community art is important?

April Bleakney [00:16:26] For so many reasons. It’s transformative, like, to individuals participating. It transforms our environment, for sure. It creates spaces people want to be. You know, it’s beautifying and I energizing and all of that. But also it can be like a critique. So to have people thinking about certain topics in a different way than they might through words, you know.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:17:03] Just to take it a little bit back to, you spoke a little bit about the LAND studio, one of your projects with them. Was that the first project that you did with them?

April Bleakney [00:17:13] No, I think the first one was the City Club mural, which was like, 2017, 2018. And that wasn’t my first big commission, but I think it was my first really big, like, outdoor mural piece. So my first big commission was with the Hilton, when they were building the new Hilton hotel a couple years before, and that was through Christy Gray at Gray Haus Studio. She was the middle person on that. And so that was really my first instrumental. Like, okay, how do I price for something like this? Because I’m not selling little things here and there. It’s like little mass produced t shirts or prints. This is like custom. Custom artwork to specs, all of that. So that was a really good exercise of figuring that out and, like, what is fair for me and for them, and then, yeah, LAND. So that first project with city club, they put out a call for artists. There was three finalists. They were gonna pick one, but then they end up picking all three. So mine ended up going on the City Club, or it’s actually on Bonfoey Gallery, which is now right near their new offices there by Playhouse Square. And then the other two artists were, I believe, both installed on libraries out in other parts of Cleveland. So, yeah, that was really fun. I actually just took my family there to see it. It’s still there, and we look so tiny next to it.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:18:56] That was a question I was going to ask, actually. If the public wanted to go and see your art, where would they be able to find it? In the community?

April Bleakney [00:19:01] Yeah, this is funny you asked this. I’ve been saying for years, I’m going to make a map of where all the stuff is, but I have not made that map yet. So the best way would if on my website, they’re– All the projects are there under the community tab, and each one will show you where they’re at. Most of them are still up. There’s a few that, you know, they only stay up for a certain amount of time, and then they come down. So another fun one, it’s actually that elephant print right there. That was a LAND project also in 2018, and that was on the Red Line trains for, I think, five years. But we’re now past that mark. So I think they’ve been removed. So that was with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. They got a bunch of artists, and I think there was maybe five or six books you could pick from that were winners of those awards and then create a piece in response to the book. So that was really cool. The author actually bought one of those off of me a couple years ago. Like, he found it online, and he’s like, this is great. So, yeah, that was a Peter Ho Davies book called The Fortunes. That’s one of my favorite. I love that piece so much. So, yeah, it was on the trains for a while.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:20:18] Do you try to aim for sort of a specific style or technique of your art?

April Bleakney [00:20:23] Ooh, that’s a good question. I think I definitely usually have a lot of color, bold colors. I’d say the aesthetic is kind of gritty, which I think kind of reflects Cleveland vibe. And I use a lot of– Like I said, I use a lot of photographic images as a basis, sometimes with hand drawn elements as well. So I also play a lot with scale and texture. So I think they’re usually pretty, like a layered tapestry that I build with most pieces. Some are simpler, but that’s the vibe I would describe myself as. We are not our best descriptors, are we? I need someone to come write me. Like, someone who doesn’t know me. Come write a review or something.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:21:21] Are you currently working on any projects or collaborations with just yourself or with other organizations?

April Bleakney [00:21:27] Yeah, I’m just wrapping up a little mini mural that’s going in a construction building, which, again, like, that’s one thing I love about printmaking. It’s accessible, and art for every space is great. Like, yeah, let’s put a mural in a construction company. That sounds great, you know? But I’m also working on two murals for a Cleveland Clinic Center down in Florida. And one of those I’m gonna bring Jordan Lee in on, which I mentioned earlier. So one will be cyanotype based with screen printing, and then one will be just straight up me making probably screen printed. Yeah. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:22:16] Besides the Cleveland Clinic Center of Florida, have you ever worked on projects outside of the Cleveland area?

April Bleakney [00:22:22] Of the Cleveland area? That’s a goal. You asked about goals earlier. I’m really a hometown gal. Like, I do a ton of stuff in the region, but I would love to branch out more. I’ve done residencies abroad. I’ve done residencies in Scotland, Ireland, Chile. Am I forgetting one? Those are the main ones abroad. But as far as public art abroad, no, not yet. I’ll add that to my, my list of goals.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:23:06] Are your own interactions with your community ever represented in the works that you produce?

April Bleakney [00:23:12] Oh, like in what way? Like?

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:23:13] Maybe just your, your own personal community you identify with or just the community around you? Do you ever represent that in some of the community works that you do? Public art?

April Bleakney [00:23:26] Yeah, I think it happens naturally because I live in Cleveland, and so I think Cleveland is always represented in some way in the art, and because I am pulling from photographs, my own original photographs. So whether that’s people, places, textures, whatever that stuff is, is very prominent in my work. But then also, I travel a lot, so I pull in things from my travel photography as well. So it’s not totally Cleveland-centric, and sometimes it’s not people. Like, I just made a whole garden series, which is. But it’s plants from my garden here in Cleveland, so I am hyper local in that way and try to keep it as relevant to my experience, you know, in that way. Yeah. Oh, and family, you said? Yes. I’ve been doing a lot of work with old family historic imagery and stuff like that. So as far as my community, my very personal, you know, family, and where I come from, I’ve been doing some work around that recently too.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:24:43] Is it, like family relations, or is it, like, cultural or racial identities?

April Bleakney [00:24:49] It’s actual people, family members. So I did a few series, like, around my grandfathers. They passed earlier, and now I’m in the feminine realm. So all my great grandmas and grandmas and all the aunties. And so I’ve been doing a lot of stuff around the women in my family recently.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:25:18] How do you want your overall work as a public artist to impact the community?

April Bleakney [00:25:25] Hopefully to be uplifting, but not in a Pollyanna way, like, in a healthy critique kind of way. Contemplation. Right. Like, how can we do better, be better, support each other, that kind of vibe? Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:25:46] Do you have a favorite example or story of how your personal history with just art and being an artist connects or connected to a place that you’ve created public art in?

April Bleakney [00:25:58] Mmm, a place. Let me think. I know. Should I look at all the, all the past projects? What would be a good example? The ones that are most memorable or meaningful to me are the ones where we’re working together. So, like I mentioned, the El Salvador project that was really meaningful because a friend of mine that I grew up with was actually adopted from there in the early eighties, which was a really bad time in El Salvador with the civil war, and he actually was on the trip with me. It was a group, so it was actually a lot of doctors from Metro. They would go down and do, like, ear, nose, and throat, and we’d travel around the country and do that at different orphanages. And the place I did the mural was actually the orphanage he was adopted from. So that was, like, super special. And there was a lot of other adoptees on the trip as well that were going back and they helped paint. And so to me, like, those connections, that would probably be one of the most. Look, I’m getting teary. One of the most meaningful. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:27:15] Was that trip to El Salvador, was that during the time after college when you were in the AmeriCorps? Did you say that?

April Bleakney [00:27:21] No, this was shortly after I started my business. So I started my business 2011. And I think that trip was, was that 2012? I think it was December of 2012 to 2013. So that was also, like, one of my big goals was to leave the country once a year with my business. So it’s like, okay, well, I can leave the country and make it a service project where we get to create some art together. So, yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:27:52] What got you interested in the AmeriCorps?

April Bleakney [00:27:56] AmeriCorps. You know, I. I think I just always had that desire. But being a working college student, I went to school full-time. I was a waitress full-time. I don’t know how I did that. So I didn’t really have the time to do anything like that. And I thought about Peace Corps, but then I thought, we have a lot here in America that I could stay here and do that work. So that’s why I chose to stay. And I actually did it in Ravenna, which is where I was born, so I didn’t go very far. Again, I guess it’s more of that hyper local drive in me. Or desire to stay local. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:28:51] Do you have a favorite piece of work that you’ve ever done?

April Bleakney [00:28:53] Oh, well, the elephant one is a favorite. The ones that are my most favorite, looking back, are typically the ones with the least constrictions, like when they let me just do my thing. Cause a lot of these projects, it’s me, but it’s also, I’m fulfilling a need for a client or a space, so it’s me, but it’s kind of with some parameters put on. So I would say that the train piece with the elephant is a favorite. I just did a piece last year for Cross Country Mortgage, and I actually used to live in the building right next door. And so the piece I created, again was a very hyper local, like, love letter to that specific neighborhood, and not even that neighborhood, but, like, those blocks of that neighborhood. So I used personal photos, which I had a ton from when I lived there, as well as historic photos. So that’s where my history degree also comes in a lot. I will go to our amazing public library and their archives. And so I went to, like, the map collection and the photo archives and found some really amazing archival imagery from the area. I kind of did like, a mashup of all of that for that piece. So that one was also really special to me because of that, like, deeper personal connection and the history nerd in me just loves doing that little deep dive on the neighborhood.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:30:39] Do you often use the archives and history for a lot of the pieces you make?

April Bleakney [00:30:42] Umm, for a handful, like the Hilton one I mentioned I did because they wanted a very specific. It’s, you know, the Hilton is on that the Mall B, I think it’s called. And so that’s the Burnham plan, which you probably know as an art history person. So there was, like, some research, research involved in that and finding images and historic stuff. But again, like, with that, I use my own images and some historic stuff. So I do do that a lot. I do that with the family work I’ve been making as well. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:31:24] So a little bit more about APE MADE. You said you do some pop ups, places, shows, and festivals. Where are some of the places that the public would come into contact with?

April Bleakney [00:31:38] Yeah, so I don’t do those much anymore. I do Lakewood Arts Fest, usually in the summer, which just happened like a week or two ago. And then I might do a holiday show, probably like Bazaar at 78th Street Studios. Back in the day, yes, I would do them all. But I do sell my art and products around town and a little farther afield, I think I’m in maybe ten different shops and galleries right now. And where else would you find me? On the streets? I’ll make that map. You can find me there, too. And of course, I’m online and sell stuff online as well.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:32:25] I know you said clothing. You do clothing?

April Bleakney [00:32:26] Again, not as much as I’m kind of like, phasing it out, but yeah, I used to do a lot more clothing than I do now. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:32:34] What are some of the things we could find?

April Bleakney [00:32:37] So early on, it became very Cleveland-centric, but I phased a lot of that stuff out. Like, I have my classic smokestacks design and those kind of things, the bridges, maps and stuff like that. Some Akron stuff, Rust Belt stuff, Midwest, because also during the recession, there was this huge exodus from this region. So I think some of me making that stuff was kind of defensive about, like, it’s cool to be here, we’re cool, you know, because we do get– We are like the butt of a lot of jokes here in Cleveland. So I think initially it was like, a bit of a reaction to that while I was making this pro–Rust Belt stuff, but I would make all kinds, like neckties and bags and pillows and coasters and basically anything I could print on, I was printing on and selling it. So I am phasing out most of the clothing, but I do still have a lot of the accessories and stuff, like I sell at Cleveland Clothing downtown and Salty Nuts Suite and Lakewood and Handmade Toledo and Canton Museum of Art. So it’s still very regional, but, yeah, and prints. So, yeah, I’ve kind of shifted back. So I’m doing a lot more prints now, like on paper. Yeah, I trailed off there.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:34:15] So with organizations like LAND studio, why do you think it’s important to have those in the community? Organizations like those?

April Bleakney [00:34:23] Yeah, I think the process can feel overwhelming, especially if you’ve never done it before. And I think they’re really helpful at not only, like, promoting new public art projects, but being that mediator and also kind of like showing artists the ropes of contracts and insurance and all of kind of the business end and legal end of stuff, which, if you’ve never done it before, can be super overwhelming and maybe a barrier for people to even apply or think they could do it, you know? So I do think that they’ve probably opened a lot of doors for artists in that way. I mean, I know they did for me in that way. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:35:12] Are you working with them currently, or do you have any plans to in the future?

April Bleakney [00:35:15] Not currently, no. I keep my eye out, though, if there’s any calls. Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:35:25] What advice would you give to artists who wish to design creative spaces in their own communities through public art?

April Bleakney [00:35:32] Yeah, just start where you start. Like, don’t get overwhelmed. There’s always opportunities, I think. I also want to say don’t work for free, because that’s the thing we see a lot with public art of, like, send us your concepts for free and maybe we’ll pick you. And it’s like the concept is, you know, 80% of the work usually. So to do that for free. And again, maybe you’re in a position where you don’t mind doing that for free, but if you want to be, make a living, I would say, no, don’t do work for free.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:36:18] Is there anything else you want to add for a wrap up interview? Any final thoughts? Anything you think the public should know about you personally or as an artist?

April Bleakney [00:36:28] Oh, man. I don’t know. I mean, I could just talk about this stuff all day. Do you have any areas you think we could tease out more?

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:36:38] I mean, maybe if you want to talk a little bit more about your styles and techniques or. I know you said the main medium that you focus on is printmaking, but you also do photography.

April Bleakney [00:36:46] Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:36:47] And mixed media.

April Bleakney [00:36:48] Yeah.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:36:48] Is there ever, like, painting or drawing?

April Bleakney [00:36:51] Yeah. That piece there on the wall is like spray paint. Paint, printing. Sometimes drawing, honestly, usually the drawing, I’ll, I’ll do the drawing and then scan it in and print it. So I actually was a drawing major before I became a print major. So there’s a foundation there. I will say it’s like, a little out of use sometimes, but, and I actually wanted to be a photography major, but they did not have that as an option, so. So, yeah, somehow photography has remained like the, you know, capitalism hasn’t entered into it. So when I take photographs, it’s just for the joy of it. And I’m not thinking about how to market these or sell these or that kind of thing. So I do love it for that. But I do a lot of photographing of, like, oh, that’s a weird shape that I’ll put into a print or that’s a texture I like. And then, so with that, then for screen, you have to manipulate it digitally. You can’t just, like, take a photograph and print it. You have to bitmap it or put it into some kind of dot matrix so that it can be printed, which creates, like, an aesthetic that we were talking about, can be kind of gritty or depending on the photograph. Yeah, I’ve started monoprinting a lot, which is fun where it’s screen printing, but it’s kind of like painting on the screen, which is fun because screen can be very tight and kind of flat and very preconceived. You have to have it all figured out in all your layers and your separations. And so to work in screen but in this, like, freer way has been really fun for me. Yeah. And honestly, just like, I’ve been rediscovering now that I have that capacity, like other print mediums that I don’t do as much. Like, I’ve really gotten into risograph printing, some woodcuts, some letter press. So at this very specific phase, I’m just kind of, like, enjoying experimenting a little bit. And the cyanotypes I am obsessed with. So stay tuned. We’re doing some big ones. And that I love because I’ve been doing digital negatives, so I can again, use that photography. Love that I have, but transmute it into this other medium in a really cool way.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:39:32] So what made you want to switch from drawing to screen printing?

April Bleakney [00:39:34] To be brutally honest? Well, I had some print professors who were like, really? Like, you should be a printmaker. They were trying to get me to come over, but then the drawing major was just like, you just would take the same classes over and over. So I had taken figure drawing, like, I don’t know, three times, maybe, and I just kind of felt like. Like, I didn’t really feel like I was like, where. Where’s this going? Like, I can draw. Cool. What am I gonna do with this? So I think I have a very practical minded approach. And so I thought, well, printmaking seems like there’s all these different applications, and so it just felt like if I’m paying all this money for this degree, this feels like a better. A better use of my time and my money, and that I will have more options when I graduate to use this in different capacities. Whereas with drawing, I wasn’t really sure. I mean, you could be an illustrator or. But, like, I wasn’t really sure what else I could do with that. And I think my mind kind of is kind of graphic already. So I think just from a technical and, like, aesthetic standpoint, printmaking vibes with how my brain works, because I was doing, like, before I knew how to screen print, I was, like, drawing half tones, like, you know, the big, like, Warhol-esque kind of fat halftones, and people like, oh, well, why don’t you just print that? I’m like, I don’t know how to print, so. And just, like, I would do drawings that looked like woodcuts or looked, you know, so I think just my style was already kind of very graphic, and so it seemed like a natural move.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:41:35] So do you have any favorite past projects, events, or other work that you’ve done in the community?

April Bleakney [00:41:42] Yeah. One really memorable one was with the Artworks program, which is now called Center for Arts-Inspired Learning. So basically, it’s like a Y O U youth opportunity. I forget what that stands for. It’s a youth employment program for in the summer. So I had, I want to say, ten ish, ten or eleven teenagers, like, high school age. We worked together. I believe it was six weeks, from nine to five every day. And so obviously, my cohort was screen printing, and they are technically apprentices, so they’re getting paid and they’re apprenticing under a quote unquote, master teaching artist. So, at that time, we devised that we would split our time together in half. And so the first half was an entrepreneurial lesson, not only, like, learning the nuts and bolts of screen printing, but then we did how to create your own designs, clothing line. They got to print their own stuff. They learned the whole process start to finish. Then they also had to think about marketing and branding, logos, tags, taking pictures of them, modeling their clothes, and stuff like that, which is really fun. And then that culminated in– We sold their items at [what at] the time was the Cleveland Flea. So I believe all the money went back into the program, but they sold a lot of stuff. So, again, like I mentioned, my grandmother buying my artwork, I think showing them at a young age of, like, yes, you can make things, and, yes, people will give you money for them, but also how to be professional, how to manage all the things and get your art out there into the world. But the second part of what we did, which was also super meaningful from a broader social engagement perspective, was we did an art installation for the Gay Games 9, which came to Cleveland that year. So this was 2014, I believe, in the summer. And so we worked with the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland. The kids all got a lesson in the history of AIDS, which I was kind of surprised that they didn’t have a greater knowledge of, because when I was young, it was such a. It was so in the. In the media and the news, PSAs about protection and how to prevent and all that kind of stuff. And so these kids really did not have a good, like, understanding of that time and all the horrible, like, stereotypes and discrimination that came with a diagnosis. So they learned all of that history from some folks at the AIDS Taskforce. And then they did their own research. Then they developed their own designs, which were kind of, like PSAs. Like, they would find facts about AIDS and stats and things to do to stay healthy and all that kind of stuff. So they created, really, their own little PSA campaign. And then this was super fun. We printed these designs onto red balloons, which is the color for the AIDS Task Force. And we did installations at different locations. So we did an installation at the AIDS Taskforce in their office. Then we did one at MOCA, and then we also did one outside by the Rock Hall, for they were doing, like, an AIDS run/walk as part of the Gay Games. So the kids were helping install, deinstall all aspects they were involved. So I thought that was a super meaningful project. And a lot of those kids now are full grown adults, and at least, like, three of them that I know of are working creative. So, yeah, I still feel warm and fuzzy when I think about our summer together. It was really great.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:46:03] Were the youth that were involved– Were they– And you said it was through an organization. Was it something that they joined themselves, or was it targeted for, like, at risk youth? Was it just children in the community?

April Bleakney [00:46:16] It’s a YOU program which is– I think it stands for Youth Opportunities Unlimited. So I think some kids maybe opted in and some, maybe their parents just signed them up. And so, because, you know, they’re getting paid. It’s like a summer job, basically. But some were definitely already, like, very into the arts beforehand. Some, I think less so. But we had so much fun. And so, like Jaylen Knowles, I let him, I gave him my camera, and I’m like, I can’t teach and document. So can you document while we’re working? And he’s now a working photographer, and he takes amazing photographs. So not that I’m fully responsible for that, but I. Megan Jones started her own creative consulting company a few years back with a friend and Deja Archie-Davis. She does all kinds of creative work. She’s amazing. She’s in Columbus. So those are the three that I still have on my radar that are actively working creatives.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:47:27] Is there anything else you think that we should add or that you’d like to add before we wrap up?

April Bleakney [00:47:32] I don’t know. I could talk forever. I think it’s been a wild journey the last 13 years, and I’m super grateful. And I just want to say, you can make a living with art. It’s possible. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:47:52] Well, thank you again so much for meeting with me today.

April Bleakney [00:47:55] Thank you.

Makialani Kanewa-Mariano [00:47:56] The time is now 11:00 a.m. I’m going to stop the recorder, completing this interview with April. Thank you.

April Bleakney [00:48:02] Thank you.

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