Abstract
An art specialist and dealer, John Kunikis discusses his booth at the 2006 Ingenuity Festival. Describing his experiences with art and culture in an urban environment and their influence on his work, Kunikis discusses the state of art and culture in the City of Cleveland.
Interviewee
Kunikis, John (interviewee)
Interviewer
Hons, Justin (interviewer); Yanoshik-Wing, Emma (interviewer)
Project
Ingenuity Fest
Date
7-14-2006
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
16 minutes
Recommended Citation
"John Kunikis Interview, 14 July 2006" (2006). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 905003.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/288
Transcript
Transcription sponsored by the Kunikis family in memory of John P. Kunikis
John Kunikis [00:00:04] Right. This is probably a pretty good distance from my experience with microphones. [crosstalk] It’s nice and cool in here. [laughs]
Justin Hons [00:00:30] If I could just get you to state your name and the date today.
John Kunikis [00:00:34] My name is John Kunikis, and the date is July– I’m not sure what the date is today, to tell you the truth. [laughs] 14th, maybe, 15th. 14th. Okay, 14th. 2006.
Justin Hons [00:00:48] John, what is your involvement with Ingenuity Fest as we begin?
John Kunikis [00:00:53] I have a booth here. I sell art of indigenous people from the Arctic to Africa. Canadian Eskimo art, Iroquois Indian art. What I have here today is mostly African art.
Justin Hons [00:01:12] How did you get into that business?
John Kunikis [00:01:15] It was a long story. I was principal of an inner-city Catholic girl’s school in downtown Cleveland that was closed by the Catholic Diocese. And at the closing, I was considering what I wanted to do in the future. And I’d always been interested since a small child in Native art, and so I just started doing a little bit of investigating. Met some folks in downtown Cleveland who had a gallery. They offered me the opportunity to – kind of on a trial basis – to take some space and see how things went. It went pretty well. And most recently, we were located in the Colonial Arcade and lost our lease there. So, I’ve been working on the Internet since that time, in addition to being a full-time educator.
Justin Hons [00:02:02] What was the name of the school?
John Kunikis [00:02:04] It was Erieview Catholic High School. It was located on 18th and Superior, right across from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Long ago it was St. Peter’s High School, but then I think it was four different Catholic girls schools merged and Erieview Catholic High School then became the name of the school there.
Justin Hons [00:02:24] When was this?
John Kunikis [00:02:26] It closed in ’93, so it’s been a while.
Justin Hons [00:02:31] What was downtown Cleveland like at that point?
John Kunikis [00:02:34] Oh, I think most of my involvement in downtown Cleveland was in that area, which was between 18th and Superior and up around Cleveland State. Because we did some things in conjunction with Cleveland State and also Playhouse Square. And so the involvement I had at that time centered around Cleveland State University down to 18th and Superior. And we used to take— sometimes we took the entire student body up to Playhouse Square for different Shakespeare festivals and things like that. So that was kind of the hub that I was involved in at the time and was, you know, pretty, active in those days.
Justin Hons [00:03:19] So it seems that art has always kind of been very important to you. Would that be true?
John Kunikis [00:03:25] Right. I was born at 32nd and Superior and as far back as I can remember, neither of my parents graduated from high school. They were both children of the Depression. But as far back as I can remember, we always made at least an annual trip to the museums in town. The Art Museum was always a big event in our lives. And I think somehow that became ingrained in me and stuck with me. We’d go there, we went to the Natural History Museum. We did all the museums, health museums, and all of those things. And so that kind of cultural experience was a part of my early childhood. And so I guess I would attribute my interest in art to that. And always having a fascination with Indigenous people, which I’m sure came from trips to the Art Museum, Natural History Museum, and so forth.
Justin Hons [00:04:17] Do you remember any particular trips that stand out to you?
John Kunikis [00:04:22] Oh, gosh, not really. I just always remember– I think the thing that excited me the most when I was a kid was walking into the Art Museum and there was a wishing well there. That was always a huge deal for me to try to get these pennies in the basket. But the biggest deal, I think, was always walking into the room with the armor, the knights in armor, the medieval with the broad swords, and they had knights on these horses and so forth. That probably was the thing, as a small child, that kind of opened my eyes and was kind of the wow experience for me, I guess.
Justin Hons [00:04:57] When did Indigenous art catch your eye?
John Kunikis [00:05:00] That’s a good question. And I don’t know, and I’ve thought about that a lot because of my involvement. And my involvement has taken me up into Iroquois Indian reservations up in Canada and in upstate New York. I brought two Eskimo artists down from the Canadian Arctic for carving shows and demonstrations here several years back. And I’ve often wondered what the spark was, and I’m not quite sure. It could have been some of the movies I saw as a kid, some of the books that we had in the house. I grew up on the Lone Ranger and Tonto,[laughs] and that’s a good question. And I’m not sure I can pinpoint one thing, except that I’ve always found people who live close to the earth, Indigenous people– There’s been some fascination for me. It’s got to be books that I came across in my childhood. That’s my best guess.
Justin Hons [00:06:02] Do you have any knowledge or connection to Indigenous people who lived here in the general Cleveland area before?
John Kunikis [00:06:11] No, not really. No.
Justin Hons [00:06:14] What are some of the pieces that you’re selling today that really stand out as an example of what you do?
John Kunikis [00:06:22] Oh, I have. I brought with me today, today quite a few masks from Africa. And most of the work that I have from Africa is from the west coast of Africa, the Ivory Coast, Gabon, and those areas. So, mostly I have masks, but I also have some statuary and carvings, a few fabrics, but I think the masks are probably the most dramatic pieces that I have.
Justin Hons [00:06:48] What type of general reaction do you get from typical Clevelanders about the art that you sell?
John Kunikis [00:06:55] Well, I guess it depends on the kind of art. Most people are familiar with African art. Most people are familiar with Africa. I found that most people are not familiar at all with— When I had an actual gallery space, with the art from the Pacific Northwest coast, it would be like Haida Kwakiutl Indian. And many times, people would claim that they had seen that art on their trips to New Mexico and down in the Southwest. And I usually gave up after explaining to them several times that they probably hadn’t, and they insisted they had. And the other interesting thing I always found was I have a large— I actually started in the art business with the Inuit art. The Inuit are the native people of Arctic Canada. And normally the term Eskimo is not applied to them, it’s Inuit. And I found people for the most part to be really not familiar with that at all. There were some folks who were collectors, folks who had traveled to Canada who were familiar. But many times when I’d say to people Inuit, they would give me a blank stare and I would say, well, it’s like Eskimo. And so that was kind of a recognition point for them, I guess.
Justin Hons [00:08:05] Did the gallery space you had– Was that here in Cleveland?
John Kunikis [00:08:08] Right. We were in two locations. We started out back in ’94, and we were in the Powerhouse building on the West Bank of the Flats. And the folks I was with had a place there called Art at the Powerhouse. And I had sublet a small section of the gallery, which kind of grew to a larger section from them. And as things go in business, we lost our lease there. And then, most recently, we were in the Colonial Marketplace right down the street from where we are here. And we were there for probably five years. And again, there was a loss of lease situation. So at this point, I don’t have a physical gallery space, but I’m sort of promoting my website and selling on the Internet. I actually just sold two pieces to a fella in France last week. So that was kind of interesting.
Justin Hons [00:08:59] Going back to your experiences with downtown Cleveland, what are some of the really significant changes that you’ve noticed since when you were younger?
John Kunikis [00:09:09] Well, the most significant change is the building right across the street from us. That’s the old May Company building. When I was in high school and in college, I worked at the May Company as a stock boy. And actually dropped out of college at one point. And worked full-time on the loading dock. So that was a bustling place. And it was full of people, and even before that, Saturdays was the day when you came downtown. And I think about every Saturday, either I came with my friends or my brother. And I always know when I was leaving the house, and my mother said, where are you going? I’d say downtown. She’d say, not dressed like that, you’re not. So coming downtown was a— You kind of got dressed up when you came downtown. And we would just come down and wander through the stores. There used to be a place right down the street here called Record Rendezvous, which sold records. And they had listening booths. And it was the day before the iPod. [laughs] And you could go in and listen, sample different records. And there were coin shops and all kinds of bookstores and hobby shops. Again, down the street from where we are, there was a place called the Hobby House that we used. Every time we came downtown. We went to the Hobby House to look at the model trains and the models. And so it was a thing to do. It was a place to be. Every Saturday, you were down here and eating hot dogs and, you know, drinking beverages and stuff that you weren’t always allowed to have during the week back in those days. So it was a fun place, and the streets were packed. I can remember, speaking of the May Company again, walking into the May Company with my mother when I was real little. And there was no air conditioning. There were just big fans going on in the stores and it would be a day like this, which is quite hot and humid. And people were in there shopping and fans were buzzing. And it was an exciting place to be.
Justin Hons [00:11:02] Working at the May Company, did you get a different perspective by working there instead of just walking through?
John Kunikis [00:11:12] Well, of course, you see things. I was up in the stock room, so, I mean, I really didn’t have a lot of interaction with people. But you saw kind of what happened behind the scenes and where all those clothes you bought really came from in the back rooms and all the different items. And so, yeah, from that point – and it was my first experience with that – I just, you know, I guess when you’re a young person, you see something in the store. You think it maybe sort of grew there or something or originated there. But, yeah, you walk into these rows and rows and racks and racks of clothes or boxed items. And in a sense, it was almost like going into a coal mine, I guess it was kind of a big store room on the eighth floor. And it was kind of, in some ways, kind of dark and dingy and pallets loaded with goods and things and stuff that you wound up toting around and delivering to the stock rooms in the back of the different departments. And sure, I can remember going into the candy factory where we always helped ourselves to some chocolate-covered cherries every time we walked in, and there were all these— I don’t say little old ladies, that sounds– But elderly women. They were sitting with hair nets on and gloves on and they were dipping the chocolates. And you know, I’m sure that you don’t see that kind of thing much anymore today. I would guess.
Justin Hons [00:12:30] With the Ingenuity Fest going on this weekend and with the number of people who are out here. How do you compare that to your experiences when you were younger being downtown?
John Kunikis [00:12:44] Well, I guess I see this as kind of a temporary thing. You know, I saw it last year. I didn’t have an exhibit last year, but I had a gallery space here last year. And it seems— And around Christmas time too, when we had some similar sorts of festivals, people come, but they don’t seem to stay. And I’m not sure why. What there is that would make them stay. May Company is closed, Higbee’s is closed. A lot of those bookstores are closed. So I think it’s great. It brings people in, but I’m not sure once they’re here that there’s a reason for them to say, well, there’s no Ingenuity Festival, let’s go back anyway. Unless there’s a Browns game or a Cavs game or something like that. So in a sense, it’s kind of sad to see the streets deserted other than for just these festivals. You would like to see a thriving urban environment where with shops and movie theaters and little bookstores and people sitting out on the street and you know, those sorts of things. I mean, I guess growing up in an urban environment, those are the kinds of things that I would hope to see now. You see the phony downtowns, the Legacy Villages and the Crocker Parker or Crapper Park or whatever they call it. [laughs] You think you’re walking on a movie set. You’re expecting Ward and June Cleaver to come walking around the corner any minute. And, you know, it’s so artificial and so phony feeling that I just can’t go to those places. I just– [laughs]
Justin Hons [00:14:24] What’s something about Cleveland that you still enjoy today?
John Kunikis [00:14:31] Well, it’s my hometown [laughs] and so it’ll always have a pull for me. I guess I enjoy the arts, that’s for sure. I enjoy the Art Museum, University Circle. We just happened to go recently to the Garden Center over on 4th of July, and they have a wonderful exhibit there of butterflies, I think, from Madagascar. And there’s lots of beauty here, and there’s, there’s lots to be enjoyed. And I think that’s the kind of thing that I enjoy doing. Going to the museums and over to the Garden Center, it’s hard to find, like, a lot of places. It’s hard to find a good movie. And so I live in Lakewood now, but I travel across town to the Cedar Lee, and that’s about the only place I go to see a movie. But I guess University Circle and the arts are the kind of thing that make me kind of enjoy the area.
Justin Hons [00:15:33] Any last words?
John Kunikis [00:15:34] I’ll tell you what else makes me enjoy the area, that we have a wonderful Metropark system, and I think that’s fantastic. You can, within two minutes, almost be, like, in the woods someplace, you know, and still be in the city, and that’s a real asset.
Justin Hons [00:15:50] Thanks a lot, John.
John Kunikis [00:15:51] Thank you. Thanks.
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