How a Meme Cast Doubt on a Cleveland Museum of Art Treasure: CLE Daily

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🏈 Wideouts Drops Tonight: The Browns premiere Part One of "Wideouts," an all-access look at the receiving corps, at 7 p.m. on YouTube with camp footage, coaching notes and rookie Denzel Boston's first preseason game.

🏠 103 New Beds: The Norma Herr Center's $31 million expansion opens its first floor to guests next week with private rooms, a computer lab and a courtyard replacing congregate sleeping for women experiencing homelessness. 

🎉 24 Years in the Making: The African American Heritage & Cultural Celebration returns to the Cleveland History Center Aug. 21–22, free with registration and includes a poetry slam, unlimited carousel rides and a lineup led by honoree Kevin "Mc Chill" Heard.

🚨Wing Week: Cleveland Wing Week — today through Aug. 23 — is your chance to compare chicken wings from all around town, with more than 25 restaurants offering $10 wing specials. 

ICYMI: Kirtland's 1836 temple and a brand-new one in Independence sit a half-hour apart and 190 years apart; Annie Nickoloff traces the Mormon church's long, complicated roots in Northeast Ohio, from Joseph Smith's 1831 arrival to the bank collapse that drove the church west.

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Trivia Question

Prior to being the Indians, the Cleveland baseball team was called the Naps in honor of which Hall of Fame player-manager?

Arts & Culture: How a meme cast doubt on a Cleveland Museum of Art treasure.   

By Annie Nickoloff

The Boar Vessel at the Cleveland Museum of Art had its 15 minutes of internet-meme fame years ago. That popularity has changed how we understand the piece of ancient pottery today.

Meme Moment: According to knowyourmeme.com, the Boar Vessel meme began in 2015 when a Facebook page posted a picture of the artwork. The meme really caught on several years later, spawning a subreddit page dedicated to it.

Zooming In: The story could have ended there, but the meme created an influx of attention on the artwork. Some archaeologists and historians noticed that the vessel's historical features didn't quite add up.

Real or Fake? What followed were years of tests and research from the conservators and curators at the Cleveland Museum of Art, all to answer the question: Could this ancient artwork a total fake?

We talked with three members of the Cleveland Museum of Art team — the Conservator of Objects Colleen Snyder, the Curator of Greek and Roman Art Seth Pevnick and the Director of Communications Jacqueline Bon — to better understand how a meme changed the impact and trajectory of this small part of the museum's collection, in the latest episode of The CLE Connection podcast.

Seth Pevnick:  "It may be that the memes made this one worth spending the extra time and money on. ... The meme probably played into it to a certain extent. Certainly, that's one of the reasons why, when it (temporarily) went off view, people noticed and were asking about it. Other things go away, and only a few people notice."  

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Talk of the Town

GCRTA's first sales-tax ask in 50 years is running into apathy. General Manager India Birdsong Terry wants board approval to put a sales-tax hike — from 1% to 1.5% — on the ballot, but NEOtrans reports the bigger threat may be low voter turnout, not opposition. The board still has to decide: November 2026, May 2027 or November 2027. 

Cleveland traffic tickets have dropped by more than half in a decade. Citations fell from nearly 9,000 in 2016 to about 3,000 last year, and Safety Committee Chair Michael Polensek says the drop-off is fueling disorder on neighborhood streets. Police say staffing shortages and a pullback on chasing fleeing drivers are part of the story.  

Cleveland schools closed 29 buildings and still face a $50 million hole. A new financial forecast approved by the school board shows the district running out of cash within four years despite this fall's consolidation, as healthcare costs climb and state funding stays flat. Staffing is otherwise in good shape — 97% of teaching positions are filled a month before classes start. 

The Centennial's $500 million bet inches toward financing. Millennia Companies has assembled a new project team, led by Panzica Construction, to redevelop the vacant 1.45-million-square-foot former Union Trust Building into more than 860 apartments — while also working to redeem a foreclosed loan on the property and get it out of receivership. Cuyahoga County has already kicked in a $5 million loan. 

Air Force One's stormy landing at Hopkins made for an awkward exit. President Trump touched down just after 5 p.m. last Tuesday in wind and rain en route to the Patriot Games finale at SPIRE Academy near Geneva.

Cleveland's WNBA team is already outselling expectations. Two days after unveiling the Sirens name, logo and colors, the expansion franchise racked up roughly 2,000 season-ticket deposits and its best single-day merchandise haul in Rock Entertainment Group retail history, outside of the day the Cavs landed Donovan Mitchell. The Sirens don't tip off until 2028.

Great Lakes Brewing is suing the state over its THC sodas. The Ohio City brewery has joined 13 other beverage makers in federal court, arguing a DeWine-backed ban on hemp-derived THC drinks unconstitutionally blocks them from sourcing ingredients for its Float Shoppe line, a product once forecast to bring in $4 million a year.

Things To Do: Concerts, festivals, football and other fun to enjoy this weekend.

By Jeff Niesel 

Jon Batiste with The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center | Music | Aug. 20

Multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste joins the Cleveland Orchestra to play a mix of originals and classics. Batiste does it all. He's a producer, bandleader and actor who has won Grammys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. Last year's Big Money shows off his musical range as Batiste embraces R&B ("Lean on My Love") and pop ("Do It All Again"). The concert begins at 7 p.m. at Blossom. 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com

African American Heritage & Cultural Celebration at the Cleveland History Center | Conference | Aug. 21-22

Roxanne Shante, one of the first female hip-hop stars, and Cleveland hip-hop trailblazer Kevin “MC Chill” Heard will be on hand for this two-day conference and celebration that takes place at the Cleveland History Center. The event will honor the 40th anniversary of MC Chill becoming Cleveland’s first national rap recording artist. 10825 East Blvd., Cleveland, 216-721-5722, wrhs.org

Browns vs. Buffalo Bills at Huntington Bank Field | Sports | Aug. 22

Week 2 of the NFL preseason finds the rebuilding Browns going up against the playoff-caliber Buffalo Bills. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Huntington Bank Field. 100 Alfred Lerner Way, Cleveland, 440-891-5000, huntingtonbankfield.com

Water Lantern Festival at Coe Lake | Festival | Aug. 22

Guests decorate floating lanterns with personal messages of love, hope, remembrance, or intention before releasing them onto the water at sunset. It begins at 5:30 p.m. at Coe Lake in Berea. E. Bridge St. and S. Rocky River Drive, Berea, waterlanternfestival.com

Lorain County Fair at the Lorain County Fairgrounds | Festival | Through Aug. 30

The Lorain County Fair returns to the Lorain County Fairgrounds this week with the usual assortment of rides and attractions (demolition derbies and harness racing, for starters). It continues through Sunday, Aug. 30. Ohio 18, Wellington, 440-647-2781, loraincountyfair.com

For our full list of things to do visit clevelandmagazine.com/things-to-do.

Yesterday's Trivia Answer

This 1968 gold medalist, famous for his clenched-fist salute on the podium, later served as a coach and athletic director at Oberlin College. Tommie Smith

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

Summer's not over yet! I encourage you to get out and enjoy the last few weeks of summertime activities. Last weekend, I went to Cedar Point Shores for the first time in many years and enjoyed floating along the lazy river with family. Like plenty of other waterparks and pools, it's only open for a couple more weeks, so enjoy them while you still can.

— Annie Nickoloff, Senior Editor

Have a story idea? Tell us what we should cover at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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