by Greg Cznadel

   (Plain Press December 2025) On the morning of October 23^rd, 2025 in the midst of  nearly ten days of rain, it was 48 degrees in Brooklyn Centre as people gathered inside the The Art House, a steel arched Quonset hut, for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Creative Garden and Brinsley Tyrrell’s Tableau – Art in Action.

   Prior to the ribbon cutting William Busta, founder of the William Busta Gallery, gave an inspiring talk on his friend, Tyrrell.

 Tyrrell was born in Surrey, England, and began sculpting as a child. He moved to the Cleveland area and became a faculty member at Kent State University.

   Though he considers himself primarily a sculptor who works in clay, bronze, and other media, Tyrrell’s portfolio also includes stunning enamel paintings. He is responsible for several large public art projects in the Cleveland area, such as wrought iron sculptures and gates created with blacksmith Steve Jordan. He also completed an enamel commission for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s W. 117th Street station.

The next speakers, Jessica Cotton and Chris Hartman from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), spoke about the water retention process, and the plan for Green Infrastructure.  The gardens were landscaped to take rainfall from the parking lot and roof of the Art House building and channel them into a large bioswale that were planted with native plants designed to absorb the water, preventing it from going into our combined sewer system and then to Lake Erie. This Green Infrastructure project was funded by NEORSD.  Thanks were given to Art House for maintaining the water retention project. 

   As introductions continued and it was time to go outside with umbrellas in hand for the ribbon cutting, Art House Executive Director Laila Voss said, “This is a perfect day,” to which we laughed.

            The space for the Green Infrastructure project was from the space where an old 1850s house had stood. The Wirth house belonged to the last postmaster general in Brooklyn Center.  In 2013 an effort was made to save it, but its condition didn’t warrant it. However, per Laila “There was so much stuff that was salvaged from the house itself.  Much of it went into the oldest house on this side of town, like the flooring, baseboards, etc.”

The Green Infrastructure project is phase one of realizing the full vision for the Creative Garden. Art House is in the process of completing Phase two that includes a robust outdoor classroom and a beautiful park-like space for the neighborhood to enjoy. They are working to raise funds for benches that convert to tables and other artistic elements, such as a mural along east side fence, a small stage from the repurposed foundation stones from house that previously stood on the lot, and more public artworks.

            We then lined up along Brinsley’s Art in Action tableau, a steel sculpture that runs along Denison Avenue with scissors in hands to cut the ribbon.

            After the cutting we all walked slowly back on the little bridge that goes over the bioswale, admiring the plants as they soaked up the rain. Looking to the east along the walk curving toward the entrance of the Art House were a series of sculptures that incorporated symbols from ancient cultures around the world. The ‘narrative’ included symbols with meanings such as: Returning Home, Harmony, Fortune, Success.

   Towards the back of the Art House campus, we saw Héctor Castellanos Lara’s “Gateway”. His piece was gifted through the Creative Fusion project through the Cleveland Foundation, and a couple of construction and landscaping firms that donated their time, equipment and material to install it.

   The Art House is host to the Artist Inventory Challenge, Community Culture Nights, the Urban Bright Exhibition, and the Chili Cook Off.