Lori Kella was born in St. Joseph Michigan in 1974. She received a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and her MFA from Cornell University in 2001. Kella’s photography explores the complexity of the 21 st century landscape by crafting elaborate fictions meant only for the camera’s lens. Her newest series titled Vanishing Shoreline examines climate change along the Great Lakes. Solo exhibitions of this artwork have been featured at PhotoCentric in Cleveland, and at the Rosewood Art Center in Kettering, OH. Photographs from this series were also featured in State of the Art 2020 at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Lori Kella has exhibited in other prestigious venues such as The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, Galerie Drei and the Rathuas in Dresden Germany, The Print Center in Philadelphia, Site: Brooklyn in NY, MOCA Cleveland, Artspace in Raleigh, NC, Filter Photo in Chicago, IL, and William Busta Gallery in Cleveland, OH. She has received four OAC Individual Fellowships Awards, a full fellowship to attend Vermont Studio Center, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, and funding from ArtPlace America and the Andy Warhol Foundation. Lori Kella lives on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland, OH and is a faculty member at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, OH.

About Lori’s book:

Foreword

When I started this project I was looking for a way to encourage healthy eating and eating locally in my community. My neighborhood, North Collinwood, like much of Cleveland has a plethora of small community gardens and residents with backyard vegetable plots. We also have the historic Coit Road Farmer’s Market and access to a variety of farm stands and local growers throughout the city. So, as an artist and home cook, my idea was to use photography to connect residents to these places, so they would frequent the markets, visit the community gardens, or even think of growing their own vegetables. I also wanted to provide residents with recipes that showcased the bounty of Northeast Ohio, in the hope that they would try cooking with these ingredients at home. With funding from the Ballot Box Project, a community driven arts initiative supported by Northeast Shores Development Corporation and ArtPlace America , I was able to launch Grow.Cook.Collinwood, a website, blog, and cookbook that features seasonal
recipes and photographs of neighborhood gardens. The website and cookbook showcase seasonal delights through the publication of delectable recipes created by Clevelanders. Hopefully this endeavor will inspire everyone to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables that are healthy, delicious, and available right in our own backyard.

This cookbook is only one component of the project, so for additional recipes and photographs, or more information on Grow.Cook.Collinwood and the Ballot Box project, please visit the website www.growcookcollinwood.com

-Lori Kella

Images by Lori featured in her book: