Finally Famous (runtime 4:52)
Producer, Editor, Videographer: Dale Omori Music: Dr. Dogg (used with permission)
When Plain Dealer reporter Michael Heaton first met him, Christopher Steele was a struggling artist and poet. 15 years passed before Steele contacted Heaton again. This time it was to say he was dying of lung cancer. Steele, a paranoid schizophrenic, was leaving all of his artwork to Heaton. Soon after, Heaton contacted Barbara Tannenbaum, chief curator at the Akron Art Museum. He asked her to look at Steele's artwork. She did and liked them enough to display 6 of them in the museum's gallery. This video chronicles Steele's trip to see his own artwork displayed in public for the first time. Finally Famous was originally posted on cleveland.com and was shown on WVIZ ideastream's "Applause."