Artists
jules briggs
September 2024 - Present
Memory recalls
With whimsy lucidity
Au fait with amends
Jules Briggs is a Cleveland, Ohio based artist with a studio in Lakewood's Screw Factory. She holds an MA in Philosophy & The Arts from University of Warwick, England, and a BA in Studio Art from DePauw University, Indiana.
Following her undergraduate career, Jules worked for two years as a bronze foundry artist at Odiyan Copper Mandala, a small Buddhist monastic community in Northern California. Her countless life-size and miniature sculptures contributed to the revitalization of Tibetan art and have been donated to monasteries abroad. Jules’ time spent at Odiyan influenced her decision to study eastern philosophy for her master’s degree in the context of sacred art creation.
Jules' personal paintings and sculptures have appeared in galleries both nationally and internationally. Notable exhibitions include Carlisle Arts & Learning Center (Carlisle, PA), McCord Gallery (Chicago, IL), Wasmer Gallery and Valley Arts Center Cleveland, OH), Ohio Artist Registry Exhibit (Columbus, OH), and 6 Spin Street Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa) during an artist residency with renowned apartheid photographer and activist, Jenny Altschuler.
In her free time, Jules likes walking to Lake Erie from her home in Gordon Square Arts District of Cleveland, training her dog, and reading fiction novels.
jihad dennis
May 2024 - August 2024
seeking refuge, I
gaze beyond the distant peak—
my song finds its way
Jihad Dennis is an artist, designer, photographer, writer, and videographer based in Akron OH. A graduate of Pratt Institute Jihad has produced work for SLAM Magazine, Milk Studios, and Redscout Agency. Jihad started Jihad Paints in 2019 as a painting studio but quickly expanded its reach to web shows, music collaborations, and animation.
His artwork combines mixed media, photoshop, and photography to create memorable energized images of celebrities, friends, and family. He continually paints as a gesture for continued exploration and refinement of craft, viewing fellow creatives as friends, and encouraging their continued creative endeavors alongside them.
jon kvassay
February 2024 - April 2024
Jump Until Sleepy
Walk Into Cold And Hot Sand
Keyboard Music Tapes
Jon Kvassay (b. 1984) is an artist and designer from Los Angeles, CA, whose work stems from a love of open spaces, folklore and the unknown. In all of his creative work, Jon is most focused on space, color and scale. Creating imagery that tells a story and engages viewers brings him joy.
Jon has a BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design. He currently works and lives in Old Brooklyn, Ohio, where he hikes, jogs and naps with his wife Katy and dog Boomer.
Learn more about Jon’s body of work here!
nick lee
September 2023 - November 2023
Faceless people seek
A mirror bathed in sunlight
Reflections bring warmth
Nick Lee (b. 1996) is a painter and 2021 Kent State University graduate. Lee lives and works in Akron, Ohio. Lee’s work is inspired by the diversity of human experience. As a Japanese-American, Lee’s visual art strives to better represent minorities like himself in American portraiture and western art. Another motivation for Lee is self discovery. Lee uses symbolic Japanese objects in his paintings to connect with a culture that was never taught to him growing up. Lee is the 2023 recipient of the Distinguished Citizen for Art Education for the Northeast Ohio region.
Learn more about Nick’s body of work here!
sakurako reed
May 2023 - August 2023
Here is my bio
But it’s a different bio
This is a haiku.
Sakurako Reed is a multimedia artist residing in Cleveland, OH. Her work examines the intersection of being something, not being something, and how those somethings are defined. Through the use of various mediums and reoccurring motifs, her work is characterized by humor, play, language, and some potentially sad scenarios. Ultimately, she seeks to create work that resonates with audiences on a visceral level, evoking emotions and sparking conversations about what it means to exist as a human. She received her BFA in both Painting and Drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2021, alongside a concentration in Creative Writing. In 2023, she received her MFA in Print Media from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited at Parsons School of Design in New York (NY), the Rhodes Tower in Columbus, OH, the Cranbrook Museum of Art, as well as the Osaka University of Arts in Osaka, Japan, where she spent a semester studying traditional Japanese painting. Reed’s honors include the George Clements Memorial Scholarship for Study Abroad, as well as a National Silver Portfolio with Distinction from the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Learn more about Sakurako’s body of work here!
elizabeth lax
January 2023 - March 2023
We rush to our death
A feeling of emptiness
It is darker still
Cleveland artist Elizabeth Lax focuses primarily on painting the human form. After being raised in a restrictive environment, painting has become a way for her to express what has been silenced. Her subjects typically have obscured identities and are presented without clothing. She aims to expose the subjects while keeping them hidden. The content of these paintings are a way of rebelling against the puritanical beliefs she was indoctrinated with. She believes that in order to break cycles of generational trauma we must quiet our hearts and raise our voices. In 2019 she received her BA in Studio Arts from Kent State University with a primary focus on painting. Her most recent work explores the relationships between addiction, consciousness, epigenetics, cults and religions.
Learn more about Elizabeth’s body of work here!
Resident from August - October 2022
nolan meyer
An Infinite room
Walls, floor, and ceiling unclear
This place is unknown
Nolan Meyer (1998) is an artist from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art’s painting program in 2020. He mainly works in various forms of painting but also works in digital video and digital photography. His work revolves around painting’s history and the creation of paintings through cultural and art historical references. Most of these cultural references are bound to the internet and other forms of digital culture such as video games.
Learn more about Nolan’s body of work here!
