Lynnea Holland-Weiss (b. 1990) is a painter focused on the human subject and navigating a vibrantly poignant color palette. Coming from a background in dance, her interest in body language and charting people’s movement through space and time is deeply rooted within her. She is interested in what we are both overtly and subtly communicating with our bodies and what muscle memory says about the human experience as a whole. While primarily being a painter, occasionally her practice also takes the form of printmaking, animation, video, murals and other public projects. All of her work remains open for interpretation and relies on the viewers to bring their own history into the pieces to relate and/or create narratives. Her work has been recognized through sources such as New American Paintings, Juxtapoz, Art Maze, Create, The Art Blog and others. She has done public mural projects and residencies nationally and internationally. Exhibitions of her work have been on view in cities throughout the US, such as San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland and others. She received her BFA from California College of the Arts in 2013. She is originally from Berkeley/Oakland, California and currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.

In general, my work is all about identity and inclusion. I was drawn to Andrew Solomon’s book, Far from the Tree, for his understanding that identity is fluid and the array of influences, in which he identifies as “horizontal identities,” are immensely complex and layered, making it so not a single person would be able to fit into a box. This is what I find endlessly interesting in exploring within my figurative paintings. Color plays an incredibly important role in my work and relates to these ideas. I’m interested in making the inner soul of a person shine through and their internal psychological experience made visible through the use of color. While the gesture and the expression on someone face is incredibly telling, I use color and texture in unexpected ways to further evoke one's senses. I also am interested in exploring ambiguity, androgyny and dissolving our ability to identify and therefore perhaps disassociate ourselves from one another. I feel unusual color combinations within the human form help to express the complexity that makes up every person’s identity. The quote about how creating these distinctions, “expands the concept of diversity to include a tapestry of human differences” sparked the initial idea for my image. The piece will be a tapestry like image of a crowd of people woven together, while each figure will be filled with different textures and unexpected color combinations. This organic grid of faces also references the way Solomon breaks down identity into two axes, vertical and horizontal.
This exhibit is part of a temporary on-board installation.

Captivated by Paths and Portals, I pursue vibrant color schemes full of contrast, energy and intensity to awaken one’s senses to a world within and beyond. My art agglomerations represent the complexity and optimism at play within the imagination, eliciting an enchanted emotional response and heightened sense of delight. I am inspired by the art of indigenous cultures around the globe and the universal imagery that connects us to people and places of the past and present. I often use biomorphic forms, naturally occurring patterns and shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. These abstracted forms speak of growth, transformation and vitality in life. The finished compositions combine creation symbology with fluid, undulating line work, textured layers, intricate patterns and singing colors.

Molly Z. Art+Design

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My art speaks to the perseverance of the human spirit under great pressure and tragic loss. I am interested in capturing the movement and flow of lives crossing great distances (metaphor for journey) and leaving complex circumstances in hopes of promising future. I am also using the Chinese characters for Gold, Pearl, Jade and Silver as pattern details (to symbolize Chinese heritage) These are also the main titles for the four stories in the book. My color palette also references these titles. Immigrant stories are full of hardship and tenacity. I want my work to reflect the energy and complexity of intersecting worlds.
This exhibit is part of a temporary on-board installation.

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.  Since then her photographic work has advanced to foster dialogue on topics such as climate change, hydraulic fracturing, and the health of the Great Lakes, as well as tackle subjects from news headlines such as global migration, and the effects of the Tohoku Tsunami. Over the past decade, Lori Kella has established a comprehensive exhibition record as well as received international recognition for her artistic endeavors. She has exhibited artwork at venues such as Galerie Drei and the Rathuas Galerie in Dresden, Germany, The Print Center in Philadelphia, MOCA Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Artspace in Raleigh, NC, William Busta Gallery, and Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA. Recently, her artwork was featured in Scale3 at The Cleveland Print Room. This exhibition showcased 14 large-scale photographs depicting the Seven Summits as a metaphor for artistic triumph and failure.  A selection of this work was also included in the exhibition Serial Intent at the Akron Art Museum in June 2017.  Currently, Kella is developing a collaborative installation centered on species replacement in the Great Lakes, which will be featured in the CAN Triennial, concurrent with Cleveland, Ohio’s Front Triennial in July 2018. Lori Kella has received four OAC Individual Fellowships Awards, a full fellowship to attend Vermont Studio Center, and a Creative Workforce Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture & Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, as well as a Ballot Box Project award sponsored by ArtPlace America.  Lori Kella lives in Cleveland, OH, and she is currently a part-time Assistant Professor at Kent State University’s School of Art.

Isabel Wilkerson’s novel, The Warmth of Other Suns, is a comprehensive look at the Great Migration, its complexities and its place in American history. This epic journey of African Americans’ exodus from the south has shaped our country and influenced our cultural landscape in ways that still reverberate. Wilkerson’s novel speaks of the many struggles and adversities blacks faced in the Jim Crow south, but also of their incredible will, their desire for opportunity and equity, and despite incredible roadblocks, their numerous accomplishments. She speaks of the act of leaving as the first act of free will that would shape the future. In my artwork I wanted to pay homage to these trials, tribulations, and motivations that parallel the struggles of today’s migrants.
As an artist, I found it difficult to encompass all aspects of these migrations, and to justly portray the plight of so many families and individuals in a single image, therefore I chose to focus on the broader concepts of overcoming adversity and the pursuit of greater opportunities. My piece uses the storm swept landscape as a metaphor for the struggles most migrants face and the rays of light that punctuate the journey and lives of the generations that follow. The picturesque landscape references the vast territory that was covered in search of a better life, and the terrain moves from storm covered farmland toward green grasses and a distant city as a symbol of progress. Of course I do not want to naively imply that the Great Migration, or the struggles of those seeking opportunity in the US, is always a direct line to upward mobility, but to present it as hopeful progression. The image aims to portray hope for an America that is equal for all. For this reason, I also scattered books in the foreground of the path, as these represent the desire for knowledge and an education, which was often denied. Books and the search for knowledge and the truth are at the beginning of the path as they represent a way forward both for the migrants and for those in society that strive to build trust, acceptance, and a way forward for all.
This exhibit is part of a temporary on-board installation.

Leandro Castelao is an Argentinean Designer and Illustrator based in Cleveland, OH.

He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and later taught Typography Design and Illustration at his alma mater for 10 years.

Searching for synthetic shapes to illustrate complex concepts, Leandro found his point of view – a way of communicating through images. His style varies between the real and the imaginary. Simple lines and geometric forms coexist within a rhythmical graphic context.

Since 2008, his work has expanded into magazines, books, newspapers, industrial products, textiles, and other media for a recognized international variety of clients, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, United Nations, Apple and Nike, amongst others.

Besides working as an illustrator, Leandro enjoys giving workshops and lectures in various cities including The Hague, Sao Paulo, Bombay, New Delhi, Durban, New York and Madrid.

He was awarded the Communication Arts Award of Excellence in Illustration, and was nominated for the Latin Grammy’s Award 15th Edition.

Portrait in transition by Leandro Castelao.
I wanted to create a portrait in constant motion where its multiple elements can move and morph, transforming and changing the image. Identity is an in-progress construction built by multiple factors. I envision a face made out of different elements as metaphor of the array of factors described by the author that impact on how an identity is created.
Wolf Salomon’s theory of identity talks about vertical and horizontal identities and l wanted to reflect that idea through the direction of the elements within the composition. The image has a set of multi directional shapes and colors moving in vertical and horizontal directions. These shapes and colors are the vehicle to show how inherited attributes coexist with the ones acquired from the subculture outside the family.
I personally think this introduction made by Wolf about the importance of inherited features passed through DNA as well as cultural norms and the acquired foreign traits absorbed from our surroundings is a very powerful introduction. I wanted to reflect that concept in my piece. So, there are a few elements that are easy to understand and probably more predictable. These are the attributes of the vertical identities. The eyes in the portrait, for example, are a very basic iconic representation of an eye. We’re used to it and we easily understand it. On the other hand there are lots of basic colorful geometric shapes. Those are more unexpected and they help me talk about the horizontal identities, the foreign subculture outside the family.
Uniqueness is the result of an intense mix of vertical and horizontal identities.
This exhibit is part of a temporary on-board installation.

Lauren Mckenzie Noel is a biracial 29 year old who was born outside of Detroit, Michigan in 1988. However, she grew up in South Florida. Her family life was surrounded by artists and the exploration of identity even as a young girl. It was in South Florida where she attended the school Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts. It was there that her love for creating grew and was nurtured by many of her Visual Art teachers. Upon leaving high school Lauren soon after had her first son, and shortly after that had her second son. It was her love for motherhood that reconnected her to the art world and sent her in the direction to make creating her full time career.

Lauren has been a part of two collaboration exhibitions titled “US” with her children. Bringing awareness to autism which her youngest son Keegan has. Bridging the gaps between the nonverbal world her son lives in and the desire to create for both herself and her son. The latest Collaboration show was exhibited for a single night at the Cleveland Print room in the spring of 2018.

Lauren’s body of work has varied from the mediums she chooses to her style. Exploring the use of color has always been at the forefront of every series she has begun. Exploring her own self as a woman of color and the identity that she faces as being both black and white. It is because of her background she chooses to play with a constant range of colors. Her latest series which combines the female form and geometric shapes plays with body images and pattern play. Embracing and showcasing her love for color is a must in every series. Ranging from her The Color of my skin series to her work with her children. Which embodies a range of bright bold colors. You can also find many of her latest murals currently around Cleveland, Ohio. The most recent mural was painted in part of a co-working space inside Tyler Village. As well as newer murals going up in Public Square summer of 2018, and in collaboration with RTA.

Thinking about Langston Hughes words “my soul has grown deep like the rivers” reminds me of the struggle but also the wisdom and strength of black men and women. Especially the strength of black women and what they represent. It is in that that I wanted to take this personal connection being a woman of color and how this poem pulls me into its depths and put front and center a black woman. The serenity on her face but also the pain she embodies is shown in the piece.
I also wanted to draw with in the literal bounds of the references to the Congo and New Orleans. Bringing also inspiration from the colors of Harlem which was so important to the poet as well as drawing from the color boldness of New Orleans and the black culture. Color is always my muse and Langston Hughes had a way of evicting so much color through his words.
His references to “the rivers” so often reminds me of the ever continuous struggles black men and women face in this world. I hope with in this piece there is a balance of who I am as an artist and who Langston Hughes was as a poet. Many of the materials I will be using play on a current series I’m creating called “the color of my skin” which for me showcases the beauty that lies within the range of hues of black women. It is my goal to use the same technique to bring about an authentic and organic vibe to the piece that I believe is showcased in this poem.
This exhibit is part of a temporary on-board installation.