April at Heights Arts features third iteration of Emergent

Work by Davon Brantley

Opening Friday, April 26, at Heights Arts gallery, 2175 Lee Road, is the third iteration of the well-received exhibition Emergent, which shines a light on artists who have recently graduated from area colleges and universities.

First presented in 2015, Emergent celebrates the strength of the Northeast Ohio region as a training ground for the great artists of tomorrow. Numerous artists who appeared in previous Emergent exhibitions at Heights Arts are now well into established careers as working artists in the Cleveland area and elsewhere, including Jerry Birchfield, Abbey Blake, Robert Coby, Amber Ford, Matthew Gallagher, David Masters, Nathan Prebonic, and Rachel Shelton.

For Emergent 2019, the Heights Arts exhibition community team selected 11 artists who create in a variety of media, from institutions that include the Cleveland Institute of Art, Kent State University, the University of Akron, and Oberlin College. The artists are Emily Brannan, Davon Brantly, Kimberly Chapman, Kylie Demkowicz, Sydney Givens, Alyson Hollobaugh, Danielle Muzina, Alex Overbeck, Noelle Richard, Jeni Stovicek, and Yskandar.

Attend the opening reception on April 26, and meet the artists. An accompanying program, Ekphrastacy: Artists Talk + Poets Respond, is slated for Thursday, May 23 at 7 p.m. The exhibition will be on view through Sunday, June 9.

Also in April, the Callisto Quartet will activate the exhibition space in a musical way on April 6, 7–9 p.m. Grand prize winners of the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Callisto Quartet formed in 2016 at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The musicians offer a program ranging from classical to contemporary, with works from 1799 by Haydn (String Quartet op. 77 no. 1), from 2010 by Thomas Adés (The Four Quarters) and from 1806 by Beethoven (String Quartet op. 59 no. 2). The "streetfront" setting of the Heights Arts gallery enables the audience to connect with the music without any of the sometimes intimidating formality of a concert hall experience.

The annual Haiku Death Match, a fixture of springtime in recent years, will take place in the summer this year, at the Alma Theatre at Cain Park, on Saturday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m. Visit Heights Arts' website for details and the call for poets.

All of these events are free and open to the public. For more information on Heights Arts community programs and events, including house concerts, gallery performances and outreach, visit www.heightsarts.org.  

Laura Yurko

Greg Donley is chair of the Heights Arts exhibitions community team.

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Volume 12, Issue 4, Posted 12:56 PM, 04.01.2019