Heights Arts turns 20 in 2020

Ragged, by Laurie Addis, is featured in the textiles exhibition Point–Line–Pattern–Plane.

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In 2000, local residents who were committed to the arts and their community combined those passions and founded Heights Arts, with a mission to inspire all ages to engage in the arts, tap into the potential of local artists, and make a positive impact on overall community life.

Thanks to the support of an ever-growing community, 20 years later, Heights Arts continues to uphold the same mission and values, in service to local musicians, poets and visual artists.

Heights Arts turns 20 in 2020. To kick off a yearlong celebration, the first exhibition of the new year, Point-Line-Pattern-Plane, opens Friday, Jan. 17, with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Curated by fiber artist and Kent State University textile arts professor Janice Lessman-Moss, winner of a 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize, this exhibition highlights a wide range of expression and innovation achieved by regional artists using the distinctive materiality and processes associated with the medium of fiber.

Lessman-Moss said, “I was pleased to be invited by Heights Arts to curate an exhibition of work in textile media, to present work by renowned artist Hildur Jonsson, while reacquainting Northeast Ohio audiences [with] the weavings of Laurie Addis. Emerging textile artist Katlin Rothacher, and Elena Brebenel, a new colleague in interdisciplinary textiles at Kent State University, will provide additional perspectives that build on the legacy of the processes and histories of textiles.” Other artists in the show are Si-Yun Chang, Rebecca Cross, Andrea Myers, and Jessica Pinsky. Point-Line-Pattern-Plane will be on view through Sunday, March 1.

The first Spotlight exhibition of the year will feature multi-media artist Sean Jason Kelly. Kelly, who has participated in many exhibitions, community projects, and instillations in the Cleveland area, and has worked as a tattoo artist for the past 15 years, uses a variety of media, including watercolor, acrylic, pastel, and found objects. He is known for paintings, sculptures, drawings and site-specific installations, including five public art sculptures for Melt Bar and Grilled headquarters. Kelly’s solo exhibition opens Friday, Jan. 31, and runs through Sunday, March 15.

For music appreciators, Heights Arts will host two free concerts in January. No Exit New Music Ensemble will perform on Jan. 18. On Jan. 25, in Heights Arts' first gallery concert of the season, Classical Revolution Cleveland will perform reimagined classical, jazz and ragtime works by composers such as Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Scott Joplin, and Django Reinhardt.

For more information on Heights Arts community programs and events, including house concerts, gallery performances and outreach, visit www.heightsarts.org.