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All Access and SPOTLIGHT: Charles Schweigert

March 17-May 14, 2023

PROGRAM Charles Schweigert PROGRAM Register HERE for OPENING NIGHT

Heights Arts presents a fresh look at modern folk with their newest group exhibition, All Access. This show highlights area artists who make accessible materials into influential work. By referencing traditional folk art to create an atmosphere where visitors explore regional art that’s familiar but different, All Access celebrates lifestyle in ways that redefine shared identity.  

Curated by volunteers and staff comprising the Heights Arts Exhibitions Community Team, All Access cuts beneath Cleveland’s surface to shine light on facets of valued tradition and modern transition. Point person for this show and Programs Manager at Heights Arts Tom Masaveg elaborates, “The art in Cleveland now, like the people who live here often reflects our history and adapts with the rapidly changing times. It’s important for us at Heights Arts to create experiences that draw from collective identity while celebrating local stories. It’s exciting to view the work in this show and feel connected to our past and present as we step into the future of art, together.” 

The artists of All Access work in a range of mediums that create a refreshingly cohesive gallery exhibition. Contributions include expressive figurines by Bedel Tiscareño, totems and assemblages by Russell Stephanchick, AI generated digital work by Marcus Loder, hooked rugs by Heidi Kramer, drag performance pieces by Cassandra Harner, bold textiles by Molly Fitzpatrick, and stencil art by R!ch Chilar. Each artist tells culturally significant stories that holistically proclaim the spirit of our changing times.  

Concurrent with All Access, Charles Schweigert is showing his solo exhibition in the Heights Arts Spotlight Gallery space. Charles creates wall hangings and three-dimensional birds in this show using old, weathered fabrics that the Japanese call boro, which have been manipulated in multiple ways, hand-dyed, drawn upon, pieced and hand-sewn together.

Charles Schweigert is primarily a painter and sculptor but enjoys delving into other mediums, as he does in this show of fabric and ceramic pieces celebrating the strange world of birds.  

Originally from Michigan, he is now a resident of Cleveland Heights, having spent many years working and exhibiting in other parts of the country. 

He has worked in a number of professions, primarily teaching and urban planning, while continuing to develop skills in painting and sculpture. With a degree in art from Kalamazoo College and graduate work at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, he worked as an intern at the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 60’s where he was exposed to the work of Willem deKooning, whose paintings form a significant influence on his work.  Other influences include the work of Joan Mitchell and Susan Rothenberg. He also draws inspiration from contemporary crafts, principally wood-fired ceramics and contemporary Japanese textiles and basketry. 

He has exhibited widely in the Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast since the early1990’s and has had one-person shows in Santa Fe, Portland, Denver, Seattle, and Astoria, Oregon.  His work is in private and corporate collections of contemporary art in the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Caribbean. 

 

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