As Heights Arts celebrates its 25th year as a multidisciplinary arts organization championing the creative spirit of our community, the organization’s exhibition community team decided to create an exhibition that would offer a 2025 snapshot of this region’s identity as a center for artistic production. To create an exhibition with “real-time” immediacy, the team sent out an open call for artists to submit work that addressed or expressed this regional concept. The team then selected the show from among the submissions. The nine artists represent a full range of media and aesthetic attitudes—and most have never exhibited at Heights Arts previously. Come enjoy vital work by Monique Biggers, Debra Bream, James Buckey, Denise Buckley, Wes Cunningham, Billy Delfs, Nicholas Lee, Janet Mikolajczyk, and Paul Robertson. You will come away excited about the energy and quality of visual arts in Northeast Ohio in 2025!

Monique Biggers is an abstract visual artist whose work explores intuition through the use of acrylics and unconventional materials and available resources. She draws inspiration from the intersection of personal identity, nature, and community. Debra Bream draws inspiration from local events such as Ingenuity Cleveland and Parade the Circle. Color and light call to her, along with the humanity of all the different people she meets drives her to capture something of their essence. James Buckey creates works that explore the interplay of visual representation and emotional depth. Using photography and post-editing, he combines textures, tones, and print styles to craft layered and evocative narratives while celebrating landmarks and moments frozen in time. Denise Buckley explores the human experience, manifested through sculptures that intricately unravel the complexities of observed lives. Whether through welding, bronze casting or manipulation of clay, each piece serves as a visual narrative, capturing the nuanced essence of the subject.