Heights Arts is proud to support young or budding artists, and as our world gets back to normal, those artists may need our help more than ever to get noticed and book shows. We hope our Emergent 2021 exhibition, opening June 18, serves as a catalyst for that effort.

In the past, the annual exhibition only highlighted college graduates, but Heights Arts sees the opportunity to lift other artists as well, who may have developed their talents without as much formal schooling in art. First presented in 2015, Emergent celebrates the strength of the northeast Ohio region as a training ground for the great artists of tomorrow.

This year’s show features Ariella Har-Evan, Bianca Fields, Cass Penegor, Erykah Townsend, Joseph Travarca, Miguel Rivera, Nick Birnie, Odin Black, and Saloni Parekh, artists who express themselves through sculpture, paintings, jewelry, and mixed media designs.                                                                                                       In Travarca’s work shown here, the images are baseball scorecards, while he says the three different texts represent three separate voices- two conversing, and one governing.                                                                                                                                                                           “This manipulation is present in the fifth piece, starting from the top left. In which, the governing voice states that ‘Any player can sacrifice their at-bat for the sake of the team’; a simplified explanation of an act in the game of baseball referred to as the sacrifice bunt,” he explains. “The text overlays and obscures another statement that begins to explain who may be chosen to sacrifice their at-bat.”

Alongside Emergent 2021 is a Spotlight showcase by Rick Rollenhagen, whose stone works begin with small pieces of nature and transform them into elegant sculptural forms.

“I view stones as living things, the bones of the Mother Earth, originating billions of years ago,” he says.“In carving the stones exclusively with hand tools, I develop a rhythm whereby the hammer and chisel blows to the stone follow the beats of my heart. My sculptures are organic or biomorphic expressions of physical and emotional conditions. They involve a primitive form of spirituality.”

Emergent 2021 and Rollenhagen’s Spotlight run concurrently Friday, June 18 through Sunday, August 15. Opening night viewings on the 18th will be offered in half-hour sessions, that the public can sign-up for ahead of time. Visit HeightsArts.org/events for a link to sign up.