Name: New Heights featuring Davon Brantley, Stina Aleah, Amani Williams & Nate Austin
Start: 2026-06-19T21:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-06-20T01:00:00+00:00
Location: Derek Hess Gallery

New Heights featuring Davon Brantley, Stina Aleah, Amani Williams & Nate Austin

This June, Derek Hess Gallery (DHG) presents the inaugural exhibition in a series that provides a platform for early and mid-career artists of exceptional talent. The first installment, New Heights, celebrates four Black creatives with ties to Cleveland. Curated by Megan Alves and featuring Davon Brantley, Stina Aleah, Amani Williams, and Nate Austin, the spotlight exhibition will include at least one new work by each artist, with several presenting entirely new collections.
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Though each artist’s creative practice is unique, they use the human figure to explore inner emotional worlds, the intersection of personal histories and collective memory, and the tension between marginalized bodies and the cultural landscapes they inhabit. Viewed together, their work suggests an exhilarating trajectory for both their careers and the region's arts scene.
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New Heights opens with a reception with the artists on Juneteenth (Friday, June 19) from 5:00 - 9:00 P.M. during 78th Street Studio’s June Third Friday event. The exhibition will be on view by appointment until the closing reception on Friday, July 17, 5:00 - 9:00 P.M. To see the art after the opening reception, please contact Marty Geramita ([email protected])
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🏬 ABOUT THE VENUE: Derek Hess’s Gallery is located inside the 78th Street Studios complex at 1300 W 78th St, Suite 227, Cleveland, OH 44102. Free parking is available in 78th Street Studios' adjacent lots and on surrounding streets.
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🦾 ACCESSIBILITY: Please note: Derek Hess Gallery is located on the second floor of a historic building with no elevator access. Attendees will have to climb a flight of stairs to access the gallery. If you have mobility issues, please contact curator Megan Alves ([email protected]) for images of the work.
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☎️ Contact: For more information about the show, contact curator Megan Alves ([email protected])
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
🎨 DAVON BRANTLEY is known not only as a painter but also as a curator, educator, and mentor to emerging artists in Cleveland. Wielding self-portraiture like a knife, his work incisively explores how internal conflicts shape our relationships and broader reflections on life, death, sexuality, masculinity, and race. As Brantley describes, “I lead the audience through the mind as if they are watching a play…[one] in which I perform all of the roles.” New Heights features one of the artist’s most recent paintings, a tender double portrait of himself and his wife, artist Lauren Slyvia, titled Olurannileti ti aye, or “reminder of life” in Yoruba.
🎨 STINA ALEAH is a self-taught painter whose emotionally charged portraits tell powerful stories of resilience, identity, and community. New Heights includes four new works from the artist’s series The Childhood I Carried. Rendered in rich, saturated colors, the paintings honor the quiet moments of Black childhood and the radical act of celebrating joy. They also examine cultural memory, “Because nostalgia isn’t just personal,” Aleah observes. “It’s communal. Certain phrases, rituals, and experiences live across generations. They connect us to… the environments that shaped us.”
🎨 AMANI WILLIAMS is a Brooklyn, New York-based artist, born in Columbus, Ohio. She received her B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art and her M.A. from the School of Visual Arts. Williams' latest drawings examine the triumphs and tribulations of coming of age through the lens of Black femininity. Her work also fearlessly confronts stereotypes of Blackness in art history and popular culture. As Williams reflects, “Using history and drawing as a medium, my work creates a place for vulnerability and discomfort, with the hope that viewers will come away with a feeling of care and concern for my figures; but also for me.”
🎨 NATE AUSTIN is a Cleveland artist who attended the Cleveland School of the Arts. His magnetic portraits set photorealistic figures against bold, symbolic backgrounds. New Heights marks the premiere of a new painting, unpublished even on social media. As Austin explains, “At its core, my art is dedicated to sharing the realities of the African American experience. Behind the eyes of a melanated people lies a story layered with love, joy, sorrow, and pain—a story I seek to honor.”