The Artists of Art Works
Aawful Aaron
Community Liaison, Zygote Press
@aawfulaaron | aawfulaaron.com
Aaron D. Williams, professionally known as Aawful Aaron, is a Cleveland-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, public art, and creative direction. Through portraiture, symbolism, and layered visual storytelling, his work examines people, place, identity, and the possibilities that exist beyond everyday life.
Williams has presented solo exhibitions at moCa Cleveland and Summit Artspace, while contributing work to projects and exhibitions with the Cleveland Public Library, FRONT International, LAND studio, and the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery. His practice also extends into music, film, fashion, and community engagement.
As founder of Young Cleveland Renaissance and Community Liaison at Zygote Press, Williams works to create stronger connections between artists, institutions, and the broader Cleveland community. Across both his studio and administrative work, he is committed to expanding the resources, visibility, and opportunities available to artists.
Davon Brantley
Assistant Director of Alumni Relations and Admissions Outreach,
The Cleveland Institute of Art
@Davon.Brantley | dbrantleyart.com
Davon Brantley, a Cleveland, OH native, graduated with a BFA in Drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2018. Since then, he has deeply immersed himself in the art community, engaging in teaching, curating, exploring diverse mediums, exhibiting his work, and mentoring emerging artists. Davon is consistently working to shape perceptions of art as a viable and sustainable career path.
In recognition of his contributions and talent, Carta awarded him the 2024 Eterovich Award. This prestigious award, funded by a donation from the family of Anthony Eterovich—an artist and educator who led CIA's children's classes for over 50 years—is presented to exceptional emerging artists with works in carta’s collection. He has also been awarded the Outstanding Visual Artist award in 2026, presented by Summit Artspace.
Brantley has exhibited and curated at significant venues including Bay Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, the CAN Triennial, the Morgan Conservatory, the Indianapolis Arts Center, and the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. He collaborates with local organizations such as the Museum of Creative Human Art and Graffiti HeArt, furthering his printmaking studies through DeepDive Art Projects and the Cleveland Institute of Art. Additionally, he advocates for introducing the arts to younger generations and participates in mural projects.
In his artistic practice, Brantley employs self-portraiture and psychological themes, drawing inspiration from dissociative behaviors resulting from trauma. He explains, “I guide the audience through my own narratives surrounding colorism, racial stereotyping, and meditations on death, life, sexuality, and masculinity. By using my image, viewers encounter someone who may not share their experiences and who actively disrupts identity expectations.”
Through his multifaceted involvement in the art community and his poignant explorations, Davon Brantley inspires and empowers both audiences and aspiring artists alike.
Jill Eisert
High School Art Teacher, Chagrin Falls Schools
@jilleisertstudio | jilleisert.com
Jill Eisert is an artist and art educator from Twinsburg, OH. For the last twelve years she has been creating and exhibiting artworks delving into mindlessness, an intuitive connection with nature and embracing a sense of playfulness and wonder. She is currently working on the series Wandering Wild, a series of 54 hand drawn illustrations that will published into a meditation card deck to support effortless meditation and somatic awareness.
Hilary D Gent
Gallery Owner and Director , HEDGE Gallery
@hilarydgent | https://hedgeartgallery.com/shop-hilary-gent
Hilary Gent is a Cleveland artist who creates oil and latex paintings inspired by the urban landscape, Lake Erie and other natural water sources in Northeast Ohio. She graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor's in Fine Art and concentration on painting in 2003. Her paintings are included in public collections such as The Cleveland Clinic, Summa Hospitals, Sherwin Williams, Baker and Hostetler, cARTa and Hilton Hotels Corporation, and numerous private collections.
Gent has spent the last seventeen years curating public art exhibits, launching art walks, and planning elaborate receptions for individuals and organizations, all of which have transformed the way residents and visitors view the Northeast Ohio Region. She was one of the first visionaries to plant roots at 78th Street Studios, where she curates unforgettable art events and exhibitions through her HEDGE Gallery, which now represents a roster of 12 regional artists, and offers extensive art consulting and art installation services.
She has earned awards and grants for her efforts to collaborate with nearby agencies, resulting in programming that has stimulated the entire Gordon Square Arts District. In economic development terms, Hilary’s motivation to present the arts as a vehicle for elevating a neighborhood has provided urban planners with prime elements upon which to build larger community plans.
Michael Gill
Executive Director, Collective Arts Network
@Michael_Gill_216 | MichaelGillBooksAndPrints.com
Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Michael Gill has lived in Washington State, Washington DC, England, Wales, and Ecuador. He came to printmaking as a writer, looking for a way to make books to give stories to his children when they were learning to read. He has had solo shows at WIlliam Busta Gallery and William Busta Projects, BAYarts, Tregoning & Company, and the Massillon Museum, and participated in dozens of group shows. His books are in the special collections of Baylor University, Columbus College of Art and Design,
Otis College of Art and Design, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Fall River Public Library, Graffikwerkstatt Dresden (Germany) and Ediciones Vigia (Matanzas, Cuba), and in private collectons in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. His career as an arts administrator and journalist led him to found CAN Journal in 2012.
Natalie Petrosky
Part-Time Instructor, Kent State University
Founder & Curator, Please Don't Mow
@roachpatrol | www.nataliepetrosky.com
Natalie Petrosky (b.1989, Akron, OH) is an artist living and working in Cleveland, OH. She received her MFA in Painting & Drawing at the University of Tennessee (2016) and her BFA in Painting with an Honors Thesis in Glass from the School of Art at Kent State University in Kent, OH (2012). She is currently teaching part-time at Kent State University in Kent, OH and works as a gardener in the summers in addition to running an independent project space called Please Don’t Mow. Petrosky makes primarily paintings and drawings, as well as sculptures, videos, and glass.
Natalie most recently was in a group show on display at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus, OH (2026). Some of her other notable exhibitions include: Laughing Through Your Window, Curve Line Space, Los Angeles, CA (2024); sticks, rocks, leaves, Kent State Downtown Gallery, Kent, OH (2024); Wild Bunch, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA (2023); The Regional, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO (2022); Watching the Seasons Change, Museum of the White Mountains, Plymouth, NH (2022); The Regional, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2021); and Something About Windows (solo), The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI (2020).
Arnold Tunstall
Director, University Art Galleries, Myers School of Art
The University of Akron | @arnie_photo
Arnold Tunstall is Director, University Art Galleries, Myers School of Art, at The University of Akron. Previously, Tunstall worked for the Akron Art Museum in various curatorial positions since 1985 and served as the Collections Manager and Registrar from 1994 - 2016. Tunstall has also been an active volunteer within the arts community for many years. His volunteer work includes projects with Waterloo Arts Center, Ohio Arts Council, ArtsNOW, Summit Art Space, and NCCAkron as well as service on the board of SPACES Gallery (2006-2020), and as a founding and current board member of Akron Soul Train.
He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The University of Akron majoring in Graphic Design and Photography, he received his Master of Fine Arts in Photography from The Ohio University. He has been an adjunct instructor at the Myers School of Art since 1995, and the Arts Administration graduate program at The University of Akron since 2014. Tunstall is active throughout the region with curatorial projects and continues to create and exhibit his own photographic artwork. Recent exhibitions have been at Summit Art Space, Curated Storefront, Waterloo Arts, and University of La Verne, CA.
Nikki Woods
Director of Exhibitions + Galleries, The Cleveland Institute of Art
@nikkisixx13 | www.nikkiwoods.com
Nikki Woods is an artist and director of exhibitions and galleries at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA). Appointed the director of the Reinberger Gallery in 2018, then director of exhibitions and galleries in 2022, in her roles at CIA Woods has organized numerous ambitious, artist-centered exhibition projects for the college. Woods also programs a free public lecture series titled “Lunch on Fridays,” which features artists, designers and arts workers from a range of fields and backgrounds who provide insight on their work, lives, and professional practices. Additionally, since 2022, she has served as a board member for the Contemporary Art Society, an affiliate group of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Woods’ paintings have been exhibited in three solo exhibitions at Hedge Gallery in Cleveland: Regrets Only (2017), Vivid Wild Things (2021) and Conjuring Images (2024). Her work has also been exhibited in numerous notable group exhibitions such as Curious Things, Survival Kit (2013); I Came So Far For Beauty, Cleveland State Gallery (2016); No More Tears, Survival Kit (2019); America’s Well Armed Militias, SPACES (2019); and The Regional (2021-22), the Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO. Her work is represented in prominent collections such as the Putnam Collection, Metro Hospital Collection, Progressive Art Collection and the Cleveland Arts Association (CARTA). She holds a BFA in painting from CIA.
Anna E. Young
Director of Artist Programs and Exhibitions, Summit Artspace
@annaeliz_art | www.annaeyoung.com
Anna E. Young is an artist and arts advocate. She holds an M.F.A. in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a B.F.A. from the University of Akron, with minors in Printmaking, Art History, and Professional Photography. Young works full-time at Summit Artspace as the Director of Artist Programs and Exhibitions. She taught as an assistant lecturer in the 2D Design and Photography departments at the University of Akron's Myers School of Art for over 3 years. She is the co-founder of KINK Contemporary, an arts organization dedicated to supporting emerging artists and curators, founded in 2019. Young is a self-portrait photographer who creates characters depicted in her fine art photographs, mixed-media prints, and silicone sculptures that explore contemporary social issues, body dysmorphia, trauma, and mortality.