Full Description of Echo

The Echo Artist Residency Program invites two artists each quarter to experiment and create site-specific projects for our galleries and the greater Cleveland community. Each season, SPACES selects one local artist from Northeast Ohio—defined as Cuyahoga County and its contiguous counties: Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Geauga, and Lake—and one artist from outside the region. These two artists form a peer cohort, fostering the exchange of ideas, techniques, and networks. While collaboration is not required, the selection committee seeks artists with complementary or intersecting themes to enhance dialogue and impact. SPACES encourages applicants to propose projects that push the boundaries of their artistic practice, and share an authentic connection to this region.

About Echo

An echo is inherently site-specific, emerging from a point of origin and resonating outward—just as SPACES serves as a forum for ideas to be shared, reflected upon, and amplified. By pairing artists with complementary or intersecting perspectives, the residency creates a dynamic “echo” of creativity, connecting artist, space, and audience.

Benefits

Each Echo artist receives comprehensive support to ensure a meaningful and productive residency experience. Participants will have access to:

• An artist honorarium and production budget

• Full use of SPACES’ production facilities and A/V equipment

• Access to offsite maker spaces at no cost

• Research support and curatorial guidance

• On-site lodging in the gallery

• A dedicated local artist ambassador to help foster genuine community connections

• Opportunities to engage in local cultural experiences

• Marketing and Press support, including a press release

• An exhibition preview night with community arts leaders

• A public exhibition opening reception

• A one-year SPACES membership, which includes free access to SPACES professionalization workshops and ArtsPass—a cross-organizational artist membership with Zygote Press, The Morgan Conservatory, and Praxis Fiber Workshop. ArtsPass members enjoy workshop discounts and open studio access across all three organizations.

SPACES is located in Cleveland’s historic LGBTQIA+ neighborhood, a walkable area near downtown with easy access to public transportation—and even a SPACES artist bike for getting around the city.

2027 Selection Committee: Anna Arnold, Leila Khoury, Thea Spittle, and Antwoine Washington

Anna Arnold is a celebrated Cleveland-based artist, educator, and arts advocate whose vibrant, expressive works have left a lasting mark on both galleries and public spaces. Known for her bold use of color and emotionally resonant portraits, Arnold has built a career that bridges fine art and community engagement. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), Arnold has exhibited in over 200 venues across the country, including prestigious institutions like the Cleveland Museum of Art, the California Afro American Museum in Los Angeles, the Alternative Museum in New York, and the Chicago Public Library. 

Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including those of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, the Cleveland International Film Festival, TRW Inc., and Jones Day. Arnold’s mural work is equally impactful. She was a featured artist in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Community Arts Projects and created a monumental 6-by-44-foot mural in Cleveland’s Buckeye neighborhood. This mural, composed of 11 panels, honors 38 African American icons—14 of whom are Cleveland legends—and stands as a vibrant testament to cultural heritage and pride. In addition to her studio and public art, Arnold has served as Director of the Wasmer Gallery at Ursuline College since 2012, curating exhibitions that spotlight diverse voices and emerging talent. Her role as a mentor and facilitator reflects her deep commitment to empowering others through art. Arnold’s legacy is defined by her belief in the transformative power of creativity, her dedication to community, and her fearless celebration of identity and color.

Leila Khoury is a multidisciplinary artist who visualizes the connections between placemaking, the built environment, and community histories through a multifaceted practice in sculpture, scenic and architectural design, printed matter, and storytelling.

Khoury’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Cleveland and Columbus, OH; New York City and Troy, NY; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh, PA; Waukesha, WI; and Subhan, Kuwait. She was recently awarded the 2025 Artist Residency at the Arab American National Museum, the 2024-2025 PROOF Fellowship at Zygote Press, and the 2024 Creative Impact Fund. In 2018, two sculptures by Khoury were featured in the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ exhibition series, Women to Watch.

Thea Spittle is the SPACES Curatorial Coordinator, and an independent curator based in Akron, Ohio. She collaborates alongside artists to produce exhibitions, publications and public programs for the greater Northeast Ohio community. Spittle holds a Master of Arts in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Spanish from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York. Her first curatorial project, the sunroom, was in a Cleveland Heights home, and showcased site-specific installations throughout the home and its yard. She served as co-curator for CAN Triennial 2022 producing exhibitions at Zygote Press, Morgan Paper Conservancy and artNEO. She also co-directed Gallery 2602 with Deidre McPherson, a roaming exhibition and public programming platform situated within community spaces. Most recently, she curated five group exhibitions for the Museum of Creative Human Art at the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Antwoine Washington was born in Pontiac, Michigan, a small city located outside of Detroit. Washington received his BA in Studio Art from Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA. While at Southern, Washington learned more about black history and art in America, further inspiring him to continue the legacy of Harlem Renaissance artists like Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence. Washington decided to continue to tell stories of the black experience in America through his art. After college, he moved to Cleveland, OH with his wife, and began working for the U.S. Postal Service as a mail carrier. While taking this leap of faith to follow his dreams, Washington suffered a stroke in November of 2018. During his recovery, he used his art to help get through panic attacks and the numbness that he was experiencing on the right side of his body. Since surviving the stroke, he continues to take advantage of all opportunities that are presented to him, having shown his work at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, OH, moCa Cleveland, and the Cincinnati Art Museum. He also was commissioned to do a mural in Cleveland Public Square by Land Studios. Antwoine also started a non-profit organization called the Museum of Creative Human Art. He uses this vehicle to teach art. He currently works and lives in Cleveland, OH.