SPACES  |  April 30, 2026

SPACES Announces Spring 2026 Exhibition Schedule Featuring New Work by Artist-in-Residence ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé and Curatorial Project Patterned

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 30, 2026

Pita Brooks, Executive Director

216.621.2314 ext. 202

pita@spacescle.org

WHAT:

SPACES Announces Spring 2026 Exhibition Schedule Featuring New Work by Artist-in-Residence ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé and Curatorial Project Patterned

WHERE:

SPACES 2900 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113

WHEN:

Member and Patron Preview: Thursday, May 14, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Public opening reception: Friday, May 15, 2026, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Exhibition on view at SPACES: Wednesday - Saturday 12:00 - 5:00 PM

May 15 - June 27, 2026

Shatter Me, cover art, ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé

(Cleveland, OH) — April 30, 2026 — SPACES is pleased to present the spring 2026 exhibition schedule, including meditations on be(IN) thr(u), a solo exhibition by SPACES artist-in-residence, ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé (shx/they), and Patterned, a curatorial project organized by SPACES Curatorial Coordinator, Thea Spittle. Both projects are on view May 15 - June 27 at SPACES Gallery, 2900 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland.

A Member and Patron Preview will be held Thursday, May 14, 5:30–7:30 PM, followed by a public opening reception Friday, May 15, 6:00–9:00 PM, featuring a live performance by ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé at 7:00 PM.

Refilwe Bàbátúndé is a multimedia artist whose work is rooted in the healing, self-emancipatory properties of Black sound. As SPACES’ Spring artist-in-residence, they have created an immersive installation that forms a constellation, mapping their interdisciplinary artistic practice across the Oracle Gallery. Combining sonic/video collages, their own familial archive, a monument to Zora Neale Hurston, and newly created printed matter, Refilwe Bàbátúndé's artworks flow together in an exploration of soothing sites of attunement.

Prior to the exhibition opening, Refilwe Bàbátúndé will host a free workshop at SPACES on Saturday, May 2, 4:00–6:00 PM. Inspired by the expansive possibilities illustrated in warrior poet Audre Lorde's "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name," this free workshop explores using sound as an activating force, one's breath as cleansing, intention-backed current, and one's body as a resonant space to BE in your unique process of BE(come)IN.

About the artist

ọmọlolú Refilwe Bàbátúndé (ọrB)(shx/they) is a multimedia artist rooted in sound who makes sonic ritual works that explore recovery, becoming, and breaking into affirming possibilities. Her practice is concerned with how Black sound moves through, connects, and shifts space/time. Through looping, harmonization, field recordings, and sampling, they explore the power of repetition, mantra-making, and collective breathing as ways to propel those who listen through the cycles and deepening of our becoming. In their practice, they also explore video, image, archival work, prose, and performance as ways to activate, visualize, and embody the sonic encounters they strive to expose. Shx received the inaugural Mexican Summer Recording Studio Residency in July 2022 and has performed/shown work at Leslie Loham Museum of Art, Northstar Durham, The Free Black Women’s Library, The New Museum, All Souls NYC, and many intentional DIY venues. In October 2020 shx released hxr first EP “laiii 222 rest ooo: blx ancestral sonix salves” on Don Giovanni Records, and they debuted, “the only way is thr(u)” album on March 13, 2026.

Self Portrait of the Artist, Lo Smith, 2024

In the Gund Gallery, Thea Spittle has organized Patterned, a curatorial project featuring five artists whose work explores different approaches to patterns as visual designs, conceptual constructions and symbols of cultural heritage. Patterned includes textiles, printmaking, photography and sculpture made by an intergenerational group of artists based in the Midwest and East coast regions: Yuko Kimura, Rebecca Marimutu, Susan Schroeder, Lo Smith, and Annmarie Suglio. This curatorial project asks the question, can visual patterns help us understand patterns of behavior and vice versa? Patterned is supported by the Artists Archives of the Western Reservethrough loans of work by Susan Schroeder.

About the artists

Yuko Kimura was born in Oakland, California to Japanese parents and raised in Tokyo. She has lived in the U.S. since 1989. She received her MFA (Printmaking) from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design in 1997, and her BFA (Printmaking) from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1994. She has received several awards including the First Agnes Gund Traveling Award from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Horace H.Rackham Merit Fellowship from the University of Michigan. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. From April 2021 through May 2026, Yuko's work has been part of the traveling museum exhibition, Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper curated by Meher McArthur. Her work is in the collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Palmer Museum of Art ( Penn State University), Morikami Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Cleveland Clinic, and The Dalad Group. She has been printing at Zygote Press and making paper at Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland.

Rebecca Marimutu is a New York City–based artist who explores transformation and spatial politics through her photo-based practice. Drawing inspiration from ancestral lineage, memory and loss, Marimutu creates layered works that merge photographic medium with experimental material interventions, including 3D printing and alternative processes. Marimutu’s work has been exhibited at Spring/Break Art Fair in New York, the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Maryland, and the Blue Sky Oregon Center for Photography in Portland, among others. Her work has been featured in ArtForum, BmoreArt, Good Black Art, Art and About PDX, and Variable West, among others. She holds an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a B.S. from the University at Albany (SUNY). She currently teaches at Parsons School of Design.

Susan Schroeder was born in 1940 in Conneaut, OH. As a textile artist, Schroeder drew inspiration from her interest in nature and particularly the dramatic four seasons of Northeast Ohio. As a child, Schroeder collected “raw materials” from the nature surrounding her home—thawing clay in the spring, wildflowers during the summer, snow on the evergreens during the winter, and sunsets all year round. Schroeder uses the vibrant colors of these natural materials in her spinning and dyeing technique.

Lo Smith (b. Cleveland, Ohio) is a multidisciplinary performance artist, printmaker and curator who is both unapologetically Black and aggressively midwestern. They are interested in institutional critique of medical, educational, and cultural institutions. Also, primarily, black joy. You can find them and their work at LoSmithStudios.com and on instagram @LoSmithStudios

Annmarie Suglio is an interdisciplinary artist currently living in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a 2023 Master of Fine Art graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Studio Arts. She holds two Bachelor of Fine Art degrees in Fiber + Material Studies and Sculpture from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Recently, she’s exhibited with the American Tapestry Alliance for the 15th Biennial Exhibition at the Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago, IL along with Woman’s Made Gallery and Filter Photo, Manifest Gallery and Reed Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, Steinberg Hall Gallery at Washington University in St. Louis, and R & D Gallery in Madison, WI. She’s been fortunate to curate exhibitions at the Textile Center of Madison (WI), Praxis Fiber Workshop (OH), and The Sunroom (OH). Her artistic research is focused around material culture and investigates her fiber craftswomen lineage and Italian heritage to address themes of identity and culture through textiles, photography, sculptures, and printmaking.

About SPACES

SPACES is a nonprofit alternative art organization in Cleveland, OH, dedicated to supporting artists who explore and experiment. Since 1978, SPACES has commissioned and presented ambitious projects by artists-in-residence working across all media. The organization provides vital resources to cultural producers and offers an inclusive, welcoming space for audiences to engage with bold, experimental ideas.

Major support

Major support for SPACES comes from Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Joseph and Florence Mandel Family Foundation - Beyer Family Fund, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, The Cleveland Foundation, The Cyrus Eaton Foundation, The Flagstar Foundation, George and Becky Dunn Charitable Fund, The George Gund Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The Nord Family Foundation, Patricia and Charles Mintz Philanthropic Fund, Richard and Alita Rogers Family Foundation, The Teiger Foundation, United States Artists, and WOOD-LEE International Art Handler.

Programming is made possible in part by an investment of public funds from the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.

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