The Maria Neil Art Project, in the Waterloo Arts District in Cleveland’s historic Collinwood neighborhood, will be featuring new work by Cleveland artist Darius Steward in the upcoming solo exhibition Pressure.  The exhibition will run March 4 through April 17, with an opening reception Friday, March 4, from 5 – 10 pm. Both the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

‘Pressure’ is Steward’s first solo exhibition since receiving a grant from the Creative Workforce Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), the local arts service and research organization, and is made possible by the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, the County’s public funder for arts and culture.

The exhibition directly addresses the current issues of placement, repression and resilience facing African-Americans in today’s society. “This build up that weighs heavy on the shoulders of blacks and how we deal with it is what this work embodies,” says Steward, “I want the pressure of that to resonate with my viewers, but I also want the viewers to understand that we are starting to resist, react and respond to what’s taking place here in America.” Steward works in a variety of media, including drawings, watercolors and oil paintings. His work often depicts the casual encounters, societal challenges and moments of solitary reflection that his subjects experience in their daily lives.

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Darius Steward has most recently shown in several group exhibitions at the FORUM Artspace, the William Busta Gallery, Zygote Press and the Cleveland Clinic, among other locations. His work has been added to the collections of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Cleveland Clinic. He currently teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art and Saint Ignatius High School.

 

Darius Steward: Pressure March 4  – April 17, 2016

Opening Reception:  5 – 10 pm Friday, March 4

 

Opening May 6, 2016: New Work by Hilary Gent

 

Maria Neil Art Project

15813 Waterloo Rd.

Cleveland, OH 44110

216-481-7722

marianeilartproject.com