Cleveland Awards $30,000 to Three Local Artists
Webb, Lee, and Davis receive $10,000 grants and lifetime honors at a Thursday ceremony at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
By Evelyn Henderson ·
Cleveland arts leaders awarded $30,000 to three local creators on Thursday.
The Cleveland Arts Prize jury selected Chris Webb, Aimee Lee, and Dexter Lee Davis for the 2026 cycle. Each juried winner receives a $10,000 award. The ceremony took place at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The prize was established by the Women’s City Club in 1961 and remains the oldest municipal arts award in the country.
Chris Webb, a playwright and actor, received the Emerging Artist award. He trained at CalArts and the Royal Scottish Academy. Webb presented his one-person show “The End of Black Excellence” at Cleveland Public Theater last year. He described the recognition as proof that world-class art is being made by local people. He noted that his city does not always receive credit for its cultural output.
Aimee Lee, a papermaking artist, was named the Mid-Career Artist. She built the first hanji studio in North America in Cleveland. Lee published the book “Hanji Unfurled” in 2012. Her work is currently on display at the Kent State University Museum. She previously exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Korean Cultural Centers in Washington, D.C., and Abu Dhabi. Lee said being acknowledged in her home community meant more to her than outside accolades.
Dexter Lee Davis received the Lifetime Achievement award. He creates collage-based works using hand-carved woodblock prints and found paper. Davis, a lifelong Clevelander, has channeled urban violence into his multi-media projects. He compared the prize to winning the Cleveland art version of the Oscars. His next project is a retrospective and a new body of work titled shadows.
Webb is remounting “The End of Black Excellence” at Cleveland Public Theater in November. The run consists of four performances. He is also developing “The End of Black Love,” a multimedia piece using life-size Bunraku-style puppets. Lee is organizing an inaugural hanji summit at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina this fall. The event will gather her former students for a two-week papermaking residency.
The jury also bestowed four special prizes. Terry Stewart, emeritus president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts. Stewart has served the institution in leadership roles for many years. The awards recognize decades of contribution to the Northeast Ohio arts scene.
Source: WVIZ
