Cleveland’s Black History

Stina Aleah

Artist & Entrepreneur

The first time Stina Aleah tried her hand at art, she was recovering from an injury that temporarily derailed her decorated track and field career. She left corporate America to chase her passion and became a successful artist and entrepreneur, to the surprise of no one. While she usually prefers to work on her own, she was moved to step out of her comfort zone and engage with Cleveland’s artist community by the #VoicesofCLE project, and the hope that she could make a difference for her young son.

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Rashaun Dillard

Artist & Muralist

A graduate of Cleveland School of the Arts, artist and muralist Rashaun Dillard knows the power and importance of using art as a platform for messages of hope and change. “I’d like to use my art to share the message of unity, our community experiencing tough times yet coming together in the aftermath to promote a change that we can use to teach and heal each other." A natural introvert, Rashaun knew that he had to use his talent and speak up in this moment. "I feel it’s important to share my voice because it’s a tumultuous time and everyone has a wide variety of emotions we’re all trying to convey. Everyone doesn’t have an outlet. I use my art to let others know I see you and you’re not alone.”

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Lauren Pearce

Visual Artist

Lauren Pearce pulls inspiration from her community to create powerful mixed media art, including murals that feature iconic shapes and colors that captivate anyone walking by. She has a passion for expressing her identity, which led her to art school at a young age. At 24, she began her professional career as an artist, where she uses an array of materials in her work and transfers her world and her imagination to her paintings through the use of the colorful language of identity, race and womanhood.

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Jerome T. White

Artist & Art Educator

Education is what Jerome T. White is all about. Whether it’s his year of studying art culminating in a Master’s in Art Education from Case Western Reserve University, or his return to his alma mater at Cleveland Heights High School where he has taught art for close to 25 years, sharing his passion and love of art with others is an essential part of his life. Jerome’s art is about connecting with a higher power and connecting with history. Deeply influenced by Cleveland’s important role in the Underground Railroad as “Station Hope,” his involvement in #VoicesofCLE is part of his larger mission to “enlighten the world around (him) with history, culture, the human condition, with our existence.”

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