Elliot Cushey is a transmasculine artist and MFA candidate at Kent State University. Their work explores trans identity with a focus on craft, material, and historical precedent, bringing trans experiences into academic spaces and offering documentation of trans lives during a time of erasure. Elliot won Best in Show in the 2nd Annual ActLoCLE Online Juried Art Exhibition for their piece titled “Wood.”
Sylvia Sykes is a Figurative artist from Akron, OH who works in acrylic and tends to focus on community based subjects in a recognizable but stylized manner. Sykes has had a compulsion for creating portraiture since she was 3 years old and attended Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts for 5 years. However, for her higher education she obtained a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from the University of Akron. This education heavily influences the interpersonal, social and community themes within her work. Sykes also uses art as a practice in exploring identity which stems from her varied experiences as a biracial person. She is fascinated with combinations of visual, oral and written storytelling paired with historical and scientific research as a means of celebrating our shared and unique experiences of the human condition. Since 2019 she has been committed to achieving art as a lifestyle and placing her humanitarian values at the forefront of any alternative employment, viewing such as an extension of her artistic vision. Sykes is currently exploring ways of making her artwork more accessible without losing originality or scale and working at a nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating poverty in Summit County.
Gwen Waight, an award-winning artist based in Northeast Ohio, has been creating found object assemblages for over a decade. She earned her degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa. Gwen won Best In Show in the 1st Annual ActLoCLE Online Juried Art Exhibition for her piece “where are you from?”
Josh Chefitz (b. 1977) is a Cleveland-based artist working in mixed media and handmade paper from the Morgan Conservatory. A self-taught artist, he has exhibited throughout Northeast Ohio and Columbus, as well as with the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include What Survives at BAYarts and a Spotlight exhibition at Heights Arts, along with a two-person show at Lindsay Gallery in Columbus. Chefitz, a 2026 recipient of an Artist Opportunities Grant from the Ohio Arts Council, is the founder of ActLoCLE, creating community and visibility for makers in Northeast Ohio, where he serves as Exhibition Director of its Annual Online Juried Art Exhibition.