Staff + Board

Visual artist Shari Wilkins created the Cleveland Print Room in 2013 as an intervention that is part of her social practice. Drawing on a background in social work and the music business, her art is often issue-based and place-based. She seeks to affect social change through personal work that collaborates with community. Wilkins’ work is in many private collections nationally and in the United Kingdom, with work also held in the public collection of the Cleveland Public Library.

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.” -Emile Zola. Kerry Davis is the picture of an "out loud" individual. He hails from Charleston, Missouri, where he co-founded a community arts organization. Davis is a person of varied experiences: he has been a classroom educator, served on boards and various comittees, worked as a personal assistant, and been a waiter! Kerry says "Community and the fine arts are truly my passion. We should never forget the value of that relationship and continue to perpetuate it."

Orlando is a visual artist born and raised in Cleveland’s West Boulevard neighborhood. He has earned a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a Major in Drawing and emphasis in Printmaking. His work is rooted in imaginative world-building that investigates the relationship between personal and cultural identity and the pursuit of meaning in a world plagued by grief, loss, and disinformation. Having worked for a few years doing community engagement work at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Orlando is excited to help build upon the already great work being done at the Cleveland Print Room. As Paulo Freire said, “Dialogue cannot exist without humility,” an attitude that Orlando hopes to bring to the Print Room’s strong commitment to community centered work that teaches and empowers through thoughtful dialogue and experiential action. Outside of the visual arts, Orlando loves walks through nature, making and listening to music, and finding a nice cozy corner to read in, among other things!

Cleveland native Melinda Placko is an artist and teacher. Her studio is at the Hildebrandt Artist Collective, where she throws paint around, hangs out with the creative muse, and draws what she sees. Her love of photography came through the side door- a natural development of her collage practice. Melinda earned her BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art, with overseas study in the UK. Her MFA is from the University of Massachusetts. As a teaching artist since 2007, she feels the biggest perk of the job is collaborating with young artists.

Jeff has been with Cleveland Print Room since before our doors opened, having been involved early on, during the initial planning stages, and helping to get the Print Room facilities ready for business.
Holding a Master's degree in Library and Information Science after majoring in Studio Art and English at Kent State University, Jeff has worked as a professional Law Librarian, and is an active musician, artist/cartoonist, and pinhole photographer, and is currently completing a master’s degree in User Experience Design. Says Jeff, "If you see what looks like an old oatmeal box sitting around the Print Room, DON'T THROW IT AWAY, thanks. That'll be my pinhole camera."

Jess (she/her) is a self-taught film and cameraless photographer based in Akron, Ohio. She is a visual resources librarian and archivist who specializes in the digitization, accessibility and management of artist archives and collections dedicated to visual art. As part of her social practice, Jess is committed to effecting real, transformative change in the arts and culture sector. Jess holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Kent State University. Before coming to the Cleveland Print Room, she has worked for the Akron Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art and FRONT International. “My life changed forever when I first stepped foot into a darkroom,” says Jess, “I’m excited to support the impactful, community-centered work of the Cleveland Print Room and to document the magic of photography through their lens.”

Hadley K Conner is a Cleveland-based artist, musician and educator. She holds a BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art and a MAAE from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Working exclusively with film and traditional photographic materials, Hadley has been showing work both regionally and nationally for over 25 years. During that time period, Hadley has continued to teach traditional photography classes and alternative process workshops in the local area. She continues to spread the gospel of photography and film by teaching in a darkroom full time at a Cleveland area high school.

Aja Grant is a Cleveland native visual artist using digital media to create composites inviting viewers to see the blend of the modern human psyche with that of nature and our ancestral instincts. Graduating from Cleveland State with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Art, the blending of the two worlds is common in her works. She holds a deep appreciation for teaching and inspiring others and views inspiration as a reciprocal process.

Lexi was raised in Cleveland Heights until she graduated early from Cleveland Heights High to study abroad in a small town outside of Santiago, Chile. Her passion for photography and creative storytelling led her back to Ohio where she earned Bachelors Degrees in Photojournalism and Spanish with a Minor in Anthropology at Ohio University. Lexi worked on student publications like Soul of Athens, freelanced for papers and magazines such as the Athens News, and even served as First Assistant Camera/B-cam Operator on a feature film directed by Josh Crook; while giving photography workshops to at-risk youth in Trimble County with Kids on Campus. Lexi has made her way back to Cleveland Heights to continue humanitarian and creative pursuits with an emphasis on her favorite medium - photography. She currently teaches photo classes with the Loving Hands Group – providing life enrichment programs to seniors and persons with disabilities – as well as with CPR. She also photographs weddings and other events with the Cleveland Photo Group. Aside from photography Lexi loves reading, dogs, nature and learning new things.

DaShaunae Jackson is a photographer who resides in Cleveland, OH. She currently studies photography at Cuyahoga Community College. She was a finalist of the Photographer’s Forum 38th Annual College & High School Photography Contest. Her work was published in Breakwall Literary Journal and has been shown in group exhibitions at the Cleveland Print Room. She published her first monograph, Waiting to Arrive, in 2017. The book takes the viewer along her journey on Cleveland’s Regional Transit Authority and gives a very personal perspective on riding the RTA.

Jef Janis is a Photographer and Fine Artist residing in Cleveland, Ohio. Growing up in Cleveland, he developed a love for documenting the streets and people he saw everyday. This act of capturing his surroundings began with a pencil, drawing was his first passion and still holds a firm grip on his heart.

Comic books and movies inspired his creativity and you can still see their influences in his work now. It was while attending John Hay High School his art teacher encouraged him to get a camera to take pictures of things he wanted to draw and paint. This was the catalyst that would open up a whole new world and give his voice a clearer sound. It wasn’t until being accepted into Cleveland Institute of Art, after spending his first three years experimenting with as many art mediums as possible, he would discover how much he truly loved photography. Majoring in Photography with his minor in Film, he had found his calling, focusing on black and white photography.

Jef went on to have his work published in several local magazines and work with many amazing artists. He has had his work exhibited in several galleries with his peers as well as several solo showcases. Jef eventually opened a gallery in the Tremont area with his wife and fellow photographer with a desire to help give a platform to other young artists.

Currently he has taken on the role of teaching artist for The Cleveland Print Room as well as working at NASA as a Photographer. While also co-owning Shutter35 Studio, located in downtown Cleveland, where he works with his business partner growing his artistic eye.

Bridget Caswell, née Commisso, has worked as a photographer in Northeast Ohio for 20 years. She is a photographer at NASA Glenn Research Center in Brookpark, Ohio. She has worked for newspapers in Northeast Ohio such as the Morning Journal, the News Herald and the Medina Gazette. She has also worked for American Greetings as a photographer. She runs a successful freelance business, with clients such as NPR, The Associated Press and Cleveland Magazine. She was the house photographer for the Cleveland Botanical Gardens where she contributed photography to a book on the Gardens. Her work has appeared in the New York Times and the London Daily Telegraph in England. Caswell also exhibits her photographic work. She has also received mulitple grants to teach photography to children. Passing on the passion and curiosity for photography and storytelling is something she finds as important as the photographic work she does. She received her bachelor's degree in Photojournalism at Kent State University.

Sally Winter holds a degree in Speech, Theatre and Communication from Baldwin Wallace College. After trodding the boards for a few years, she worked with Playhouse Square in the beginning years, doing a variety of jobs as did everyone! She was on staff at the Cleveland Area Arts Council before moving on to the Ohio Arts Council, serving as the Northern Ohio Field Representative and later as a team member of the International Artist Program. After retiring from the OAC, she joined the Cleveland Foundation's Creative Fusion as the Artist Liaison. She currently happily serves as a consultant to the Cleveland Print Room's International Program. In her spare time she reads, gardens and dotes on her family!

Alison Brady is a Cleveland native who recently relocated to her hometown after working as an artist for the past 15 years in Brooklyn, New York. After receiving her MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York, Alison has done dozens of solo and group shows, earning praise from New York Magazine, Time Out, and The New York Times. Of one of her first earliest solo shows, The New York Times' chief art critic Roberta Smith wrote, “Ms. Brady’s work deals rather explicitly and hilariously with the female predicament.” That same year, Alison was named one of the top emerging artists in the world by the Saatchi Gallery in London. She continues to exhibit nationally and internationally, and her photography is featured in many private and public collections, including Elton John’s collection and the West Collection. In addition to her studio work, Alison has directed photo shoots for a number of commercial and editorial clients, from Marc Jacobs to Tom Tom Magazine and Lady Gunn.

Helen is a photographer born in San Francisco and raised in Lakewood, Ohio. She graduated from Cleveland Institute of Art in 2014, earning her Bachelor's in Fine Arts. Helen is continuing her education with a dual degree of Counseling and Art Therapy at Ursuline College. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her dogs, Cora and Archie.

In Loving Memory.

After 10 years in the United States Marine Corps and leading large teams in the customer service industry, Stephen Bivens has returned to his first love: photography. The essence of life, people, events and architecture interest him. Having traveled the world, and enjoyed many cultures and communities, Bivens brings a life of learning and experience to his work.

He views photography as a way of life and is rarely seen out and about without a camera in-hand. He still works with film on a regular basis and finds inspiration from the greatest photographers of all time: Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Diane Arbus.

Bivens is an established concert, fashion, and portrait photographer whose work can be seen regularly in local galleries throughout Cleveland. Stephen holds a Communications degree from the University of North Carolina.

In Loving Memory.

Always artistically gifted, John began his career as an artist by attending Cleveland’s Cooper School of Art. Inspired by the works of Egon Schiele, Franz Kline, Edward Hopper and Lucien Freud, John strives to find a balance between expressive drawings and boldly executed paintings. John has been accepted into numerous juried shows including the prestigious Butler Midyear Show at The Butler Museum of American Art and recently juried into The Ohio Arts Council Riffe Gallery First Juried Show in Columbus OH. In July of 2015, he was the first non-photographer to show paintings in The Cleveland Print Room. He was nominated for the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2009 and in 2004 his charcoal drawing "Viewpoint" was purchased by the Erie Art Museum and entered into their permanent collection. His work can be found in collections across the United States and in Europe.