The Cleveland Museum of Art and FRONT International Present New Work: Amanda D. King, Charmaine Spencer, Erykah Townsend, Antwoine Washington at Transformer Station

Cleveland (September 12, 2025)—The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) and FRONT International are proud to announce New Work: Amanda D. King, Charmaine Spencer, Erykah Townsend, Antwoine Washington, the highly anticipated capstone exhibition of the FRONT 2022 Art Futures Fellows. The exhibition is on view at the CMA’s Transformer Station from October 2, 2025, through December 27, 2025.

New Work showcases the innovative artistic journeys and significant achievements of these four remarkable Cleveland-based artists, marking the culmination of their participation in the prestigious FRONT Art Futures Fellowship program. Established to cultivate the next generation of artistic talent in Northeast Ohio, the FRONT Art Futures Fellowship was a cornerstone initiative of the 2022 edition of FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. 

The fellowship program was conceived to extend the triennial’s mission of fostering contemporary art by providing emerging and mid-career artists with essential resources for growth. Its primary purpose is to offer unparalleled opportunities for professional development, mentorship, and creative exploration, thereby nurturing local artistic voices and helping them engage with contemporary themes and innovative artistic practices. Elements of the fellowship included $25,000 stipends for each artist and professional, travel, and production support. Although the planned 2025 triennial exhibition was canceled, the FRONT board of directors committed to completing all elements of the FRONT Art Futures Fellowship, including this capstone exhibition. This program underscores FRONT International's commitment to civic transformation through art, ensuring a lasting impact on the region's cultural landscape. 

“We are thrilled to present New Work, an exhibition that truly highlights the talent and dedication of our 2022 Art Futures Fellows,” said Fred Bidwell, executive director of FRONT International. “I am grateful to the FRONT board of directors and to the George Gund Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation for providing us with the encouragement and financial support to complete this transformational fellowship as we had originally conceived it. This capstone presentation not only celebrates individual growth of artists but also underscores the impact of providing the depth of support for artistic voices in our community that has the potential to change careers. We are grateful to Transformer Station and the Cleveland Museum of Art for hosting this important exhibition.”

“We’re proud to partner once again with FRONT International to showcase the vision of these remarkable artists,” said William M. Griswold, Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Director of the CMA. “This exhibition is a unique opportunity to celebrate Cleveland’s artistic talent, engage our community, and forge a deeper connection between the CMA and artists working in Northeast Ohio today.”

Exhibition Details:

• What: New Work: Amanda D. King, Charmaine Spencer, Erykah Townsend, Antwoine Washington
• When: October 2–December 27, 2025
• Hours: 3:00–6:00 p.m., Thursday through Saturday
• Where: Transformer Station, 1460 W 29th St., Cleveland, OH 44113
• Admission: Free
• Opening Reception: October 2, 2025, 5:00–8:00 p.m. FREE

Related Programming:

Drawn from Memory: The Role of Art in Shaping Identity (opens in a new tab)

Saturday, September 20, 2025, 2:00 - 2:45 pm EDT. 

Doors at 1:45 pm 

Free (Ticket required (opens in a new tab))

Part of the two-day celebration of the 90th Anniversary of The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (opens in a new tab), Transformer Station invites you to an afternoon of storytelling, art, and conversation with two groundbreaking creators: Maxine Hong Kingston, a foundational voice in American literature, and Tessa Hulls, artist and author of Feeding Ghosts, the first-ever graphic memoir to win an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award—and the inaugural winner in the memoir category. Moderated by acclaimed writer Peter Ho Davies, this event explores how memory, family history, and cultural inheritance shape who we become—and how art helps us tell those stories. Tessa Hulls’ original artwork will be projected onto the walls of Transformer Station, immersing the audience in the visual world of Feeding Ghosts and highlighting her identity as an artist first and foremost. Together, Hulls and Kingston will reflect on the creative process, the stories we inherit, and the ways we use art—both visual and literary—to shape identity and reclaim history.

Additional programming dates and details are announced as they become available.

About the Artists

• Amanda D. King is a creative director, strategist, and visual artist who bridges art and civic life, notably as cofounder of Shooting Without Bullets and coleader of offset at the Museum of Creative Human Art. Her work, exhibited across Northeast Ohio and recognized nationally, includes a national billboard campaign with For Freedoms and photography in the Akron Art Museum collection. King’s research and practice have been presented at Harvard University, and she project-manages PRISM: Seeing Beyond Mass Incarceration at the Cleveland Public Library. With a JD from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and an AB in art history from Bryn Mawr College, King creates work that spans design, movement, and communal life, emphasizing art and community as essential to civic engagement, with collaborations including Nike and Ghetto Gastro.
• Charmaine Spencer, a 2005 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, has garnered significant acclaim, including the William McVey Award for Excellence in Sculpture. Her work, exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Akron Art Museum and Transformer Station, was recently acquired by CWRU and the Hilton Collection in Downtown Cleveland. Notably, the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned her for its major international exhibit, Project a BlackPlanet: The Art and Cultureof Panafrica, which travels globally. Spencer’s art explores African American culture and its evolution, examining how fragments of African heritage are valued in contemporary society. Her creative process reconstructs the relationship between past and present, often juxtaposing organic and synthetic materials. She frequently uses natural and secondhand materials, such as wood, clay, rope, and cardboard, to symbolize how identity can be “stripped, cut or broken, then rewoven, bound, molded or slotted back together” to redefine self-worth and social place. Born in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Spencer lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Erykah Townsend, also known as E.T., is a conceptual artist from Cleveland, Ohio. Townsend's art boldly confronts and questions the role of pop culture in our lives. She uses pop culture as a medium itself —exploring the spaces it occupies in our lives and inquiring how real the imaginary is. Through reflective and humorous narratives, Townsend employs characters, cultural icons, and objects as allegories for her criticism. Additionally, her work incorporates elements from their original sources, providing the audience with a fresh and sentimental experience.  Townsend's art is firmly grounded in the concept of extremism. She boldly explores a range of subjects within Western culture, pop culture, and human relationships, delivering sharp social commentary on the significant challenges that emerge when things are taken too far. Townsend received her BFA in painting from The Cleveland Institute of Art in 2020. Her work has been featured in several exhibitions, including her first solo museum show, "Happy" Holidays, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland.
• Antwoine Washington: Antwoine Washington was born in Pontiac, Michigan, and received his BA in studio art from Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Antwoine’s early inspiration was drawing characters from Saturday morning cartoons and later, the art and legacy of the Harlem Renaissance artists such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence.  After college, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and began working for the US Postal Service as a mail carrier. Determined to work full-time as an artist, he quit his job at the postal service. Washington suffered a stroke in November 2018. His artistic practice played a crucial role in his recovery. Since surviving the stroke, his work has been exhibited and commissioned widely in Cleveland. Antwoine founded the Museum of Creative Human Art, a nonprofit organization that serves as a platform for him to share his talent with the community and teach. He currently works and lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife Carlise and their children, Grayson and Luca.

About FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art

FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art is an acclaimed triennial exhibition that launched in 2018. It showcased art from around the world in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, fostering a deeper appreciation for contemporary art and its ability to engage with pressing global issues. Founded on the belief that art can be a powerful catalyst for civic transformation and cultural exchange, FRONT was established to bring world-class contemporary art to the region, creating a platform for dialogue and engagement with art in unexpected spaces and institutions across Northeast Ohio. FRONT presented two highly acclaimed editions in 2018 and 2022. In early 2024, the board of directors of FRONT decided to cancel its planned 2025 triennial exhibition due to a decline in philanthropic support and shifting social priorities following the global pandemic. 

About Transformer Station

Transformer Station is a contemporary art museum located in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. Founded by the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation in 2013 as a space for challenging and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art, Transformer Station was gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2023. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the foremost encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and is free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.