This summer, eight new public art projects will take shape across Cleveland Heights’ Cedar Lee and Coventry arts districts.
The Heights Arts Public Art initiative, developed by Heights Arts and LAND studio in partnership with local businesses, artists and the City of Cleveland Heights, represents an investment of more than $250,000 in murals and installations.
The timing is fitting: Heights Arts is marking its 25th anniversary, the Cedar Lee Theatre and Heights High School are celebrating their centennials, and Cedar Lee is being reintroduced as an arts district.
According to Andrea C. Turner, communications consultant for the project, all of the artwork is scheduled to go up this summer. The ARPA funding requires the projects to be installed before the end of the calendar year, while Cleveland weather imposes a more practical deadline: before snowfall. The buildings selected for murals have now been prepped for painting, and Rafael Valdivieso is the first artist to begin work, at the Cozumel Mexican Restaurant building, 2196 Lee Road.
More than 200 artists applied to create murals for six buildings in the Cedar Lee Arts District. Erin Guido and Kyra Wells of LAND studio, working with the Public Art Project Team, narrowed the field to 50, then 30 and finally 15 finalists. Building owners reviewed the finalists and named their top three choices. LAND studio and the team then matched artists to sites, aiming for the best fit between artist and location.
The six Cedar Lee murals will run along Lee Road, with two north of Cedar Road and four to the south. The selected artists and sites are:
- Thao Nguyen at the Cain Park Bicycle Building, 1904 Lee Road
- Crystal Miller and Ewuresi Archer at Central Outreach, 2040 Lee Road
- Arlin Graff at the Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road
- Dante Rodriguez at the Green Olive Building, 2214 Lee Road
- Raphael Valdivieso at Cozumel Mexican Restaurant, 2196 Lee Road
- Justin Michael Will at the Anatolia Office Building, 2280 Lee Road
Two projects in the Coventry district will draw on the area’s history and character. At the north end, near Mayfield Road and Coventry Road, Jordan Wong will create a piece celebrating the area’s growing cluster of restaurants, which “Cleveland Magazine” has described as “Little Asia Town.” At the south end, in Harvey Pekar Park at Euclid Heights Boulevard and Coventry Road, Marika Shioiri-Clark will design an outdoor structure that can serve as a performance space during concerts and public events, while also offering a place for families to gather, eat and play.
Behind all the projects are individual artists thinking about design, neighborhoods, memory and audience. In conversations with three artists — Thao Nguyen, Justin Michael Will and Jordan Wong — the commissions emerged as both professional milestones and chances to shape neighborhoods they know well.
Thao Nguyen at Cain Park Bicycle Building
“I was so surprised — I got the biggest wall!” recalls Thao Nguyen, who will paint a mural on the Cain Park Bicycle Building, near the northern gateway to the Cedar Lee Arts District. Nguyen, a Cleveland-based illustrator and Cleveland Institute of Art graduate, works in vibrant color and often incorporates wildlife, hand-drawn forms and digital techniques shaped by her love of the outdoors. Recent work includes “The Land of Redefining City Limits,” a 2025 mural commissioned through Destination Cleveland at 12736 Larchmere Blvd.
She sees the Cain Park mural as a marker of arrival for the district. “The task is to create something eye-catching and welcoming, to help people understand they’re entering an arts district,” Nguyen explains.
Ngyugen’s design will use bold text and imagery to signal that the district is a place where art is visible and public. The community, she hopes, will see themselves reflected in the mural: “I believe creativity is in everyone, no matter your background. My piece is inspired by those who believe in their dreams.”
Nguyen’s approach is both methodical and imaginative. She uses grid techniques to scale her digital designs onto the wall, considering how colors and forms interact with changing light and the texture of brick. “It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity to make something lasting. I want people to really feel they’re entering a creative space.”
Justin Michael Will at Anatolia Office Building
For Justin Michael Will, the mural project is a homecoming. A multidisciplinary artist and illustrator whose work moves between design, illustration and fine art, Will uses color, shape and whimsy to make work that feels playful and exuberant. He spent more than a decade managing the Blick art store in Cleveland Heights and has deep ties to the Lee Road community. He has been coming to the district for 25 years, and now lives just a mile away. “It’s where I walk, eat and connect with people,” he says.
His previous work includes “The Land is Just Wonderful,” a 2018 temporary mural for LAND studio’s rotating Art Wall on Public Square, filled with bright creatures and plant life.
Will’s mural will enliven the Anatolia Office Building (2280 Lee Road), close to the library, schools and playgrounds. “It’s a large wall, and I want it to feel youthful and welcoming,” he says. “My favorite thing about the Heights is the trees and nature, so my mural will be filled with that — bright, simple, joyful.”
His process combines digital design with analog execution: “I draw it, scan and color it digitally, then project the image onto the wall, tracing the lines under cover of night. It’s tedious, but it’s what brings me joy.” For Will, public art isn’t just about self-expression — it’s about making something that uplifts and connects. “I think the artist owes the community something joyful, something that makes people feel welcome in their own neighborhood,” he adds.
Jordan Wong at Coventry
On the north end of Coventry, artist Jordan Wong is creating a landmark for what’s becoming known as “Little Asia Town.” Working under the name Wongface, he is known for large-scale public installations that use bold graphics, vivid color, aluminum, and vinyl.
Wong’s recent public work includes “For Those Who Call Here Home,” a 2025 Transformative Arts Fund project at AsiaTown’s Square Dancing Lot, where he created five public-art structures for a new community space.
Wong’s piece, at the corner of Mayfield Road and Coventry Road, occupies “a major entry point,” he says, and presents architectural challenges. “It’s not a blank slate — the architecture is of a certain era, and I want to create visual harmony between my work and the environment.” Wong’s concept draws on Coventry’s history as a center of counterculture — poets, musicians, free thinkers — while also acknowledging the Asian restaurants that have become central to the district’s present identity.
“Even if I’m not using overt Asian imagery, my aesthetic is shaped by what I loved as a kid: anime, manga, packaging design,” Wong says. “The spirit of this neighborhood is one of openness and transformation, and I want the work to reflect that.” Wong, who credits Will’s public art in downtown Cleveland as a source of inspiration, sees this project as an opportunity to bring together community, history, and personal vision.
Balancing Vision and Audience
For all three artists, public art means working with an audience in mind. “It’s a dance,” says Wong. “The artist has to be true to their vision, but you also need to consider the site, the history, the people. The best work happens when there’s trust between the artist and the community.” Nguyen puts it another way: “You’re brought on as an artist for a reason — to help communicate a [collective] vision, but also to bring your own perspective.” For Will, the obligation is simpler: make something “joyful,” something that helps people feel welcome in their own neighborhood.
The selection process, led by Heights Arts and LAND studio, was designed to ensure that artists and sites were well matched — a kind of “matchmaking,” as Wong describes it. The result: murals and installations that are both authentic to the artists and meaningful to the neighborhoods.
As the murals and installations take shape, the projects will do more than decorate walls and corners. They will mark gateways, gathering places, and neighborhood stories — giving Cleveland Heights new landmarks made by artists with ties to the city itself.
To see artist bios, renderings and installation updates, visit heightsarts.org/public-art/.
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