CLEVELAND — An art show in northeast Ohio is allowing artists to explore often forgotten communities. One of the artists is not only breaking barriers in her chosen medium but using her art for activism too.

What You Need To Know

  • Shani Richards is a metalsmith born and raised in Akron, Ohio

  • Richards got into metalsmith in college after hearing a female metalsmith give a lecture on the craft
  • Richards is participating in a project with the Sculpture Center called Crossroads: Still We Rise​

“I’m cutting some brass of a design that I have, ‘Ain’t I Woman.’ It’s associated with Sojourner Truth," Shani Richards said. 

Richards is an artist. A metalsmith to be exact.

“I was taking classes at Myers School of Art and I one day walked in on a lecture by Sherry Sims, a metalsmith, and she went through her process and what metalsmithing is. I didn’t know what it was. It was like a mystery to me. So she like opened my eyes to the medium,” Richards said.

Richards's work is highly influenced by racism, sexism and history.

“Part of my journey as an artist is investigating the history of this country.”

She has made pieces honoring lost Black lives.

“I made this piece for Trayvon Martin,” Richards said. “I tried to imagine if I was a kid and I lived in a country that, you know, that we live in where it’s like a battleground. You could be shot or killed any moment. If I had to make something to protect myself what would I do?”

She’s currently working on a project with the Sculpture Center in Cleveland. She and 11 other Black artists are working on community projects in six different Cleveland neighborhoods.

“What I decided to focus on is Sidaway Bridge," she said.

Richards became interested in Sidaway Bridge because of its history and connection with racism.

“It was vandalized during the Hough riots in Cleveland in the 60s. Somebody on the Slavic Village side took the boards on the bridge, the walkway, took them out and put a fire on the bridge so that nobody on the Kinsman side, which was prominently Black, could enter the Slavic Village side again,” she said.

Richards hopes to use her art to help build communities and as a minority, in her field, she has this message for any young girl who comes after her.​

“I would say that she does it because I’m not the only metalsmith. This country was built on the backs of slaves. There were blacksmiths. I mean we, Black people, we have a lot of skills that have been purposely erased with a false narrative so I would say for that little girl to come to me and I’ll show her,” she said.​

The show Richards is working on with the Sculpture Center is called Crossroads: Still We Rise and will open in July.