Welcome Editions

Welcome Editions are limited edition artworks designed by internationally recognized artists and fabricated by immigrant and refugee artisans at Wave Pool in Camp Washington, Cincinnati. Artists and artisans are paid for the work.

The artist designs the work; the artisans fabricate it using techniques drawn from their own traditions and training. The program creates skilled employment at living wages for artisans who bring craft traditions from their home countries and apply them to contemporary art production. The result is a body of work shaped by multiple hands and traditions.

Past Welcome Edition artists include Chris Johanson & Johanna Jackson, Caroline Woolard, Pedro Reyes, Terence Hammonds, Jeffrey Gibson, Vanessa German, Baseera Khan, Lorena Molina, and Sheida Soleimani.

Proceeds from Welcome Editions support Wave Pool and its collaborators.

Wave Pool is a socially engaged art center in Camp Washington, Cincinnati, built by artists to support artists. Everything we do is structured around giving artists the resources, time, and relationships they need to develop projects at the intersection of creative practice and community life.

Our facilities include a gallery, artist residency, wood shop, ceramics studio, and community gathering space. Our Incubator fellowship supports artists launching sustained social practice initiatives. MATCH employs artists to work within community contexts. Through fiscal sponsorship, we provide institutional backing for artists and creative entrepreneurs to receive grants and manage projects.

We listen deeply, collaborate broadly, and pair communities’ knowledge of their needs with artists’ sense of possibility, extending well beyond conventional exhibition formats into collaborative world building as artistic practice.

wavepoolgallery.org →

A collaboration between ArtWorks and the Cincinnati Art Museum, Commons is the first outdoor mural by internationally acclaimed Pakistani and American artist Shahzia Sikander, whose work reimagines historic South Asian art forms through a contemporary lens, blending themes of identity, feminism, and transformation. Standing 67 feet tall, this mural bridges fine art and public art, celebrating the power of creativity to connect and inspire.

Sikander’s design was brought to life by a team of 20 ArtWorks Youth Apprentices and 3 Teaching Artists, who had the rare opportunity to translate the vision of a globally recognized fine artist to a monumental scale with world-class execution. Commons stands as a symbol of cultural exchange and artistic excellence, reflecting the city’s commitment to empowering the next generation of creatives through hands-on experience and mentorship as they shape the future of public art.

Commons 2026 ArtWorks / Shahzia Sikander / 109 W Court St, Cincinnati OH 45202 / in partnership with the Cincinnati Art Museum / photo by Phill Armstrong

ArtWorks is an award-winning Greater Cincinnati nonprofit that creates community-based public art providing career opportunities for artists of all ages. The organization collaborates with community organizations and residents, businesses, governments, foundations, and nonprofits to build creative works of art that bolster the region’s global reputation as an arts destination.

ArtWorks has employed and trained over 3,500 professional artists and 4,000 youth, ages 14–24. We invest in our creative economy by creating jobs that support local talent, pairing professional artists to inspire and mentor diverse teams of youth, and helping them build 21st-century career-readiness skills. Over the past 30 years, this collaborative approach has created a citywide gallery with more than 14,000 public and private art projects, including more than 300 permanent outdoor murals.

artworkscincinnati.org →

Boris Oicherman, Executive Director

(513) 257-0842

Wave Pool
2940 Colerain Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45225