Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
2020 Executive board elections

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh opened 2020 Board Elections this Sunday, January 26th. The candidates are Dana Bishop-Root, Sheila Cuellar Shaffer, and Maureen Vissat. You can read more about each candidate below. Members can vote in-person at the January 26th Member's Meeting or online through February 6, 2020.

To vote, please use the email link. If you did not receive the email and you are a member, please email aap@aapgh.org.

dana bishop-root

Dana Bishop-Root has centered her work and heart in North Braddock for eleven years, is a founding member of Transformazium, General Sisters and is the Associate Director at the Braddock Carnegie Library Association. Her work grows alongside local systems of communication, exchange, and resource distribution. Dana has been practicing facilitation of relationships, organizations, neighborhoods and spaces  for 10 years focusing on cooperative, community, collective and collaborative group work.

Through Transformazium and General Sisters her work has been shared at John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Shaboygen, The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, The Brewhouse Association, Pittsburgh, The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; The Jewish Museum, New York; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Konsthall C, Stockholm; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown and Japanese American Museum of San Jose, Whitney Museum, New York.
 
Current board affiliations: Common Field, The Wellness Collective 

I am honored and excited to be considered for a position on the board of directors for the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Since moving to Pittsburgh I have admired the AAP longstanding artist centered membership and exhibiting organization. Over the past few years I have been particularly interested in the leadership of the organization to hold its history while envisioning and enacting what the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh looks like in our current and future cultural ecology of Pittsburgh. To have a deep history and to remain critical and contemporary is a true challenge and absolutely necessary - I look forward to being a part of this work. I am hopeful to share the intersections of my experiences and skill sets in the arts, culture and social justice work with the governance body of the AAP. Thank you for considering me. 

Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer

Sheila Cuellar-Shaffer has been working as an artist, primarily as a painter, and designer for over 15 years. A native of Palmira, Colombia, Sheila graduated with a degree in Architectural Design from the Fundación Academia de Dibujo Profesional and studied Fine Arts at the Instituto Departamental de Bellas Artes in Cali, Colombia. Sheila is a 2017 Flight School Fellow, an initiative of Pittsburgh Center For The Arts/Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Creative Capital and The Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Sheila’s work has been shown at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Susquehanna Museum of Art, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art and numerous galleries in Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and Colombia. Sheila has been invited to show her work at the Pennsylvania State Capitol and the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. Her design Democracy is Power was chosen by the Amplifier Foundation curatorial team, which includes Shepard Fairey, to travel around the country with #powertothepolls, a touring exhibit organized by the Amplifier Foundation along with Women’s March to inspire people from around the country to take to the polls for the 2018 Midterm Elections. 

Sheila currently serves on the Exhibitions Committee of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and the Board of Directors of the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition.

I am a painter who has been living in the Pittsburgh area for almost 16 years, formerly from Miami and born in Colombia. My passion for design and planning brought me to the Exhibitions Committee and I would like to expand that experience with a role on the board. I am interested in art in all forms and attend exhibitions in the city and in the surrounding counties whenever I can to learn about new approaches and populations. I have a particular interest in the immigrant communities of Southwestern PA and the challenges they face. I am the founder and administrator of the Facebook group "Latin American Artists in Pittsburgh" and a board member of the Westmoreland Diversity Coalition. I can bring different perspectives, contacts and ideas to the AAP through those roles. As I've done with the Exhibitions Committee, I would bring embracing diversity and creating and promoting art to all segments of our population as priorities to the board.

MAUREEN VISSAT KOCHANEK

Maureen Vissat Kochanek is an art history professor at Seton Hill University. She teaches a variety of classes such as History of Western Art, Italian Renaissance Art, and Women in Art, Modern Art, American Art, and Post Modern Art. In addition to her decades of teaching at Seton Hill, Maureen has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg, St Vincent College, and summers sessions in Lucca, Italy. Maureen leads art history study trips to Europe each May. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards.
 
In addition to her course load, Maureen is an active public speaker. She has been invited to lecture at many arts organizations, and museums in Southwestern Pennsylvania.  On a larger stage, she presents at national conferences throughout the United States. Maureen is an advocate for social engagement of the arts particularly on issues of social justice and equity.
 
Maureen holds an undergraduate degree in history and art history from Georgetown University and a Master’s in art history from the University of Pittsburgh.  She has two children Livia and Evan Vissat.  Maureen lives in Pittsburgh with her husband Patrick Kochanek, MD.

As an art historian, AAP has been part of my professional and personal life for decades.  It will be my honor to serve as a board member.  The talent in our arts community is a precious resource; it makes the larger community richer.  Thank you artists for visualizing our hopes, articulating our struggles, giving form to our aspirations and enriching the world in which we share. 
 
I believe that my talents as a public voice, both locally as well as nationally, may benefit AAP. I am also an advocate for social engagement of the arts particularly on issues of social justice and equity. Thank you for your consideration, I look forward to serving with you.