Click here to learn more about Shori and their background.

An interdisciplinary artist, Shori finds themself grounded in representation. Essential themes of their work include the female body as a site of resistance, the blurred lines between subjectivity and objectivity, and African American identity as propagated through online space. In much of their work, Shori is interrogating memory and generational trauma. Shori is fascinated by the possibilities found within alternate universes and liminal space: both through and beyond the body. References in Shori’s work include shoujo anime, beauty-supply stores, the aesthetic language of pornography, bodegas and gas-stations: combining to form a visual autobiography of their girlhood experience.

Click here to learn more about Derek and his background.

Derek Reese creates sculpture, assemblage, flat works, and installations using objects, materials, photography, and video in a way that is informed Derek Reese creates sculpture, by his upbringing in a former coal-camp turned "holler" community in West Virginia. With plenty of absurdity and irony, his aim is to examine and subvert the hierarchical value of objects and materials in order to create a cache of visual vocabulary with which he can use to better describe and understand the impact of Place on an artist's psyche. Through a process of breaking down and re-building imagery, objects, and materials, more subtle yet insidious threads are revealed in his work: topics such environmentalism, toxic masculinity, white supremacy, and poverty. Derek seeks to make art that, like life, can feel at once beautiful and precarious.

Click here to learn more about Dan and his background.

Droz’s work explores the boundaries between two and three dimensions, calling attention to the limits of perception. Using novel methods of folding and forming metal, glass, wire mesh and polymers with reflective surfaces and sinuous forms, Droz’s sculptures reference the ‘layers’ of understanding the world around us.

Droz’s work explores the boundaries between two and three dimensions, calling attention to the limits of perception. Using novel methods of folding and forming metal, glass, wire mesh and polymers with reflective surfaces and sinuous forms, Droz’s sculptures reference the ‘layers’ of understanding the world around us.

Droz’s work explores the boundaries between two and three dimensions, calling attention to the limits of perception. Using novel methods of folding and forming metal, glass, wire mesh and polymers with reflective surfaces and sinuous forms, Droz’s sculptures reference the ‘layers’ of understanding the world around us.

“Looking back over this oeuvre, one thing is clear: Droz has not felt constricted by two dimensions. In space Droz feels sure of himself, in space he finds himself, in space he is established.” –Kurt Shaw, art critic

“Dan Droz’s work rewards the curious and probing inquiry of imaginative and active looking. It’s a rich and expanding experience.” –Todd Keyser, Curator/Gallery Director, Harlan Gallery, Seton Hill University

Click here to learn more about Eriko and their background.

“My work centers around personal mythologies and cultivating folkloric narratives that relate to sexuality, fetish, and perceptions of femininity. I base my mythologies around a cast of icons that exist in the worlds I'm creating: The masked femmes that live and play between heavenly and hellish realms with their companions (the masked cats, the 'nureonna' or snake-woman, the harpy, and the green human-horse hybrid); the spectating 'jorogumo' or woman-spider, and the pearl divers who live and work next to a volcano with a 'yurei' or ghost, and most recently the ‘kitsune’ or fox spirit who uses her tail to seduce women. I depict scenes and interactions between these characters that are intimate and playful, blurring the lines between relationships that can be perceived as romantic/sexual or platonic. I draw heavily from Japanese folktales, ghost stories, and cinema to create my mythological scenes and use them as launching points to talk about gender and sexuality in relation to my heritage and the perception of the culture. The characters I gravitate towards are often figures who were shunned by their societies or lived through a great loss or trauma, continuing to haunt the places they used to inhabit or called home. Many of the characters I depict in my work come directly from folktales and ghost stories (the ‘nureonna,’ ‘jorogumo,’ ‘yurei,’ and the harpy), and the work I make places these characters in new worlds and contexts in attempts to redeem and honor them.

The narratives in my work are a response to my experiences with gender and sexuality in relation to my Japanese heritage and my upbringing and life within the US. Though I identify as non-binary, I am mostly perceived as a woman and that perception shapes the way I interact within the cis-hetero white patriarchy that predominates the US. Being part of a culture and demographic that’s highly sexualized and fetishized influences my work heavily, and my work is a result of the confusion and pain that I’ve felt in navigating these paradigms. My aim is to present scenes that subvert ideas of gender and sexuality that are often associated with Japanese culture and how it’s perceived. It’s also my attempt to heal from past traumas and gain ownership of my identity.”

Click here to learn more about Tina and her background.

Through my work I tell a story, carrying messages from ancestors. My work is a celebration of the profound joy of gathering with loved ones and the strength of spiritual connections. It is an expression of the deep pain of racism and the pathways forward, the resilience of African American families and the light that lifts them up.

My intention is to give dignity to human suffering, finding rhythms that are both mind-stirring and soul-soothing. When I create a piece, I need silence to listen to the words inside myself. As a woman, and as an African American, looking for a place of peace and calm, I channel those messages in a visual interpretation. My designs are a free-flow approach to quilting akin to the crazy quilt patchwork and applique traditions that use layers of fabric to tell a story. The works are primarily hand-quilted mixed-media, and include photo transfer images, beading and scraps of commercial and handmade cloth. Each piece is embellished with symbols and articulated with rich colors and patterns that have personal and cultural meanings, acting as a reminder of the often-obscured African American story.

Click here to learn more about Saige and her background.

“I am learning how to sit with the unknown. In a time of global uncertainty I sheltered in my house in an unfamiliar city as vulnerabilities and nostalgia seeped from childhood cracks and bubbled to the surface. As my life remained mostly idle, I gave myself a chance to marinate in memories of being in the kitchen with my grandmother, birthday parties with mom and chasing ice cream trucks. With nearly no tools I played with reused materials and attempted to liberate myself from expectations.”

Click here to learn more about Sarah and her background.

My work seeks to question the socially constructed gender role of those who identify as women and its historical evolution over time in American society. I draw inspiration from advertising, prescriptive literature and Americana, utilizing everyday objects that symbolize invisible labor as they relate to the domestic realm. My choice to primarily use porcelain is intended to conceptually elevate objects that would otherwise be viewed as ordinary.

My research investigates post World War II culture and its subsequent influence on the dynamic of the domestic realm during a time when more women were entering the workforce and taking on the dual roles of workingwomen and caretakers of the home. The objects I employ reference popular symbols of American culture that continue to resonate today.

My ongoing body of work, Heirloom, investigates everyday objects and specific foods in relation to cultural identity; speaking to the ways in which familial traditions evolve and are often lost through the passage of time. Through recontextualizing these objects, my intention is to facilitate a meaningful dialogue related to the culture of which they are a part. This act of storytelling is inherent to the process of sharing memory, tradition and loss.

Click here to learn more about Centa and her background.

In her lens-based practice, Centa Schumacher uses abstraction and luminance to explore ideas of consciousness and the indefinite. Uninterested in what the camera can do as a factual recording device, she works with a homemade lens assembled from vintage camera elements, creating a tool that distorts light and perspective. If photography is the act of capturing light and time, then this lens acts as a tool to view these realities on another wavelength, much like deep space telescopes capture non-visible spectra to bring us otherwise hidden views of the universe. In this way, these images become a portal between natural phenomena and the unseen world.

Click here to learn more about Sandra and her background.

“I throw my forms on a wheel and fire them without glaze using a bare clay technique called horsehair raku. Building multiple forms from different clay bodies for one piece lets me blend pink, yellow ocher, and neutral colors together. The highly burnished forms take a month or longer to create. After the forms are burnished, they are bisque and gold fired. The final phase is the primal creative experience for me. It is a very fast and fluid process. The kiln is raised to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. I watch for heat radiant cues on the ware to pick the exact moment to stop the firing and immediately reduce with horsehair. I am drawn to the intimate and painterly approach of horsehair reduction. The carbon from the hair embeds into the burnished layers of the clay resulting in translucent planes of line and smoke in the surface.”

“The photographs are images of the tidal pools and estuaries from Maine to Key West. When I am photographing I feel the awe and grandeur of our fragile world. I am deeply concerned about the negative effects that humans have on our environment. By documenting small overlooked moments, I hope to share with others the beauty that is all around us.

I use a Nikon D-90 and a Karl Zeiss, Makro Planar 2/100m lens to capture small moments and make them bigger than life. I will work in a small area during different lighting situations for days. Hundreds of photos are taken in different focal planes representing the waters depths. I love being spontaneous during this process too; it enables me to see things that are unexpected. A big bonus is when a creature visits for long periods of time in close proximity to me. The building of the digital compilations is fluid and I feel very connected to the process sorting through my photo files to build the final image.

My work intends to bring humans and nature closer together harmoniously, expressing beauty in every microcosm.”

Click here to learn more about Ignacio and his background.

His current inspirations take him to the medium of screen printing which are inspired by alchemical diagrams and the Japanese concept of Ma, the space or gap between two structural points. It is these two themes which he uses to explore shape and space to find resonating compositions.

Click here to learn more about Lizzee and her background.

"To me, beauty is looks you can never forget. A face should jolt, not soothe." - John Waters

I create mixed media portraits that explore color, texture, and the juxtaposition of natural and manufactured materials. The idea of releasing something wild and unexpected into the world is one I revisit with each portrait I create. Each begins as a precise, high-contrast drawing. I distort and abstractify physical features, creating a playful, semi-nightmarish portrait. My subjects of choice include imaginary monsters, reality TV stars, and family members. After software processing, I use CNC technology to fabricate components from colorful acrylic, birch plywood, and adhesive vinyl. After assembly, the final result is a freakish and frenetic portrait that jolts more than it does soothe.

Click here to learn more about Gadi and his background.

“I was always impressed with the complexity of the forms of the human figure, especially intrigued by features of the face. I enjoy the challenge of capturing an emotion, an expression, a gesture - into a three dimensional piece. The process of creating a sculpture, starting with the touch and feel of the clay, the modeling process and the finishing stages is an exciting journey. I find my inspiration online and from daily encounters and situations. I love sculpting portraits and figures from life, and I also like to sculpt camels - I find them very expressive and fun.”