MEMBERS
Gabriela Bulisova
photography, multimedia art
Gabriela's work focuses on underreported and overlooked stories affecting marginalized populations around the world and in the United States. She has received numerous awards for her projects. In recent years, she was the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar grants — one in Poland and one at Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia. She was also the recipient of the Sondheim Prize, the Open Society Institute’s Moving Walls, and the CANON “Explorer of Light,” among other awards. Gabriela earned an MFA degree in Photography and Digital Imaging from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She taught photojournalism at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington, DC and George Mason University in Virginia. An original founding member of Atlantika Collective, she is currently based in Central Europe.
todd forsgren
photography
Todd uses photography to examine themes of ecology, environmentalism, and perceptions of landscape while striving to strike a balance between art history and natural history. To do so, he employs a range of approaches, from documentary strategies to experimental techniques. His photographs have been featured in National Geographic, Slate, Wired, The Guardian, Nature, New Scientist, and TIME's Lightbox. And they've been shown at numerous venues, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Noorderlicht Photography Festival, the Academy Art Museum, the Rotterdam Photo Festival, Koenig & Clinton, Carroll & Sons, Heiner Contemporary, and Jen Bekman Gallery. Todd studied biology and visual arts at Bowdoin College and photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has a Masters degree from J.E. Purkyně University and was a Fulbright Fellow in Mongolia. He lives in Billings, Montana where he teaches art at Rocky Mountain College and serves as the director of the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery as well as makes a lot of Play-Doh sculptures with his daughter.
billy friebele
multimedia, drawing, video, kinetic sculpture, and installation
Billy Friebele is an artist working in the Washington, DC region. He has exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Orlando Museum of Art, the Art Museum of the Americas, the Katzen Center for the Arts, and the Kreeger Museum among other venues nationally and internationally. Billy was a Hamiltonian Artist fellow and one of the first makers-in-residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Central to his research and teaching are a concern for the tension between our mediated digital experience and the materiality of the environment. He earned a BA in Philosophy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Billy Friebele is an Associate Professor of Art at Loyola University Maryland.
mark isaac
photography, video, electronic music, installation
Mark is an artist working in photography, video, sound and installation. His work focuses on socially conscious topics, such as the climate crisis, memory, diversity, and reconciliation. Many of his projects, accomplished in collaboration with his wife, Gabriela Bulisova, are designed to bridge the gap between documentary and fine art practices. Among other awards, he has received two Fulbright grants for projects in Ukraine and Poland. Isaac was awarded an MFA in Photography and Digital Imaging from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and he studied at the Corcoran College of Art + Design and the Smithsonian Institution. His art has been exhibited in galleries in the United States and abroad. A founding member of Atlantika Collective, he is currently based in Central Europe.
KATIE KEHOE
artist
Katie Kehoe creates socially engaged performance and site-specific installation, often incorporating duration, prop, photography and video as defining artistic elements to explore themes that address the impacts of climate change and excessive waste production. A commitment to engagement and sustainability form the basis of her creative practice. Katie’s work has been exhibited across the US and Canada, highlights include: The Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, DC), The Contemporary Museum (Baltimore, MD), Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland, ME), RedLine Contemporary (Denver, CO), Emerge Art Fair (Washington, DC), SummerWorks Festival, LiveArt Series (Toronto, ON) as well as solo exhibitions at VisArts (Rockville, MD), Verso Gallery and Type Books Gallery (Toronto, CAN). Katie holds an MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art (a multidisciplinary MFA program) at the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, MD). Katie is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor teaching in the areas of sculpture and expanded media and art foundations in the Department of Art at Florida State University.
www.katiekehoe.com | www.provisionsforbuoyancy.com | www.pierplatforms.com
YAM CHEW OH
artist, educator, writer
Yam Chew Oh is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer working in Baltimore, New York, and Singapore. His practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, assemblage, and photography, and his works explore circumstance, time, and attention through history, relationships, and the everyday. Yam Chew has exhibited and published in the United States, Asia, and Australia, and his works have been featured in Commotion, Lumina Journal, Lianhe Zaobao, Studio Visit, and Velocity. After moving across the world 17 times, Yam Chew’s works often reflect the places that he has been, both physically and mentally. They contain personal stories and significant moments in time, drawn from his formative years in long-gone rural Singapore, familial history and relationships, an international education, and a multilingual/cultural background. Yam Chew is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he received an MFA in Fine Arts, and a member of the Alumni Council Board of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
MARIA ALEJANDRA SAENZ
independent curator, architect, researcher
María is an independent curator and architect from Bogotá, Colombia. Her curatorial work focuses on contemporary art in relation to memory, language, cultural heritage, migration, and the environment. María is a founding member of Se Habla Español, a curatorial collective working on interdisciplinary artistic and social projects. She has worked at the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá (Colombia) and the Feria del Millón (Colombia) and has collaborated with the Contemporary Arts Center (Spain) and the Museum of Art of the National University of Colombia. María holds an MA degree in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts (NYC) and a BA degree in Architecture with a minor in Art History from the University of Los Andes (Colombia). She was a recipient of the SVA Alumni Society Scholarship & Award for her thesis exhibition “Geographical Memories: Nature as a Victim of the Colombian Armed Conflict.” She is currently based in Connecticut.
Sue Wrbican
artist
Sue Wrbican is an artist interested in intersections of the environment, economics, labor and surrealism. Recent projects are extensive artistic explorations into the work of Surrealist Kay Sage resulting in towering sculptures inspired by Sage’s paintings. These works include Buoyant Force at the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Reston, VA and The Eventual Outcome of an Instant on the grounds of the Seligmann Center in Sugar Loaf, NY. Wrbican has presented works in venues such as Riverviews Art Space in Lynchburg, Virginia, VisArts in Rockville, Maryland, Greater Reston Art Center, the Zizek Studies conference at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning. Her video Back Roof is part of Miranda July's Joanie 4 Jackie Archive at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA. Collaborative works include Scream at the Economy with the Floating Lab Collective and The Frozen Car with Mary Carothers. Wrbican has held residencies at the Robert Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, Florida, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California, La Baldi in Montegiovi, Italy and The Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. From 1997-1999 she was a video Artist In Residence at Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) working with Billy Klüver, Julie Martin and Barbro Schultz Lundestam on a series of films entitled 9 evenings: theatre and engineering documenting the 1966 performances of Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, David Tudor and Yvonne Rainer among others. She worked closely with Robert Whitman to compose historical film footage of his 1960 performance American Moon. Sue Wrbican teaches in the School of Art at George Mason University and her education includes an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design and BA in English Writing with a concentration in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently she is working with Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art and Playful City Labs on Buoyant Oracle, a divining project featuring predictions by female identifying artists residing in the Washington, DC region. The project received support from The GLB Memorial Fund.
CONTRIBUTORS
BILL CRANDALL
photography, music, writing
Bill is an award-winning photographer with more than 20 years' experience in photojournalism for major publications. He has worked as a photo editor and curator, and has conducted lectures, workshops, and portfolio reviews. Currently he is a photography educator and develops his own long-term projects, which strike a balance between art and documentary impulses. A Voice of America review of his debut book The Waiting Room - Photographs from Belarus called him "an American master". Bill also creates music under the name Místochord. His debut concept album New World Voyage, which imagines the journey of the first humans to leave Earth forever to colonize another planet, was released in early 2016. Bill was an original founding member of Atlantika Collective.
JOY ON FIRE
music
JOY ON FIRE formed in Baltimore more than 12 years ago and is currently headquartered in Trenton, N.J. Featured twice on NPR's All Songs Considered, the band is scheduled to play a Tiny Desk Concert in the coming months. Its most recent release is the full length album, Hymn, which appeared on Procrastination Records. The band recently self-released the Thunderdome EP, which features "Uh Huh," and is available on vinyl only at joyonfire.com. Future releases will include Unknown Cities, a hybrid album featuring instrumentals and vocals, as well as States of America, the band's first album to feature vocals throughout.
Joy on Fire is:
John Paul Carillo (bass, guitar)
Anna Meadors (baritone and alto saxophones, vocals)
Mark Eichenberger (drums, percussion)
Dan Gutstein (lyrics, vocals)
MICHELLE FRANKFURTER
photography
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Michelle Frankfurter is a documentary photographer, currently living in Takoma Park, Maryland. A graduate from Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in English, Michelle has been recognized, published and exhibited worldwide. Before settling in the Washington, DC area, Frankfurter spent three years living in Nicaragua, where she worked as a stringer for the British news agency, Reuters and with the human rights organization Witness For Peace documenting the effects of the contra war on civilians. In 1995, a long-term project on Haiti earned her two World Press Photo awards. Since 2000, Frankfurter has concentrated on the border region between the United States and Mexico and on themes of migration. She is a 2013 winner of the Aaron Siskind Foundation grant, a 2011 Top 50 Critical Mass winner, a finalist for the 2011 Aftermath Project and the 2012 Foto Evidence Book Award for her project Destino, documenting the journey of Central American migrants across Mexico. Her first book, Destino was published in September 2014 by Foto Evidence.
Valery kondakov / Кондаков Валерий Павлович
artist / художник
Valery Kondakov, born 1947, is a professional artist educated in Vladivostok. His pseudonym Evi Enk is a reference to his roots as an Evenk, an indigenous people in Eastern Siberia. His work has been exhibited in: Novosibirsk - an international exhibition; Krasnoyarsk - 2 personal exhibitions at the Union of Artists and an exhibition at the Academy of Arts; and the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg. He was awarded 2nd and 3rd place in the international sculpture competition in Moscow, and he had a solo exhibition in Dresden Germany. His work may be described as “neo-archaic” and it offers a modern look at the ancient culture of his people. Kondakov lives and works in the north of Lake Baikal, where in order to pursue “the most true vision of the ancient world,” he leads a reclusive lifestyle. His diverse and prolific artistic practice includes painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative art, literature, and poetry.
Кондаков Валерий Павлович, 1947г.р. (псевдоним Еви Енк - имеющий эвенкийские корни). Профессиональный художник. Образование высшее художественное, г. Владивосток. Наиболее значительные участия в выставках: г. Новосибирск- междунарожная выставка. Красноярск - 2персональные выставки в Союзе художников и выставка в Академии художеств. Государственный Русский музей г. Петербург. Диплом 2 и 3 степени в международном конкурсе скульптуры г.Москва. Персональная выставка г. Дрезден Германия. Моё творчество связано с этническим направлением в искусстве: неоархаика. Это современный новый взгляд на древнюю культуру моего народа. Живу и работаю на Севере Байкала. Для наиболее истинного видения мира древних, веду затворнический образ жизни. Занимаюсь: живопись, графика, скульптура, декоративное искусство, литература, поэзия.
Joe Lucchesi
educator, curator, art historian
Joe is Associate Professor of Art History and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program Coordinator at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He teaches western art history, emphasizing modern and contemporary art and theory. He curated Amazons in the Drawing Room: the Art of Romaine Brooks at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC and the Art Museum at UC-Berkeley and was consulting curator for Smithsonian American Art Museum's The Art of Romaine Brooks. He has published several articles on Brooks and her social and artistic circles. His interests in visual culture and queer history have informed other writing and lecture projects, including work on the soldier's body in World War 2 advertising, lesbian imagery in contemporary film, photographic archives and LGBT history, and affect in digital images. Joe was an original founding member of Atlantika Collective.
Dereck Stafford mangus
visual artist, writer
Dereck Stafford Mangus is a Baltimore-based visual artist and writer. His artwork has been exhibited in select galleries throughout Charm City, including Atlas Fine Arts, Maryland Art Place, the Peale Center for Baltimore History & Architecture, and elsewhere. His visual work was most recently featured in the intimate group exhibition Constructed at Full Circle Gallery. Over the past few years, recognition for his written compositions has included an Honorable Mention from the esteemed Philadelphia independent arts journal Artblog, and selection for publication in Full Bleed, the annual journal of art and design at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 2018, he won the prestigious Frieze Writer’s Prize for his review of a major exhibition celebrating Black artist Jack Whitten at The Baltimore Museum of Art. Mangus holds an MLA in Visual Arts from Harvard, and an MA in Critical Studies from MICA. He lives with his partner in the historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore.
EVGENY MASLOBOEV
composer, musician, music theorist, graphic artist, film and theater director, writer
Evgeny Masloboev, based in Irkutsk, Russia in Eastern Siberia, is a composer, musician, music theorist, graphic artist, film and theater director, and writer. Since 2008, he has also been an official artist of the British record company Leo Records and has published 5 music albums in London, including Russian Folk Songs in the Key of Sadness (2008), Russian Folk Songs in the Key of Sadness (2010), Russian Folk Songs in the Key of Winter (2012), Your Beautiful Face Makes me Cry (2013), Russian Folk Songs in the Key of New Jazz (2014) and the forthcoming Mushroom Songs of the Russian North.
Евгений Маслобоев, живущий в Иркутске, Россия, в Восточной Сибири, - композитор, музыкант, теоретик музыки, график, режиссер театра и кино, писатель. С 2008 года он также является официальным артистом британской звукозаписывающей компании Leo Records и опубликовал 5 музыкальных альбомов в Лондоне, в том числе «Русские народные песни в ключе печали» (2008), «Русские народные песни в ключе печали» (2010), «Русские народные песни в ключе зимы» (2012), «Ваше прекрасное лицо заставляет меня плакать» (2013), «Русские народные песни в ключе нового джаза» (2014) и предстоящие «Грибные песни русского Севера».
ZHANNA Ohanesian
student, volunteer
Zhanna Ohanesian is a 21-year-old political science student. Zhanna was born and raised in Ukraine, but has always felt a deep connection to her historic homeland of Armenia and her ancestors.
She grew up in a Ukrainian village, surrounded by nature, books and folklore.
Zhanna dreams of being useful to people through her work. Her main interests today are human rights, volunteering, and ways of resolving military conflicts.
Жанна Оганесян - 21-річна студентка політології. Жанна народилась та виросла в Україні, однак завжди відчувала глибокий зв’язок зі своєю історичною батьківщиною Вірменією та зі своїми предками.
Дівчина виросла в українському селі, оточена природою природою, книгами та фольклором.
Жанна мріє бути корисною для людей через свою роботу. Її головні інтереси на сьогодні - права людини, волонтерство, шляхи вирішення воєнних конфліктів.
PHIL ROSTEK
painter, composer, theorist
Phil Rostek was an invitee theorist for the Digital Art Exchange Group (DAX) at Carnegie Mellon University during the 80’s. He is associated with Fusion Art and the Rivington School in the Lower East Side of NYC - where he filmed events in a location known to the artists there as the Sculpture Garden. St. Bonaventure University holds 29 works of his works concerning the life and legends of St. Francis of Assisi in their permanent collection. Phil has assumed many alter ego names over the years - the man who wore tails, the art doctor, Phil Europe, phriar phil, philip the transplant, Periclese Rostek and others. He has posted over 1K pieces of original music on YouTube. After a heart transplant in 2008 Phil has performed on stage and composed music for ballet. He has shown his artwork regionally, nationally and internationally. His book, “A Foreigner in Hades,” published by Autonomedia, is available on Amazon.
MARIA SHESIUK
composition, electronic music
Maria is a composer and electronic musician deeply involved in the experimental music scene both in Baltimore and Washington, DC. Her current solo project, MASLO, made its debut at a recent showcase put on by the local label This Could Go Boom!. She is also a co-founder of the experimental music project “Heterodyne,” which was recently featured in the Washington Post, as well as several other improvisational projects and collectives. Maria’s work was also highlighted in the 2017 Baltimore High Zero Festival. Recently her focus has shifted to synthesizer music combined with field recordings and masked vocals to create contemplative dreamscapes. She comes from a family of classically trained musicians, and she started on the same path by playing classical piano as a child in Ukraine. Maria found from an early age that the only way she could effectively communicate her thoughts and emotions was through writing music. Yogic philosophy and meditation are also part of that process. She chose to study medicine and is currently a practicing Physician Assistant as well as a yoga teacher. Music, however, remains the driving force in her life. She is an avid outdoor enthusiast and a strong supporter of environmental causes.
Jessica Zychowicz
research, criticism, curation, writing
Jessica Zychowicz is the Director of Fulbright Ukraine & IIE: Institute of International Education, Kyiv Office. She recently published her monograph, Superfluous Women: Art, Feminism, and Revolution in Twenty-First Century Ukraine (University of Toronto Press 2020). In 2017-2018 Dr. Zychowicz was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where she taught courses in visual sociology, gender, and conducted interviews and archival research toward her second book. She has authored numerous articles on gender, human rights, revolution and protest in postcommunism. Dr. Zychowicz is a Board Member of the Association for Women in Slavic Studies (AWSS), an Advisory Board member of H-Net H-Ukraine, and is a founding co-editor of the Forum for Race and Postcolonialism at Krytyka.com.