Below are a portion of artists that have attended Open Wabi or aided in its evolution.
Kate Skakel ’19
Brooklyn, New York
Kate Skakel is a Brooklyn based artist and fabricator. She graduated from the University of Vermont in May of 2016, and spent the following fall at Yestermorrow Design and Build School, studying woodworking. She then moved to New Orleans, LA which saw her practice expand into metalworking, as well as paper sculptures. In 2018, Kate […]
Kat Rosaen ’19
Ann arbor, Michigan
Kat Rosaen is a conceptual artist based in Michigan. She did her undergraduate studies at Eastern Michigan University and her graduate studies at Istituto Europeo di Design Madrid. She has exhibited in group shows in multiple states and internationally. Her work tends to explore her environment and her psyche.
Grace Mertz ’19
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Grace Mertz (b. 1996) is a writer and performer based in central Minnesota. She grew up writing fanfiction, poetry, and novellas but found performative writing when she received her B.A. in Linguistics and Communication Studies from St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN). She completed her M.A. in Communication Studies and Performance at the University […]
Jared Wolfert ’19
Cleveland, Ohio
Jared (b. 1998) is a young emerging artist based in Ohio but also has studio space located in Indiana. Jared is a current student enrolled at Mount Vernon Nazarene University with expected graduation in May 2020. His work focuses on using pop culture with the goal of filtering it through the act of painting and […]
Martha Gregory ’19
San Francisco, CA
Martha Gregory is a filmmaker, editor, writer, director and professor of film at Kenyon College. She received her MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2016. She edited and co-directed a short documentary called Facing the Surge which toured the country with Citizens Climate Lobby. Martha’s most recent short doc, Three Red […]
Chad Penner ’17
Roanoke, VA
Chad Penner (b. 1993) grew up in Roanoke, VA and is currently based in South Carolina. He earned a BA in Art and Visual Technology with a concentration in drawing from George Mason University in 2015 and a Masters in Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of South Carolina in 2018. Penner’s works […]
Adrian Hatfield ’17
Detroit, Michigan
Adrian Hatfield received his B.F.A. from The Ohio State University in 1996 and his M.F.A. from Ohio University in 2003. Hatfield’s works are included in the public collections of The University of Michigan, The South Bend Museum of Art, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, and The University of Iceland in Reykjavik, Iceland. Solo exhibition venues […]
Micah Daw ’18
Greensboro, North Carolina
Micah Daw (b. 1979) is an artist based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Born and raised in Florida, Micah received his BFA from University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. In 2010 he earned an MFA at the Ohio State University. During this time he won the Fergus Scholarship for two consecutive years and was selected for […]
Julie Puma ’18
Denver, Colorado
Brought as a baby to England by well-traveled parents, Julie Puma spent her first fourteen years there with summers spent in her native Brooklyn. Her earliest memory of art is at age five when her mother gave her a set of oil paints which she used to paint a flower on a Styrofoam meat package. […]
Liv Garber ’18
Queens, NY
Liv Garber is a current third-year student at Parsons (The New School) studying illustration and screen studies in New York.
William Mark Sommer ’17
Sacramento, California
William Mark Sommer (b. 1990) is an artist based in Phoenix, Arizona. Creating in photography for over 10 years has brought him all over the Western United States. Taking the road less traveled and searching for forgotten places of yesteryear has brought him to a better understanding of American nostalgia and the idealized glory of […]
Amanda Heidel ’17
New Paltz, New York
Amanda Heidel is a New York based artist. She grew up in New Jersey and received her BA in Advertising and PR, later continuing her education in Graphic Design. She is a current MFA student at SUNY New Paltz studying Sculpture. Her art practice merges art and life and explores the intersection of community, performance, […]
Nicole Shaver ’17
Nicole Shaver was born and raised in Port Washington, Wisconsin where she skipped stones and watched fisherman gut salmon as a child. She received her BFA from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and MFA from The University of Iowa. Her practice involves ideas of place and belonging using geographical sites as a metaphorical compass in order […]
Sarah Novio ’17
New Jersey
Sarah Novio (b. 1989) is an artist based in Woodbridge, New Jersey. She was born in Brooklyn and raised in Long Island, NY. She moved to Tampa, FL to receive her BFA at the University of Tampa. Shortly after, she moved back to New York to complete her MFA at the New York Academy of […]
Katrina Bello ’17
Davao City, Philippines
Katrina Bello (b. 1973) is a visual artist and curator who is from Davao City, Philippines. Her works have been shaped by experiences of natural environments; and topics on memory, landscape, time, ecology and geology are the subtext of her work which takes form in drawings, paintings, installation, photography, and video. Her work has been […]
Edward Steffanni ’17
Dayton, Ohio
Edward Steffanni is an artist from Dayton, Ohio. He has received multiple awards and has been featured in exhibitions nationally. In his practice, he exploits imagery and materiality to explore religious themes as well as matters of identity and emptiness. He engages with these themes through painting, drawing, and sculpture.
Elizabeth Tolson ’16
Brooklyn, New York
Elizabeth Tolson is an Expanded Media Artist and Educator whose work explores the boundaries of art, technology, and feminism. Through an alchemy of artistic skills honed during life and scholastic experiences, she brings important social issues front and center and generates real discussion. Challenging group norms through over-representation of societies gender flaws, she draws the […]
Jason M. Stewart ’16
New Jersey
Jason M. Stewart is a New Jersey based interdisciplinary artist with a focus on installation, painting, and sculpture. Jason received his BFA from Rowan University and his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015. Jason’s practice inhabits multiple modalities, creating works that address notions of “place” as articulated by the various voices […]
Justin Sorensen ’16
Northwestern Pennsylvania
Justin Sorensen (b. 1986) is an artist based in Central Ohio. He grew up in Northwestern Pennsylvania and received his BFA from Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA. He did graduate work at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, before moving on to complete his MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been […]
Don Boyd
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Boyd, a Harvard graduate with 36 years experience in art education, studied numerous successful art teaching models including Andover Academy, Wellesley College, and Black Mountain College.
Bart O’Reilly ’12
Dublin, Ireland
Bart was born in Dublin, Ireland (1975.) He graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2000. Today he lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and has shown work in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Annapolis and Baltimore as well as Ireland and Northern Ireland. Bart is adjunct professor of drawing and two dimensional design at Anne Arundel Community College […]
Emily Harris ’12
Emily Harris is a Queens-based artist and a current MFA Candidate at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She has exhibited her work in venues in New York; Ai Gallery and Bridge Art Fair, Chicago, IL;and internationally at 2B Gallery in Budapest, Hungary; Galeria Z in Bratislava, Slovakia, The Museum of Arts & Crafts Itami, Itami-shi, Japan and […]
Miguel Navarro ’12
Los Angelos, California
Miguel A. Navarro was born in Los Angeles, California. He received his BFA from University of California at Santa Cruz and is currently completing a low-residency MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore Maryland. Miguel works in sculpture, video, installation and performance. He has exhibited at The Plastic Factory in Los Angeles […]
Jason Andrew Bowles
Dayton, Ohio
He is interested in the transience of materials and the transience of our own existence, hence his interest in Wabi Sabi. He is also very interested in the act of problem-solving by making creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are at hand (regardless of their original purpose,) therefore, found materials and objects become part […]
Chas. Foster ’12
Wheaton, Maryland
Chas. Foster lives in Wheaton, Maryland. He earned his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012, and teaches in the International Baccalaureate Program at Springbrook High School. He has exhibited in Baltimore, New York, Tucson, Salvador da Bahia (Brasil), and wherever a tire hangs suspended, yearning for the earth’s core.