2024 JURY ADVISORY BOARD
The Jury Advisory Board is a year-round Advisory Council to the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair staff. They provide rules and standards review during the art fair. They also meet in a final composition session to review the invitations from the jury panels and establish a wait list.
Danny R. W. Baskin is the current Director of Galleries at Eastern Michigan University. Originally from Arkansas and now living in Ann Arbor, Baskin co-founded FEAST Gallery in 2016 and has since worked as Museum Manager at 21c Museum and Project Manager at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. He has regularly worked as guest curator, project manager, and creative facilitator for different art organizations and projects around the Southern region and his writing has been published in numerous catalogs, art publications, and didactic materials. Outside of these pursuits, Baskin is an artist and furniture maker, holding an MFA in sculpture from the University of Arkansas School of Art and a BFA in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Jennifer Cantley is the Community Gallery & Advisory Manager at the Toledo Museum of Art and a visual artist focusing in physical science and abstraction. Jennifer’s work has been sold and exhibited nationally, and she has work included in the collection on view at the Parker H. Petit Institute of Bioengineering & Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Jennifer co-founded the Alluvium Gallery at Kendall College of Art & Design (Grand Rapids, MI), and has directed and curated various galleries including Center Gallery at StudioSwan (Metro-Atlanta, GA), the Limelight Gallery (Atlanta, GA), and most recently the new Robert C. and Susan Savage Community Gallery (Toledo, OH). In addition, Jennifer has worked as an Art Consultant for an international luxury art consulting firm based out of Atlanta, where she selected and installed art worldwide. Jennifer has a passion for sharing art with her community and has worked in youth and adult art education for many years. Recently, her focus has been on art education and outreach in low-income communities. Jennifer holds an MFA from Kendall College of Art & Design, as well as a BFA from Eastern Michigan University.
Lynda Cole Lynda Cole paints in encaustic and oil paint and cold wax and also creates large scale 3 dimensional geometric pieces. She has exhibited widely and won awards for her work, including Art Prize 2011 where she won third prize for her work titled ‘Rain’. She graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in Textile and Clothing Design. She continued her education at the University of Michigan where she studied Botany. From 1976 - 1990 she ran her landscape design company - Wildwood Flower.
Jeremy Noonan is a Professor and Section Lead of Fiber and Textiles College for Creative Studies. Jeremy Noonan is a craft-based artist and acclaimed textile designer whose creative practice spans across the fields of art and design. He founded Noonan Studio LLC in 2008, with the aim of exploring innovative ways of using pattern, color, and materials for a diverse range of surface applications. His work has been recognized for its creativity, quality, and attention to detail, and has been featured in prominent design publications. As a textile designer, Noonan has collaborated with leading national and international companies in the industry, creating designs for a diverse range of products, including upholstery, architectural glass, area rugs, wallcoverings, and home fashion. His approach to design is rooted in a deep understanding of the potential of textiles as a medium for communication and expression. In addition to his commercial work, Noonan maintains an active art practice, which allows him to push the boundaries of his medium and explore new creative directions. He currently serves as a Professor and Head of Fiber and Textiles at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI, where he shares his passion and expertise with a new generation of artists and designers.
Alison Rivett is Associate Director of the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan and a practicing visual artist. She received her MFA in art and design from the Stamps School at the University of Michigan in 2007 after studying both classics and art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She worked in exhibition design and visitor services at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; American Museum of Magic, Marshall MI; and U-M Museum of Natural History. She taught painting at the University of Michigan before moving to Bangalore, India to teach and develop new programs at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology for seven years. Her current creative practice involves interpreting PhD dissertations through image-making.
Jeri Rosenberg is an artist, community connector, teacher, and official GLOW enthusiast. She has served on the board of WonderFool Productions, the nonprofit that produces ypsiGLOW, FestiFools, and FoolMoon, since their beginning. Her GLOW Fashion is created from conventional materials revisioned in unconventional fashions. From saran wrap, to plastic cups, to paper plates, zip ties, and latex gloves. Jeri uses everyday materials as the foundation for her creative work. Jeri has worked with all ages teaching art in public, private schools, and art associations, as well as worked with severe emotionally-impaired adolescents. She has curated art exhibits for The Art School in Carrboro, NC and the Durham Arts Council in Durham, NC.. She is certified in Motivational Interviewing, where she trained students, doctors, and other health practitioners.
Walt Swanson I have been a designer and maker of fine art furniture for over 35 years. For 15 years, I was also a teacher of design and furniture making in England. In 2014, I moved my workshop from the UK and have now settled in Ypsilanti, Michigan where I create original designs inspired from a wide range of styles, including Arts & Crafts, Shaker, and Chinese; and the makers Wharton Esherick, and George Nakashima. My primary goal is to give the piece life. I have built furniture from detailed architect’s drawings, from sketches on beer mats, and from everything in between. Designing generally begins with a conversation about a problem or a need which includes an investigation of the space the piece will occupy, and a look at some style preferences. My best work, however, is not a transaction with a customer, but a collaboration, where there is sufficient trust that we can challenge each other, explore, and take risks together. Our discussions may be about moods, beliefs, and philosophy. We will challenge convention, generate a diversity of ideas, and build lots of models. The result is generally not what either of us expected, and often a more elegant solution to the design problem.practitioners.
2024 SUMMER AWARD JURORS
Melis Agabigum is an Assistant Professor and the Area Coordinator of Metals/Jewelry Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University. Melis Agabigum is an educator and studio artist from Michigan. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Intermedia (Jewelry/Metals, Sculpture, Installation Art, and Fibers), and received her BFA in Art&Design from the University of Michigan. She has taught Jewelry/Metals, Sculpture, and 3D Fabrication courses at the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Boise State University, and San Francisco State University, and Earlham College. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of Metals/Jewelry in the Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University. Provoked by an interest in material fiction, Melis’ work examines desire, loss, repetition, and the notion of burden that individuals carry from their relationships. Her soft sculptures explore the unseen tether of the physical and emotional weights that affect individuals in how they perceive their connection to others, their bodies, and space. Her work has been shown at the national and international level in the United States, Canada, Australia, Greece, Turkey, France, Portugal, Hungary, England, Romania, Spain, China, and Lithuania. Melis is an active contributor to Art Jewelry Forum.
Matthew O'Brien is the Studio Lab Coordinator Eastern Michigan University School of Art & Design.
Gail Russell Peachblow Pottery
BFA in Ceramics from the University of Evansville, Evansville, IN, 1976.
Apprenticed with potter Richard Studley outside of Boston, MA, 1977-78.
MFA in Ceramics from the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 1981.
Full time potter since 1981, with studios in Indiana and Ohio, participating in numerous exhibitions and workshop presentations. Operated Peachblow Pottery since 1986, and now beginning a slower production pace and semi-retirement!
2024 WINTER JURY
Panel One – Metal, Jewelry
Melis Agabigum is an Assistant Professor and the Area Coordinator of Metals/Jewelry Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University.
Alex Gulko is an Ann Arbor custom jeweler as well as an internationally recognized jewelry designer and goldsmith. Born in Ukraine, Alex apprenticed with a jeweler whose father worked for the fabled Fabergé atelier.
Alison Rivett is Associate Director of the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan and a practicing visual artist.
Panel Two – 2DMM, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Photography, Digital
Jennifer Cantley is the Community Gallery & Advisory Manager at the Toledo Museum of Art and a visual artist focusing in physical science and abstraction.
Amy Davis is on faculty / LEO Lecturers at Stamps School of Art & Design.
John Stanley is the former Museum Director for the Toledo Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Panel Three – Wood, Furniture, Glass, Ceramics, Sculpture, 3-D Mixed Media, Fiber
Danny R. W. Baskin is the current Director of Galleries at Eastern Michigan University.
Jeremy Noonan is a Professor and Section Lead of Fiber and Textiles College for Creative Studies.
Matthew O'Brien is the Studio Lab Coordinator Eastern Michigan University School of Art & Design.
