Jury and Partners: Black Lives Matter Artist Grant

 

Io Palmer

Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts WSU

Born on Hydra, a motorless Greek island off the coast of the Peleponesse, Io Palmer, associate professor of fine arts, grew up among the donkeys, the fishes, the clear blue Mediterranean sea, and the jazz music her parents listened to.
Trained originally as a ceramicist, she uses a variety of processes and materials, including fabric, steel, sound, and wood, to explore complex issues of class, capitalism, and societal excess. Palmer teaches art foundations, ceramics, performance, and sculpture at the Fine Arts Department of WSU and has completed artist residencies in locations across the United States and Asia, including the Kathmandu Contemporary Art Center in Nepal, the Sanskriti Foundation in New Delhi, and the Art Channel Artist Residency in Beijing. Palmer is showing Desired Interruptions – a mixed media installation at the Boise Art Museum, and is a recent Fulbright Nehru Scholar , India , 2019.


Dr. Lisa Guerrero

Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and American Studies and Culture, School of Languages, Cultures, and Race WSU

Dr. Guerrero has taught at WSU since 2004. She was educated near two of the most beautiful beaches in the world, earning her B.A. in English and Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earning her M.A. and Ph.D. in American literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She is an interdisciplinary scholar who is particularly dedicated to thinking about the impact of intersectionalities, and the relationships between culture and power in both her scholarly work and her classrooms.
Her central research and teaching interests at the School of Languages, Cultures, and Race WSU include African American literature, black masculinity, African American satire and humor, critical popular culture studies, race and commodity culture, and cultural studies.


Trymaine Gaither

Recruitment and Career Coordinator at the Honors College WSU

Gaither works with personnel in the Enrollment and Recruitment Management Office to attract and recruit potential students to the WSU Honors College. He maintains recruitment statistics data and facilitate the Honors 298 course “Happiness as a life skill” to provide Honors students tools to improve their performance, relationships, health and happiness. He also designs and facilitates/mindfulness retreats teaching implicit bias training using mindfulness practices and meditation techniques.

 


Mikayla Makle

Black Student Union President at WSU

Makle is an out-of-state student from Waldorf, Maryland. She is a junior, studying English Pre-Law with a minor in Music technology. Throughout her years at WSU she has been involved with various organizations. More recently she has taken on the role of 2020-2021 President in WSU Black Student Union, moving up from her previous role as the secretary. She is also the Senior Copy Editor for Luxe Magazine, WSU’s AMDT department organization. Makle strives to develop creative and diverse spaces that are welcoming to all demographics who are willing to respect and consider others in a positive light.”


Ryan Hardesty

Interim Executive Director, Curator of Exhibitions & Collections JSMA WSU

Ryan Hardesty joined Washington State University’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art curatorial team in 2014 as curator of art and exhibitions. He has curated a range of exhibition projects including Jim Dine: A Life in Printmaking, and more recently, Marie Watt: Companion Species (Underbelly), Jeffry Mitchell: Death of Buddha, and Persona: Portraiture from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer for the Olson Kundig designed museum facility’s ambitious 2018 slate of inaugural exhibitions. Prior to coming to WSU, Hardesty held a twelve-year tenure at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (MAC), Spokane where he planned for 80+ exhibitions. Additional museum experience includes work with the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA), Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA). Hardesty holds fine art degrees from the University of Washington and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He resides in Pullman with his wife and daughter, and maintains an ongoing interest in wandering cities and wild places alike.