Join us for an inspiring afternoon on Saturday, March 17 as we hear from phenomenal women in the Metro Washington, DC area who will share their thoughts on creative wisdom: setting goals, breaking boundaries and staying innovative over 40 (and beyond).  A networking reception follows the program.

Panelists:

Mei Mei Chang: As a mixed media and installation artist, Mei Mei explores various media to bridge her internal and external worlds. She is a lifelong student of the human psyche, fascinated by the mind’s ability to focus on details great and small without limits. Using her internal symbols, she creates rich visual images that are both highly personal and accessible by all. Mei Mei has received numerous awards and residencies, including at the Vermont Studio Center, Great River Art Association, the ARCH Residency at Honfleur Gallery, the Montgomery College Artist Residency, and second place in the Contemporary South Exhibition. Mei Mei received her Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Ohio University 2002.

Jessica Kallista: Jessica is an artist, teacher, and curator. She received her MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry from George Mason University in 2002. In November 2014, at the age of 44, she founded Olly Olly, an alternative art space, in Fairfax, Virginia. Jessica has taught collage at the Corcoran School of Arts & Design GW and poetry at George Mason University. She is Gallery Director of Buchanan Partners Art Gallery at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Through her work as a collage artist, teacher, and curator Jessica seeks to disrupt the isolation of those living in suburbia and elsewhere by creating situations of surprise, play and experimentation while instigating dialogue about gender, sexuality, feminism, spirituality, embodiment, human trafficking, commodity fetishism, and interconnectivity. Jessica’s work has been shown at a variety of venues including Target Gallery, GRACE, The Fridge, Tempus Projects, NoMüNoMü, Fenwick Gallery at George Mason University, Galerie Kritiku, Watergate Gallery, and the Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery.

Carolina Mayorga: Carolina is a Colombian-born and naturalized American citizen and is a visual and performance artist who has exhibited her work nationally and internationally for the last 18 years. Her work is part of national and international collections and has been reviewed in publications in South America, Europe and the US. Mayorga’s artwork addresses issues of social and political content. Comments on migration, war, identity, translate into video, performance, site-specific installations, and Two-dimensional media in the form of photography and drawing. Future projects include her first solo museum show at the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States in February of 2019.

Risikat Okedeyi: A long-time lynchpin in the DC arts scene, Risikat “Kat” Okedeyi shares her time between two passions: cultural architecture and teaching. Kat is a self-defined cultural architect and owner of LiL SoSo Productions, LLC (www.lilsoso.com) where she creates high-quality nightlife experiences, produces and directs conversations on and around progressive culture and aesthetics, and works with artists and creatives of all sorts in a variety of branding and administrative capacities. In addition, she is an associate professor in the English department at Prince George’s Community College. Kat was recently named ReCreatives Spaces’ ReCreative Fellow for 2016-2017 as part of its inaugural artist-in-residence program.

Moderator:

Sharon J. Burton: Sharon is an artist, art curator, creative life advisor and Founder of Spark Your Creative, a creativity coaching and expressive arts firm based in the Washington, DC area. She is a visual artist whose preferred medium is collage and mixed media and has exhibited her art in galleries, art venues and other settings across the country since 2007. Sharon has curated a number of art exhibitions in the Washington, DC area since 2006 and has served as an art advisor for novice art collectors. Since 2016, she has focused on helping people in “creative recovery”…those looking to revive or jump start their creativity through workshops, her blog and as the host of The Mindfully Creative Podcast which features artists and other creatives who are using their unique talents to create more mindful communities and a safer world. She is a member of the Creativity Coaching Association and the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association.