Ali is a filmmaker and educator from Iran who specializes in experimental cinema and new media. He received his dual degrees in Cinema Studies (B.A.) and Radio-TV Production (B.A.) from the University of Central Florida, where he made several experimental films along with producing content in both single-cam and multi-cam-studio environment, including United Colors of Orlando (2018), a short documentary about the Orlando community coming together through art following the 2016 Pulse tragedy, which went on to win the Grand Prize from 2018 Tribeca Campus Docs. He got his M.F.A. degree in Film and Media Arts from the University of Utah, during which he received the University Teaching Assistantship (UTA) award to create and teach the Experimental Media Production course in spring 2020. His current works explore reconciliation between his Iranian upbringing and queer identity.

Samantha daSilva (b. 1978 Santos, São Paulo, Brazil) is a professional artist and art educator living and working in Salt Lake City, Utah.

As a third generation artist, daSilva was inspired at an early age by her copiously artistic family namely; her grandmother, a portrait artist, her aunt, an accomplished jewelry designer, and her mother, a watercolorist, who influenced da Silva to experiment with a variety of mediums.

Upon graduating high school, daSilva opted out of attending art school for a career path that was ‘safer’ and ‘more secure’. But life has a magnetic force that pulls you back to where you need to be. Ten years and an array of tumultuously revelatory experiences led her back to her initial love: art.

Intent on making up for lost time, daSilva dedicated herself full-time to creating and teaching art. Her passion for abstract painting has manifested itself through prolific expressions on canvas. Since ’08, daSilva’s work has been exhibited in 65+ exhibitions including a television appearance in HGTV’s Love It or List It, a collaboration with Schoolhouse Electric, and a cover feature in Dote Magazine.

As an educator, daSilva has partnered with progressive institutions including: The Imiloa Institute, Costa Rica, Donkey Mill Art Center, Hawai’i, Metchosin International School of the Arts, Canada and Atelier Saint-Germain, France.

daSilva infuses the environment into her work, namely: Iron-rich Utah dirt, salt from the Great Salt Lake, foraged sawdust, local newspaper, acrylic paint, plaster and metallic pigments to create ethereal, textured abstracts.

Leslie is the 2D Visual Arts teacher at DaVinci Academy. She has taught Art Foundations, Drawing, Painting, and AP Art since Fall 2016.

Leslie grew up in Layton, Ut and now lives in Mountain Green. She graduated from Weber State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2012. At WSU, Leslie majored in painting and drawing and minored in art history. After graduating, she worked as a framer in Ogden and as the Curator of Education at the Eccles Community Art Center. It was her experience with students through outreach programs at the ECAC that lead her to a teaching career.

Emily received her BFA from the University of Utah. She is a multidisciplinary artist who explores family life through abstract and antisentimental lenses, questioning the expectations placed on mothers as family historians. Her work has appeared in several publications and gallery shows, including Surface Design magazine and Modern West Fine Art. Emily has taught youth art workshops in her studio and for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Kasey studied at the New York Studio Program, received her BFA from the Ringling College of Art & Design, and her MFA from the University of Connecticut. With over 6 years of teaching experience, Kasey has enthusiastically passed her love of the arts on to her students; encouraging curiosity, boundary pushing, and innovation. Kasey has taught youth art classes for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Donkey Mill Art Center, and Salt & Honey Prism Studio.

Todd is the Arts Outreach Manager & Advisor for WSU’s Department of Visual Art & Design. He is also an Adjunct Art Professor at WSU. Todd is the Program Director of Arts in the Parks, a summer outreach program that began in 2010 and offers opportunities for children and their families to explore visual and performing arts through hands-on activities.

Oberndorfer is a founding member of The Banyan Collective media company. He is host of the Nine Rails Arts Podcast and Co-host of Van Sessions at The Monarch (live audience podcast & music series) and the Ogden Outdoor Adventure Show. The Banyan Collective has produced Arts & Adventure podcasts since 2010. Todd Oberndorfer and R Brandon Long, founders of The Banyan Collective, were 2018 Recipients of the “Media Arts” Award at the Ogden City Mayor’s Awards in the Arts.

Oberndorfer is Chairperson of the Ogden City Arts Advisory Committee. As an Arts Advocate, he frequently collaborates as a Consultant with Ogden City Arts, Ogden Downtown Alliance, Ogden City Community & Economic Development, and Union Creative Agency. Todd is a Certified Change Leader with the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, a professional development leadership program. He was the recipient of the “Arts Advocacy” Award at the 2019 Ogden City Mayor’s Awards in the Arts.

Todd is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Arts Administration at Southern Utah University. He holds a BFA in 2D Design from Weber State University and combines social activism and art by addressing issues such as clean air and population growth in his printmaking and graphic design work.

Colour was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and grew up in Southern California. She received her BA in Spanish and Political Science and her MFA in Sculpture/Ceramics at the University of Utah. She has exhibited throughout Utah and in surrounding western states and has also participated in several artist residencies, taught art at the University of Utah and facilitated art classes for recently arrived refugee children as way to promote language skills and creative exploration. She was also on staff at Huntsman Cancer Institute where she taught art classes for patients, families and staff as a component of holistic healing. Colour believes that creativity is an inherent part of being human and that accessing this creativity is a way to still our minds and broaden our perspective about the world around us.

Kristen Mitchell is a visual artist whose diverse practice includes material works, community projects, and cross media collaborations. Her work spans digital and physical spectrums to foster new ways of relating to the complexity of our current moment as we grapple with materiality, virtuality, and social and ecological justice crises. She is highly engaged in collaborative art practices as a founder and producer of Living Marks, a cross-media improvisation platform, as a member of The Revolution School, an art collective, and is a contributor to Virtual Care Lab, a series of creative experiments in remote togetherness and is a member of The Rev School art collective, embodying quantum physics/sci-fi/fantasy co-worldings. Her studio drawing practice centers on the relationship of specificity to value, geologic time, and documentation of force through drawing. She has served as chair of the Summit County Public Art Board, public art archivist for Park City and Summit County, public art selection committees, and as a juror for the Utah Film Festival. Awards, grants and residencies include Ogden City Arts Grant, Nine Rails Creative District Grant, Utah State Professional Development Grant, Vermont Studio Center Scholarship Award, Best in Show Award – Kimball Art Center, Juror’s Award – Utah State Annual, Utah Museum of Natural History Artist-in-Residence, Taft Nicholson Center for Environmental Humanities Artist-in-Residence, residency at REDCAT theater gallery at CalArts, and workshops presented with 18th St Arts and The Armory in L.A. Her work is included in private and public collections including L.A. County Museum of Art, the Summit County public art collection, and the State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection.

Born in Morelos, Mexico, Jorge Rojas is a multidisciplinary artist, performer, independent curator, and art educator. He studied Art at the University of Utah and at Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Rojas’s experience as an educator often intersects his interests as an artist, making work that reflects on issues of interpretation, institutional critique, and the role of cultural, social, and mediated forms of communication in the world. From 2015-2021, Rojas served as director of learning and engagement at Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), where he oversaw education, community engagement, and programming initiatives for the Museum. At the UMFA, he lead a team of seven professional arts educators who developed and coordinated nationally recognized museum and outreach efforts that annually serve over 60,000 people, including close to 20,000 K-12 students in schools across Utah. Rojas also spearheaded the award-winning ACME (Art. Community. Museum. Education.) , an innovative community engagement initiative dedicated to rethinking the public role of museums. During this time, Rojas oversaw and co-curated multiple exhibitions in the UMFA’s ACME Lab, a space for art experimentation and community-based exhibitions. Prior to his appointment at the UMFA, Rojas was site director for the Venture Humanities Course, where he promoted continuing education among immigrant, refugee, and under-represented populations through a partnership between local universities and Utah Humanities. He taught art history to high school students through the Clemente Course in the Humanities, and was the first Teaching Artist-in-Residence at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, where he developed and integrated art programming into the hospital setting through outpatient and inpatient classes, workshops, and exhibitions. Artists of Utah/15 Bytes named Rojas one of Utah’s Most Influential Artists in 2019. In 2022 he was selected as a Visual Arts Fellow for the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, and received the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Artist Award. Rojas’s combined practice as a curator, artist, educator, and community leader directly align with his passion for working with communities towards social, racial and cultural justice. Rojas lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah.