2020 AFTER DARK ARTISTS
Leandra Berrios is an artist who ties the abstract world with realism. She loves to stimulate the mind using the color theory while opening the viewers’ perspective. Her art sends out a message that gets the viewers into thinking of an abundant positive shift.
Kim is a full-time clinical psychologist in Grand Rapids, MI. She has been painting since 1996 and likes to use watercolor, colored pencils, and acrylic. She is interested in how art promotes social justice and mental well being in communities.
Aya Hasan is an international student bringing a a diffrent artistic prespective straight from the Middle East and North Africa. She is a self taught makeup artist and painter. Her inspiration was initiated by space,the galaxy and the stars.
Matthew Farrell grew up spending his time building forts, box cars, bike jumps, and anything else out of scrap wood and metal. Now living and working in Grand Rapids, as an artist he uses these materials through sculpture and printmaking to explore his personal relationships. Placing emphasis on materials, space, and interactions between forms. He received his BFA in Printmaking from Colorado Mesa University and his MFA in Printmaking from Kendall College of Art and Design.
Tylan Davis is a graphic designer from Grand Rapids, Michigan. His work explores experience and storytelling through large scale environments. The style of his work and his process are influenced by an interest in the history of commercialism and pop culture, and typically include historical symbols to convey the message.
Erin began making art by capturing the features of family members in portraits. She sharpened her work through high school and college, graduating from Calvin College (now Calvin University) with a Bachelor of Arts. Erin creates for the joy of creating with a particular love of drawing in many different mediums. She finds motivation in her close relationships and frequently displays her love of food and animals in her work.
Finding beauty in the broken, Barbara works steps away from traditional art media to embrace the deep red of an old traffic sign, or the sheen of a vinyl record, or the jumble of possibilities hidden in old telephone wire. She connects these fragments by painting, weaving, sculpting, and fabricating and give them new life in celebrating the flora and fauna of our world.
Nick Nortier is an illustrator, mural painter, and printmaker, but also enjoys woodworking, performing spoken word poetry, and the overall process of making creative work. Growing up, his main interests were skating and drawing, two hobbies which would eventually merge into one. From skating, he learned to look at the environment in new and creative ways, which would end up influencing how his work interacts with the area that it’s placed in. He believes the role of street art and murals is to be an art form that is accessible to everyone.
My name is Hallie LeBlanc. I have an MFA from Kendall College of Art and Design and currently live in the Creston neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In between taking care of my small toddler and making artwork, I teach in after-school art programs. I hike a ton and love finding wildflowers in all seasons, watching migratory birds, and keeping an eye out for gnomes.
Ryan Crawley is a resident of Grand Rapids, MI, located in the Creston neighborhood. Ryan graduated from Western Michigan Universities Gwen Frostic School of Arts in 2010 with a Bachelors in Fine Art emphasis in painting. His work maintained a very stylized approach painting, and this has become the sort of signature to his work. Movement and color have played a large part in the pieces he creates, and that stems from trips from Wisconsin to Michigan. Light is the past, present, future. The only thing that changes is our perception upon the moment we first noticed it.
Kate Westbrook is an artist currently residing in the Creston neighborhood and is pursuing a B.F.A. in Printmaking at Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids. Although working primarily as a printmaker in her personal practice, Kate takes interest and inspiration through painting, textile art, and natural dyeing as well. Her work is focused on the observation and contemplation of the natural world, and the relationship we as humans have with it.
Kelly Allen is a visual artist who works with both traditional and non-traditional materials to create paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Allen's work has exhibited in New York, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle, Tokyo and Melbourne, among other creative epicenters. She holds an MFA in Drawing from Kendall College of Art and Design and a BA in Painting from Humboldt State University, and teaches a wide range of artistic practices to people of all ages and abilities.
Kevin Forest Wolfrom is a painter working out of Grand Rapids, MI. Graphite being his first love, Kevin eventually gravitated towards painting. Having a great appreciation for the intricacy of the stars and what lies amongst them, a good portion of Kevins's work is inspired by it. Having the ability and freedom of painting aspects of space is an amazing feeling.
Anya Potter is a stylistic illustrator born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan currently studying at Hope College. Influenced by the rich culture of her Carribean heritage, Anya strives to tell vibrant stories through her artwork that is often aimed at children through a variety of mediums.
Kyle Brand is a freelance illustrator, photographer, and designer living and working in Grand Rapids, MI. He has been drawing before he could even write, inspired by comics, video games, and other media of the time. He spent his childhood creating long and short-form narratives and comics both original and inspired. Currently, he is using these past narrative experiences to inspire his large paintings along with both traditional and digital illustrations and designs.
Nancy Morales is a multi-disciplinary artist but am primarily known for her alternative-style, sterling silver jewelry. In 2015, she started her multi-disciplinary business, Weird Wolf Arte, which focuses on jewelry and metalsmithing along with illustration, printmaking, and small sculpture.
Katie Moore is an artist, project manager, and Senior Exhibitions Manager at ArtPrize. She is passionate about the Grand Rapids art community and bringing challenging contemporary art to West Michigan. Moore has a long history of working with artists, engineers, municipalities, and contractors to install a wide range of ambitious public artwork. Prior to ArtPrize, Moore was Director of Community Engagement at Kendall College of Art & Design, and Exhibitions Coordinator at Open Concept Gallery.
In addition to being a full time student at the University of Michigan, Nia Mays strives to create art that pulls from her personal experiences to challenge stereotypes in minority representation. She hopes to devote her future to activism and enabling the success of people of color through her studies in technology and art, while adding to the smattering of her public art already on display around downtown Grand Rapids.
Nina Lu is a Chinese born, Grand Rapids raised visual artist. She is a current student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York for a BFA in communications design, and a minor in Sustainability Studies. She has designed branding and completed murals around the city, but her independent work mainly investigates the human condition and its interaction with the natural world. Influenced by a passion for environmental science, and an active life in the woods of Michigan, she aims to use art to bridge the gap between emotion and data, thus making the woods a more interconnected, protected and accessible experience for all.
Kristin Zuller is a multidisciplinary artist from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is driven to investigate what drives us to express ourselves, and how she can continue to elevate and refine her own processes. With over fifteen years of experience in the marketing industry as a visual artist, she has worked in a range of different roles, from technical and detail-oriented production art and product creation to identity and brand building. She has also designed and illustrated print and digital pieces, worked on large-format lettering and murals, and created paper-cut three-dimensional art.
Kendall Redmon is a multifaceted artist who is just as diverse as the art he creates. With a passion for subliminal messaging and using art to break barriers his work is very often meant for deep thought and reflection "I don’t like to say what it means because everyones take away is going to be different" Kendall likes to focus on fundamental themes and present them in ways that cause the viewer to be vigilant when viewing the art. "people don’t care about art anymore because the meanings no longer a secret"
Jamari Taylor is a portrait artist from Battle Creek, Michigan and current resident in the Grand Rapids community. Using charcoal, acrylics, and oils she creates images with character, power, and strength. Through her illustrations, she lovingly seeks to portray a sitter's strength and self-confidence. Jaylei Art is a place to get you inspired and to be at peace with beginning to grow daily with your inner-self. Through Jaylei Art tutoring, portrait time-lapse videos, Jaylei products, murals, and vendor events, it is Jamari's pleasure and a blessing to share her talents with you all!
Jasmine Bruce is a visual artist whose work emphasizes the healing power of creating. Currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan she obtained her BFA in Illustration from Grand Valley State University. Her work aims to draw out a universal imbalance, restoring harmony and connection with the inner, outer and divine self.
Guillermo 'ASMA SPEEKS' Sotelo is a Grand Rapids native artist and graffiti writer. Practicing the craft for over a decade, he has taught himself how to 'SPEEK' through art and graffiti showing homage to his love for hip hop, science fiction, comic books and other notable nerd-isms. Through graffiti — a uniquely urban language understood by few and spoken by fewer — Guillermo seeks to use his passion for the art form to expand people’s understanding and remove the stigma surrounding the history and culture while simultaneously championing for more public spaces for artists to express themselves.
Bryan Kosciolek is an artist living and practicing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was born in Macomb, Michigan in 1994. Growing up Kosciolek was influenced by the manufacturing industry and street culture. Being engaged in the traditional media of drawing and painting from a young age, Kosciolek developed a colorful, figurative aesthetic. In 2017, he received his Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Illustration from Kendall College of Art and Design. Since 2017, Kosciolek has been working in Dinderbeck Studio, on the Westside of Grand Rapids.
Another fun project working with the awesome people who put on Art After Dark. It was a pleasure to work with Hannah Berry, Tyler Grimm, Carbon Stories, Matt Nutile, Lucas Benjamin, Steve Lesko, and many more throughout this production. Looking forward to the events later this year!