About Us

Anna Ghublikian (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist and documentary filmmaker. Their background is in Art History and Public Humanities, with a focus on engaging communities through collaborative curation and programming. They’ve done industry work as a development producer for streaming video content on fine art, and are involved in local activism and community organizing, serving on the Board of Directors for the Chinook Fund, and as a member of Mountain Media Arts Collective (MMAC). 

Bianca Mikahn (she/her) is a power-house emcee, poet, composer, cultural activist, and educator who wears many hats. She is Executive Director of Check Your Head, a non-profit focused on youth mental health, and a Partner Artist with leading creative educators, Youth On Record. Bianca’s writing style is described as experimental and thought-provoking, fearlessly addressing themes of self awareness and community engagement. Whether performing alone or with various musician collectives in Denver, her stage presence and lyrical content have earned her multiple nominations for “Best Emcee” in Denver’s Westword. Mikahn has shared stages locally at Regis University and Denver University and in Stockholm, Sweden at the historic Fylkengin Theatre. Her lyrical work has also been featured in social justice courses at Wyoming University. Currently Mikahn is honing social emotional learning and art based facilitation to encourage trauma informed care and mental health first aid (adult and youth modules) in marginalized communities.

Ethan Bradford Barrett Villarreal (they/them) is a Mexican-American web developer with a strong focus on accessibility and usability, focusing specifically on education, publishing, and medical services. They also serve as the executive director of Denverarts.org, a local resource the Denver art community.

Beyond their career in web development, Ethan is also known as Bimbonita, an accomplished DJ specializing in Latin dance music genres such as cumbia and reggaeton. Their family ties to Monterrey, Nuevo León, the birthplace of cumbia rebajada, and Iztapalapa, Mexico City, where Mexican reggaetón emerged, have deeply influenced their musical style.

Instagram: @BuildingsAreHeavy

Portfolio: buildingsareheavy.com

Music: bimbonita.com

Ilan Gutin (he/him) is originally from the Washington D.C. area, and received his BA in Studio Arts in Printmaking from the University of Maryland in 2008, and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in Printmedia in 2014. He is an interdisciplinary artist, and extensive world traveler, and has used his experiences abroad to help shape his studio practice. Formalism, the ephemerality of light, place, and the wonder of looking are recurring themes in his work. He has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally in places such as Chicago, Reykjavik, and Denver.

Before moving to Denver in 2020, Ilan was a faculty member in the Fiber and Material Studies Department at SAIC and was also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Fernwey Gallery in Chicago, which focused on promoting the work of emerging and mid-career artists in and around Chicago. Most recently, he was the Gallery Curator at Art Gym Denver where he also served as the Membership and Program Director. Currently, he is the Curator and Engagement Director at PlatteForum, and is also a Board Member of Tilt West.

Jenny Nagashima (she/her) is an independent curator working in Denver, Colorado. She has a BFA in Art Practices from the University of Colorado in Denver and is currently pursuing a MA in Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She served as Gallery Director of Visions West Contemporary in Livingston, MT, Rough Gems Guest Curator at Union Hall, Digital Archivist at DenverArts.Org, and is a co-curator at Found Objects.

Kate M. Nicholson (she/her) is a civil rights attorney, arts activist, and the founder and Executive Director of the National Pain Advocacy Center, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the health and human rights of people with pain. She has spoken at TED, universities, and think tanks, testified in state legislatures, and briefed the U.S. Congress. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Hill, STAT, and MedPage Today. Her advocacy has been featured by the New York Times, Guardian, Washington Post, NBC, Scientific American, BBC, Newsweek, NPR, the ACLU’s At Liberty, and elsewhere.  She previously served on the collecting committee at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Advisory Board of the University of Colorado Art Museum in Boulder, and she currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Ulrich Museum. Nicholson was a founding board member of Tilt West and edits its written responses to roundtables.

Manuel Aragon (he/him) is a Latinx writer, director, and filmmaker from Denver, CO, with nearly 20 years of experience in nonprofit work, focusing on community engagement, project management, and film/TV production. He has worked at six nonprofit organizations, building community-led programs, inclusive spaces, and art experiences.

Manuel holds a BFA in Film/TV from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He is currently working on Norteñas, a speculative fiction short story collection centered in the Northside of Denver, a Mexican and Mexican-American community. His work has been featured in ANMLY, and his short story "A Violent Noise" was nominated for the 2020 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. He is a 2021 Periplus Collective Fellow, a 2021 NYFA IAP Mentor, a 2023 Tin House Residency winner, and a Colorado Book Award finalist as editor of the anthology All The Lives We Ever Lived: Vol 2.

Manuel's film work, including writing and directing, has been showcased on MTV, Pitchfork, and Stereogum. He won the CineLatino Pitch Latino Award for Emerging Filmmakers with his web series Welcome to the Northside, a comedic take on gentrification and Latino displacement in North Denver. He lives in Denver with his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

Mary Grace Bernard (MG, she/her) is a transmedia and performance artist, educator, advocate, and crip witch. Her practice finds itself at the intersection of performance art, transmedia installation art, art scholarship, art writing, curation, and activism.

Mindy Bray (she/her) is a painter and muralist based in Denver, CO. Her work investigates the intersection of natural and built environments through pattern, reduction, and physical space. Mindy earned her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Iowa in 2005 and has taught drawing and foundations at the University of Denver and Metropolitan State University.  Her work has been exhibited nationally at galleries including Goodwin Fine Art, Rule Gallery, Ironton, and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art. She has been featured in New American Paintings, The Denver Post, Modern in Denver magazine, art ltd., and Luxe Interiors and Design. Mindy’s public commissions include permanent works at the Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport and the Colorado Convention Center, and her private commissions can be found in commercial and residential spaces throughout Denver. Mindy is a current member of Tank Studios, a board member of Tilt West, and an instructor for the Denver Art Museum’s Creative Classes.

Sarah McKenzie (she/her) is a visual artist and one of the co-founders of Tilt West. She has exhibited her paintings nationally, including shows with the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Yale School of Architecture, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Her work is represented in Denver by David B. Smith Gallery. Since 2020, Sarah has been working on an extended project researching and painting the architecture of prisons. In 2021, she was awarded the Marion International Fellowship for the Visual and Performing Arts to support her research into carceral space. That same year, she also began teaching art classes inside the Colorado Department of Corrections. In 2024, Sarah co-founded Impact Arts, a non-profit that creates and supports exhibition opportunities for formerly and currently incarcerated artists.

Sharifa Lafon (she/her) is an artist-facilitator and community organizer. In addition to her board position with Tilt West, Sharifa is currently the executive director and curator at Denver Digerati, a 501(c)(3) that specializes in experimental practices at the intersection of art, science, and technology, and a lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Colorado Denver.

Tricia Waddell (she/her) is the textile artist behind Studio Blkbird, based in Denver, Colorado at Tank Studios. Inspired by her degree in fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a variety of surface design workshops, her work combines painting and screen-printing with reactive dyes and resists to create visual textures inspired by abstract art, ceramics, and graphic design. She creates soft sculptures and artworks that explore the visceral combination of form, color, pattern, and texture to evoke personal narratives and mental health themes. In addition to exhibiting her work in galleries, she’s a member of the Surface Design Association and an artist member of the Colorado Art Therapy Association. When she’s not in the studio, she works as an editor, writer, and storyteller creating content for artists, makers, and non-profits.

Gretchen Marie Schaefer (she/her) thinks primarily about sight and perception as they relate to understanding when making drawings, sculptures, installations, and performances. Schaefer was born, raised, and currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Visual Arts from Regis University. She is a co-founding member of artist-owned and operated TANK Studios, LLC., a sustainable, community-centered studio space for professional artists in Denver. Schaefer is a former board member of RedLine Contemporary Art Center and of Tilt West. Since 2013 Schaefer has directed the Visiting Artist, Scholar, and Designer Program at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) where she curates the annual theme and roster of visiting artists. Her curatorial work includes exhibitions by Catherine Haggarty and Esteban Cabeza de Baca. In 2014, Schaefer was listed as one of Denver Westword’s “100 Colorado Creatives” and in 2016 she received Westword’s “Best Of” for her work directing the Visiting Artist Program at RMCAD. Her artwork has been exhibited at numerous locations including the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Rule Gallery in Marfa, TX, Texas Tech University’s School of Art, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. Schaefer was an artist-in-residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center (Denver, CO) Breckenridge Creative Arts (Breckenridge, CO), and the Jentel Foundation Artist Residency.

Geoffrey Shamos (he/him) is the Director of the Vicki Myhren Gallery and Curator of the University Art Collections at the University of Denver. He graduated from Yale University and has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in Renaissance art from Northern Europe. Prior to joining the University of Denver, Geoffrey worked at the Yale University Art Gallery, the Cantor Center for Visual Art at Stanford University, and RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver. Geoffrey is thrilled to be at the University of Denver, where he plans exhibitions and programs and helps grow the university’s collection. He particularly enjoys engaging with students, faculty, artists, and the local community.

Marty Spellerberg (he/him) is the director of Spellerberg Projects, a cultural incubator in Lockhart, Texas. He has 20 years experience in interactive design and development, including a decade working specifically with cultural institutions. He is the co-lead of the National Museum Website Visitor Motivation Study and co-author of the resulting paper in the Journal of Digital and Social Media Marketing. He presents regularly at industry conferences such as Museum Computer Network, Museums and the Web, SXSW Interactive and WordCamp. He has worked with the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History; and the Toronto International Film Festival, among others. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design, Toronto.

Whitney Carter (she/her) has two decades of expertise in the art world, encompassing roles as an art dealer, fine art logistics specialist, collector, and co-founder of Tilt West. She holds an M.A. in Art History with a focus on Feminist Studies and an M.S. in Business Analytics. Currently working as a Data Analyst in environmental services, Whitney's passion for the art world remains ever-strong.

Ruth Wilson (she/her) is the Director of Administration and Partnerships at Colorado Creative Industries, Colorado's arts agency. She joined Colorado Creative Industries in 2014 and manages Colorado’s Art in Public Places Program. She has an extensive background in the arts, including working at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Biennial of the Americas, the Denver Art Museum and the SCFD. Ruth earned a MA in Arts Administration from New York University and a BA from Colorado College. Ruth currently serves on the Jefferson County Cultural Council.

Maria Elena Buszek, Ph.D. (she/her) is Professor of Art History and President's Teaching Scholar at the University of Colorado Denver, where she teaches courses on Modern and contemporary art and design. Her recent publications include the books Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture and Extra/ordinary: Craft and contemporary art; contributions to numerous international anthologies and exhibition catalogs; and articles and criticism in such journals as Art in America, Art Journal, and Flash Art. With Hilary Robinson, she edited the 2019 anthology of new writing, A Companion to Feminist Art. Her current book project, Art of Noise, explores the ties between contemporary feminist art and popular music. Dr. Buszek is also a prolific independent curator, who has previously worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Recent exhibitions include Danger Came Smiling: Feminist Art and Popular Music at the Franklin Street Works, Inner Ear Vision: Sound as Medium (with Raven Chacon and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe) at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Sensitive Content (with Alayo Akinkugbe and Helen Beard) at Unit London.

Joel Swanson (he/him) is a text-based interdisciplinary artist exploring the intersection of language and technology. As an Associate Professor at the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, he directs the TYPO Lab, an experimental art and design space exploring text-based technologies. He earned his Master of Fine Arts at the University of California, San Diego with a focus on Computing and the Arts. Website

Sarah Wambold (she/her) is the executive producer and content strategist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she leads a team of editors and producers who create interpretive media, including videos, articles, essays, and podcasts. With more than 18 years in the arts and culture sector, she has also worked for the Clyfford Still Museum and the MCA Chicago, and is the co-founder of Denver-based non-profit Tilt West, an organization whose mission is to promote critical discourse on arts and culture in Denver.

Brenton Weyi (he/him) uses the power of words to cultivate humanity. He is a writer, thinker, creative polymath, and the son of Congolese immigrants. Informed by travel to nearly seventy nations, his work blends narrative, philosophy, and history to examine questions of ethics and the human social fabric. At Whitman College, he co-founded an award-winning poetry collective and founded an award-winning dance troupe. Currently, Brenton is an inaugural playwright fellow at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and his poem “Multiplicity” is one of the official poems of the City of Denver. His work has appeared in Boulevard Magazine, American Theatre Magazine, INC, Daily Stoic, and Head Room Sessions on RMPBS, among others. He was an inaugural fellow in the Lighthouse Writers’ Workshop Writing-in-Color retreat, and he is a finalist at SPACE on Ryder Farm. Brenton is the former campaign architect of a groundbreaking Congolese presidential campaign that appeared in the BBC, LA Times, and more. He also spent time living at a meditation and martial arts school in Asia before working with disenfranchised populations in the region. He collaborated with Union Hall on their nationally curated exhibits of writers and visual artists, Poems for Our Country and Words for Our Country, he has worked with the NFL, Airbnb, and others, and he serves on the board of Tilt West. Brenton is a Moth story slam champion, a proud member of Playback Theatre West & Storytellers Acapella, and a TEDx speaker and lead organizer. He believes truth can be found at the intersection of disciplines and stories.

Autumn T. Thomas (she/her b. 1978) is an interdisciplinary artist currently working in wood sculpture. Her work challenges the boundaries of visual literacy: hundreds of cuts placed into the wood transforms it into soft, twisting forms, mimicking the endurance required to thrive amidst the oppression and marginalization of women of color; each cut represents a time in which Autumn felt cut down by society. Minimal in design, Autumn’s work personifies analogous, brown bodies as whispering forms of subversion, affecting prejudice by way of perception and visual literacy. Autumn is a current artist in residence at Redline Contemporary Art Center in Denver, CO, where she lives and works. She received her MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia in 2017 and her BFA in Visual Communication from The School of the Art Institute, Chicago in 2015.

Tya Alisa Anthony (she/her) (b. 1978) is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator based in Denver, Colorado. Her work delves into themes of domestic resilience, social justice, human rights, and identity, utilizing sculptural painting, photography, and collage to refocus the narratives of people of color. By highlighting her subjects' social, economic, and natural environments, Anthony reimagines historical narratives, creating autonomous spaces for bodies of color and using core memories as a form of catharsis.

Anthony earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with summa cum laude honors from Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. Alongside her artistic endeavors, she serves as the Director of Education & Community at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, is the founder of Mahogany Vū Contemporary Virtual Gallery, and edits Contemporary Thought Magazine, Living Culture: A Mahogany Vū for BIPOC artists of the Diaspora.

Her influence in the art world extends beyond her personal work. She contributes as a journalist to Hyperallergic Magazine, is a TANK Studios alum artist, a RedLine Artist in Residence alum, and an advisory board member for Leon Gallery and the Colorado Photographic Arts Center. She also formerly served on the Board of Tilt West. Anthony’s art has been exhibited nationally and is part of permanent collections at the Denver Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Center for Visual Arts, LEON Gallery, and RedLine Contemporary Art Center.