Creative Individuals

Emine Basgoze: Basgoze, a native of Ankara, Turkey, received her master of arts in piano performance at Ankara State Conservatory (Anarka, Turkey). She studied piano pedagogy and performance with professor Maria Curcio in London and piano performance with Dr. Paul Shaw at the University of Minnesota School of Music. Basgoze cofounded a piano duo, Duo Harmonia, with Portuguese pianist Susana Pinto. Basgoze is a Minnesota State Arts Board FY 2020 Artist Initiative grant recipient, to commission pieces for piano four hands based on Minnesotan, Portuguese, and Turkish folk tales. She is a piano faculty member at the MacPhail Center for Music. She also serves on the board of the Turkish American Association of Minnesota as the past president.; Esther Blevins: Blevins is the associate director of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, the most comprehensive center of its kind. She was previously the associate institutional giving director at Minnesota Opera. She graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA) with a MA in arts administration and from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN) with a BA in art history.; Paul Boehnke: Boehnke is a classical musician specializing in baroque music. In addition to teaching and performing in many different venues, he served as artistic director of the Bach Society of Minnesota for nine years. Boehnke has degrees in music performance from St. Olaf College, Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), and the Academie voor Oude Musik (Amsterdam).; Wendy Grethen: Grethen has been an organizer of local Duluth area art fairs for more than seventeen years, has put on a dulcimer folk music fest for sixteen years, is a local musician, and organizes day trips to arts places and events. Grethen creates art ranging from fused glass to creations of recycled materials or natural materials. Grethen supports arts by going to community events and volunteering for arts events.; Tanya Juarez-Sweeney: Juarez-Sweeney has worked in various creative roles for more than 30 years?writer, art director, graphic designer, videographer, and in postproduction. She was part of the team that launched the Star Studio television station at Children's Minnesota. During that time, Juarez-Sweeney had the privilege of partnering with many local arts organizations such as COMPAS, McPhail Center for Music, and Children's Theatre Company. After fifteen years at Children's, and completing her master's in technical communication, Juarez-Sweeney moved on to Calabrio, Inc, where she is currently a senior designer in the Learning Studio, striving to create beautifully useful video content.; Brett Kallusky: Kallusky is a professor of art and chair of the art department at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He is currently a member of the board of directors for the Society for Photographic Education. Kallusky has been a Fulbright Fellow to Italy, received three Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grants, and was a two-time finalist for the McKnight Fellowship for photography and visual arts. His photography work, Landfill: Elegy for the Santa Maria Valley, was published by George Thompson Publishing in 2022.; Morgan Luzier: Luzier is a small business owner. She is actively involved in building wellness communities in her profession, peer groups, neighborhood, and city. She graduated from South Dakota State University (Brookings, SD) with a degree in performing arts and from St. Catherine University with a master's in holistic health studies. Luzier is cofounder of the LynLake Street Art Series, an annual event that invites dozens of muralists and graffiti writers to paint on private buildings and in the public realm. Her commercial corridor is now home to over 400 original works. Luzier is a keen organizer with deep empathy and a desire to learn. She prioritizes the wellness of the whole.