Creative Individuals-Round 2

Keren Lowell: Lowell is a visual artist living in the town of Grant, near Stillwater. She holds a BA in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Northern Colorado and an MFA in fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Lowell lived in Alaska from 1994-2020, where she taught a range of art classes in the University of Alaska system and worked as an arts administrator with the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Lowell is currently a contractor with Rasmuson Foundation's Individual Artist Awards program to provide support to applicants.; Elizabeth McAllister: McAllister is a self-employed creative who works to enrich her clients? lives with beauty and joy. She has cultivated a roster of clients, tending to their homes, gardens, and houseplants with dedication. McAllister?s previous line of work in the service industry spanned more than eleven years, where she developed a love for cooking and mixology. She enjoys researching and working with plants, painting, basket coiling, and playing in a band. McAllister loves live music, visiting museums, and taking classes at the Textile Center. She graduated from Hamline University in 2009 with a BFA in fine arts, focused on intaglio printmaking.; Melody Mickelson: Mickelson is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin, with a BS degree in fine art, and minors in art history and creative writing. Mickelson is an artist and writer/illustrator, with one published children?s book (Finn Mouseson); she is currently working on the illustrations for a second book with illustrations needed for four other books already written. Mickelson has taken master classes at Texas Women?s University in both art history and fine art. Mickelson is a recipient of a 2017 Prairie Lakes Reginal Arts Council grant.; MollieRae Miller: Miller is a contract worker in the University of Minnesota archives and Gorman Rare Book Collection. She is a librarian and painter who has lived in Minneapolis for over a decade. She creates art that represents social change, and she works in library science with the goal of preserving history and maintaining access to resources and information to marginalized communities. Miller also works part-time for a nonprofit music venue as a manager and volunteers on a literary discussion radio program off the West Bank in Minneapolis. She graduated with a fine arts degree in 2017, yet has been pursuing painting since her youth. Since gaining a second degree in library science, she has shifted focus to studies in dystopian scenes, technology revolution, science fiction, anarcho-syndicalism, and creative anti-fanaticism. ; Gwen Partin: Partin is a visual artist working in printmaking, drawing, mixed media, and book arts. She received her MFA in printmaking from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, and her BA in studio art in printmaking and drawing from Sonoma State University. She is a member of Form+Content Gallery in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis and works from her studio in the Northrup King Building in Northeast Minneapolis. Her work has been in numerous one-person and group exhibitions including the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, St. Catherine University; the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota; and the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Northwestern Clinic. Her work is represented in both public and private collections. Prior to turning to a full-time art practice, she was a graphic designer, illustrator, and educator.; Andrea Pierre: Pierre is the station manager of KRSM Radio, a low power FM station in south Minneapolis. She is also a mother, creative, and producer of Afro-Caribbean descent. Pierre is a champion of voices of the underrepresented and unheard. She believes that storytelling is a huge component to bridging the divide and is interested in how to connect and empower folks for change. She is passionate about issues such as motherhood, community based arts, Blackness, politics, and health.