Elizabeth Burke-Dain

Board of Directors, Secretary

Elizabeth Burke-Dain is an Oak Park-based artist and media consultant. She has transformed and elevated some of Chicago’s most celebrated cultural brands such as Poetry Foundation & POETRY magazine, the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago’s School of Fine and Performing Arts, the Garfield Park Conservatory, and many more. She is a specialist in taking organizations and individuals to the next level with strategic messaging. Her expertise is in working with brands to create content and programs that resonate with and build new audiences. 

She is married to the artist and UX designer Michael Dain. Together they have two children, Claire and Leo. 

Website:

Janice Cho

Board of Directors, President

Website:

Classes by this Artist:

Products by this Artist:

Eryan Cobham

Board of Directors

Hellen Colman

Board of Directors

Hellen Colman is a Chicago-based photographer primary working on artists’ books. Her work spans several media striving to construct alternative languages depicting multiple realities that are not parallel or alternative worlds but surrogates for an unattainable truth.

She is also a mathematician. Originally from Montevideo, Uruguay, she received her PhD from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Furthermore, Hellen holds a Certificate in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she also received her photography and printmaking training.

Her work in mathematics has been published in several scientific journals and her artists’ books were acquired by several private and public collections and institutions, including the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at SAIC.

Website:

Holly Ekwejunor-Etchie

Board of Directors

Based in Chicago, Holly Ekwejunor-Etchie is a creative, strategic innovator and implementer of large-scale projects and plans. She’s a Global Operations Manager at McDonald’s and an artist.

She has a background in managing large-scale operations and human resources projects and events across the arts, hospitality, and quick service restaurant industries. She currently manages strategic global operations projects, communications, and events to drive improvement in restaurant operations at McDonald’s. She develops resources and consults to ensure the successful implementation of initiatives.

Her art practice consists of painting, drawing, and mixed media work. Ambiguous figures are a frequent centerpiece of her work, often solo or woven within whimsical landscapes.

Holly received her BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her MA in Arts Administration from Eastern Michigan University.

Website:

Steve Jablonoski

Board of Directors, Treasurer

Aya Nakamura

Board of Directors

Aya Nakamura is a Chicago-based visual artist. Her work consists of pencil drawings on two- and three- dimensional paper surfaces that she casts out of natural fibers and recycled materials. She is currently interested in the notion of drawing as healing gesture, its slow accrual allowing for a negotiation though and reckoning of difficult issues and mind-states. Nakamura holds a BA in fine arts and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has shown at a diverse range of venues in the US and abroad.

Website: