The Boston Biennial 4 is extraordinarily proud to have the following 20 – yes TWENTY – prominent members of Boston’s art and cultural community as celebrity guest jurors. Each of our jurors will look at all the accepted work and pick one piece to be shown as a prize-winner. Entering the BB4 is a fantastic way to get your work seen by some of Boston’s art world movers and shakers!
_(1).jpg "Undated: The Official Rings Logo of the Olympic Games for editorial use only. International Olympic Committee via Getty Images.")
María Magdalena Campos-Pons is a Cuban-born artist based in Boston. She works primarily in photography, performance, audiovisual media, and sculpture, and is considered a key figure among Cuban artists who found their voice in a post-revolutionary Cuba. Her art has been shown in scores of solo and group exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Venice Biennale; the Johannesburg Biennial; the First Liverpool Biennial; the Dakar Biennale in Senegal; and the Guangzhou Triennial in China. Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Canada, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, the Miami Art Museum and the Fogg Art Museum. She currently teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Marjorie Kaye is an artist and curator as well as and the founder and director of Galatea Gallery in the Boston’s south end. She received a BA in fine arts from Syracuse University, and has exhibited regionally and nationally, receiving much positive press in the process. She is a tireless advocate for the art and artists of Boston.
Henry Horenstein is a professional photographer and teacher. He earned his MFA at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he is now professor of photography. His work is collected and exhibited internationally, and he has published over 30 books. He has also published several monographs of his work, including Show, Honky Tonk, Animalia, Humans, Racing Days, Close Relations.
David Hilliard is a well-known photographer. He received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art, and his MFA from Yale. His work is in so many important collections that we don’t even know where to start in listing them. He has published and taught widely, including at Yale and Harvard, and is currently a Visiting Professor at Lesley University College of Art and Design. He is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.
Kelly Dempsey is a recent contestant on season 14 Project Runway, invited as a designer to show at the 13th Annual New York Chocolate Fashion Show in New York. She is a Fashion Designer/Hip Hop/Avocados/Optimist. We LOVE her work, and she should have won this season.
O’mega Red is a Boston native and nephew of Donna Summers. He is CEO and record producer of The Stay Grindin Music Group, as well as asuccessful rapper and actor.
Nadeem Mazen is an educator, entrepreneur, community organizer, and is a City Councilor in Cambridge, MA. He is CEO of Nimblebot, a creative agency, as well as co-owner of danger!awesome, a makerspace that brings creative expression and tools to the masses.. He has taught at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He has recently been in the news as leader in the movement to oppose Donald Trumps proposed policies re Americans of the Moslem faith.
Sonjia Williams was a runner up on Project Runway All Stars Season 4, and came in 5th on Project Runway Season 10. A Boston native, Sonjia studied design at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts and after gradation relocated to New York where she began working as an independent fashion designer. Thereafter, she won a spot on the 10th Season of Project. She also kicked ass on Project Runway All Stars 4 where she finished the season by debuting a line shown at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week to rave reviews.
Sarah Hutt is a mixed media sculptor whose work focuses on memory, dreams and the ever-changing reality they create. As a long-time resident of Boston’s South End, she was a key player in establishing the first successful mixed-use artist live/work space utilizing a surplus city-owned building in 1990, and has consulted on other similar projects around the country. Sarah is an art consultant for The New England Foundation and was previously the director of the Boston Art Commission and managed Boston's public art collection.
Samual Donovan came in Second Place on Lifetime TV’s Under the Gunn. Sam is a Newton, MA native who is a model-cute Parsons grad has fashion wisdom well beyond his years, and enough sass to fill a workroom.
Stephen Tourlentes received his BFA from Knox College and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where he is currently a visiting professor of photography. His work is included in many collections including the Princeton University Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and has been exhibited at the Revolution Gallery, Michigan; Cranbook Art Museum, Michigan; and S.F. Camerawork, among others. He has received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Polaroid Corporation Grant, Massachusetts Cultural Council Grants, MacDowell Colony Fellowships and was a Finalist for the ICA Boston’s Foster Prize for 2010.
Emily O’Neil is executive Director at Fort Point Arts Community. She is addicted to her iphone camera and would like to go back to Paris and see The Louvre. That’s where “I was when I first realized I truly loved art. I was 14 and came across a painting called The Entombment of Atlala by a Pre-Romantic painter named Anne-Louse Giroder de Roucy-Trioson, and I was heartbroken, mesmerized and hooked”.
Erin Becker is the Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Cambridge Art Association. Erin serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Square Business Association; the Advisory Board for Cambridge Open Studios; and is a co-founder of the Art Centers Alliance, a group of roughly 25 community arts leaders. She is also a past reviewer for the Cambridge Arts Council’s LLC Grant Program, and past Gala Committee Member at the Guidance Center. Erin holds a BA in Art History from Boston University, and a Certificate from Boston University’s Institute for Nonprofit Management Leadership Core Program at Questrom Business School.
David Day has been active for over 20 years in the music industry, wearing many different hats: label manager, editor, music journalist, retailer - you name it. Most recently he founded the Together Festival, Boston’s springtime celebration of Music, Art and Technology (now in year 5) and remains the festival’s Creative Director. Two years ago, he co-founded the Mmmmaven Project, an educational initiative in Central Square, Cambridge, where he serves as Director, managing marketing, social media and human resources. He has been the editor of The Weekly Dig in Boston.
Helena Fruscio is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Technology Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has been The Creative Economy Industry Director at State of Massachusetts. Helene is the Chair of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce’s Fine and Performing Arts Award, she sits on Berkshire Navigation-Berkshire Data Collection Steering committee, Berkshire Blueprint Steering Committee, and is an active steering committee member of the Berkshire Young Professionals. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) School of Imaging Arts and Sciences in Ceramic Sculpture, with a concentration in Anthropology/Sociology. She also studied at Studied at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Matthew Wilson is MASSCreative’s first Executive Director, directing advocacy campaigns and organizational development for the organization. As the National Director of the field staff for MoveOn.org from 2005-2006, he helped develop and implement the strategy behind MoveOn.org’s successful 2006 Call for Change, which recruited and trained more than 100,000 volunteers in 60 swing Congressional and Senate districts. As the Founder and Director of Toxics Action Center from 1989 to 2005, Wilson assisted more than 300 neighborhood groups address toxic pollution issues in their communities. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1983 and also earned a Masters of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2008.
Kaveh Mojtabai is the founder and publisher of Artscope magazine, a media company currently in it’s 11th year that is dedicated to reviewing art exhibits, covering cultural events, connecting artists with their audience and creating access to the arts. Kaveh manages a team of editors, writers, graphic designers, web developers, technology experts and advertising account executives to publish Artscope in its print, email, online, social media, mobile app and iPad tablet edition formats to the industry and the public. Plus, Artscope contributes to news columns at worldwide media outlets such as CNN and participates and exhibits in shows such as Art Basel Switzerland and Art Basel Miami Beach.
In addition to his work in the media industry, Kaveh has worked on projects like co-curating the “A Politic” exhibit that showcased the worldwide acclaimed AbrahamObama billboard. He has recently juried at the Copley Society, Galatea Fine Arts in Boston, Andover Artist Guild’s Art in the Park, the Milton Art Museum, Sharon Arts Center, the Newburyport Art Association Annual Juried Exhibition, Milton Arts Center and a number of gallery exhibitions. Kaveh has appeared on the Arts League of Rhode Island annual conference panel as well as various “Money Matters” and entrepreneurial business radio networks where he explained how Artscope’s media platforms support connections between artists, collectors and the public.
Previously, Kaveh worked internationally with Fortune 500 clients at a “Big Four” global consulting firm to develop client performance through strategic, operational and financial processes. He has graduated with two degrees, a B.A. in Astrophysics and B.S.B.A in Business Administration. His previous work included astronomy research at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics under the direction of a Nobel Astrophysics Prize winner. Kaveh currently lives in Quincy, Massachusetts, enjoys running, playing recreational soccer games and flying planes. He loves his mom and is a momma’s boy.
Jean-Paul St Germain is an extremely successful entrepreneur, investor, and collector. Raised in Massachusetts, he received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his Master’s from Columbia. Feeding a life long interest in art and the artistic process, he has amassed a substantial collection of contemporary art. He currently lives in Connecticut.
Adrian Madaro is the State Representative representing East Boston. A proud first-generation American, he is an avid art-lover, and enthusiastic and generous supporter of the East Boston Art's community.
Diane Modica is an artist and attorney, ex-Boston City Councilor (she chaired the committee on arts and humanities while on the City Council), two-time president of the East Boston Chamber of Commerce, 2013 East Boston Woman of the Year, and one of the lead organizers for East Boston Open Studios.
ENTER THE BOSTON BIENNIAL 4