Mentees
- Ashley Lusietto with mentor Della Wells
- Tanner MacArther with mentor Mutope J Johnson
- Felonee Webster with mentor Sharon Kerry-Harlan
- Elizabeth Bruders with mentor Phyllis Bankier
- Reid Sancken with mentor Jason Yi
- Jessica Gruber with mentor Todd Mrozinski
- Kiefer Waterman with mentor Santiago Cucullu
- Miguel Camacho with mentor Jessica Laub
- David Perez with mentor Brad Anthony Bernard
- Lasonia Ragsdale with mentors Ammar Nsoroma and Carmen Murguia
- Fantasia Johnson and Jamie Pitts with mentor Danielle Paswaters
- Francesca Simonite with mentor Nirmal Raja
- Nelson Kies with mentor Kendall Polster
- Lamont Smith with mentor Adam Setala
Mentors
- Phyllis Bankier – Photography
- Santiago Cucullu – Painting/Mixed media
- Brad Anthony Bernard – Visual Artist
- Mutope Johnson – Visual Artist: Painter
- Sharon Kerry Harlan – Textiles, Mixed media, Photography
- Jessica Laub – Ceramics
- Todd Mrozinski – Visual Artist: Drawing/Painting
- Carmen Murguia – Spoken Word
- Ammar Nsoroma – Muralist, portraitist and mixed media painter
- Danielle Paswaters – Curator
- Kendall Polster – Sculpture/Welder
- Nirmal Raja – Painting & Mixed media
- Adam Setala – Graphic Design
- Della Wells – Visual Artist: Mixed Media
- Jason Yi – Visual Artist: Multidisciplinary
Jody Alexander – Program Coordinator
Jody Alexander has volunteered, promoted, advocated and implemented arts education for nearly 25 years. She’s been on the Board of the African American Art Alliance (Quad A: a Support Group of the Milwaukee Art Museum) for 20 years, helping raise money to acquire works by African American Artists for the Museum’s permanent collection.
Alexander is the founder of Blk-Art*History&Culture, an Organization dedicated to Arts Education. She’s been the Coordinator for the MARN Mentors Program since 2016, adding depth and diversity. Alexander is a recipient of a 2019 Black Excellence Award and an enthusiastic Art Collector. “Stay Artful” is her model.
MARNmentors Program Overview
MARNmentors is a competitive, season-long artist mentorship program offering emerging artists the opportunity to partner with local established artists to further their artistic practice while engaging in building a career as a working artist. Within these exchanges, mentors help mentees develop project goals and overcome personal barriers that the mentee may identify. The goal is to empower and give accountability to the partnership so that 1) Mentors feel free to give aesthetic, moral and concrete support based on their experiences; and 2) Mentees are able to hold themselves accountable to their own goals.
Each pair of mentors and mentees work together for a season; some meet for a few hours each month for critique, others meet weekly for a more in-depth exchange of skills and ideas. At the end of each program cycle, MARNmentors culminates in an exhibition that highlights the professional and personal developments and collaborations between our talented mentors & mentees.
MARN was pleased to invite the public to the “2020-2021 MARNmentors Exhibition” which ran November 19, 2021 – January 4, 2022 at the MARN ART + CULTURE HUB (191 N Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202).
The exhibition featured the work of artists who participated in the 2020 – 2021 MARNmentors program.
Check out the 2020-2021 MARNmentors Exhibition in our Archive.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Milwaukee Arts Board and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.
