Artist Bios – May 2012
Danielle Ariano is a writer and cabinetmaker who is working toward her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Baltimore. She loves dogs, surfing, the smell of different types of wood, laughter and the fact she always comes home from a “day at the office” covered in sawdust. She finds sawdust in her clothes, her ears and often, in her pockets. She writes about what she sees, what she loves and anything that makes her stop to think.
Richard Byrne is the founding editor of UMBC Magazine. He has worked as an editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Washington City Paper and St. Louis Magazine. His freelance writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Time (online), and Foreign Policy. In his spare time, he writes plays and is a member of Washington, D.C.’s, Taffety Punk Theatre Company.
Annelyse Gelman
Vin Grabill has been creating and exhibiting works in video art formats since 1979. He received a BA degree in Studio Art from Oberlin College in 1971 and a Master of Science in Visual Studies degree from the MIT Center For Advanced Visual Studies in 1981. After teaching Video Art at the Massachusetts College of Art from 1984-1988, Grabill joined the faculty of the UMBC Department of Visual Arts in 1988 teaching Video Art and currntly serves as department chairperson. Grabill’s single channel video work and installation work utilizing video has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In addition to individual projects, Grabill collaborates regularly with performing artists, choreographers, and poets in an attempt to find new solutions for the presentation of live arts utilizing live and recorded aspects of the video medium. Grabill has been active in community initiatives throughout his career. He co-founded and served as president of the Association of Maryland Area Media Artists, Inc (AMAMA), a non-profit membership organization that served the needs of independent media artists from 1989-1996. Grabill has also served on advisory panels with the Maryland State Arts Council and The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore. From 1994 – 1998, Grabill coordinated the educational mission of Baltimore Youth Television (BYTV), a program administered by the Maryland Institute College of Art designed to involve Baltimore City middle school children in video production.
Michelle Jordan graduated from UMBC with a degree in visual arts, emphasis in photography, in the era before the interwebs. After college, she moved from photography to web design and programming. She likes rescuing cats, dreaming, saving the environment, reading books and seeing daylight.
Christopher Justice is a lecturer and the Director of Expository Writing at the University of Baltimore. Visit him online here.
Dina Karkar is a graphic designer living in Baltimore. You can see more of her work at http://www.dinakarkar.com/.
Meredith Purvis, mild-mannered communications editor by day, kicks up her heels and dances down the night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore, and her poetry has been published in Journey Student Literary Magazine, Welter and the Little Patuxent Review. She is also an avid book binder and collector of all things small. Visit her blog at meredithpurvis.com.
Carabella Sands owns both a gun and a purity ring. She draws better pictures than you can dream dreams but she wishes her neighbor’s cat would visit more often.
