Jani Hileman

Jani Hileman is a multidisciplinary sculptor whose practice navigates ceramics, metal, wood, and photographic materials. Her work is often made with intensive hands-on processes that allow the materials to influence the final aesthetic of each of her pieces.  

She draws inspiration from her materials, landscapes, personal experiences, feminism, environmentalism, politics, as well as her own intensive work ethic. Throughout her various projects, Hileman explores the every day, the body, craft, gender, and the nature of objects themselves.

Lendl Tellington

Lendl Tellington is a versatile storyteller working across film, photography, journalism, and experiential art. His practice centers on the subversion of aesthetic traditions to more accurately depict the nuance in our experiences. He hones in on the seemingly humdrum existence behind popular history and our contemporary moment and contextualizes the contributions of marginalized communities. When he’s not behind the camera, Lendl is the Technical Director of the Blackstar Film Festival.

Kei Ito

Kei Ito is a conceptual photographer working primarily with camera-less image-making, and installation art. Ito earned his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016, following his BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2014.

Ito’s work addresses issues of deep loss and intergenerational connection as he explores the materiality and experimental processes of photography. His work deals with trauma and legacy passed down from his late grandfather, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and a later anti-nuclear activist, in relation to current threats of nuclear disaster. Ito’s artworks lead the audience on a journey from grief and remembrance to hope. Through his ritualistic image-making, the audience sees how he grapples with his family’s historical connection to nuclear weapons and power. Thus, Ito’s art serves as an intermediary, a memento of his grandfather, and his own experience in today’s nuclear climate.