Visiting Artists, Scholars and Designers
All lectures take place at 5:30pm in room 2008 of the Richmond Center for Visual Arts unless otherwise stated.
FALL 2026 LECTURE SCHEDULE
A graduate of Bowdoin College, James Denison completed his PhD in art history at the University of Michigan in 2023. While at Michigan he wrote a dissertation on the connections between the group of American modernists known as the Stieglitz Circle and racism in the interwar U.S., and in the time since has published scholarly writing in the journals Word & Image, Panorama, and CAA.reviews. Since 2023 he has worked at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts as a postdoctoral curatorial fellow and at Kalamazoo College as a visiting assistant professor of art history.
Carlos Barberena de la Rocha (b. 1972) is a contemporary Nicaraguan/US artist and printmaker known for satirical relief prints that draw from pop culture and global political histories. His work addresses cycles of repression and resistance, diaspora, and the interconnected nature of social, political, economic, and environmental injustice. Barberena has exhibited internationally in Costa Rica, Estonia, France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain, and the United States, and his work is held in numerous public and private collections. He lives and works in Chicago, where he operates Bandolero Press and La Calaca Press.
Stephen Creech
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Upon finishing his education, Stephen Creech began working as a professional artist in Lexington, KY. Since 2008, Stephen Creech has worked on a variety of creative projects. His works have been showcased in solo and group exhibitions around the country and internationally.
Stephen Creech is originally from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky and currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife and cats. He is a ceramic artist, who attended Morehead State University. He is co-founder of Clay Week and the Director of Marketing and Development at AMACO Brent.
Martha Mysko is known for exhibiting large scale works across disciplines such as painting, sculpture, installation, and photography. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions regionally. Mysko is currently Artist in Residence and co-Head of the Painting Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Erica Bello has created multi dimensional work since 2013 that bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary jewelry. With an interest in the reinterpretation of classic iconography, she looks to historical artifacts, folk art, and ubiquitous keepsakes for inspiration. Designs rise out of recurring motifs and settle to form objects that evoke feelings of nostalgia and familiarity.
Bello studied metals/jewelry design at the School for American Crafts where she earned her BFA. Her focus on traditional metalsmithing techniques partnered with digital design allowed her to develop a collection that embraces modern silhouettes and classic iconography. After receiving the Halstead grant for emerging artists in 2-14 she began exhibiting her work nationally. Erica's work has been showcased at New York City Jewelry Week, The Museum of Art and Design, SOFA Chicago, and can be found internationally in several contemporary craft galleries. She currently resides in Providence, RI where she continues to explore contemporary and antiquated craft practices.
Salvador Jiménez-Flores (b. 1985, Jalisco, México) is an interdisciplinary artist currently residing in Chicago, IL, USA. His work explores the politics of identity, double consciousness, colonization, migration, "the other," and futurism through socially conscious installation, public, and studio-based art. His practice spans community-based work, drawing, ceramics, prints, and mixed media sculpture.
Jiménez-Flores holds an MFA in Drawing from Kendall College of Art & Design (2014).
He has received prestigious awards, including the 2021 United States Artist Fellowship, the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Threewalls' RaD Lab + Outside the Walls Fellowship. He has been commissioned for public sculptures, including The Richard Hunt Award, Artprize, and Grounds For Sculpture.
In this presentation, Julie Chen will share stories about what goes into the making of her artist's books. She will explore how research, content development, paper engineering, book design, and sometimes a bit of luck come together to shape her limited edition works.
MISSION
Throughout their tenure at the Frostic School of Art, students learn that making art is not the sole component of what it means to be an artist in the 21st century. Artists must also develop professional contacts, learn to speak freely about their work, answer challenging questions, contextualize and promote their work.
The mission of Frostic School of Art’s Visiting Artist program is tri-fold: to provide students direct, meaningful contact with working artists, both established and emerging; to elevate the regional, national, and international profile of the Frostic School of Art and Richmond Center for Visual Arts; and to nurture a sense of community among students, faculty and staff within WMU’s College of Fine Arts.
As a program that integrates all disciplines within the Frostic School of Art, our Visiting Artist Program also encourages students to step beyond their given major and explore techniques outside their given practice. As such, the Visiting Artist program provides a broad and solid foundation that seeks to expand each students’ view of professional practice after graduation.
HISTORY
Since the 1960s, the rich history of the Frostic School of Art’s Visiting Artist and Scholar Program includes such curators, writers and artists as Richard Hunt, Christo, Jerry Saltz, Julia Christensen, Roger Shimomura, Eleanor Heartney, Lucy R. Lippard, John Cage, Ivan C. Karp, Benny Andrews, Squeak Carnwath, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Chun-Hak Oh, Yoshisuke Funasaka, Brigit Skiold, Maria Gaspar, Tyanna Buie, Ashley Hunt, Patterson Sims, Dr. David Pilgrim, Victoria Finlay and Lev Manovich, among hundreds of others.
All lectures and discussions are free and open to the public.