Michael Crowder - Artist Advisory Board Member
Michael is a mixed media sculptor who exhibits across the US and internationally. Originally from New Orleans, he is currently based in Houston, Texas. His conceptually-driven sculpture often incorporates museum “art/ifacts” made of glass particles fused together in a variation of the ancient pâte de verre technique. Exploring ideas of fragility and impermanence, his work is sometimes cast using very ephemeral materials—from sugar or chocolate to marble dust or cigarette ashes. He was recently honored with nomination for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award and an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship at the Dora Maar House in Ménerbes, France.
Saba Jawda - Artist Advisory Board Member
Saba comes from a family background of creativity that values the pursuit of art. As a child in the Middle East, Saba stood out as a creative talent, and by the age of seven, she started participating in art shows in the Middle East. She later settled in Belize where she spent three years of her late childhood studying Mayan and local art before relocating to her current home in Houston, TX. She has since traveled, taken numerous art classes and has participated in art shows in the US. During her undergrad, Saba also spent a semester studying Art and Architecture throughout Europe. Upon graduating from the University of Houston with degrees in Interior Design and Architecture, Saba is currently the principal of Saba Jawda Inc., while her art is on exhibition at galleries around the US and Europe. Saba believes in combining past and present experiences along with cultural influences to further grow both as an artist and an individual. Saba's creativity, skill and passion stem past the canvas as a board member of numerous art and design related organizations in Houston.
Lindsay Peyton - Artist Advisory Board Member
Lindsay is a Houston native, and her works in oil, charcoal and other media have been featured in galleries and gathering places around the city. Peyton is a photojournalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, who discovered she would rather be painting than working at a paper.
Misha Penton - Artist Advisory Board Member
Misha is a classical singer and interdisciplinary performing artist. She’s created the roles of Brooklyn and Marguerite in the world premieres of James Norman’s Wake with Opera Vista; Norman's Incline, O Maiden, a dramatic scene for mezzo soprano and chamber ensemble with Audio Inversions of Austin, Texas; and the principal role of Leah in Ofer Ben-Amots' multimedia opera, The Dybbuk. Misha is the founder and artistic director of Divergence Vocal Theater, a Houston-based opera and interdisciplinary performing arts company, creating performance fusions of opera, dance, text, and multimedia arts. She has sung the roles of Ottavia and Sapho in the company’s productions of The Ottavia Project and The 10th Muse. Misha’s original music recordings for dance have been heard at DiverseWorks Arts Space, the University of Houston Center for Choreography, and with New Orleans’ Happensdance. Her multidisciplinary adaptation of George MacDonald's children's classic, At the Back of the North Wind, appeared in the Big Range Dance Festival; and she is currently collaborating as librettist with composer James Norman on a new dramatic song cycle, Decameron Lost. Misha is a featured guest artist on the 2007 release, On the Strings of the Rain with pianist-composer Roger Keele and members of the Houston Symphony and Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. She has sung in Mercury Baroque’s productions of Pygmalion and Armide, and is a member of the Houston Grand Opera Chorus.
Y.E. Torres - Artist Advisory Board Member
Y. E. Torres (ms. YET) is a visual and performance artist based in Houston, TX. As a mixed media artist working primarily with collage and photography Torres’ work explores invented characters and the life of the line that leads to their creation. The techniques and execution of these characters originate from her background in fashion, fabric design, drawing, painting, and street art (graffiti). Sound, music, and the painful challenges of human conflict and emotion also inspire her.
As a contemporary belly dancer Torres performs and studies regularly throughout Texas and the United States. Her current dance study encompasses traditional belly dance forms and yoga. Torres’ dance performances range from folkloric pieces, modern belly dance fusion and an investigation of improvising movement to sound. She performs regularly with the troupe The Renegades and Their Collection of Carnies and with guitarist, Sandy Ewen. Y. E. Torres has a BFA in Drawing and Painting and a BFA in Fashion Design from the University of North Texas.
Gwendolyn Zepeda - Artist Advisory Board Member
Gwendolyn was born in Houston, Texas in 1971 and attended the University of Texas at Austin. She began her writing career on the Web in 1997, with her long-running site gwendolynzepeda.com and as one of the founding writers of entertainment site Television Without Pity. Her first book was a short-story collection called To the Last Man I Slept with and All the Jerks Just Like Him (Arte Público Press, 2004).
Zepeda’s first children’s book, Growing Up with Tamales (Piñata Books) is a 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award Highly Commended Title. Her first novel, Houston, We Have a Problema (Grand Central Publishing, 2009) won praise from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist for its wit and upbeat story. Novelist Alisa Valdez Rodriguez calls Zepeda “a master wordsmith.” A two-time Houston Arts Alliance literary fellowship winner and award-winning poet, Zepeda regularly lectures at universities throughout Texas. Her latest books include another children’s book – Sunflowers (Piñata Books, 2009) – and a new novel from Grand Central Publishing called Lone Star Legend.
