Artifice

Dave Chisholm is a graphic novelist and musician currently living in Rochester, NY where he received his doctorate in jazz trumpet from the Eastman School of Music in 2013. His expertise in music as well as his formal inventiveness within the comics medium has resulted in a string of critically-acclaimed music-centric graphic novels including Enter the Blue (2022, Z2 Comics), Chasin' the Bird: Cha...

Hailing from Narembeen in the wheatbelt of Western Australia, Jordan is a metal artist specialising in one-of-a-kind animal sculptures. Using retired tools, machine parts and recycled farm scrap sourced throughout rural Western Australia, Jordan finds inspiration in the animal kingdom and brings his sculptures to life. Now in his tenth year as a full time sculptor, Jordan builds a variety of piece...

Jennifer Taylor-O'Connor is an attorney, animal cognition trainer, writer, and international speaker, focusing on animal literacy and communication. A "parrot mama" for over 16 years, Jen has been developing cognition training techniques for almost a decade. Her training manuals have been translated and distributed throughout Europe, and she’s been featured in Bird Talk magazine. Jen has twice wri...

Casey Drake is a self-taught artist, author, illustrator, and mother currently based in Orlando, Florida. While always driven by a strong, intrinsic need to create, her artistic journey took an unexpected turn when her whimsical sidewalk chalk creations gained widespread recognition in 2020. Before this, Casey obtained a bachelor’s of science in Biology, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South...

From Anna's Obituary: Mary Annaleen Mooy, beloved sister, aunt, teacher, and devoted friend to many, age 65, peacefully passed away on January 15, 2024, due to complications of a brain tumor. I'm so grateful I have this conversation with Anna to remember and cherish, along with some truly impactful memories from my time as her student. It feels right to honor her by sharing this interview a second...

Pham was born in a Malaysian refugee camp in 1979. His parents are Vietnamese and fled the country during the Vietnam War. The family moved to the United States when he was five months old and has lived in the U.S. ever since. Pham was teased often as a young child, and has said that he began to "resent being Asian" because of this bullying. He often avoided traditional Asian food while growing up...

Evan Werner is an avid woodworker, chef, outdoorsman, and entrepreneur. Living in a rural community in Utah has allowed him to spend more time with his artistic passions. He runs South Slope Wood-fired Pizza with his wife Priscilla. When he’s not serving up delicious wood fired pizza he’s in the mountains fly fishing or searching for unique logs to harvest to create furniture and wood turned piece...

Joey Anderson (he/they) is a movement-based artist and educator based in his hometown, Salt Lake City, Utah. He is currently a member of FLEET Co-Op, directed by Shelby Taylor, which just concluded its inaugural year. In collaboration with FLEET, Joey contributed in building and performing their immersive show, “Monomyth,” last Fall as well as their work shown at 801 Salon in May 2023. He also pre...

Jennifer Madsen is a prized fixture on performing stages of the West. A lifelong singer and actress, her early career included being a cast member of Brigham Young University’s famed performing group the Young Ambassadors. That experience founded her love of the art and afforded her the chance to sing, dance, and act for audiences across the globe. Using her strong foundational understanding for t...

Aaron Schumacher is a dynamic vocalist, music director, and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. Known for his technical expertise and innovative approach, Aaron serves as the Soprano and Technical Director for m-pact, a globally celebrated vocal group renowned for their authentic and powerful vocal performances. As an entrepreneur, Aaron founded VocalMist, a company offering specialized vocal healt...

Britt Linde is a rock climber and physical therapist living in the magical Sonoran Desert of Tucson, Arizona. Her life circumstances led her to attend BYU for her undergrad degree in Exercise Science and serendipitously led her to experience rock climbing for the first time. There began her obsession with rock climbing and the life lessons it teaches, and she has continued to follow and fall in lo...

Grace was born and raised in Sandy, Utah where she grew up doing two things - playing soccer and making art. Today, she continues to do just that; she spends the majority of her time at Harmons Grocery painting and installing signs, at home painting original work or commissioned work for her art patrons, and of course, we mustn’t forget, playing soccer in multiple adult leagues. She has certainly...

Alex Hyner is a writer, producer, and actor for film and television in Los Angeles. In his spare time, he has cultivated a passion for photography and digital art. You can find his work on Instagram @alexhyner and his website AlexHynerArt.com

My culinary passion started at a young age. Growing up, I would help my mother make wedding cakes in her spare time and make caramels, brownies, and more with my dad. I developed a love for pastries- the balancing of flavors, the chemistry behind it, the look, the flavor combinations, and of course the taste! I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since graduating high school, I attended T...

Sarah Czaplewski was born in Omaha Nebraska, and grew up in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha. She started singing and taking voice lessons as a child (kind of had to since mom, grandma, uncle and aunt were all singers). During high school Sarah was in soccer (not really anything to write home about with the soccer skills, but decent to be on varsity), show choir, jazz choir, and musicals. Sh...

Ross Hagen is an Associate Professor of Music Studies at Utah Valley University, focusing on musicology and ethnomusicology. He has been at UVU since 2010 and received his Ph. D. and M.M. in Musicology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and his B.A. at Davidson College. Dr. Hagen’s research interests include underground music scenes, black metal music, medievalism, and avant-garde music. Rec...

FinFolk Productions was founded by twin sisters Abby & Bryn Roberts in 2012 and specializes exclusively in realistic, fully swimmable mermaid tails and accessories. From the Lakes of Minnesota, to the beaches of Hawaii, and now to the mountains of North Carolina, the studio location has changed over the years and expanded to a small team of 8 but our commitment to quality, hand crafted art is unwa...

Drew Nichols, at age 4, received a police escort home while selling handmade puppets door-to-door. He later studied music composition at Arizona State, toured with ALW’s The Wizard of Oz, and worked for Weisersound as a keyboard programming assistant for Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Blvd, Les Mis, Cats, Miss Saigon, School of Rock, and NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live. Now, he's focuse...

Mike Steinel is a jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer, arranger, and novelist. For forty years he taught jazz at the collegiate level, most notably at the University of North Texas (32 years). He has performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia; recorded with the Frank Mantooth Orchestra, the Mike Waldrop Band, the Chicago Jazz Quintet; and performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, Don E...

Artist, photographer, dancer, performer. Married to a supportive husband and mother of 1. Somer started her profession as a photographer back in 2004. Shortly after, she fell in love with a new sport of pole. Her passion for dancing and performing has led her to open her own studio and just recently she got to perform at The Snoop Dogg concert at the Usana Amphitheater. Need creative photography o...

Jordan Clark is a musician, songwriter, music engineer, and producer with extensive experience in writing, performing, and recording musical works. As a musician, he has performed with a number of musical groups, including Vanladylove (named "#1 Artist on the Verge" at the 2014 New Music Seminar), and has worked diligently as a solo artist. Jordan graduated from Utah Valley University and attended...

The Fresh King Benjamin is a Utah-based comic who has headlined such prestigious events as The Sunstone Symposium and Wyoming Equality’s Annual Rendezvous. He grew up on a Mormon polygamist compound in Wyoming before escaping to the vast and wicked metropolis of Salt Lake City at the tender age of 20. Since then he’s been slowly figuring out how to prosper in the heathen lands while being wildly d...

Daria Fedorova / Dasha Plesen is a multidisciplinary artist and photographer, based in Moscow. She's developing a unique methodology which allows her to capture the Universal Microbiome, and metaphorically visualize the Nothing. Experimenting with natural phenomena, decay processes and life and death cycles, she creates very extraterrestrial micro landscapes, full of colour and life. instagram.com...

Langston Collin Wilkins, PhD is folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and writer based in Madison, WI. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Folklore and Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Wilkins is the author of Welcome to Houston: Hip Hop Heritage in Hustle Town, which was released through the University of Illinois Press in August of 2023. His research interests inc...

Maxwell is a pianist and knit portrait artist from Arizona. Ever since he can remember, Maxwell Eddington has been creating. Although his passion for creating beauty has led him to dabble in aquascaping, interior design, digital art, singing and sewing, his life’s main artistic devotions remain knitting and playing the piano. Maxwell learned to knit while living in eastern Europe, by studying a “T...