Team
Jessica Cochran is a curator and arts administrator living and working in Chicago. She is currently a Curatorial Fellow at the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and Lecturer in the Department of Arts Administration and Policy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Upcoming curated exhibitions include Pulp/Paper/Page, Center for Book Arts (New York); How Much Land, McCormick Gallery (Chicago); and No Thing Goes Away: Deborah Boardman, Works from 1987 - 2015, Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago). Her work has been supported by grants from the Craft Research Fund, Clinton Hill Foundation and the Contemporary Arts Council among others.
Adriana Kuri Alamillo was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1993. She is currently in the process of completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts with and emphasis in Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and works as a Curatorial Assistant for Jessica Cochran Curatorial Projects. Her research and writing practice explores the U.S.-Mexico Border as a physical and conceptual space for creation. She treads the thin line between art and activism, more often than not in both her studio and research. Kuri lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
Alice Ashiwa is a first year graduate student in the Modern and Contemporary Art History MA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in Japan, she was raised bilingually in Tokyo and also attended schools in New York, Sri Lanka, China, and Spain. She graduated from Oberlin College (BA 2014) in anthropology and studio art, and has worked in museums galleries, and community art organizations in the U.S. and Japan. She is interested in the link between modern and contemporary Japanese art and social and political issues, especially nuclear art.
Taykhoom Biviji is a graduate student in the Arts Administration and Policy program at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Originally from India, he has a background in film & television and has worked with leading cultural institutions in Mumbai at various levels. He also has a Masters in Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology form St. Xavier's - Mumbai. Taykhoom is interested in creating sustainable environments for traditional artists and craftsmen in India.
Paulina Budzioch is a graduate student in the Art Administration and Policy program at SAIC. Her research has focused on the implementation of digital technology into museum spaces and the positive role interactive design can play into visitor experience. She's also interested in graphic and industrial design projects that access ideas of sustainability and contemporaneity. Paulina lives and works in Chicago.
Louise Yingduo Liu, originally from China, is a second-year Arts Administration and Policy graduate student and independent musician. Currently living and working in Chicago, her focus is on collection management, digital archive, and public engagement. She is also in an indie band, Rabbit n Wolf, a duo that ran away from the zoo.
Jared Packard is an artist and curator living in Chicago. After managing, developing and curating traveling exhibitions with the arts non profit International Arts & Artists, Packard decided to pursue an MFA in Painting and Drawing at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (expected 2017).
Olga Selvashchuk is a sculpture artist working with a wide range of media, including ceramics, wood, metal, and textile. The artist’s main interest is in the choices humans make. Recent group shows include SAIC BFA show in Sullivan Gallery, Chicago, “Art Experiment” in Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, and the Final Exhibition of students of the Foundation program of British Higher School of Art and Design, Moscow.
Olga is graduating from SAIC in Spring 2016.
Zara Wee is pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in Art History, Theory and Criticism at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has a passion for exhibition design and concept and has curated a series of exhibitions showcasing emerging artists and student work at the Zhou B Art Center here in Chicago. Zara is currently a Gallery Director at the Student Union Galleries with the focus on PR and Marketing. Writing her senior thesis on the topic, she critically looks at censorship in Singapore and its effects on art production and its industry - hoping to one day return to be part of the growing arts scene.
Kevin Whiteneir is a first-year graduate student in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Masters in Modern and Contemporary Art History program. Whiteneir is an alum of Ripon College, class of 2015 and a McNair Scholar, a U.S. Department of Education graduate school preparation program. He holds a Bachelors' Degree in Anthropology and Art History. His scholarship focuses predominantly on the relationship between visual culture and the process of constructing identities, specifically as they relate to gender and sexuality, in response. Further, how these constructed identities in turn shape visual culture via consumption and support is critical in his scholarship.