2023 NAHS/NJAHS Exhibition Jurors

Angela Riechers

Program Director/Graphic Design

University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Angela Riechers is an award-winning writer, art director, and educator. A native New Yorker transplanted to Philadelphia, she is now Program Director of Graphic Design at the University of the Arts. She has taught at City College of New York, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York University, Queens College, and the School of Visual Arts, where she developed and launched a four-week summer intensive residency in type design as well as an online learning program, The Complete Typographer. Angela writes primarily about typography for numerous design-related publications including the AIGA blog Eye on Design, Wallpaper, Metropolis, Print, and Design Observer. As an editorial art director, she created concepts and page layouts for everything from Harper's Magazine to iPad apps for O, the Oprah Magazine. Angela received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the School of Visual Art.

Demetri Espinosa

Admissions Counselor

Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, Maine

Demetri Espinosa is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Boston, MA. His work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Art New England, and Studio Visit Magazine. He has exhibited at The Yellowstone Art Museum, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, and most recently at LaiSun Keene in Boston, MA. He currently works in Admissions at the Maine College of Art & Design, in addition to co-directing BOSSCRITT—a critique and curatorial club for emerging artists, whose mission is funded in part through a regranting program from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
Espinosa’s studio practice centers around modes of autobiography; through the language of abstraction he examines his lived experience growing up as a third culture kid, and the challenges inherent therein. His work deals with notions of identity, belonging, nostalgia, and otherness.

Emilia Morales

Admissions Counselor

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Emilia Morales is an Illustrator and Admissions Counselor at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She graduated from MIAD in 2021 with a BFA in Illustration and minor in Digital Media Production. In 2021, Emilia was one of five Illustrators selected to have their design featured on Colectivo Coffee's special edition to-go cups. She was also one of two MIAD Illustration students to contribute to a sponsored visual campaign for Carmex. Emilia joined MIAD's Admissions Team and Scholarship Committee in 2022.

Forrest Wasko

Admissions Counselor

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Forrest Wasko is a visual artist living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated with a BFA in Photography from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2017. In Wasko’s practice, the subject of the work becomes the medium of photography itself and the various forms a photograph can take. Using images of the everyday, the familiar, and snapshots, he portrays a spectrum of subjects from within and without the personal narrative. Forrest is interested in the many ways photographs can present themselves: how we ready them, interact with them, and how we use them to communicate our experiences. Considering photographs as a form of language, his work investigates the different vocabularies and vernaculars present in photography. Using these images, Wasko creates photo essays, photo-objects, and photobooks.

Henry Chambers

Admission Counselor

California College for the Art, San Francisco , California

Henry Chambers is a Northern California native that achieved a BFA in Painting & Drawing in 2015, and a dual MFA in Studio Art and MA in the History & Theory of Contemporary Art in 2020. Henry continues to work on his theoretical writing about anonymous activist artist collectives and the occupation of space through remnants of a performative assembly. He also continues to pursue his passions of conceptual sculpture, painting, and digital photography. Henry currently works as an Admissions Counselor at the California College of the Arts (CCA) and he is excited to help guide new college students as they begin their artistic journey.

Kris Musto

Principal Admissions Outreach Liaison

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota

As an admissions representative for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), Kris Musto spends the school year traveling and working in high school art classrooms with art teachers and students. She graduated with a BFA from MCAD and the Burren College of Art and has worked in MCAD admissions for 20+ years. In between taking trips and making things, Musto teaches workshops on bookbinding, altered books, soft sculpture, drawing, and portfolio development for art school.

Kylie Cropper

Senior Admissions Counselor

Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Originally from the Washington DC area, Kylie received her BFA from the New Hampshire Institute of Art with a Printmaking concentration. Kylie has a passion for speaking her truth through her art as well as Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access in the arts. She enjoys working with young artists and professionals in Philadelphia and beyond! Outside of Moore, Kylie loves strolling through museums, teaching ceramics classes and has a commitment to being a lifelong student!

Dr. Lisa Newman

Director of Admissions and Marketing

Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Ireland

Dr. Lisa Newman joined the Burren College of Art as Director of Admissions in June, 2015. She has previously held positions in Financial Aid and Admissions at Oregon College of Art & Craft (2001-2009) and Pacific Northwest College of Art (1998-2000) in Portland, Oregon. Lisa is also an artist, curator and writer. As a professional artist, she has exhibited work in events and festivals in the US, Canada and across the EU since 1995. She also co-directs the independent arts organization, 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, with her partner, Llewyn Maire. Lisa completed a research-based PhD in 2014 at the University of Manchester, UK in performance art history and theory. She also holds an MA in Performance and Cultural Location in Contemporary Europe from Dartington College of Art and a BS in Fine and Applied Art from the University of Oregon. Her experiences in academia in both the US and the UK have given her an insight and appreciation for international study, and she brings this enthusiasm to her current role at BCA.

Natalie Capannelli

Director of Admissions

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York

Natalie Capannelli is the Director of Admissions at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She is also an artist, illustrator, and freelance baker with an enviable green thumb.  Natalie received her MFA from Pratt Institute, and her BFA from Kent State University. Publishing credits include debut picture book If We Were Gone, Imagining the World without People by John Coy, April 2020 from Lerner Publishing, illustrations for Funny or Die's online magazine The Occasional, cover art for Issue no. 04 of Got a Girl Crush Magazine, and illustrations for Brick Educational Publishing in South Korea. Her work was also featured in issue no. 89 of New American Paintings.  She loves supporting young artists and helping them realize their goals and dreams in one of the most dynamic cities in the world!

Nathalie Pacheco

Admissions Counselor

Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nathalie Pacheco is an illustrator living and working in Lancaster, PA. Along with focusing on her illustrations, she also works as an Admissions Counselor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.  Since graduating with her B.F.A. at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, she has continued to work in both traditional and digital mediums. She has collaborated with local artists here in Lancaster as well as working with artists in Central and South America. Creating art that can be interpreted and enjoyed regardless of any language barrier is one of her greatest ambitions.

Olivia Ezinga

Assistant Director of Admissions

College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan

Olivia Ezinga is the assistant director of admissions at the College for Creative Studies. She is also a teaching artist and fine art photographer whose work embraces mental illness and femininity - often using self as subject. Olivia has lectured on creative processes across the country and is based in Detroit, Michigan.

Paul Jeanes

Professor and Division Chair of Foundation Program

Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, Massachusetts

Paul Jeanes is a Professor and Division Chair of the Foundation Program at Montserrat College of Art. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina Asheville and a Master of Fine Arts from the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art. In his career as an educator, Paul has served as an administrator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Towson University, and as Chief Reader of the AP Studio Art program where he led the curriculum redesign in 2020. Paul maintains an active studio art practice with his work being represented in private and public collections on the East Coast.

Randle Reed

Director of Admissions

Delaware College of Art and Design, Wilmington, Delaware

My relationship with the Delaware College of Art and Design began in 2005 when I enrolled as a full-time photography major. After I earned my associate of fine arts degree from DCAD and my bachelor of fine arts degree from Pratt Institute, I have held multiple positions at the college from Assistant Director of Student Services, part time faculty for the Continuing Education Department, to Director of Community Programs. As the Director of Admissions, I want to empower aspiring artists and designers with the opportunity to realize their potential of becoming an industry professional, no matter of race, gender identity, or economic background. DCAD is the nation’s only private, two-year, non-profit institution in the country, offering an AFA in Animation, Illustration, Graphic Design, Game Design, Fine Arts, and Photography. We will help you realize your goal of becoming a professional artist or design. I look forward to getting to know you and your work.

Rodrigo Arruda

Assistant Director of Admissions

California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California

Rodrigo Arruda is a language obsessed visual artist and activist. Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Rodrigo earned his BFA from Universidade de São Paulo and his MFA from the Program in Art at CalArts. He is currently investigating colonial relations between Brazil and the US through imagery of cattle, cannibalism, and the zombie, as well as intersections between sign language (Brazilian Sign Language and American Sign Language) and verbal, spoken languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French). He has been part of exhibitions and festivals in the US, Brazil, and Europe in institutions such as the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, High as the Sky Foundation, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Museu do Estado do Pará, Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade, FFFriederich, Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto, SESC Ribeirão Preto, Ateliê 397, Galeria Sancovsky, OMA Galeria, e Prefeitura de Santo André.

Sam S. Stahl

Assistant Director of Admissions

Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California

Sam Stahl is a working artist, and also serves as the Assistant Director of Admissions for Otis College of Art & Design, Southern California’s oldest Art and Design College. She holds her BFA in Art from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

Stahl investigates pedagogy and play by bringing elements of chance back into the studio by creating modular paintings, free formed shelters from metal rods, and crafting idiosyncratic drawing instruments. Her body of work is whimsical and dynamic in nature, encouraging audiences to physically interact and engage with it. Her work has been exhibited at Imagine Entertainment, St Jude’s “30 under 30,” Artshare Los Angeles, among others. Stahl continues to practice art while also providing feedback and guidance to emerging artists early in their careers.