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Fall 2024 Jurors
Matthew McHugh
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Matthew McHugh is from Fort Collins, Colorado. He earned a BFA in drawing from Colorado State University in 2016 and an MFA in drawing, painting, and printmaking from Purdue University in 2021. Matthew currently resides in Colorado and is living out his passion for teaching and art as an instructor at the University of Northern Colorado. He regularly shows in nationally and internationally juried exhibitions and is an active member of the Society of American Graphic Artists. In his recent art, he invites Paleolithic cave art into contemporary contexts to reflect on mortality, humanity, and time.
Jacquelynn Perkins
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From the backdrop of her 1901 American Foursquare in Loveland, Colorado, artist Jacquelynn Perkins (b. Denver, CO 1978) paints an intricate and captivating tapestry of emotional resilience, feminine energy, and human connection through oil on canvas. Perkins graduated in 2002 from the Rhode Island School of Design, including a year in RISD's European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. This experience instilled a profound respect for art history, igniting a creative fervor within her. She imbues her canvases with an emotional depth, capturing the nuance of the human experience, and challenging the traditional gaze of the female figure in oil. Jacquelynn’s work invites viewers into her intimate moments of shared humanity offering a foothold into her most vulnerable and personal experiences. In doing so, she offers a profound and invigorating celebration of motherhood and womanhood. It is undeniable that the perseverance Perkins exemplifies in the face of personal adversity has informed her artistic vision. As an artist Jacquelynn has persisted through the trials of addiction, depression, and recently severe autoimmune diseases that left her housebound and then bed-bound for three years until healing began in 2023. Perkins channels her experiences into her creative practice, a reciprocal act of breathing new life between herself and her canvases. This spirit of resilience and determination animates her art, infusing her work with a tangible, emotional richness. A testament to her own indomitable spirit, her paintings serve as poignant reminders of the power and strength that lies within us all
Fall 2023 Jurors
Sarah E. LaBarre
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Sarah Elizabeth LaBarre is a fiber artist and curator. She believes that art has the capability of transforming lives and is especially interested in points of connection between artists and the communities they live in. She holds an MFA in fibers from Colorado State University, a post-baccalaureate in fibers from Oregon College of Art and Craft, and a BFA in ceramics from the University of Arts in Philadelphia. Among other artist accomplishments, Sarah’s work is in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum.
Mario Zoots
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Employing modes of appropriation and collage, Mario Zoots reimagines and questions the practices and belief systems that shape our world. While his earlier work focused on consumerism, pop, and American culture, Zoots’ recent practice includes abstract, sculptural and handmade elements, from indiscernible sources, expanding definitions of the collage technique.
Mario Zoots (American, b.1981) lives and works in Denver. He holds an MFA from the University of Denver and a BFA from the Metropolitan State University of Denver. Zoots works in various media, including painting, collage, sculpture, and video. Heavily influenced by his past life as a graffiti vandal, the artist’s works are often intentionally raw and defaced.
Fall 2022 Jurors
Mamiko Ikeda, Artist & Faculty Member of Art Students Leage of Denver
Mamiko Ikeda, from Tokyo, Japan, is a cultural educator and multimedia artist who mainly creates calligraphy art and prints. She also enjoys composing music, playing guitar & sanshin (Okinawan instrument), and has created unique music & art collaborative pieces. Early in her life she began studying shodo (Japanese calligraphy) with her mother, master calligrapher Shotei Miura, as her guide. Later, drawn to the American West to study Native American culture and storytelling, she earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Denver in Liberal Arts, specializing in American Indian Studies. She aims to bring harmony to others through multiple creative and therapeutic uses of her hands, including art, music, and healing art. She has published a Japanese calligraphy learning book co-authored with her mother; “Japanese Calligraphy -The Basics” in the US and in Japan. She has been teaching/demonstrating Japanese calligraphy in the US, and is currently a faculty member of the Art Students League of Denver.
Jaycee Beyale, Artist & Curator at Dairy Arts Center, Boulder
JayCee Beyale grew up in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, and received his BFA in printmaking from the University of New Mexico. He currently resides in Westminster, but travels often participates in collaborative murals and other art projects with fellow organizations and artists. JayCee’s connection to his aboriginal culture is heavily influenced by his involvement in the arts; his personal identity and background have always been present in his work because he is proud of who he is and where he comes from. His career as an artist started when he discovered street art and graffiti. He is deeply influenced by music, and is certain that without music, his art would not exist. Combining traditional indigenous ideologies and his personal Buddhist practice, JayCee is always striving to emphasize the concepts and convictions in his art. Using a combination of spray paints and acrylics, he hopes to share his beliefs by celebrating the fusion of technology and Indigenous culture in his work. JayCee aspires to illustrate the Laws of Movement, Unity and Impermanence in his work.