Current TFA FELLOWS
The 2023-2024 Touchstone Fellows are Brianne Anderson and Neville Barbour.
Brianne Anderson, ‘23 - ’24
Brianne Anderson is a figurative artist from Southwest Florida, now based in Washington, DC. Her practice mainly involves oil painting, printmaking, and drawing and is based primarily in self-portraiture, also incorporating imagery from her home and her life. Her work addresses themes of introversion, self-obsession, vulnerability, loneliness, and humor. She uses imagery of herself and things from her life, translated through surrealism and fiction, to playfully explore these themes and to build a mythology around herself—creating a narrative that does not necessarily require a linear storytelling framework. Brianne has a BFA in Studio Art from BYU, and is a current MFA Studio Art Candidate at American University (expected 2023).
Brianne Anderson’s Website and Instagram
Neville Barbour, ‘23 - ’24
Neville Barbour is a DC native, primarily working with charcoal. He believes that our past remains with us for a reason: We must choose how to reinterpret it. We must process it so that it does not fester. He makes art that brings his past and others' past alive. He searches for the black, the white, and the “indelible” gray. Neville has participated in dozens of domestic and international juried exhibitions, including being awarded “Best in Show” at Touchstone Gallery’s 2020 exhibition, Us. He also exhibited at the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago, IL for their 2022 Black Creativity exhibition, and has a piece in the permanent collection at the David Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts & Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora.
TFA ALUMNI
Steve Wanna, ‘19 - ‘22
Steve Wanna is a multi-disciplinary sound and visual artist whose work includes music, sound design for dance collaborations, sculpture, installation, photography, and works for mixed media. Born and raised in Lebanon, he immigrated to the United States with his family as a teenager, eventually receiving a doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Maryland in 2004. Most of Wanna’s work generally falls into one of two categories informed by the principles of emergence and auspicious coincidence as defined in systems theory, swarm intelligence theory, and Buddhism: under the right conditions, great beauty can emerge without much intervention. The first category includes works that highlight or capture the moment of their creation, a process frozen in anticipation of the potential of unfolding. These works are usually mixed media and draw on experimental techniques that use materials like paints, powders, and wax in atypical ways. The second includes works that are in constant flux, perpetually in states of becoming rather than being. These tend to utilize various electronic components driven by software designed by the artist to create carefully controlled randomness, which imbues the works with a sense of autonomous life. His work has been presented at home and abroad.
Steve Wanna’s Website and Instagram
Jenny Wu, '18–'22
Born in Nanjing, China, Jenny holds BAs in Studio Art and Architectural Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, and an MFA in Studio Art from American University in Washington, DC. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and the chair for Touchstone Foundation for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Her work has been reviewed by the Washington Post. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums including Denise Bibro Fine Art, Katzen Museum, Huntington Museum of Art, Reece Museum, Vilnius Academy of Arts in Lithuania, and CICA Museum in South Korea. Wu has participated in numerous Artist-In-Residence programs across the country; and has been awarded fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Pollock Krasner Foundation. Wu is represented by Morton Fine Art.
Jenny Wu’s Website and Instagram
Michael Cabezas, ‘19 - ‘21
Michael Cabezas is a multi-disciplinary artist who works primarily with drawing, video, and sculpture. Sarcasm and melancholy emerge as the atmosphere of a hybrid media practice that celebrates the hollowness of American Suburbia. Projects that are both anecdotal and implicate of childhood request a reflection from a jaded population. His work often overlaps pop-culture with playful cynicism to form a dialogue about the antics and absurdity of a class.
Carol Ann Moore, '16–'19
A native of Maryland, Carol studied Graphic Design at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Baltimore, MD. She also lived in Kuwait and Jordan for several years. She's worked as a technical illustrator, a paste-up artist, an art director for two different retail companies, a mural painter, a drama set designer/painter, and an artist-in-residence in Montgomery County Public Schools. Her first foray into printmaking was when she took a college intaglio course in the 80s. In 2010, Carol went back to school at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, where she rediscovered intaglio and other forms of printmaking.
Carol Ann Moore’s Website
Susi Cora, '16–'18
Susi Cora is a visual artist who works in Alexandria, VA, and Washington, DC. She trained as an architect, having attended the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and she completed her MFA at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, in 2016. Her art practice is informed by her "lifelong interest in the natural world" and is a process-driven practice that forms a conspiratorial and primeval relationship between materiality and concept. Her works have been exhibited in galleries including Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC, Gallery 102 in Washington, DC, and Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA.
Susi Cora’s Website and Instagram
Lionel Daniels, '15–'17
Lionel paints with his hands while simultaneously dancing to themed music. His artworks may incorporate poetry, drama and digital media. He graduated from Morehouse College in 2011 with a summa cum laude BA in Studio Art, joining Phi Beta Kappa. In his junior year at Morehouse, during a pageant, he discovered his ability to performance paint. Inspired by the loss of his favorite performer Michael Jackson, Lionel was motivated to create a tribute piece that bore his style of performance painting. Lionel has performed at numerous events at the Atlanta University Center, schools and churches in metro Atlanta, Alabama, Louisiana, the World Congress Center, and several festivals including the National Black Arts Festival (2012-13), Sweet Auburn Fest (2012-13), and the Power of You Teens in Harlem (2014). He has exhibited work at the Roswell Cultural Art Center, the Atlanta Beltline Project (2013), and was recognized by the state of Georgia Legislature in Resolution 772.
Lionel Daniels’ Website and Instagram
Jo Ann Block, '15–'17
Jo Ann Block is a Los Angeles, CA based mixed media artist investigating queer history, sexuality and identity as they are inscribed within historical and contemporary culture. She aims to subvert existing norms around aging, power, and the social relevance of lesbians. She received her B.F.A. from UCLA, and M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work is in the collection of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. She held a fellowship with Touchstone Gallery (DC), and two summer residencies at SVA in NY. Her work has been exhibited at A.I.R. Gallery (NY), American University Museum (DC), Transformer Gallery (DC) Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (NY) Metrospace (MI), Baum Gallery of Fine Art (AK), Thompson Gallery (MA) and Launch LA (CA).
Jo Ann Block’s Website and Instagram
Aleksandra Katargina, '13–'14
Aleksandra was born in Moscow, Russia. Her love for drawing and creativity started from the time her fingers could grasp the colored crayons. In 2001 Aleksandra moved to the United States, driven by curiosity and a desire to explore new paths in life. As years passed her love for art transformed from a need for self expression into a career path. She never questioned that decision for she couldn’t see herself as anything other than an artist. Aleksandra loves art for its beauty and its meaning. Art makes our world a more exciting place to live in. With so many forms and no boundaries art is magic in real life for it is defined by human imagination.
Aleksandra Katargina’s Website
John Edmonds, '13
John Edmonds is a photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in Photography from Yale University School of Art and his BFA in Photography at the Corcoran School of Arts and Design. He is recognized for his performative gestures and his self-fashioning of young black men on the streets of America; he also makes evocative portraits of lovers, close friends and strangers. His Fine Print Program print is part of an ongoing series of portraits of men wearing du-rags, made in Syracuse during his residency at Light Work. He has also held residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and Fabrica: The United Colors of Benneton’s Research Center. Recent exhibitions include tete-a-tete at David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL, Do You See Me? at the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and James Baldwin/Jim Brown & The Children at The Artist’s Institute, New York, NY. His work is in both private and public collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, FOAM Museum Amsterdam Library, and the George Eastman Museum. Edmonds is represented by ltd los angeles.
John Edmonds’ Instagram
