Speakers, Copy Editors & Staff
Christy Baker is a painter and designer by passion and profession. She holds a Bachelor's of Fine Art from Pratt Institute, where she focused on painting and sculpture as well as product, toy, and fashion design. Her insatiable curiosity drives Ms. Baker to constantly experiment and innovate with materials and processes, often playing in the intersection of art and everyday living. She has been painting canvases, walls, and furniture professionally for over two decades. A serial entrepreneur, she is currently the owner and founder of greenyellowblue, a mural, artistic finishing and design studio. She is former co-owner of two Charlottesville, creative companies: Pigment and Good Bones Paint. Through her exploration with color and paint products, she developed her own line of specialty paints, which are sold throughout the Southern United States. In April of 2020, Ms. Baker started greenyellowblue as a solo venture in order to explore her passion for murals and painted graphics more exclusively. Since then, she has enjoyed working closely with a diverse client-base throughout Virginia and beyond.
Ms. Baker’s aim is to engage the public in unexpected creative experiences, whether through large-scale community-centered murals, playful sculptural installations, or thoughtfully painted interiors and objects. Central to her work is collaboration: with client, fellow artists and designers, neighbor and stranger. She seeks to embolden imaginative way-finding to more inclusive, celebratory daily living.
Her studio and home are located in the vibrant city of Charlottesville where she lives with her husband, two kids, two dogs, and a smattering of ducks and chickens.
Prior to joining Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia, Kristen Chiacchia was Director at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art in New York, where she organized exhibitions of work by Ed Ruscha, Joan Mitchell, Hew Locke, Andres Serrano, and Farideh Lashai. During her more than 13 years with ETNFA, she was also instrumental in securing the gallery’s participation in a number of international art fairs including Art Basel fairs in Switzerland, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong, as well as ARCO Madrid and Abu Dhabi Art. While living and working in NYC, Chiacchia was a participating member of the Neue Galerie; the Apollo Circle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Young Collectors Council at the Guggenheim Museum; and the Whitney Contemporaries at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Chiacchia received her BA in the History of Art & Architecture from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her MA in Modern and Contemporary Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies at Columbia University. She also completed a Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts at New York University. Chiacchia is an active member of Virginians for the Arts, the Americans for the Arts Action Fund, and the Washington, D.C. chapter of ArtTable. She joined Second Street Gallery in September 2016.
Hannah Cole is a tax expert who specializes in working with creative businesses and artists. A long-time working artist with a high-level exhibition history, the financial challenges of freelancers and small creative businesses are both relevant and personal to Hannah. Her specialty is communicating complex tax issues in a clear, artist-centered, empowering way. Hannah Cole is a working artist and the founder of Sunlight Tax.
Katarina Feder is a Vice President and Director of Business Development for Artist Rights Society, where she oversees new membership and client initiatives. A reformed theater actress, Katarina holds her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Emory University and an M.A. in Art History from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Her first love being literature, Katarina’s favorite works tend to be conceptual and text based. Check out her monthly advice column "Know Your Rights", where she answers all your questions on copyright (and then some) on artnet.com.
To explore the works of Michelle Gagliano is to explore both the artist’s profound connection to nature and the commitment to her practice.
Born in upstate New York, Gagliano often recalls the farm on which she was raised and to which she credits her admiration of the natural world. Farm life provided an early understanding and appreciation of the ever-changing qualities of the landscape and light that have played the leading role in Gagliano’s art throughout her career.
Gagliano’s formal art training is extensive, with various academic environments exposing the artist to a cadre of sophisticated teachers, peers, and practices. She began her undergraduate education at the University of Texas Austin before transferring to the University of Texas Denton to study with the famed painter and teacher Vernon Fisher. Gagliano then completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire, graduating summa cum laude with a major in painting and a minor in art history. Almost two decades later, Gagliano once again turned to an academic setting to augment her practice and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from American University in Washington, D.C. Her resume also includes completed residencies at the prestigious Chautauqua School of Art and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
For the last ten years, Gagliano has practiced from her studio in central Virginia. Here, she remains deep in production mode. According to the artist, “the place I want to be most is in the studio.” Always working on several paintings at a time, Gagliano stays in the thought process, and finds herself in a constant state of inspiration. Surrounding farmland echoes the farm of her childhood, with the four seasons of Virginia showcasing the transient quality of nature that drives Gagliano’s continuous experimentation and dedication to her art.
Another component of her recent works that links Gagliano to the Master painters who came before her is the thoughtful use of materials. In the summer of 2018, Gagliano eliminated all toxic materials from her practice, introducing instead ground pigments, oils and solvents based in nuts and lavender, and handmade gessoes. It is not lost on her that this replicates what Leonardo DaVinci, Raphael, and other Masters used in their time. It is also not lost that this choice underscores the lifestyle of sustainability to which Gagliano became accustomed as a child on a farm. When asked about her decision to paint with environmentally-friendly and sustainable materials only, the artist acknowledges both the Masters and an understanding that polluting the world does not go hand-in-hand with the beauty of the world that she has dedicated her life’s work to capturing.
Beyond her home state of Virginia, Gagliano has permeated the American art scene with extensive solo exhibitions and curated group shows and museum exhibitions throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Gagliano’s accolades are extensive, including the coveted Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship, which includes the illustrious Cy Twombly, and both he and Gagliano have been the only recipients to exhibit extensively in Rome. Included in her oeuvre are innovative and collaborative projects with symphonic musicians, artists and published authors. Her works continue to be curated into major private and corporate collections, both within the United States and abroad.
Karen Gerard is a Virginia native who grew up in the Tidewater area, attended James Madison University for undergraduate studies (B.A. in Art History, minor in English), moved to Richmond to start her career in the arts, and then returned to Harrisonburg in 1997. Currently, Karen works in the School of Art, Design, and Art History at JMU as the Assistant to the Director. For 10 years, she ran the JMU Summer Art Program for school-aged children. While in Richmond, Karen worked at VCU and the University of Richmond in their Slide Libraries. Additionally, she worked at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the Photographic Resources Department where she spent her days cataloguing photographs of the museum’s entire collection, as well as their event photography. Karen has served on the Board of Directors for The Playhouse, Harrisonburg’s community theater; was Co-Chair of the Employee Advisory Committee at JMU; and has held multiple Board positions in Harrisonburg’s branch of the American Association of University Women. She shares her life with her husband and 14-year old son. British TV, gardening, and three cats fill her free time.
Ben Ham is a world-renowned fine art nature photographer. His stunning black-and-white landscapes, captured on film with folding, large-format, wooden cameras, hang in private, corporate and government collections from Australia to Africa and all points in-between. Ben is a self-taught photographer, inspired as a teenager by the work of Ansel Adams. His only training came from Ansel’s three books, The Camera, The Negative and The Print.
Born in Georgia, his family moved to South Carolina when he was a young child where he has lived since. At an early age, a love for the great outdoors drove him to explore the mountains of upstate South Carolina and the marshes of the Lowcountry. He is predominately known for his arresting images of the South Carolina Lowcountry, but through his extensive travels he has also built collections of the Rockies, the Southwestern US, the Pacific Coast, and Italy.
Photographing only for personal pleasure, he never dreamed of making it a career, but through the urging of friends he entered the fine art market around 2005. His wonderful compositions and unique style quickly brought about a large demand for his work. He opened his first gallery in 2011 on Hilton Head Island followed by his second gallery on King Street in Charleston in 2013. In 2017, he opened his third gallery in Old Town Bluffton.
Some of the highlights of his collectors:
HGTV purchased one of his large Elite pieces for one of their Home Giveaway shows and featured it prominently on the broadcast.
Silver Oak Winery, of Napa Valley, purchased six of his second-sized pieces for the offices and conference room in their new winery.
The US government purchased thirteen pieces, in two separate waves, for the Center for the Families of the Fallen located at Dover Air Force Base. The base commander and the director of mortuary affairs also purchased pieces. Ben was very honored to have his work become part of these facilities created for the families of those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
The Michael Mondavi Family hosted Ben for a two-month, one-man show at their vineyard in Napa Valley.
Emma Hitchcock A Charlottesville native, Emma is a third-year student at the University of Virginia. She is a J. Sanford Miller Family Arts Scholar and is double majoring in Anthropology and Studio Art, with a focus in painting. Emma has a passion for social activism and was co-founder of Art for the Heart, a non-profit which connected people experiencing homeless with the greater Charlottesville community through art. As part of the Tom Tom Festival’s Social Innovation Prize, she had the opportunity to join the Innovation Lab at the Darden School, where she learned how to design logos, create websites, and implement marketing strategies for humanitarian causes. This led to an interest in graphic design which she continues to foster as Editor of the graphics section for UVA’s student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. Emma is the social media intern for Startup Studio, and she designed the project’s logo.
Paddy Johnson is the founder of VVrkshop, an online platform that helps artists get the shows, residencies and grants of their dreams. She is the editor of the forthcoming book Impractical Spaces, the founding editor of the contemporary art blog Art F City (2005-2018), and co-founder of the Queens public art program PARADE (2018-2019). As the first recipient of the Arts Writers Grant for blogging in 2008, and a two-time nominee for Best Critic at the Rob Pruitt Awards in 2009 and 2010, Johnson is a recognized writer and online talent. She won the Village Voice Web Award for best Art Blog in 2010 and in 2011. In 2014, she was the subject of a VICE profile. Johnson has contributed to The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Economist, CNN, VICE, Gizmodo, Observer, Frieze Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Art Newspaper, and Hyperallergic. She was a columnist for Artnet, The L Magazine, and Art in America. Lecturing across the country, Johnson’s talks take place at venues such as Yale, The Chicago Art Institute, Rutgers, Columbia University, The Museum of Fort Worth, the De La Cruz Foundation and the SXSW conference. She teaches new media art and writing at Parsons and NJCU. She lives in New York with her partner
Matthew McLendon, an art historian and curator of modern and contemporary art, became the J. Sanford Miller Family director and chief curator of The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia in 2017. He is widely recognized for his cross-disciplinary curatorial practice, an emphasis on community engagement and education, and activating marginalized voices in the museum setting.
Since coming to The Fralin, McLendon has focused on activating the museum both within the University community and the wider communities served. Under his leadership the museum has seen a record increase in attendance as well the development of a number of new programs. Among these programs are Greenbrier Global Artists, an afterschool program serving the children of refugees and asylum seekers as well as a partnership with the Violet Crown Cinema Group for “The Fralin Downtown” a series of monthly films and documentaries addressing both the visual and performing arts.
Michelle Mercurio
Writer. Firebrand. Catalyst. Authenticist. Boxer.
I’m a brand catalyst and author of the upcoming book, Be The Plan, a guide to help people return to themselves, be more of who they are and make meaningful progress in business and life. I work with transformation-driven entrepreneurs and visionaries to help them fully understand their purpose, give voice to their brand identity and vault their entrepreneurial hurdles to create authentic marketing, enduring self-trust, and an aligned, profitable business. I believe fully in the mantra, “Live what you love,” and work with my clients to help them do the same. I also believe that we all could be a little more who we are, and a little less of who the world expects us to be. Find me wherever globally at michellemercurio.com or connect via LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook or IRL in Richmond, VA.
Uzo Njoku is a versatile visual artist well known for her mesmerizing motifs used in her pattern making. The artist utilizes her hypnotizing pattern making in her apparel production and a vast array of products which she daringly creates. Her colorful paintings which majorly depict melanin figures in different forms portray them in various contexts of beauty all while incorporating her beautiful patterns in the paintings to create contrast and depth.
Njoku was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the United States at the age of 7. She received a B.A in Studio Art from the University of Virginia and is currently an MFA Candidate at the New York Academy of Art.
Megan Noh co-chairs Pryor Cashman's Art Law Group. With over 15 years of combined experience in private practice and both in-house legal and business positions in the auction world, Megan is sought after for her extensive knowledge of the complex issues impacting today’s art market, including transactional matters and artists’ rights.
Megan's practice is uniquely holistic in its representation of members of almost every segment of the art market, and she is known for her ability to negotiate a transaction from both sides of its key issues—whether it’s an auction house consignment agreement, a museum exhibition loan agreement, or an artist-gallery representation agreement.
Megan lectures regularly for professional and academic audiences, including recent engagements for the Appraisers Association of America’s “Art Law Day,” the American Society of Appraisers’ International Conference, and the Copyright Society . Her analysis of the art market issues implicated by the “Log Cabin” case was published this spring in the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, and she has been quoted in the New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, BloombergLaw, artnet, and other industry publications.
She is also on the U.S. Boards of several international organizations, including Professional Advisors to the International Art Market and the Responsible Art Market, the Advisory Board of the Center for Art Law, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, a research center and public forum for social justice and art at the New School.
Christina Peppas is a graduate of Boston University, where she majored in English and minored in Art History. Along her own career path, she has worked as a career counselor and co-op program coordinator at UT Austin and managed the admissions process for JMU’s School of Art, Design, and Art History. She now facilitates employer engagement for UVA’s Darden School of Business. Christina enjoys spending quality time with her husband and their three rescue cats. Theatre and cooking feed her soul.
John Ros is a Latinx, queer, non-binary, Brooklyn-based, multiform conceptual artist, professor and curator. They obtained an MFA from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and a BFA from the State University of New York at Binghamton. John has exhibited internationally and their work can be found in collections throughout the US, UK and EU.
John is currently the director and a professor at studioELL, an alternative, transient and hybrid space for higher education in studio art, which they founded in 2015. They are also a part time lecturer at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. They are a founding director and curator at the Intermission Museum of Art (New York, NY), serve as a curator at In-Visible Ink, of the Museum of Tolerance and Freedom (Perth, AU) and is the current curator-in-residence at Stand4 Gallery and Community Art Center (Brooklyn, NY). John has over 15 years experience in higher education and 22 years experience curating exhibitions and developing community programming.
Steven Schindler is one of the firm’s founders. Having honed his litigation and trial skills at Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts, Steve envisioned a law firm where those skills could be deployed to represent clients in a more streamlined and cost-effective way. Twenty-three years after it was founded, SCH continues to earn its reputation as one of the City’s outstanding litigation boutiques. As a senior member of the firm’s litigation practice, Steve represents a broad range of clients in state and federal courts and arbitrations throughout the nation, and works closely with foreign law firms in complex transnational litigation. Steve’s cases have involved diverse areas of law, including: art law, banking, bankruptcy, commercial fraud, corporate governance, estate disputes, executive employment, intellectual property, insurance coverage, investment banking, real estate, securities fraud, and suretyship. Steve has regularly been named a New York Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine.
Steve also heads SCH’s Art Law Group. This practice area, which has grown steadily over the past decade, combines SCH’s formidable litigation expertise with a deep knowledge of the art market and its specific legal issues. Steve regularly advises art galleries, other art related businesses, collectors, artists, and not-for-profit corporations in the art space on transactional matters, such as the sale and acquisition of art and their relationships with dealers, banks and auction houses, and has litigated cases involving the authenticity, title, provenance and appraisals of art. As a trusted advisor, Steve also provides outside general counsel services to art clients, and is the General Counsel to the Appraisers Association of America.
Steve has also been awarded a Band 1 individual ranking by Chambers and Partners for Art & Cultural Property Law in the U.S.
Steve is on the faculty of NYU’s Steinhardt School, where he teaches art law. He is the immediate past Chair of the Art Law Committee of The Bar Association of the City of New York. Steve is the President of the Board of Artists Space, an organization whose mission is to encourage diversity and experimentation in the arts, and to provide an exhibition space for new art and artists. Steve often speaks on legal and industry-sponsored panels relating to current topics in art law, and is a co-host of The Art Law Podcast with Katie Wilson-Milne.
Steve is also a passionate advocate of civil and human rights. He is an Emeritus Member of the Board of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and is on the New York Committee of Human Rights Watch.
Carrie Thornbrugh In short, I'm a collector. I collect ideas, information, memories, habits, and rituals and bring them together to create a better version of myself, my work, and my community. With 8+ years of professional experience directing marketing strategy for arts organizations (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts & Richmond Symphony), startups (Bookclubz), and small businesses, I leverage my diverse background in teaching (Visual Arts Center of Richmond & Academy of Art University), communications, and PR to help clients delineate their business goals and achieve transformative results. I offer a unique professional perspective at the intersection of branded storytelling and digital marketing strategy, and enjoy flexing my creative writing and arts background in tandem with my marketing experience to ensure clients get the most out of their strategic plan. I'm wholeheartedly, ride-or-die committed to progressive endeavors, diversity, and inclusivity. I thrive in community, collaboration, and teamwork, and when I commit to someone or something, I hand over my heart.
Andrea Ruedy Trimble is an artist in Charlottesville, Virginia and Sustainability Director at the University of Virginia. Andrea primarily works with ink, watercolor, and paper and is inspired by connections between the built environment and the natural world, such as how nature intertwines with abandoned buildings over time; how windows frame connections between buildings and the earth, trees, water, and sky; and the effects of our changing climate. She is a juried associate artist member of McGuffey Art Center , is on the Board of Directors of Second Street Gallery, and has shown her work in regional nonprofit galleries.
Andrea holds degrees in architecture, historic preservation, and sustainability. While in school, she could often be found at her studio desk sewing and weaving paper or sketching while traveling. Andrea has a passion for creative, lifelong learning and is continually finding inspiration across artistic media and approaches, particularly in urban sketching, children’s book illustrations, public art, and handmade books. Andrea is particularly interested in the intersections of art and place - community-based art, art activism and art education. She is co-leader of Draw Charlottesville, a collaborative art project that encourages people of all ages and levels of artistic ability to create sketches of places in Charlottesville that are meaningful to them.
Carli Toliver is a writer from the Shenandoah Valley. She graduated from Lehigh University earning both a BS and an MA in sociology. In addition to editing copy, she has worked in higher education as an admissions counselor, an administrative assistant and an academic advisor. In 2020 she participated in the exhibit Inside Out/Outside In, a collaboration with artist Jaimini Patel, for the Intermission Museum of Art.
Derry Wade is the director of communications and outreach for the Batten Institute at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Having worked in nonprofit communications for the majority of her career, Derry enjoys spreading the word about important research and programs that change the world. She received an A.B. in comparative literature from Smith College and an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia.
Katie Wilson-Milne is partner at Schindler, Cohen & Hochman LLP where she focuses on art law. Katie advises clients in the art, cultural and creative communities, including art galleries, collectors, artists, and not-for-profit organizations in the art space on transactional matters related to the purchase, sale, lending and financing of art, as well as gallery, auction house, and museum relationships. She also represents art clients in disputes involving representation, collaborations, contracts, copyright, authenticity, title, provenance and appraisals. As part of her practice, Katie provides general counsel services and provides a wide range of governance advice.
Katie also teaches and speaks regularly on art law topics, and is personally involved in the art world through service on nonprofit boards and art affinity groups. She is affiliate with the Art Law Committee and Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee of the New York City Bar Association. She also co-hosts the Art Law Podcast.
Debbie White Debbie has over 20 years of curatorial, operational, and fundraising experience in galleries, museums, and non-profit arts organizations, including the Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Archives of American Art and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. While at the Peters Gallery, she compiled comprehensive catalogues of four artists of the American West and curated exhibits by Albert Bierstadt, William R. Leigh, and Alfred Jacob Miller. She is currently the Director of Finance & Operations at the Batten Institute at the Darden School of Business where she has curated annual exhibits by local artists. She is currently organizing this business bootcamp for artists from UVA and the Charlottesville community, a project generously funded by the Jefferson Trust. She holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and French from the University of Virginia and a M.A. in Art History from the George Washington University. Debbie joined the board of Second Street Gallery in 2016.