SGC International

MYLES CALVERT

President

Board Member

Myles Calvert was born in Collingwood, Ontario. He attended the University of Guelph with a focus in printmaking, before traveling to London, UK where he completed his MA in Printmaking, at Camberwell College of Art (University for the Arts, London). Major bodies of work included installations of screen printed toast and the idolization of popular British celebrity culture. During this time, he worked for the National Portrait Gallery before moving to Hastings in East Sussex, to teach printmaking at Sussex Coast College (now East Sussex College) and become the Duty Manager of the newly established Jerwood Gallery (now Hastings Contemporary).

MARGARET CRAIG

Vice President

Board Member

Margaret Craig received a degree in Biology Secondary Education, because Mom and Dad thought and art degree was a dumb Idea. A BS in Art and an MA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a MFA in Printmaking from the University of Texas at San Antonio followed. An innovator in printmaking techniques, she invented Tar Gel Pressless Etching, a cast acrylic process that allows for stretching etchings on a 3-d surface. She is included in many public and private collections including the Library of Congress. She is Professor Emeritus of Printmaking and Paper at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, TX, a school that no longer exists. She has one husband, one bird, a variable number of cats, one stubborn dog, and a mess of grown stepchildren. Her original college degree in biology has been a major influence in both the visual and ecological context of her work.

KIM VAN SOMEREN

Vice President

Board Member

Kim Van Someren (b.1979, United States) is an artist working in intaglio etching, screen print, fiberarts collage, and sculpture. Her work exploits repetition and texture through work-based processes which take time and skill.
Van Someren’s work stems from the physical and metaphoric idea of structure and built environments; how order and fabrication play with and against each other.
These built environments are rooted in construction, fictitious architecture, and child play; they are reminiscent of her roots in rural Wisconsin and her current residence in the Pacific Northwest.

Van Someren has exhibited locally and nationally; her work included in private and public collections including Microsoft, New York Public Library, the University of Iowa, The University of Oregon, the University of Washington, and Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Van Someren is the Instructional Technician in Printmaking + Painting + Drawing at the University of Washington. She holds an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Washington (2004) and a BA from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (2002).
She has taught Printmaking at Pratt Fine Arts Center since 2003. Her approach to teaching is rooted in tradition, but also employs methods that are innovative and of invention. She has also taught Printmaking at The National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Frye Art Museum, the Seattle Arts Museum, Pilchuck Glass School, Everett Community College, and the University of Washington.

.Van Someren is represented by J. Rinehart Gallery, Seattle, WA.

Instagram:@kimmyvans
Email: kvansomeren@sgcinternational.org

JAVIER FLORES

Secretary

Board Member

Born April 27, 1978, in Denver Colorado to Mexican immigrants, Javier Flores is the
eldest of 3 kids. Raised in a blue collar, middle to lower income level household in Brighton, Colorado helped to instill a strong work ethic, honesty, and integrity. At the age of nineteen Javier was shot in the lower back and subsequently paralyzed. Initially in shock and depression he became distant and suicidal for a time, thankfully saved by family, friends, the visual arts and martial arts.

Flores received his Bachelor of Fine Art from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2008, and his Master of Fine Art from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi in 2017. Since graduating, he worked as an affiliate until 2021 acquiring a full-time position at Front Range Community College. In this role he is the Art Lead for all 2D courses and the Gallery Director of the school.

As an artist, Flores chooses to associate with the idea of Lenguaje Vulgar, or vulgar
language, a reference to cussing in Spanish. The connection of imagery to language is a symbolic reference to the visual lexicon he continues to expand to explore the daily hindrance of his disability among other issues. The implication of swearing or cussing in accordance with his art, is a therapeutic tool which allows Flores to express frustration yet persevere. As a visual artist, Flores pursues a variety of mediums to best translate the biographical narrative approach to image and form making. By re-contextualizing common symbols, the viewer is led to a larger dialogue in which they must access their own personal context in relation to the art. The reflective aspect of Javier’s work is an exploration into identity in the form of culture, ecology, non-toxic masculinity, politics, temporality, loss and ultimately triumph.

Website: lenguajevulgar.com
Instagram: lenguajevulgar
Email: jflores@sgcinternational.org

ASHLEY HAWKINS

Treasurer

Board Member

Ashley Hawkins is the co-founder and Executive Director of Studio Two Three (S23), a nonprofit community arts organization located in Richmond, Virginia. Established in 2009, Studio Two Three has grown from a small community print shop into a 16,000-square-foot facility that provides 24/7 access for over 120 artists and four small nonprofit organizations. The studio offers classes and workshops, communal workspace, individual artist studios, artist residency, and open doors. S23 supports the role of the arts in civic voice and engagement, partnering with community organizers and leaders to provide free space for gathering, creative advocacy, shared joy, and building grassroots power.

Ashley holds BFA in Painting and Printmaking and Masters in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has served on many nonprofit boards, including the Richmond 300 Citywide Master Plan Advisory Council, He She Ze We, Visible Records & Richmond Young Writers. Most recently, Ashley was awarded a University of Richmond Community Partner Residency and a 2023 YWCA Outstanding Women Award. Ashley is mom to Max and Zoey, two awesome human children, a dimwitted but sweet bulldog named Piggy, and a handful of chickens.

Website: https://www.studiotwothree.org/
Email: ahawkins@sgcinternational.org

JACQ GARCIA

Board Member

Jacq Garcia is a queer, nonbinary, latine multi-disciplinary artist and curator whose work explores the intersections of community, fatness, food, and sexuality. They received their BFA in Studio Art from the University of Houston Clear Lake and their MFA in Printmaking at Ohio University. Their work has been shown both nationally and internationally including in ELLIO Fine Art in Houston, Texas, Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio, KINK Contemporary in Cleveland, Ohio, and University of Sharjah in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

They organize Fat Print- a yearly print exchange portfolio with a varying theme exclusively for fat artists by fat artists.

They are the founder of Fat Artist Network, a non-profit organization that serves as a resource to find information on fat art, fat artists, fat art lectures, fat artist talks, and connect fat artists to each other.

They currently work as a Programs Assistant at DiverseWorks and an adjunct professor at San Jacinto College and Lone Star College.

JULIANNE HUNTER

Board Member

Julianne Hunter (b.1986) is an artist and educator, working primarily in printmaking, sculpture and papermaking. Hunter’s work investigates themes of memory, growth, decay and personal and shared histories using meaningful materials, sculptural works on paper and her own photographs. She currently teaches at both Cornell University and Ithaca College, serves as president of the Ink Shop Community Print Center and is a co-founder of Show Pony Studio, in Ithaca, NY. Hunter has held artist residencies at Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venezia, Penland, and Zea Mays’ Printmaking. She has shown nationally and internationally at Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (Brooklyn, NY), Manhattan Graphics Center, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Ann Street Gallery (Newburgh, NY), Limner Gallery (Hudson, NY), Saratoga Arts Center, Del Mar College (Texas), Hatton Gallery (Colorado State University), and Galerie de la Ferme du Mousseau in France, among others. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and prizes, including the Watts Prize for Faculty Excellence at Cornell, Cornell Council for the Arts Grant, Sojourner Truth Diversity Fellowship and Creative Research Projects Awards (SUNY New Paltz).

Website: www.juliannehunterart.com
Instagram: @juliannehunterart
Email: abarrios@sgcinternational.org

MOSS NASH

Board Member

Moss Nash is print and paper maker living in Athens, Ohio. They were introduced to printmaking in high school and after taking their first print and paper course in college, they never looked back. They received their BFA from Ohio University with a dual focus on printmaking and sculpture and expanded practice.

Through their artistic practice, they investigate their queerness, which exists at an intersection of mental health and neurodivergence, religious and social expectations, and Appalachian Ohio environmental and cultural influences. Their time working in local agriculture and food access has also deeply impacted their work, and they often include regional produce and botanical visual elements to further explore queer identities. Their work features hand drawn illustrations, bright colors and patterns, text as image, and handmade paper. They aim to contribute to a larger body of trans and queer art that provides complex, nuanced, and celebratory narratives as alternatives to predominant narratives and expectations around queer people to conform to rigid gender roles and binaries.

When Moss isn’t in the studio, they enjoy working in their garden, dancing, and going to the farmers market.

Website: nofreesnacks.com
Instagram: @no.free.snacks
Email: mnash@sgcinternational.org

PHILIP GRESHAM

Board Member

Philip Gresham is a printmaker and educator currently living in mid-Missouri. His work explores the ways in which ritual, memory and play both encode the past and facilitate communication with an uncertain future. He has taught printmaking in environments ranging from community workshops to undergraduate classrooms and has shown work nationally. He is currently an MFA candidate with the University of Missouri.

Website: https://pdgresham.com
Instagram: @pgdesignmake
Email: pgresham@sgcinternational.org

HALEY KEAN

Board Member

Haley Kean is a Printmaker and educator born in Newtown CT, and based in Northampton, MA. They received their MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University and BFA in Studio Art from Keene State College. In tandem to their artistic career, Haley works as a Gallery Registrar, managing a collection of 30,000 objects.
Haley’s artistic practice utilizes space, and narrative tools to visually interpret the radical compassion of the human experience, attachment, and grief. They have exhibited both nationally and internationally, and their work resides in private collections across the U.S.

Website: haleykean.com
Instagram: @haleykean
Email: hkean@sgcinternational.org

JONATHAN FISHER

Archives Coordinator

Board Member

​​Jonathan resides in Atlanta and teaches in the School of Art & Design at Kennesaw State University as Associate Professor of Art and Coordinator of Studio Foundations. He earned his BFA in Art with a concentration in printmaking from The University of North Carolina at Asheville and MFA in the same from Ohio State University. His current work features colorful abstracts that evoke associations to clustering in nature, the solar system, and maps. He’s a heat-and-solar-powered human that enjoys summertime, lakes and oceans. He loves his stand up paddleboard and rarely spends a sunny day inside.

Email: jfisher@sgcinternational.org
Instagram: @jonathanfisherart

FAHIMEH VAHDAT

Maryland Representative

Board Member

Fahimeh Vahdat, born in Iran, is an American mixed-media installation/performance artist and a women’s, children’s, and human rights activist, including the LGBTQ communities. She is based in the Greater Baltimore/Washington DC region. Vahdat’s work consistently addresses current social issues through a variety of traditional and non-traditional processes such as printmaking, drawing, performance and materials, including fiber, dyes, wood, found and natural materials, paper, canvas, and her own body. Sewing, veiling, handwritten, printed, and spoken words are integral components of her installations and live performances.

In addition to her artistic practice, Vahdat is involved in various community engagement initiatives. She works with Amnesty International, Change.org, and the Howard County Human Rights Office in Columbia, MD. She currently serves on the board of the Southern Graphic Council International (SGCI) and on the Steering Committee for Arts and Culture of Howard County for the next two years.

Social activism, including human rights violation particularly in Iran, violence against women, girls, and the LGBTQ communities—especially domestic violence in both Iran and the USA—has been central to Vahdat’s artistic practice and teaching for nearly 30 years. She views activism in her art as a crucial tool to catalyze social consciousness and encourage various communities and public participation for positive change and healing. In short, Fahimeh Vahdat’s work embodies Healing Art.

Website: https://www.fahimehvahdat.org/
Instagram:
Email: fvahdat@sgcinternational.org

CALVIN CUSTEN

Board Member

BS 1978 Frostburg State University concentration in Printmaking and Photography
MFA 1988 University of Tennessee (Knoxville) Printmaking

Honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1972, my path took a transformative turn in the fall of 1973 when, fueled by the G.I. Bill, I enrolled in my first art and printmaking classes. This marked the beginning of a 47-year (and counting) journey immersed in the world of printmaking—a journey that has been a constant source of passion and fulfillment.

Throughout the past 47 years, I have had the privilege of teaching and working on various campuses in Maryland, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin. It was during these years that I witnessed the incredible rise of computer technology, which became an essential aspect of my career, providing job security and stable income. I successfully established four computer labs on diferent campuses, all dedicated to the integration of technology with the art of printmaking.

Starting my artistic journey at the age of 24, I felt an urgency to catch up on the skills and knowledge I believed I needed. Now, at the age of 75, reflecting on my life’s work, I realize that the true joy and excitement come from the process of creating prints—making marks and making art. This process has been the driving force behind my passion.

Teaching the printmaking process to others has been equally rewarding. Witnessing the
moment students grasp the concepts, watching their faces light up with understanding,
and seeing them navigate their own creative paths has been a constant source of joy and
excitement.

Although retired from academia, I dearly miss the interactions with students and helping them discover their artistic paths and processes. The journey of printmaking and the joy of teaching have shaped not only my career but also my life’s purpose. I look forward to continuing this journey, finding new ways to share my passion for printmaking with others, and embracing the ever-evolving world of art and technology.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvin-custen-a0a0097
Email: ccusten@sgcinternational.org