Conservator, Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Discipline: Multidisciplinary

Stella Nall “Bisháakinnesh” (Rode Buffalo) is a multimedia artist and poet from Bozeman, Montana. A first descendant of the Crow tribe, her work is informed by her experiences navigating the world and often centers current issues pertaining to Indigenous identity, visibility and representation.

She graduated from the University of Montana in 2020 with a BFA in Printmaking, a BA in Psychology and a minor in Art History and Criticism. She now lives in Missoula, where she is represented by Radius Gallery.

Her work may be seen as murals across the western states, and has been acquired to permanent collections at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), The Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM), The Montana Museum of Art and Culture (Missoula, MT), and Montana State University (Bozeman, MT).

Estefania Ramirez began her career as a dancer at 17, making her debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She toured nationally with Maria Benitez Teatro Flamenco before relocating to Spain in 1997, where she studied extensively with many grand maestros.

Ramirez served as a dance professor and movement theory specialist for the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Education, developing K-9 dance education programs for music and physical education in public schools across the Communitat Valenciana.

In May 2018, she debuted “Mujeres Valientes” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, a dance drama choreographed by flamenco icon Belen Maya. Ramirez was also featured as a leading flamenco dance soloist at the Women in Dance International Dance Conference at Drexel University in Philadelphia and recognized at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals Cohort Leadership Conference in New York City in January 2023.

She is currently the co-director of Entreflamenco in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Stephen Aifegha was born in Lagos State, located in the western region of Nigeria. His artistic practice is deeply influenced by his identity and culture as an African, shaped by his experiences of being born and raised in Nigeria. Although rooted in his Nigerian heritage, Aifegha identifies more broadly as African.

He is a contemporary African artist currently living and working in the United States. Aifegha holds a bachelor’s degree in art with a minor in visual communication from Idaho State University.

As a mixed-media artist, he incorporates newsprint and African fabrics as primary elements in his collages. The newspaper serves as a vehicle for social commentary, while African fabrics prominently featured in his work reflect his cultural identity and that of the broader African community.

Aifegha’s work focuses on post-colonial themes, addressing historical, political, and socio-cultural narratives. Through his art, he explores and depicts the enduring legacies of colonialism and the influence of Western culture on the African continent.

Discipline: Visual Arts

Steven Young Lee is an artist in Helena, Montana. He was the Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for 16 years until 2022. In 2004-05, he lectured and taught at universities throughout China as part of an educational exchange and spent time in Seoul, South Korea studying ceramic tradition and history. In 2005-6 he was a visiting professor at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C.

Lee has lectured extensively in North America and Asia. In the Fall of 2016 he was one of four artists featured as part of the Renwick Invitational at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2019, he had a solo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum and in 2021, his work was included in “Crafting America”, at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

His work has been collected by the Smithsonian Museum, LACMA, the Portland Art Museum, the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, Korea, and many private and public collections.

Lee earned his BFA and MFA from Alfred University