Arts
2D/3D Artists
Images of fine arts will be displayed in rotation on a monitor in the Upstairs Lobby throughout the festival. Expect multiple images from these fine artists.
Aireen Arellano is a Chicago-born artist and multidisciplinary designer exploring Filipino American identity and generational healing. Influenced by Pop Art and Bauhaus, she works with mixed media, photography, and bold lettering. Arellano is the founder of the first woman-and-Filipino-American-owned font foundry in the U.S. and leads a brand agency supporting BIPOC and women-led startups. Her work bridges fine art and design, using vibrant patterns to navigate themes of belonging and pop culture.
Through obsessive texture and emotive figuration, Kirin Kane examines the struggle for meaning and the universal desire for goodness. Using mixed-media sculpture and installation, Kirin investigates cultural belonging and dissonant identity as a multi-racial queer person in the U.S. By grounding objects in literary narrative structures, Kirin’s work uses familiar tropes as pathways to understanding. This practice excavates personal narrative, driven by the belief that radical specificity is the key to uncovering universal truths.
Bazigha Khan is a Chicago-based mixed media artist whose work celebrates the “hyphenated” identity of the Pakistani-American experience. Drawing on her background in architecture and engineering, she explores the intricate ornamentation of Mughal architecture and traditional arts like calligraphy and gota embroidery. Khan translates her childhood summers in her motherland into vibrant pieces that bridge heritage and motherhood, ensuring the charms of her Desi and Muslim roots flourish for the next generation.
Named one of HuffPost’s 2023 Culture Shifters, Jenny Lam is a Chicago-born Chinese American artist, curator, and writer. A Columbia University alumna and founder of the award-winning Artists on the Lam, she specializes in interactive exhibitions like I CAN DO THAT. Through projects like Dreams of a City, supported by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Lam breaks barriers to ensure art is accessible to everyone, fostering community and challenging common misconceptions.
Heather Marcum is a mixed media artist, photographer, and woodworker who uses Korean folk art to deepen her connection to her heritage. Specializing in Minhwa, she creates original Yut Nori sets to provide tangible cultural experiences for others. Through her craftsmanship, Marcum blends traditional Korean aesthetics with functional woodworking, preserving and sharing vibrant elements of her culture through interactive, hand-crafted art pieces that bridge the gap between history and modern play.
Based in Chicago, Donna is a multidisciplinary Korean-American artist working across visual and performing arts. A registered nurse and yoga teacher, she integrates a background in healthcare into her practice, using fluid art to explore the intersections of movement, color, and emotion. Donna’s work is deeply rooted in community and compassion, guided by a mission to inspire empathy. Through her art, she encourages others to believe in themselves and find beauty in the world.
