Portfolio Reviews, Fall 2023

The Office for Public Art is hosting a portfolio review session to give artists the chance to receive feedback on their work from national and local artists, curators, and arts administrators. Artists can reserve 25-minute time slots with a reviewer of their choice over Zoom.

Portfolio reviewers for the evening are Elisheba Johnson (Seattle, WA) and Mark Salinas (Berkeley, CA).

Participants can register for up to TWO review time slots. Registration will close on October 27, 2023. Registrants will be REQUIRED to submit their portfolios in advance. OPA will contact all registrants on October 30, 2023 with details and deadlines for portfolio submissions.

Cancellations and no shows will not be refunded. Please choose your time slot(s) carefully; we cannot accommodate requested schedule changes. Please arrive at your session on time. Reviewers cannot extend your session if you sign in late.

About the Reviewers

Elisheba Johnson

Elisheba Johnson is a curator, public artist, administrator, and disruptor. Feeling left out of the traditional art world, Johnson has dedicated her career to building bridges for artists of color to grow and thrive in our local arts community.

Johnson, who has a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, was the owner of Faire Gallery Café, a multi-use art space that held art exhibitions, music shows, poetry readings and creative gatherings. For six years Faire Gallery Café provided space for Seattle’s young BIPOC arts ecology to create new work, meet future collaborators and experiment with new ideas.

After closing Faire, Johnson went on to work at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture on capacity building initiatives and racial equity in public art.

Johnson currently co-manages Wa Na Wari, a Black art center in Seattle’s Central Area that uses the arts to build community and resist displacement.

Johnson’s personal art practice examines the beauty and triumph of Black life in America through mixed media and poetry.

Mark Salinas

For over 20 years Mark Salinas has served in public, private, and nonprofit sectors providing public art policy, curatorial content, and program management for organizations including the Municipality of Carson City, Pace Wildenstein, and Forecast Public Art.

Mark is a practicing public artist and founder of 7Train Murals, a nonprofit mural organization established in New York City.

As the new Public Art Program Lead for the City of Berkeley, Mark is responsible for the development and implementation of public art programming, policies and procedures.

Mark is the past Chair of the City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission as well as board member of the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts and the Nevada Arts Council. He is a former contributor to PBS Reno Art Views, initiating in-depth essays amplifying BIPOC artists within Nevada and Northern California.

In 2022, Governor Steve Sisolak awarded Salinas the Point of Light Award in recognition of his volunteer service to the state of Nevada.

Registration

Registration is $12 per review; limit two reviews per person.

This registration link will redirect you to Eventbrite where you will complete your registration.