Gloretta Baynes is a Cambridge native and an Alumna of Massachusetts College of Art and Design.  She is an independent curator and consultant for “ Violence Transformed”, and Chair Emerita for the African American Master Artist in Residency Program ( AAMARP) at Northeastern University.   She is the former Assistant Director/ Registrar for the Museum of the National Center of Afro American Artists, and past chair for the Registrar’s Committee for the Association of African American Museums (AAAM). Gloretta is the Associate Curator for Sequential Art , The Next Step, Exhibition created by Rob Stull, toured to museum venues and cultural institutions. She was also the exhibition designer for “Community Creations” highlighting artworks by 7 youth  partnerships with the Gardner Museum. She is a former member of Massart’s Alumni leadership council and a current board member of the Institute for Health and Recovery and the Cambridge Program for Individuals with Special Needs.

Don West began a career as a freelance and news photographer making a conscious choice to capture affirmative images of people of color in all facets of professional, political and community life. In the 1980’s West worked with United Press International (UPI) and Boston’s black weekly, the Bay State Banner. He has since gone on to a host of assignments with major newspapers, and magazines such as the Boston Globe, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Ebony, People and Black Enterprise. His editorial and documentary assignments have taken him throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, China, Europe and the Middle East. His proudest moment was serving as Nelson Mandela’s photographer when he first visited Boston after his release from prison in South Africa. (1990). Most recently, with the support Eastern Bank, West co-authored the book “Portraits of Purpose: A Tribute to Leadership” with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Kenneth J. Cooper and foreword by Harvard Law Professor, Charles J. Ogletree.

Reginald L. Jackson, Ph.D. is an educator, visual artist and community worker specializing in film, photography and graphics pertaining to African retentions worldwide, who resides in Boston, Ghana and Vermont. A long career in the arts, education and community engagement has enabled him to exhibit widely in the US and abroad receiving fellowships to prestigious institutions such as the Fulbright Program, the Smithsonian Institution, the Univ. of Massachusetts Boston and MIT, while furthering his work as founder and director of Olaleye Communications, Inc for over 35 years. (www.olaleye.org) Educationally he holds terminal degrees in the arts and in the humanities and is found in numerous prominent permanent collections of art including the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Harvard, Yale, MIT, RISD and The Studio Museum in Harlem. Currently he is director and Artist Emeritus at AAMARP (African American Master Artist in Residency Program) at Northeastern University as well professor Emeritus of Communications at Simmons University in Boston.

Susan Thompson is a textile, fiber and mixed media artist who lives and works primarily in the Greater Boston area.  At Hunter College of the City of New York, she became interested in African American History and the visual arts.  Her concern for the development of mutually supportive relationships between African American artists and their communities led her to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was a Research Associate in the Community Fellows Program.   Ms. Thompson has exhibited widely in Massachusetts and other parts of the United States.  She has participated in cultural exchanges in Haiti, Cuba, People’s Republic of China, Japan and with Native American artists in Sante Fe, New Mexico.  Her work reflects the diverse cultural influences that she has encountered in her travels abroad in her own cultural heritage.  Through fabric, she creates unique designs, which sometimes tell stories that communicate the struggle and soul of her people. 

Born in Kingston, Jamaica,[to Jamaican and Cuban parents, he studied at the Jamaica School of Art, and won a government scholarship that enabled him to go to London to pursue a master's degree in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art (1971).

He was a lecturer at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in the early 1970s, and from 1973 to 1981 he was head of the painting department at the Jamaica School of Art.[1] He was artist-in-residence at the College of Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (1980–1983),[4] and went on to become a professor at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA.

His work has been characterised as influenced by Africa and by Jamaican folklore and religious themes.[9][10] In the words of the art historian Petrine Archer-Straw, "Kayiga’s work is concerned with origins, 'primitive'in the sense of exploring the essence of human consciousness and its links with spirituality. To access this deeper understanding of the self, Kofi strips himself of his formal training and approaches his subject matter intuitively and even mystically, recovering images from deepest memory and the subconscious. H

Raquib's work is in collectionsat the Museum of Fine Art Boston, Museum of the NCAAA, De Cordova Museum, LEF foundation, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Polaroid Foundation, Partners Health Care, Cyberarts Art on the Marquee. and Creative Photography Lab Gallery at MIT Museum. He has received several citations from the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusettsfor his mentoring work with youth and for his artistic achievements. He isa member in residenceat Northeastern University's African American Master Artists in Residence Program.

In addition, on October 17, 2017 Hakim received "The Brother Thomas Fellowship Award for excellence as a Visual Artist, and educator of the Arts.

L'Merchie Frazier is an accomplished visual activist, public artist, historian, educator, and poet. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Creative and Strategic Planning for SPOKE Arts Inc., having previously served as Director of Education and Interpretation for the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket. Additionally, she holds the role of Director of Creative Engagement for the Transformative Action Project/Violence Transformed. 

Frazier's innovative art in fiber and metals supports social and restorative justice as well as the pursuit of civil and human rights through a lens of 500 years of Black and Indigenous history. Her one -life work is “Save Me From My Amnesia” is identified by a call to action to Remember, Reclaim, Restore, and Reimagine.  Her public art mirrors and engages with the community. She is a Fellow of the Boston Foundation's Brother Thomas Program.

Khalid Kodi is a Sudanese American master artist, educator, and cultural critic renowned for his prolific work on participatory art projects in Sudan Africa. He uses art to facilitate dialogue across various forms of difference. His work addresses social justice issues such as racism, injustice, the legacy of slavery, wars, and genocide—particularly in Africa—employing non-traditional mediums like music, art, and community storytelling to reclaim marginalized aspects of identity and enact resilience against structural toxins. Kodi's art, which includes sculpture, painting, installation, and environmental art, His work has been widely exhibited and featured in publications like The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. He has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from ArtOmi International Arts Colony and the St. Botolph Club Foundation. Kodi is a professor of practice at Northeastern University.

Ricardo "DEME5" Gomez creates narratives on urban life, culture, community, and sports. His work is sought after by established businesses and inventive entrepreneurs alike. Deme’s artwork became his method of communication. Building his ability to create unique, detailed, and ambitious art became the way he connected with people and his surroundings. A graffiti artist at heart driven by his hometown of Boston, his goal has always been to show what is possible with spray paint. Demes works are the product of a tenacious will to succeed. His skills are the result of time, devotion, ambition, and vision, making him capable of transposing a hand sized concept to a 100-foot wall.

Jeff   Chandler is a self - taught artist who lives and works in Boston Massachusetts.  He creates unique one of a kind sculptures out of wood.  The textures and intricate details in his work are truly amazing.  His carved wood art often utilizes precious and exotic wood to explore a diverse range of subject matter from masks to Madonna’s, musicians, dancers, portraits and walking sticks.  Jeff Chandler creates wooden sculptures that symbolize hope, grace, fragility and strength.

As a highly skilled craftsman, Jeff loves to share his knowledge of working with wood with youth.   At the Vine Street Community Center 2013, students learned how to put together doll houses and forts.  Working in teams, they cut, assembled and painted the houses and forts.

Bryan McFarlane: Born in Moore Town Portland, Jamaica, is currently Professor Emeritus of Painting and Drawing at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, a member of the African American Master Artists in Residency Program (AAMARP) at Northeastern University, and serves on the board of Cecil Cooper Foundation. Professor McFarlane studied at The Edna Manley College of Art in Kingston, Jamaica and completed his MFA Degree at Massachusetts College of Arts and Design. Since 1997, McFarlane achieved the level of ‘Tenured Professor’ at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, has led groups of students to study art in Jamaica, France and China. He was previously appointed as a Visiting Professor at the University of The West Indies, the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. McFarlane worked 6-year collaborative projects with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): the first 3-year project with The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) titled Synergy from which he developed works presented in an exhibition – “Ocean Stories” in 2014 at the New Bedford Art Museum and the Museum of Science, Boston. T

Shea Justice is an artist and teacher who works primarily in watercolor and collage. He attended Boston University and Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University . Born in Roxbury , he currently teaches drawing and painting at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School. . His work has been shown in galleries and museums like the  Isabelle Stewart Gardner and the DeCordova. He is a member of AAMARP  ( African American Master Artist Residency Program) at Northeastern University. He continues to participate in the Urban Sketchers art group and co hosts the Family Tree radio program at wrbb radio Northeastern.   He is also a member of Violence Transformed , a Boston based arts group that addresses violence and systemic racism through activities like workshops and exhibitions. 

Marlon Forrester, born 1976 in Guyana, South America, is an artist and educator raised in Boston, MA. He is a recipient of the 2021 James and Audrey Foster Prize and his work is in the collection of the ICA/Boston. Forrester is a graduate of School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, B.A 2008 and Yale School of Art, M.F.A. 2010. He is a resident artist at African American Masters Artist Residency Program (AAMARP) adjunct to the Department of African-American Studies in association with Northeastern University. He worked previously as a painting lecturer at SMFA (2017-2019) and has shown both internationally and nationally. His current body of work explores how through media, Pop Culture, and advertisement the black male body is commodified through the sport of basketball. Utilizing his concept of “disequilibrium” he works to deconstruct the rites and rituals found within the game and life through his drawings, paintings, performance and large-scale installation. 

Radiant Jasmin is a visionary Multi-Disciplinary Artist. Her work spans a diverse array of mediums: painting, fine metal jewelry, poetry, music & public art. Each discipline she embraces becomes a new language through which she explores identity, emotion, and the interplay between the personal and universal. She studied Fine Metals at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and The North Bennet Street School. Exhibits include the Hopkinton Center for the Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ,and the Massachusetts State House. She received a “Governor's Citation” and a “Certificate of Special Recognition” from the Governors of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for her

Service in the Arts. Radiant Jasmin blends her skills as an artist, educator, curator and art consultant to help people use art in all forms as a tool for positive self-expression and healing.

Jaypix is an african american artist, documentary photographer whose work captures the “visual soul” of their subjects. Born in Boston; Jaypix graduated from NEAI in 2010 to focus on the people and places usually left in the shadows. Their photography digs deep with authentic engagement in communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities and Urban neighborhoods as community liaison for the people & changing landscapes capturing cultural realities not in plain sight. In 2014 The character gold member was introduced as an artist here to awaken the soul and spark curiosity. Being able to capture a feeling rather than a moment is a unique aesthetic evident.Jaypix’s professional style combines innovative design and artistically bold portraits that shine a light on individuals, enabling confidence towards the pursuit of their own vision. Jaypix works on community and commercial projects based around anthropology and amplifying the people's identity through archives and exhibitions.