ART WORKS Projects has a growing team with a shared commitment to global human rights, the arts, and impact. You can learn about us here.
EXECUTIVE AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Leslie Thomas
Leslie Thomas is the founding Executive and Creative Director of ART WORKS Projects. Meanwhile, she is also an architect, Emmy-award winning art director, and mom. Leslie is a founding principal with LARC Inc., a national architectural practice, and is a graduate of Columbia University and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Leslie’s work has toured globally and been the recipient of grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture, the Humanity United Fund and the Graham Foundation. She is committed to the use of art and design for public good. E-mail lthomas@artworksprojects.org.
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Tess Landon
Tess Landon is a program coordinator for ART WORKS Projects. She earned her bachelor’s degree in art history from Bard College with a focus on museums and education and has worked in the collections at the Field Museum and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Tess has taught in a range of arenas, including her many years as a children’s art teacher at Lill Street Art Center. She also taught a pre-college reading and writing seminar at a correctional facility in New York and remains interested in prisoners’ education and rights. E-mail tlandon@artworksprojects.org.
CREATIVE CONTRIBUTORS
Greg Doench
Greg Doench is an architect and exhibition designer who has worked internationally on a range of cultural, commercial, and institutional buildings. As a principle in the national architectural design studio LARC, Greg brings years of international project experience as well as a background in large buildings and small scale furniture and fabrication. He provides the creative team with strong technical support in all of its installations. Greg’s experience in designing cultural centers also allows him to understand and account for the challenges and opportunities of the large international tours undertaken by ART WORKS’ installations.
J. Matthew Jacob
J. Matthew Jacob, a New York City-based video editor and post-production supervisor, has been an integral member of the DARFUR/DARFUR project since its inception. Professionally, his clientele includes Jaguar, Old Navy, ExxonMobil, the Atlantic, and NASCAR. After studying experimental film at the University of Oklahoma, he honed his skills as an editor and a sports photographer. After moving to New York, he found a niche troubleshooting documentaries such as Murderball, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, and How to Eat Your Watermelon, seeing these films through the finishing process and into the international festival circuit. He has since seen his client base expand to advertising and the art world as he advises and supervises productions on digital acquisition through post-production.
Jaclyn Robbins
Jaclyn Robbins has worked with ART WORKS on the research, development, production, and touring of exhibitions such as Congo/Women and BLOOD/STONES. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Columbia College Chicago with a focus in non-Western art. During her time at Columbia College, Jaci assisted in the production of Pandemic in Print, an exhibit whose goal was to bring public attention and awareness to the AIDs epidemic in Africa.
Jane Sachs
Jane Sachs is a founder and principle at HS2 Architecture. Since 2006 Jane has worked helping to launch DARFUR/DARFUR and consulting on Congo/Women. With a degree in fine arts, a graduate degree in architecture, and 15 years of practice as principle at HS2 Architecture, she has been valuable voice in determining the direction of Art Works Projects. In 2006, Leslie Thomas with Jane Sachs, Thomas Hut and Greg Doench formed the architectural joint venture LARC Studio, one of the 24 pre-qualified design firms selected by the New York City Department of Design and Construction for 2008 to 2009.
Paul Schmit
Paul Schmit currently supports ART WORKS’ website and ongoing digital needs. Paul is a Technical Director at CMD Agency in Portland, Oregon and a majority of his day is spent collaborating with interactive creatives and techies while contemplating some of the larger meanings of life beyond spin and soundbites. Paul is a transplant to the Pacific Northwest, where he and his former high school sweetheart raise their three sons – guided by the principles of life learning, slow food, non-violent communication, and a constant urge to grab a vintage camper and hit the road on an endless adventure. Paul is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a background in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He also received a certificate degree in Webmaster and Internet Technologies from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Amy Eliot
Amy Eliot is an architect and educator focused on the interface between architecture and interior design. She is a partner in the San Francisco design firm Tom Eliot Fisch where she provides leadership and direction to higher education, multi-family, and infrastructure projects for both public and private sector clients, as well as non-profits. A passion for interdisciplinary art and design thinking led her to teach for a decade at the California College of the Arts, where she held the position of Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Interior Architecture. During her tenure at CCA, Amy was involved in both developing and implementing studio and theoretical studies which explored the boundaries between art and design and how they can inform each other in ways that expand how we see the world and respond to it. A graduate of the Harvard Design School and Smith College, she also sits on the boards of Creativity Explored, a visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art; and LINE, AIA San Francisco’s design journal, whose mission is to connect Bay Area architects and designers with the broader community by provoking dialogue about critical issues that affect architectural and urban design, environmental and economic policy.
Roberta Feldman
Roberta Feldman is an architectural activist, researcher and educator committed to democratic design. She has worked with community leaders in Chicago’s public housing and over fifty community organizations and development corporations in Chicago’s low income neighborhoods to address their visions for shaping, revitalizing and preserving their designed environments. Her research has focused on affordable and public housing design including: author with Susan Stall, of The Dignity of Resistance: Women Residents Activism in Chicago Public Housing, 2004; editor of Design Matters: Best Practices in Affordable Housing; and editor with Jim Wheaton of The Chicago Greystone in Historic North Lawndale, 2007, a guide to community revitalization though historic preservation. Currently, she is one of a team of four that has been awarded the 2011 AIA Latrobe Prize to research public interest practices in architecture. Feldman is Professor Emerita at the UIC School of Architecture and Director Emerita of the City Design Center. Tracey Fletcher
Tracey Fletcher is a lawyer with the Friedman Law Group, Ltd., a Chicago-based firm specializing in marketing law. Tracey’s practice focuses on charitable promotions, environmental marketing, and general commercial transactions. She is also the general counsel of the Usher III Initiative, a medical research foundation. Tracey’s past experience includes founding the legal department of a global public relations firm and serving as Senior Assistant General Counsel of the American Hospital Association, where she handled transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters. She has prepared testimony for congressional hearings, represented clients before state and federal agencies, and drafted appellate briefs for submission to state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Tracey previously served as adjunct faculty at Loyola University School of Law and was a legal writing instructor at the University of Michigan Law School while a third-year law student. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. Tracey openly admits that she possesses no artistic talent, abilities, or inclinations whatsoever.
Hunter Hollins
Hunter Hollins is currently at the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space and has been working with museums and non-profit organizations for more than 15 years. Hunter has served as a volunteer career counselor for the Women’s Center in Fairfax, VA, and for five years Hollins managed International Arts & Artists, a non-profit organization which organizes traveling exhibitions from Asia, Europe and within the United States. Hunter’s exhibition experience began at the University of California at Santa Barbara and continued with stints at the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art. He was raised on cattle and sheep ranches in the northern part of California and remains active in environmental initiatives.
Elizabeth Lazar
Elizabeth is Vice President of a technology company in Chicago. She is a Merit Awarded University of Chicago Scholar and has served as Northwestern University’s Senior Consultant to International Development where the following projects were supported by generous funding by an NIH grant including but not limited to: Environment and Development in China; Politics of Health in Uganda; Global Healthcare Technology in South Africa; and Violence and Global health in Mexico. Elizabeth’s writing on issues related to poverty and justice has been featured in local, national and international publications. In addition to her recent work in post-quake Haiti, she has consulted on numerous projects addressing violence and disinvestment on the South and West sides of Chicago and serves on the board of advisors to the Chicago Gang Museum Project. She lives in Evanston with her two young sons, Isaac and Lee.
Susan Leach
Susan Leach is a lawyer who has practiced in California and New York. Her practice has been varied, including complex business litigation with an emphasis on securities class actions, corporate governance and related counseling and regulatory and exchange proceedings. Her primary focus now is in public law, including election and constitutional law. Susan is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Gonzaga University.
Alissa Lillie
Alissa Lillie is an interior designer working in the San Francisco Bay Area. After working for other design offices in San Francisco, she founded Lillie Design in 2003. Lillie Design specializes in educational interiors projects and interiors for residential clients. She has also worked on large institutional projects such as San Francisco City Hall and Berkeley Civic Center. Lillie Design has worked with many non-profit organizations to create spaces that reflect their character and work. From 1997 to 1998, Alissa served as the Director of 2AES/Center for Critical Architecture in San Francisco. This non-profit sponsors an architectural lecture series for the public and competitions to further design interest and integrity in the area.
Susan T. Rodriguez, FAIA
Susan T. Rodriguez, FAIA, is an architect whose work focuses primarily on projects in the public realm for educational, cultural, scientific and governmental institutions. She is a design principal and managing partner in Ennead Architects, an internationally recognized studio in New York City. Her award-winning designs convey her passionate belief in architecture as an interpretive medium and its profound ability to communicate the values of contemporary society. As an extension of her professional work, Susan is actively involved in promoting the importance of design in the public realm. She lectures frequently on her work and for the past decade has served on the boards and executive committees of the Architectural League of New York and Van Alen Institute. She has also taught numerous design studios at Cornell University, Columbia University and City College. A graduate of Cornell’s School of Architecture, she serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council and the University President’s Council for Cornell Women. Susan received her master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University and is a national design peer for the General Services Administration and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Leslie Thomas also serves on the Board of Directors
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Jill Barancik
Brandee Butler
Olivier Bercault
David Bobrow
Denise Canter
Dolores Connolly
Helen Doria
Daniela Hrzic
Alexandra Kerr
Laurel Lipkin
Jayme McLellan
Kimberly Merlin
Lisa Odyniec
Kary Ream
Karen Rutzick
Ambassador Steven E. Steiner
Jessica Stuart
Jane Sachs
Gretchen Steidle Wallace
Clio Chafee