Artifice

Jared Quan is published in genres from Spy-Thriller to Horror/Supernatural, to Fantasy-Comedy. His works include Changing Wax, Prepped and Last Outpost on Zombie Highway. He served the community in key roles with the League of Utah Writers, Storymakers, Cultural Arts Society of West Jordan, EMAA, BigWorldNetwork, TEDx SaltLakeCity, UVU Book Academy, Utah Poet Laureate Selection Committee, AITP, and for countless events and organizations. Jared has received Gold Volunteer Service Awards from the President of the United States, awards from Utah State Governor and Lt. Governor for his more than 2,000 hours of service to the writing community from 2015 to 2019.

Madazon Can-Can is a working clown, burlesquer, puppeteer, drag thing and regular weirdo based out of Salt Lake City, UT. This last year solidified their position as someone who constantly finds their voice in their art and now, well they just can't shut up. Running into issues with the state, being censored publicly and from other local theatre and dance companies, Madazon is no stranger to fighting for her right to ART! Good thing they've been through the school of hard knocks from the beginning, otherwise they would have given up the good fight and become a paper pusher instead of a pastie pusher. Politics, pasties, heart and art all make up the rainbow cacophony that is this simultaneously loud and queerly silent clown and let's not forget...if anyone can...Madazon Can-Can. www.madazoncancan.com

Jay Whittaker is a comedian from Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Boston! Jay was recently one of the featured comedians on the Dry Bar Comedy Live tour, which was in over 60 comedy clubs nationwide. He has been seen on the Disney Channel, Food Network, and Lifetime Channel. He's also received the "Best of Fest" award at the Big Pine Comedy Festival. Jay is also a loving father, and 16-year Air Force veteran. @itsjaywhittaker

Julie Barnson has always been a storyteller. She just didn’t know it! She would tell stories to her friends on long car rides or on campouts. It wasn’t until she attended a storytelling class in college, that she learned that you could actually BE a storyteller! Since then she has worked telling stories at schools, libraries, festivals, and other events. . Her career has led her to being a chapter president, a tour guide for ghost tours, and a board member for the Story Crossroads storytelling festival. She loves sharing stories with others!

Shannon Camacho is the front-woman and main songwriter for Hello Shannon, an Indie Electronic duo from Dallas, TX that brings together electronic elements with organic live instrumentation and a focus on vocal layering and production. Influences include Imogen Heap, Kimbra and James Blake. Hello Shannon was started in 2014 by Shannon along with her husband/producer, Jonathan Camacho. After the release of their first EP, “The Tide,” Hello Shannon began performing at festivals, venues such as House of Blues (Dallas, New Orleans), Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles), intimate concerts such as the SoFar Sounds series, and internationally, with a tour going through northern Europe in 2015-2016. In 2015, Hello Shannon was featured on the long running BMI Acoustic Lounge Series in L.A. Hello Shannon stopped touring from 2015-2018 and spent those 3 years working in the studio on their full length album, “Wander,” which was released in October 2018, along with an official music video for the title track. The release garnered l

Jonathan Ingram worked in the graphic design industry for more than 20 years before becoming a studio artist. He creates abstract paintings and sculpture that interplay between the two art forms with exquisite texture, color, and form. Graduating with a BA in Illustration from East Texas State University, Jonathan honed his design skills to capture a job with GibbsBaronet before starting his own company, i.design in 1998. From exhibition design to branding and identity for such clients as Dallas Musuem of Art, National Academy of Sciences, The Sixth Floor Museum, Halliburton, and American Airlines, Jonathan’s work has been featured in Communication Arts, Graphis, and Print Design Annuals. He grew up in a home that encouraged creativity. Cultivating different art forms was the norm. One of his earliest memories is making pottery with his mother in their garage as a young boy with a throwing wheel, a kiln and countless ceramic molds. Add in a piano, a Ti-4a99 computer, growing up gay in a conservative home, a

Born in Granada, Spain in 1983, Pamies has published four albums under his name; Entre Amigos (PSM, 2008), Borrachito (Bebyne Records, 2011), What Brought You Here? (Bebyne Records, 2017), and Summer Night at La Corrala: Solo Piano (expected December 2019). Critics have acknowledged his talent for composition, the lyrical qualities of his playing, and his natural and spontaneous ability to fuse the traditional jazz language and flamenco music of his childhood. Pamies has performed at festivals in Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Colombia, Perú, China, Spain, and the United States. He has collaborated with outstanding artists, such as Dave Liebman, Christian Scott, Rubem Dantas, Antonio Serrano, Diego Amador, Pepe Luis Carmona “Habichuela,” Quamon Fowler, Ashleigh Smith, Samuel Torres, Tatiana Mayfield, Michael Miskiewicz, and Joan Albert Amargós. Besides leading his own projects, he has produced other artists such as Verso Suelto (Verso Suelto, Youkali Music 2016), Korean singer Roja (My Shining Ho

Michael Wysong Crigger studied Fashion Design at the University of North Texas, earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts in May, 2011. He began pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Design at UNT. During his undergraduate career, Michael studied Haute Couture sewing techniques in Paris, France. He has been recognized in several design competitions, and finds his passion in tailoring and construction. "For us, Petit Atelier is about bringing back some of the charm of the original ateliers of Paris, before all the big couture houses came into play. That, teaching people about fashion, and passing on what we've learned thus far."

At the helm of our kitchen is Chef José Meza Arróyave, one of Mexico’s finest. Meza has spent his career at culinary meccas including Rene Redzepi’s NOMA in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Enrique Olvera’s Pujol, in Mexico City. Hailing from Mexico City himself, Meza most recently led the kitchen at the famed Restaurant Carolina, at the St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, as well as the Nizuc Resort & Spa, named “Best New Restaurant in Mexico” by Travel + Leisure in 2014. Meza now brings his contemporary approach to Mexican cuisine to Jalisco, elevating traditional dishes with a modern twist, while maintaining the integrity of his country’s cuisine.

Praised for the “breathtaking singing quality of his sound” by jazz icon John McNeil and as a “musician of the highest order” by renowned orchestral trumpeter Charles Daval, Ryan Nielsen’s lyricism and versatility are rare. His artistry grows out of a love of groove, spirit, and beautiful melody. He began performing professionally at 17, and has since been a guest artist at concerts and festivals throughout the United States. Nielsen’s debut album, Gift of Breath (a joint project with his mentor, Ra Kalam Bob Moses) was selected by the New York City Jazz Record as a 2017 Recommended New Release. Ra Kalam, whose previous work was selected by the Smithsonian as a landmark in jazz history, called Gift of Breath, “One of the deepest, most soulful and creative recordings I've ever done.” In 2016, Nielsen was named trumpeter in the Kobie Watkins Grouptet. Perhaps best known for his extensive work with jazz legend, Sonny Rollins, Watkins formed his Grouptet from across the country. Their first album, Movement, wa

Rebecca Jensen loves telling stories and drawing pictures, so becoming an illustrator made perfect sense. She currently lives and works in Utah, creating art for children’s books, magazines, posters, cards, and anything else people will let her draw on.

Artistic Director of Salt Lake City’s Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company since 2013, Daniel Charon has been active as a choreographer, teacher, and performer for over twenty-five years. While based in New York City, Daniel maintained a project-based company and danced with Doug Varone and Dancers and the Limón Dance Company. Additionally, he performed with Doug Elkins and Friends, the Metropolitan Opera, the Aquila Theater Company, and the Mary Anthony Dance Theater among others. He is a BFA graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA graduate of the California Institute of the Arts in Choreography and Integrated Media. As Ririe-Woodbury’s Artistic Director, Charon has created multiple original works for the stage, gallery installations, and has designed video for his and other choreographers’ works. Daniel has choreographed Moby Dick, The Pearl Fishers, Aida, and La Traviata at the Utah Opera. He has presented multiple full evening concerts in New York City and has been commissioned to choreograp

Mindy has been performing since the age of eight. Her original goal in life was to be the world’s first “singing Heart Surgeon”. Unfortunately, medical school didn’t pan out; so, she decided to heal the world through music and as a result, she has been studying different vocal techniques, voice science, and vocal health her entire life. Mindy has studied with many nationally and internationally renowned vocal instructors and was a vocal performance major at the University of Utah. Mindy is part of some incredible voice teams and music industry professionals throughout the world. Some of these team’s consists of Laryngologists, ENT’s, Artist Development, Managers, Record Labels, Vocal Arrangers, Producers, Music Directors, and many others. Mindy holds a certificate in Clinical Vocology from The National Center for Voice and Speech. Mindy holds certificate in laryngeal manipulation and currently in school to become a fully licensed Massage Therapist/Body Integration Specialist. Mindy is the creato

Jessica Day George is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tuesdays at the Castle series, the Twelve Dancing Princesses series, and the Dragon Slippers trilogy. Originally from Idaho, she studied at Brigham Young University where she earned a BA in Humanities/Comparative Literature, and worked as a librarian and bookseller before turning to writing full-time. She now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their three young children. www.jessicadaygeorge.com

Chef Nick’s Bio My mother comes from a strong Italian family raised in New Orleans. Family life was all about food and southern hospitality. My father was obsessed with French culinary tradition and always wanted to be a chef. He graduated from Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France in 2004. I wasn’t exposed to this obsessive side of my father until shortly before he passed away. I became intertwined with my dad’s passion. After I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY, I traveled to France, Spain, and Italy to better understand food culture and the craftsmanship of fine cuisine. I worked for and run kitchens in Maine, Wisconsin, New York, and Virginia before coming to Salt Lake. Table X is a culmination of my ideals: deep compassion for community coupled with food that is inspired by local ingredients, art, and expression.

Heidi M. Gress first discovered her passion for Creative Entrepreneurship while studying European Cinema at the University of London. After she completed her film education with a BFA from the prestigious Chapman University in Southern California, she continued in the creative industry by working as a commercial producer, fashion film and documentary director and still photographer in Los Angeles. Her editorial work has taken her all over the globe and she has been published in numerous international publications, including Los Angeles Magazine, Vogue Italia, Salt Lake magazine, AMF magazine, MORE magazine, sphere magazine, City Weekly, and more. Eventually, this led her to start her own cultural fashion magazine in Los Angeles where she published the quarterly issue for 5 years. Eventually selling the company, she relocated to Utah for family and to be closer to nature. Locally, she is the Director at Impact Hub Salt Lake, a social impact entrepreneurial center; the founder and producer of Art Meets Fashion,

Salt Lake City-based artist Stacy Phillips shifts effortlessly between sculpture and painting. In part, this is because her studios for each discipline lie under one roof. In part, it is because she has mastered the ability to adapt as the result of moving 49 times in her life. (Her family relocated frequently while her father worked for Campbell Soup Company.) A change-filled life also helps explain the wide range of Stacy’s artistic toolbox: She works in sculpture, ceramics, painting (on canvas, wood, and ceramics), and jewelry; teaches acrylic painting/collage and monoprinting; and actually enjoys “the business part” of being a career artist. “I majored in fine arts [at Keene State College in New Hampshire] and minored in business and graphic design,” Stacy says. “My father, being in the corporate world, said I should have something to fall back on. In the long run, it suited me, because I can dance between left and right brain.” Among Stacy’s sculptures are torsos — some bronze and some painted ceramic

As a child, sports were Monica's main focus, but she auditioned for her first musical as a young teen, and was quickly hooked--switching focus to acting, singing, dancing, and modeling. She attended Brigham Young University (BYU) on a talent scholarship, majoring in Music Dance Theatre. In 2013, Monica started getting into film, and is best known for her role as Julie Flinders in Saturday's Warrior. Monica currently works as an actor, singer, dancer, and fitness model. https://monicamooresmith.com/ https://www.instagram.com/monicamooresmith/ https://www.youtube.com/user/monicamooresmith/ https://www.facebook.com/MonicaMooreSmith.Performer/

Adam has been making violins since age 14, due in part to the recommendation of his first violin teacher, Kelly Richardson. His violins have been played on and praised by Joshua Bell, Joseph Silverstein, and Igor Gruppman, as well as many young, talented soloists throughout Utah. Born in Murray, Utah, Adam grew up in a musical environment, beginning the violin at age 3. When he began studying to be a luthier with Paul Hart, violin making came naturally to Adam because of his highly developed ear and playing ability. He knows very well the qualities that string players look for in an instrument and how to produce them. By nature, Adam is very detail-oriented. (His wife lovingly refers to him as “The Millimeter Man.”) In harmony with this trait, Adam has always excelled in art. Countless hours spent developing this talent greatly enhanced his violin making skills. Adam concluded 4 years of training with Paul at the Tree’s Breath Violin Making School and started his own shop, which has become a thriving business

Christine Baird did a career 180 when she moved from the corporate world to focus on podcasting, event production, social media strategy, and influencer branding. She developed Lewis Howes’ brand, the School of Greatness, for four years, during which time the podcast downloads increased from 1 million to over 80 million. She now helps influencers launch and strategize their shows. She also produces her own self-development podcast, the Worthfull Project. She’s passionate about becoming the best version of herself and inspiring others to do the same. https://www.instagram.com/worthfullchristine/ https://christinebaird.com/