Having recently completed his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Taha Heydari
works full time in his studio in Baltimore. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Heydari grew up with an
integral relationship to Persian miniature, and trained from the age of twelve in this school of
painting. What he gained from that level of study is apparent in his current work. Taha uses his
minutely detailed paint application to create a surface which appears to be about the addition of
material and image. However, Heydari’s application is much closer to functioning as a method of
Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collection, The World Doesn't Require You
(Norton/Liveright, August 2019). His debut story collection, Insurrections (University Press of
Kentucky, 2016), was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017
Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His work has been published in
journals such as The Kenyon Review, Crab Orchard Review, and The Rumpus, among others.
He lives in Annapolis, MD with his wife and two sons.
Nicole Dyer lives and works in Baltimore, MD. She received a BFA in Drawing from the
Maryland Institute College of Art in 2013, and studied abroad at the Burren College of Art in
Ballyvaughan, Ireland in 2012. Her solo exhibitions include Stevenson University, Owings
Mills, MD; Casa Corval, Van Nuys, CA; and Annex 2E, Baltimore, MD. She has participated in
two-person and group exhibitions including Terrault Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Savery Gallery,
Philadelphia, PA; LVL3, Chicago, IL; and Field Projects, New York, NY. Residencies include
Rachael Uwada Clifford is a writer, poet, and Cave Canem Fellow, at work on her first collection of short stories and her first poetry collection.
Geoff Becker is the author of the novels Hot Springs and Bluestown, as well as two story
collections, Black Elvis, and Dangerous Men. His awards and honors include: the Drue Heinz
Prize for Literature, the Flannery O'Connor Prize for Short Fiction, the Nelson Algren Award
from the Chicago Tribune, an NEA Fellowship, and inclusion in the Best American Short Stories
anthology. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and teaches writing at Towson University.
Maud Taber-Thomas is an artist who specializes in oil paintings and charcoal drawings. Trained in classical techniques at the New York Academy of Art, and with a background in English literature from Bowdoin College and Oxford University, where she studied abroad, Maud Taber-Thomas draws inspiration for her evocative portraits, interiors, and landscapes from the narratives and characters of classic literature. Her works, which range in scale from miniature to larger than life, capture the vibrant light and color of far-off places and distant time periods.
Ivy Goodman is the author of two collections of short stories, Heart Failure (University of Iowa
Press) and A Chapter from Her Upbringing (Carnegie Mellon University Press). Her fiction
has appeared in anthologies and many literary magazines, and she is at work on a third
collection.
Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi was born in Tehran, Iran and currently works in the Washington, D.C. area. Ilchi received an M.F.A. in studio art from American University and a B.F.A. from the Corcoran College of Art + Design. She has received many awards, including the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellowship, Zeta Orionis Painting Fellowship, Bethesda Painting Award, Carol Bird Ravenal Travel Award, and the Robyn Rafferty Mathias Research Grant from American University. Ilchi has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally.
Karen Warshal is a classical artist living and working in Baltimore City. Her primary interests
are the figure and portrait, and her most recent paintings depict people in interior spaces, evoking
narratives that are sometimes easy to read and other times ambiguous or enigmatic. She derives
inspiration from the Old Masters, but also from the models themselves. She always works from
life and claims that one of the great things about painting people is the dynamic that exists
between the artist and her model. Karen Warshal received her B.A. from the University of
Lesa Cook grew up in South Carolina and received a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of
South Carolina in 1987. In 1990/91 she pursued graduate work in computer graphics at George
Mason University . She continued her fine art studies part-time at The Maryland Institute
College of Art, The Corcoran School of Art, The Art League in Alexandria, Va. and The Shuler
School in Baltimore, Md. Currently she is enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art in Florence
Italy until June, when she returns to Maryland to continue teaching at The Delaplaine Arts
Center in Frederick.