Our Curatorial Board
Cultivate's exhibition and gallery work is made possible through the collaboration of our dedicated and experienced Curatorial board. A board composed of professional curators, educators, and artists in a wide range of experience, education, and voice. We seek exhibitions that exemplify our mission, amplify voice, and invite conversation.
Mandy Cano Villalobos
Mandy Cano Villalobos is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans installation, 2D, performance, and sculpture. Cano Villalobos exhibits throughout the United States, Latin America and in Europe. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, ARTnews, Sculpture Magazine, Hyperallergic, and The Chicago Reader, among others.
She is the recipient of awards and grants from multiple organizations including the Gottlieb, Puffin, Frey, and Chenven Foundations, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Cano Villalobos is represented by Proyecto T in Mexico City, Lafontsee Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI, and drj art projects in Berlin. She works in Grand Rapids, MI and Brooklyn, NY.
​
Please see and support Mandy's art practice here.
Eddie T.L. Tadlock
Eddie T.L. Tadlock, Assistant General Manager of DeVos Place/DeVos Performance Hall/ Van Andel Arena (ASM Global), is an entrepreneurial executive with years of comprehensive facility management experience in operating stadiums, arenas, theaters, and convention facilities.
He currently serves on several boards to include the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Festival of the Arts, Grand JAZZFEST, Community Sustainability Partnership, 2030 District, Boy Scouts of America,/President Ford Council, the City of Grand Rapids Ad Hoc Art Advisory Committee, Kendall College Equity Council, Grand Rapids Community Foundation Advisory Board, DGRI Board of Advisors, Grand Rapids Whitewater Campaign Cabinet, Rosa Parks/Ecliptic Conservancy Board, Confluence Steering Committee, and the Grand Rapids Community Master Plan Steering Committee.
Over the last ten years he has volunteered for or served on the boards of many non-
profit and cultural organizations to include Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, the American Red Cross and the West Michigan Jazz Society. He is a self-described jazz junky, orchid -lover, art collector, Kulture Vulture blogger, Marine, Certified Tourism
Ambassador and bibliophile.
Tamara Fox
Tamara Fox (she/her) is an artist, freelance writer, educator, and advocate for the arts.
She is a mixed-media artist working primarily with reclaimed materials. Tamara has taught studio art and art history classes at a variety of colleges and art centers in Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan. She was a contributor and editor for Art HACK, a blog dedicated to covering arts and culture in west Michigan. Tamara has been a volunteer with SiTE:LAB for over a decade and is currently a board member.
She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has earned Master’s Degrees in studio art and Art History. While studying at the University of Minnesota, she was awarded a Dayton Hudson Partners in Learning Fellowship. Tamara has curated over fifteen exhibits in the Midwest, and has exhibited her work nationally in juried and solo exhibitions.
​
She is honored to be working with the Curatorial Board at Cultivate.
Oshin Pazare
Oshin Pazare is an experienced professional with expertise in fashion design and arts administration, particularly in Indian Art History, textiles, and costumes. She began her journey at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in Mumbai, India, where she learned about garments and fabrics. Oshin holds a Master's degree in Arts Administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, which has helped her develop skills in project management, curatorial expertise, and effective communication.
During her time as a Curatorial intern at the Flint Institute of Arts, she researched antique Indian jewelry, sparking her commitment to preserving traditional practices. Oshin has also worked as a Gallery Assistant, where she gained hands-on experience and promoted indigenous artisans' work through seminars. Her research interests include the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in museums on children's cognitive development. She is passionate about depolarization and democracy development and brings a unique perspective and a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Mallory Shotwell
Mallory Shotwell (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator. Her artistic practice operates at the intersection of art, storytelling, and community engagement. She lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mallory also serves as the founder and director of Cultivate.
Mallory has served as a longtime curator at Arts and Literature Laboratory, the Bubbler, Cultivate, and most recently a juror with the Lansing Art Gallery. Her research-based studio practice spans a variety of media, including photography, video, sound, writing, and interactive installation.
​
Mallory’s current body of work is an international visual study and articulation of the breast cancer experience. She features in-person and written interviews of people in various stages of breast cancer, the art created over this multi-year project utilizes the artifacts of cancer, large-scale paintings, alternative photographic processes, and walking audio tours.
Stephen Smith
Stephen Smith (he/him) is a community advocate who uses art and education to shape the world’s next generation of leaders.
Stephen serves as a liaison between local business, nonprofit organizations and K-12 educators to bridge gaps and establish partnerships that benefit the students he serves.
​
Stephen holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Fisk University and Masters in Education Leadership from Grand Valley State. In 2018 Stephen and his wife opened Muse, an art gallery in Grand Rapids. In 2021 Stephen won the ArtPrize time based award. He recently opened a new space on the southeast side of Grand Rapids.
Stephen and his wife Taylor live to help others pursue their purpose and passion. Stephen also serves West Michigan through his Non profit Muse Ed and various boards and committees.
Danielle Wyckoff
Danielle C. Wyckoff (she/her) is an artist, educator, and advocate. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Kendall College of Art and Design, and her artwork focuses on love, care, and language; her advocacy work involves addressing sexism in art and academia. She's exhibited work or performed across the US and in Denmark, Chile, and China, recently at the Gordon Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia and the Morlan Art Galleries at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky.
Danielle earned a BA in art and English (1999), an MA in English (2004), both from Georgia College, and an MFA in Art from Ohio University (2010). She serves on Cultivate's Curatorial Board.
Katherine Hagman Prokopchuk
Katherine Prokopchuk is an artist, educator, and creative events producer reveling in the spaces where scientific and artistic inquiry collide. Fueled by an eternal curiosity of the world around her, Katherine facilitates educational experiences that encourage communities to contemplate their place in society and the environment.
Katherine runs the MSU Science Festival, an annual celebration of science, curiosity, discovery, and innovation. She is also the founder of Inquiry Arts, an initiative dedicated to fusing art, science, and culture. Katherine received her BA in Art History and Visual Culture with a specialization in museum studies at Michigan State University, as well as a MA in Arts and Cultural Management with additional coursework in educational psychology.
In the past, she has worked with organizations such as The MSU Museum and ArtPrize to engage the public in meaningful and memorable experiences across art and culture. Katherine was also selected as a Native American Curatorial Fellow in 2021 at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. As an artist, Katherine explores light, shadow, space, and form while working with paper, fiber, glass, neon, and found objects.
Katherine is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a descendant of Irish and German immigrants.
Mahsa Alafar
Mahsa Alafar is an Iranian artist, educator, and researcher currently residing in the US and serving as a Visiting Artist at GVSU. She holds a bachelor's degree from Tehran University and a master's degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was awarded the New Artist Society Merit Scholarship.
While not affiliated with Islam, as a Muslim-born woman, Mahsa takes a critical stance on issues of social, political, and cultural discrimination against women, often drawing upon Iranian traditions and Islamic culture. As a woman from the Middle East living in the West, she also explores methods of decolonization and desexualization, specifically with regards to the Western gaze surrounding the terms "Orient" and "Orientalism".
Teagan Chatterley
Teagan Chatterley is an artist and designer. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Michigan State University and a Master of Design in Designed Objects degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Combining her knowledge of sculpture and designed objects, Chatterley has been investigating the division and overlap of form, function, materiality, and meaning between these two fields. Inspired by quirky objects, social interactions, culture, and the natural world, Chatterley seeks to continually expand her comfort zones through an exploratory lens.