Accessible Expressions Ohio / Creative Careers
Open Panel Discussion and Q&A with
Hakim Callwood, Stephanie Rond, Michael J. Morris, and Kate Sweeney
Hakim Callwood: @hakimsartnstuff.com
Hakim Callwood, 24, is an independent artist illustrator/designer from Columbus, Ohio, specializing in illustration, design, painting, animation and teaching. He is a graduate of Columbus Alternative High School, ranked as one of the top high schools in the country. He also studied digital art and graphic design at Columbus State Community College. His inspiration in art began with Marvel Comic hand-me-downs from his older brother.
Stephanie Rond: @stephanierond.com
Stephanie Rond is a Columbus, Ohio based street artist whose colorful and feminist work can be seen on walls around the world, both inside and out.
Her work explores the concepts of gender roles and the accessibility of art. Rond's work challenges the traditions associated with both indoor and outdoor space.Her work shows women and girls as positive role models and active citizens, combating the typical objectification of women in advertising.
Rond had the distinguished honor of representing all of North America in “She’s a Leader,” a street art project created by the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society based in Paris, France. Rond is the single representative of street art in the midwest portion of the United States on the Google Art Institute: Street Art Project, a global collection of street art. She is the founder and leader of the website Women Street Artists and she is the owner, curator and operator of S.Dot Gallery.
An award-winning documentary has been created about her work. The film, Tiny Out Loud, studies Rond’s gender-gouging street art and dollhouse art galleries. She served as producer of the film, joining director Andrew Ina to craft a fun but evocative exploration of making gender roles smaller and the art world’s accessibility larger.
Stephanie attended Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. The Columbus Dispatch and Columbus Alive newspapers tapped her solo show, titled Dangerous Impermanence, on their coveted list of Best Art Exhibits.
Michael J. Morris: @michaeljmorris.weebly.com
Michael J. Morris is a choreographer, performer, scholar, and educator, currently serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Dance at Denison University. They hold a PhD in Dance Studies from The Ohio State University, where they were the recipient of both the Presidential Fellowship and the Graduate Associate Teaching Award, the highest recognitions for graduate research and teaching atOSU.
Morris approaches choreography and performance as research modalities, investigatory practices that look to bodies and composition for their knowledge-making potential. Morris’ choreographic and performance work draws influences from early formalist postmodern dance, burlesque, and Japanese Butoh. Their work has been staged in universities, art galleries, festivals, conferences, and site specific spaces throughout the U.S. Morris has been performing queer burlesque since 2012. They were a principal dancer with Viva Valezz! and the Velvet Hearts! and were a featured performer in the 2015 Fierce International Queer Burlesque Festival. Morris has studied Butoh in both the U.S. and at the Kazuo Ohno Studio in Yokohama, Japan. In their performance work, they have collaborated with artists and scholars including Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens, Courtney Harris and Charli Brissey, and Catriona Sandilands. Morris has also served as dramaturge for Maree ReMalia | merrygogo and the BakerTarpaga DanceProject.
At Denison, Morris teaches coursework in cultural studies, movement analysis, and modern dance technique, while also choreographing new dance works for the department. At OSU, Morris taught courses in writing about dance, the history of western concert dance, yoga, modern dance, and ballet. They are certified to teach Labanotation through the Dance Notation Bureau inNYC.
*Michael J. Morris identifies as genderqueer/non-binary and prefers gender-neutral pronouns(they/them/their).
Kate Sweeney: @katesweeneyphotography.com
Kate Sweeney is a self-taught photographerfrom Columbus, Ohio whose work has been featured in Dazed, Refinery29, The Huffington Post, Glamour Magazine, and Teen Vogue. She aims to make work that challenges ideas of femininity with a proud honesty that is simultaneously defiant and inviting by utilizing the human form, color, and our connection to nature. She is a photographer-in-residence with The Photographic Journal out of L.A. and released her self-published book She Tastes Like the Earth, a selection of photographs of fruit and the female form, in December 2017.