Sarah Russin, Executive Director (03/14)
Executive Director since 2014, Sarah Russin is expanding upon LACE’s experimental spirit and legacy of presenting groundbreaking and socially engaged art. With the LACE team and board of directors, Sarah is dedicated to the development and support of artists and artistic communities, and to offering LACE as a communal center that welcomes a broad audience to experience and create dialogue around contemporary art and culture. Shortly after arriving at LACE, she established two signature annual programs: the Emerging Curator’s Program, designed to discover curatorial talent in Los Angeles, and the Summer Artist in Residence Program, which since its inception, has featured Native Strategies, Rafa Esparza, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Jimena Sarno, and Young Joon Kwak with Mutant Salon. In celebration of LACE’s 40th Anniversary, Sarah worked closely with The Getty Research Institute in their acquisition of The LACE Archives.
Prior to LACE Sarah worked in higher education in various capacities. At Otis College of Art and Design, she served as Assistant Vice President of Institutional Advancement, and previously as Director of Alumni Relations, developing support for the college in the areas of collaborative partnerships, corporate and foundation relations, marketing and communications, and individual giving. Before joining Otis in 2002, Sarah oversaw recruitment efforts for Art Center College of Design, where she reviewed thousands of portfolios, and led Art Center’s highly regarded Night and Saturday High Programs. She served on the board of the Barnsdall Park Foundation for seven years. Sarah holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.
Fiona Ball, Grants Manager (02/15)
Fiona is a creative organizer based in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. In addition to working with LACE, she currently works with Art Practical and the Curatorial Research Bureau in San Francisco, CA. Fiona has extensive experience working with arts nonprofits and visual arts organizations including the Hollywood Arts Council, the Skirball Cultural Center, and Creative Migration. She was as an Arts for LA ACTIVATE Fellow in Cultural Policy for 2016-17 and served as an arts delegate for Los Angeles Arts Day in 2017. She frequently collaborates with artists as a creative producer and curator. Fiona holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Education Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently pursuing an MA in Curatorial Studies at California College of the Arts.
Fiona (at) welcometolace.org
Andrew Magno Freire, Exhibition and Operations Manager (08/16)
Andrew first came to LACE as a production intern, and now runs all facility operations including exhibition installation, inventory management, and art handling. Andrew has previously worked at the Getty Conservation Institute as a video editor, at the Venice Arts Gallery in the education department, and has volunteered for the non-profit organization Ambulante, a mobile documentary film festival interested in community dialogue. Andrew has a painting, sound and installation practice, and recently completed an artist residency at the Guapamacataro Art + Ecology program in Michoacan, Mexico. He holds a BA in Art from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Andrew (at) welcometolace.org
Daniela Lieja Quintanar, Curator (10/16)
Daniela Lieja Quintanar (Mexico City, 1984) is a curator at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). She works between Los Angeles and Mexico, emphasizing contemporary art and curatorial practices that explore the politics and social issues of everyday life. She is part of the curatorial team of MexiCali Biennial 2018-19. She serves as Project Coordinator and Contributing Curatorial Advisor for Below the Underground: Renegade Art and Action in the 1990s Mexico at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Getty PST:LA/LA initiative. In 2016, she worked with artist Teresa Margolles for her contribution La Sombra to the Public Art Biennial CURRENT: LA Water. In 2016, she was Research Assistant for the exhibition The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930 of the Getty Research Institute, PST:LA/LA. She organized with LACE La Pista de Baile by Colectivo am, as part of the Getty/Redcat PST: Live Art LA/LA Performance Festival. She curated CAVERNOUS: Young Joon Kwak & Mutant Salon (2018) and Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language (2018 co-curated with Essence Harden); home away from by Jimena Sarno (2017), El Teatro Campesino (1965-1975), (2017 co-curated with Samantha Gregg) at LACE, Between Words and Silence: The Work of Translation and Down and to the Left: Reflections on Mexico in the NAFTA Era at the Armory Center for the Arts (both 2017, co-curated with Chief Curator Irene Tsatsos), and Acciones Territoriales (Territorial Acts) at the Museo Ex Teresa in Mexico City (2014). Lieja holds a BA in Ciencias de la Cultura from the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, Mexico City, and an MA in Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere from the University of Southern California.
Daniela (at) welcometolace.org
Jackie Castillo, Gallery Assistant (9/18)
Jackie began her Getty Multicultural Curatorial Internship at LACE in summer 2018 and has transitioned to Gallery Assistant, where she runs the Internship Program and wears many hats. She is a multi-disciplinary artist working in photography, installation, printmaking, video, and experimental film. Her practice is rooted in examining the alienation and anxiety felt by the working class. Turning to Southern California, Mexican suburban landscapes, and urban built environments, she exposes scenes and objects that call into question these pathos. Using the visual vernacular of surface and material, she challenges processes that render the self in various states of invisibility. Her professional experience includes being invited to create the site-specific installation, “Tonalá 198” in Guadalajara, Mexico, funded by the Jalisco Gobierno del Estado Cultura, commissioned as the silver gelatin printer for Dan Solomon’s One Picture Book #83 in 2013, and an Echo Park Film Center Super 8 commissioned artist in 2017. She is the recipient of several awards including the Nancy Tokar Miller Scholarship in 2017, the Rick Steadry Fascinated by Light Scholarship in 2014, Art Photography Scholarship in 2013, Orange Coast College Photography Faculty Award in 2012, Freestyle’s Ike Royer Memorial Award for Excellence in Silver-Based Photography in 2012, and Orange Coast College Photography Faculty Award in 2011. She holds a BA in Art from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mary Cullather, Bookkeeper
Mary is an experimental music composer and multi-media artist who lives in Los Angeles and has worked in music, performance, video, photography, and installation. She has an MFA in Art from CalArts and a BA in Music from University of St. Thomas. Her work has been shown at: DiverseWorks, Huntington Beach Art Center, New Music America, The Orange Show.
Mary (at) welcometolace.org
Carrott, Gallery Dog
