The mission of Biome: A Queen City Biennial
is to celebrate fine art through community, inclusivity and biennial exhibition.
Jason Diminich (he/him) is an educator and compassionate creator committed to cultural accessibility and life-long learning. Jason served as Director of Education and Community Engagement for Think 360 Arts where he supported Colorado teaching artists through leadership, program design and ongoing professional development. A native New Yorker, Jason worked for over a decade as a public school theatre teacher in Queens. His professional experiences have afforded him the opportunity to teach diverse populations nationally and abroad including Brooklyn College and the Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda.
Ricardo Baca (he/him) is an award-winning marketer, 20-year veteran journalist, art collector, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, two-time TEDx veteran, Clio Award juror and Indigenous-born Colorado native. After securing a B.A. in journalism from Metropolitan State University of Denver and spending two decades in Pulitzer-winning newsrooms, including the Rocky Mountain News, Ricardo served as The Denver Post’s first-ever Marijuana Editor, where he extensively covered the advent of adult-use cannabis and related issues across the country and around the world, as seen in the feature documentary Rolling Papers. In 2016, Ricardo launched full-service marketing firm Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency to supercharge his client’s marketing efforts. In 2020, the Denver Business Journal awarded Grasslands the prestigious Small Business Award; in 2021, Grasslands was awarded a Clio Award for its Public Relations practice. Named Marketer of the Year in 2019 and again in 2021, Ricardo has received numerous accolades for his trailblazing work across the media paradigm.
Lares Feliciano is a Puerto Rican interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker based in Denver, CO. Feliciano uses animation, installation, and collage to create worlds where marginalized experiences are front and center. Her work explores queer identities, mixed-race experiences, and complex expressions of grief and trauma. She holds an M.F.A in Cinema Production from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in Film & American Studies from Smith College. She has completed residencies with RedLine Contemporary Art Center and Grand Canyon National Park and was a participant in the Colorado Creative Industries Change Leader Institute. Feliciano’s films have screened all over the world including San Francisco, Berlin, London, and
Melbourne. Her visual art has exhibited at Denver Art Museum, Clyfford Still Museum (Denver), RedLine Contemporary Art Center (Denver), The Storeroom (Denver), Breck Create (Breckenridge) and Pochron Studios (Brooklyn).
Lares Feliciano lives and works in Denver, CO where she has several projects in development including DIASPORICAN, a multi-layered storytelling project that uses archival imagery, experimental animation, and oral history to explore the deeply personal and diverse stories that make up the Puerto Rican experience. MEMORY MIRROR, currently on view at the Denver Art Museum, is an immersive installation that invites visitors to explore their relationship with memory through animation, dioramas, and interactive storytelling.
https://www.laresfeliciano.com/
Kalyn Rose Heffernan is the wheelchair-using, rap-heavy, beat-making, advocate/educator/foul mouthed rebel rousing artist and founding front member of the experimental hip-hop group Wheelchair Sports Camp. With its playful combination of humor, radical politics, compassion and art-inflected musical chops, Denver's biggest smallest band is unlike any other hip-hop act. Raised by the DIY spirit of experimental independent music, the art-rap group has since shifted to rely on multi-disciplinary collaboration and community interdependence to expand into politics, prison tours, permanent installations, theatre, performance art, public television, and more. Kalyn led Denver's first disabled, queer, artist campaign for the Mayor seat 2019. Born and raised mostly in the Denver metro area, the tiny happy mayor has been advocating for herself and other marginalized, vulnerable communities through music, direct action, education and art most of her life. When she’s not touring or battle-rapping the empire, Kalyn teaches music production through a social justice lens using raps and beats to build trust, and to build futures with underserved teenagers via Youth On Record. A freedom fighter for the little ones,
Kalyn is known for being on the front lines, pushing and shouting for access, equity, and calling out those in power who protect capital interests - in her very distinct, high pitched humor.
https://wheelchairsportscamp.co
Tony Ortega holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of Colorado and is currently a professor for Regis University. In 2018 he was the Regis College faculty lecture of the year. He was the recipient of the coveted Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (1998). He has been a working artist for the past 39 years and professor for the past 19 years. Tony Ortega’s lifelong goal is to contribute to a better understanding of cultural diversity by addressing the culture, history and experiences of Chicanos/Latinos through his art. His work can be found in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. He has exhibited extensively in United States, Latin America and other parts of the world. Tony’s artwork can be found in Denver, Colorado at the William Havu Gallery.
www.tonyortega.net