Curatorial Committee
Amber-Dawn Bear Robe
Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, from Siksika Nation, Alberta, Canada, achieved an MA in American Indian Studies and a second MA degree in Art History, both from the University of Arizona. Currently, she is Assistant Faculty of Art History in the Museum Studies department at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Santa Fe, NM. Current projects include producing the annual Indigenous fashion show for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, and developing new curricula for the IAIA Art History department, such as the History of Indigenous Fashion. Previously, she was the Director/Curator of Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, the largest Aboriginal artist-run center in North America.
Ana Gallegos y Reinhardt
Ana Gallegos y Reinhardt, a local Santa Fean, is the former Executive Director of Warehouse 21 (W21), an arts and entertainment center in the Railyard. She stepped down in October 2017 following 21 years of service. In the summer of 2019, she was asked to develop a summer youth program. In December 2019, she played a critical role in W21’s transition out of their city-owned facility. She has been assisting with the new W21 2020 HUB Sites, one at Vital Spaces and one in Eldorado. Ana has also co-founded other non-profits in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She currently has a new theater company, ReinART Productions and produced False Witness, The Trial of Humanity’s Conscience at the Swan Theatre in September 2019.
Kemely Gomez
Kemely Gomez is a multidisciplinary artist and educator currently working at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa, NM as the Bilingual Educator. Gomez was born in Guatemala and moved to the United States at the age of twelve. She received her BFA in Studio Arts from the Santa Fe University of Art and Design in Santa Fe, NM. Gomez’s studio practice focuses on themes of memory, absence, and displacement. As the bilingual educator she is dedicated to expanding access to museum education and empowering individuals and communities through art.
Mya Green
Mya Green is a storyteller and memory keeper, journalist and poet. As a Black American woman originally hailing from the Southeastern United States, Mya has a keen understanding of disparity in underserved communities. Most recently, she served as the Social Justice and Media Fellow at KSFR Public Radio in Santa Fe, reporting on the nuanced truths often overlooked by mainstream media. Mya graduated from Sarah Lawrence College (M.F.A., B.A.), and has multiple certifications, including Ethically Conducting Primary Research from the National Institute of Health.
Joanne Lefrak
For the past 17 years and in her role as Director of Education and Curator of Public Practice at SITE Santa Fe, Joanne Lefrak curates all public programs and performance art for the institution and works with artists to co-create commissions enacted within the community. Since 2011, Lefrak volunteers as the Chair for the City of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission and has worked to improve the lives of children by supporting local non profit and school programs that work for youth. She is one of the founding members of the Community Educators Network which is committed to the power of collaboration and collective impact to successfully address community needs by creating and sharing resources across the non-profit sector.
Bess Murphy
Bess Murphy is currently a curator at the Coe Center for the Arts, a small art center in Santa Fe that is focused on global Indigenous arts from the past to today. At the Coe, she has worked on many community and artist-driven projects including the 2018-19 exhibition IMPRINT and the upcoming project Function with artist Cannupa Hanska Luger. Murphy received her doctorate in Art History, with a focus on Native and American 20th century art, from the University of Southern California. She was formerly a Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center fellow and has published in exhibition catalogs and El Palacio Magazine. Murphy was born and raised in Santa Fe and is happy to be able to call it home again.
Ariel Plotek
Ariel Plotek is Curator of Fine Arts at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to this, he served as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the San Diego Museum of Art, where his projects included Gauguin to Warhol: 20th Century Icons from the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition, The Art of Music, Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture, Modern Masters from Latin America, and Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold. He received his undergraduate degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, in London, and his PhD from the New York University's Institute of Fine Arts where he studied under Linda Nochlin and Robert Rosenblum. In addition to his research work, he is also an artist and writer.