RAW Artist-in-Residence

Adebiyi's work reveals a commitment to the distinctive capacity of painting to address human identity and psychological wellness, which she explores in connection to her Christian faith and cultural identity. Though largely figurative, her paintings engage not just the body, but the soul and the spirit, probing the mind, whilst elucidating the mortal and fallen nature of mankind.

https://www.kadebiyi.com/home

RAW Program Lead, Alum, and Door to Door Artist

Michael Aghahowa is a visual artist and educator based in the Greater Boston area, rooted in Lynn, Massachusetts. His work centers community, identity, and cultural affirmation, using mixed media and visual storytelling to amplify overlooked voices. Aghahowa has completed multiple large-scale, grant-supported public art projects across Massachusetts, including Affirmations To My Community (SPUR Northshore, 2024), Food For Thought (NEFA, 2021), a 2022 mural at The Cabot in Beverly funded by the Essex County Community Foundation, and a 2019 Beyond Walls mural addressing gentrification in Lynn. His practice bridges personal narrative with collective history, using art as a tool for connection, visibility, and care.

https://aghahowa.com/

RAW Group Leader, Alum, and Door to Door Artist

Sara Barrientos graduated with a degree in Geological Sciences from Salem State University in 2016. As an alumna of RAW and one of its inaugural Artists in Residence, she spent six years collaborating closely with RAW artists and their families, co-leading programs with youth and families while also contributing to the program and development teams. Currently, she works in the environmental field as a Project Geologist at Roux, Inc.

In addition to her geological work, Sara has spent the past two years learning and growing her practice in end-of-life care. Providing information to help the dying person and their loved ones make informed choices about the transition process and understand its nature.

RAW Alum + Door to Door Alumni Liason

Thonah is an artist and designer who earned a BFA in Architectural Design from MassArt in 2013. He joined Jones Architecture in the fall of 2019 after working as a graphic designer and product designer for a startup called Loro based out of Harvard. He also worked as a graphic designer and program coordinator for a non-profit in Boston.

RAW Alum and Door to Door Artists

The son of a sign painter and a seamstress, Daniel developed a keen eye for art and design while drawing inspiration from the urban environment he grew up in. At MassArt, he discovered a new passion: printmaking, which took him to South America, where he explored solar etching techniques as a recipient of the McMillan-Stewart Traveling Fellowship. Daniel has lectured about his work abroad, led classes and workshops, and continues to create "amalgamations rooted in the history of landscape painting.

RAW’s Director of Culture and Experience

Jason Cruz is a Puerto Rico-born artist, registered Art Therapist, and RAW's Director of Culture + Experience, whose practice spans studio art, photography, and expressive arts therapy. A graduate of Jacksonville University and Lesley College, where he received the Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies Award, Jason has lectured at the NYC and International Art Therapy Conferences, Endicott College, and Harvard University, and in 2005 received the Isaac Monroe Award for Service to Youth in recognition of his decades of dedication to the young people of Lynn. He has been a cornerstone of the RAW community since 1996, and his work, produced through his own creative practice CRUZ ART, reflects a lifetime of showing up at the intersection of art, healing, and justice.

RAW’s Clinical Director, Alum, and Door to Door Artist

Ali is an Art Therapist and the Clinical Director at RAW, as well as an alumni of the program. She credits RAW for supporting her while discovering her artist identity as a teenager and has been making art with a wide variety of mediums ever since. Her work focuses on the different connections we have to ourselves, our bodies, our environment and to those we share this life with.

RAW Artist-in-Residence, RAW Alum

Jah’Nyah Spencer is an internationally acclaimed Boston-area artist leveraging illustration, muralism, and multimedia portraiture to embolden internal dialogue. While Spencer’s art style ranges from Japanese-inspired cartoons to what she coins “eccentric realism,” a whimsical approach to portraying her subjects. Her work is deeply expressive, commanding, and confrontational, often navigating trauma, life lessons, and self-acceptance. Spencer’s murals can be enjoyed across the Greater Boston Area, as well as in exhibitions from Massachusetts to Japan.

Although Spencer had been drawing her entire life, in 2020, while she was a junior in high school, Spencer dedicated herself to her artistry throughout the pandemic. Through self-portraiture explorations and character designs, Spencer started crafting her style and taking community engagement more seriously. Since then, her work has been covered by The Boston Globe, NBC10Boston, Itemlive, KanazawaTV (Kaga, Japan), and many more.

In her most recent show “Twin,” a collaboration with fine artist Michael Aghahowa at Galleries of Lynn Arts in Lynn, Massachusetts, Spencer showcased pieces that explored multiple art styles and themes of identity, immigration, racism, and childhood trauma.

Spencer is currently enrolled at the Lesley University School of Art & Design. She also works as an Artist in Residence at Lynn youth development nonprofit Raw Artworks. As she continues to pull back the layers of her artistry, she refines her commitment to both sharing her perspectives with her community and helping others channel their own voices.

https://www.jahnyahstudios.com/