RAW Artist-in-Residence

Adebiyi, also known as "Artofpath": a creative vision founded in dedication to facilitating healing through the arts, is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting and sound poetry in New England, USA.  She obtained her Bachelors at the University of Rhode Island, and completed separate degrees in both Fine Arts and Medical Laboratory Sciences. She later went on to complete her MFA in Painting at the University of Massachussets Dartmouth.

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.

Adebiyi is moved by personal and relational life subjects whose stories drive her investigations of the body and the mind. The figures in her work traverse past and present realities, emerging across the span of early childhood or adulthood, whose varied states create room for the juxtaposition of emotional expressivity and identity experienced at the distinct stages of life. 

Through a congruent co-establishment with sound poetry and immersive light installations, her paintings transgress the two dimensional plane, alluring viewer connection amidst intimate spaces, whilst inspiring trust and inner dialogue. Comprehensively, her creations foster introspective reflection, engaging the mind on the universality of human suffering and the endurance of hope, participating in the larger salient conversation regarding psychological wellness and healing. 

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 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.

Vice Board Chair, Raw Art Works

Cristela Guerra is the Regional Manager for the South/Southwest for Report for America. They are also an award-winning arts and culture journalist, a queer Panamanian and often, a moderator leading conversations around books, identity, culture and whatever is currently floating in the zeitgeist. Until very recently, she worked for nearly seven years as a senior arts and culture reporter for WBUR.Before working in public radio, they worked as a newspaper journalist for more than a decade, working at The Boston Globe and The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. She was one of 24 journalists selected to be a 2024 Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Their studies examined stories from the diaspora, including those of her own Panamanian heritage, the reasons that compel people to migrate and how those individuals maintain connections to their cultural identity. Her work received a regional and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2014 and most recently received another regional Edward R. Murrow in 2023 as part of “Continuing Coverage” for her work at the U.S.-Mexico border on the journey of Venezuelan migrants. They were chosen as a 2019 Latina Leader by Amplify Latinx and selected by YW Boston to be inducted into its 2023 Academy of Women Achievers and receive the organization’s Sylvia Ferrell-Jones Award. She previously served as the vice-president of the New England Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and is currently on the board of Raw Art Works in Lynn, MA.

Visual Artist

Silvia López Chavez is a Dominican-American visual artist whose community-centered murals form connections across disciplines and cultural boundaries. She uses joy as an act of resistance and celebration through her vibrant work worldwide.

In 2023 Silvia received a Common Good Awards from MassArt, The Boston Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship award and Amplify Latinx 100 award. Silvia is a Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and honored with a Leadership in Public Art Award by New England for the Arts in 2021. She recently completed art residencies at Mass MoCa, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Haystack and Vermont Studio Center Commissions include the U.S. Chinese Embassy in Beijing, Google HQ in California, Peabody Essex Museum, City of Boston,‍ ‍SeaWalls Boston, MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern Universities. Silvia is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art & Design amd Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic. Silvia continues her studio practice close to the ocean between Boston and DR.

Photo by Dominic Chavez.

https://www.silvialopezchavez.com/

RAW Board Member + Alum

HC Huỳnh is a nonprofit arts leader and cultural worker based in New York City. As Deputy Director of The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA), she works across strategy, operations, and programs to support artists and strengthen creative communities. With over a decade of experience in the arts and nonprofit sector, her work focuses on advancing equity, sustainability, and access to resources for artists. She also serves on the board of Raw Art Works.

Previously, Huỳnh served as Managing Director of the U.S. section of the International Association for Art Critics (AICA-USA), where she led national programming and launched a fellowship that elevates emerging voices in art criticism. She has also contributed to field-wide initiatives through her involvement with ArtTable’s Impact Initiative Committee, supporting the advancement of women and nonbinary leaders in the arts.

Huỳnh holds an MFA in Painting & Drawing from Pratt Institute and a BFA in Studio Education and Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design. She earned an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Leadership Fellows New York in 2022 and is a member of the 2026 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Incubator for Executive Leaders of Color cohort.

https://www.hcthuynh.com/

Curator, Peabody Essex Museum

Petra Slinkard joined PEM in 2018 as the inaugural Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles. In this role she fosters the growth and inclusive spirit of the museum’s significant and diverse collection by developing a vibrant array of exhibitions, installations and programs that celebrate the global reach and impact of fashion and textiles. Slinkard oversees the museum’s Fashion and Design gallery and served as curator or co-curator of Made It: The Women who Revolutionized Fashion, Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love and Andrew Gn: Fashioning the World. With a strong foundation in art history and a commitment to building partnerships, Slinkard spearheaded the expansion of PEM’s fashion and textile program, earning the museum international recognition. The museum strategically expanded its collection to reflect global fashion and textile narratives, by fostering conversations between historic and storied holdings as well as contemporary exhibitions that resonate well beyond the museum walls.

As PEM’s Chief Curator, Slinkard oversees the museum’s Curatorial, Exhibition Planning, and Exhibition Design departments as well as the museum’s award-winning exhibition and publishing programs. She serves on the Executive team, leads two committees for the Board of Trustees, and helps guide the phased implementation of PEM's strategic plan.

Previously, Slinkard worked at the Chicago History Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. She is an active member of the Costume Society of America (CSA), the Textile Society of America (TSA) and the American Association of Museum Curators (AAMC). Slinkard is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, where she earned a B.S. in Fashion Merchandising, a B.A. in Art History with a concentration in Modern and Contemporary Art, and an M.S. in Fashion/Textile History.

Follow @pslinks on Instagram.PO

Visual Artist

Gabriel Sosa is a Cuban-American artist, linguist, educator, and curator. He draws from legal proceedings, personal archives, and contemporary visual culture to explore the mutability of language, the imperfection of memory, and the misinterpretation of both. His work has been shown at Fitchburg Art Museum; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Fábrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba; Tufts University Art Galleries; A R E A, Boston; O, Miami Poetry Festival; Now + There; and Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia. He has participated in residencies at Lugar a dudas, The Art & Law Program, Materia Abierta, Urbano Project, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Mass MoCA, and Santa Fe Art Institute. Raised in Miami, Gabriel teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and serves as Deputy Director of Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

https://www.gabrielsosa.com/

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/