Ep.250 Valerie A. Francis is the Founding Director of Knowhere Art Gallery, an independent gallery based on Martha’s Vineyard dedicated to showcasing emerging and mid-career artists from diverse backgrounds. The gallery champions inclusive narratives and celebrates the cultural intersections that shape contemporary art today. With a career that bridges global technology innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in the arts, Valerie brings a rare and dynamic blend of strategy, creativity, and cultural insight to every endeavor she leads.
Originally trained as an artist, Valerie earned a BFA in Fine Arts from Hunter College CUNY and later an MBA from Rutgers University, specializing in Marketing. Her professional journey took a transformative turn when she entered the world of global healthcare technology at Sanofi, where she rose to serve as a Technology Head leading digital strategy and analytics for teams across North America, Latin America, and Asia. Immersed in a melting pot of cultures and perspectives, she thrived on the diversity and camaraderie forged across continents.
Valerie’s unwavering commitment to her artistic roots led her to co-found Knowhere Art Gallery in 2019 — a haven where creativity flourishes and artists find their voice. Since its inception, the gallery has achieved remarkable success, becoming a destination for collectors and cultural leaders alike. Under her curatorial direction, Knowhere has presented more than twenty-five exhibitions and introduced the work of over thirty artists. Signature moments include its participation in SCOPE Art Fair (2021–2023) and an acclaimed presentation during the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with A Common Thread That Binds Us.
As a board member of Artists for Humanity in Boston, Valerie has further committed her passion to action, supporting youth empowerment through creativity and entrepreneurship. She is also dedicated to mentoring artists, cultivating private and corporate art collections, and building institutional collaborations that elevate voices from across the art world. Valerie often describes the founding of Knowhere—conceived on Martha’s Vineyard, where she met her partner—as “the nexus of Knowhere,” a place where art, identity, and knowledge converge. Through her work, she continues to sow the seeds of cultural legacy and foster environments where art becomes a catalyst for discovery, connection, and transformation.
Website https://knowhereart.com/
1-54 2025 NYC https://www.1-54.com/new-york/exhibitor-list/knowhere-art-gallery/
artcloud https://artcloud.market/show/knowhere-art-llc-women-rising
MV Arts & Ideas https://www.mvartsandideas.com/2024/07/the-road-to-enlightenment-starts-at-knowhere/
Vineyard Gazette https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2024/05/05/knowhere-gallery-showcased-venice-biennale
Vineyard Visitor https://vineyardvisitor.com/2024/08/08/art-in-oak-bluffs/knowhere-gallery/
Martha’s Vineyard Times https://hype.co/@themarthasvineyardtimes/2z7j289w | https://www.mvtimes.com/2024/06/12/meets-eye-knowhere-art-cousen-rose-galleries/
Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas https://www.mvartsandideas.com/2024/07/the-road-to-enlightenment-starts-at-knowhere/
Artsy https://www.artsy.net/partner/knowhere-art
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Onay Gutierrez
EP.249 Onay Gutierrez is a multifaceted artist, collector, and preservationist with a rich background that spans education, ceramics, and historic preservation. Born in Veracruz, Mexico in 1977, Gutierrez began his career as an early elementary school teacher in marginalized communities in his home state. After immigrating to the United States, honed his skills as a ceramic artist.
Gutierrez has a deep connection to the Penland School of Craft in the mountains of North Carolina, where he has been a student, patron, and now serves as a board member. This connection has likely influenced his artistic growth and commitment to the craft community.
In addition to his artistic pursuits, Gutierrez is a passionate advocate for historic preservation. Alongside Jeffrey Childers PhD, he has restored three National Historic Places in Raleigh, NC. His commitment to art and social justice is further evident in their founding of the Gutierrez Collection, a contemporary art collection that explores themes of mental health, LGBTQ+ rights, Latin and Latinx identities, African and African diasporic cultures, women's art, and activism.
The Gutierrez Collection has gained significant recognition, with its first museum exhibition currently on view at the Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, NC, until September 7th, and set to travel to the NC Museum of Art's Winston-Salem campus this fall. Through his work, Gutierrez continues to make a lasting impact on the art world, historic preservation, and social justice initiatives.
Photo credit: Courtesy of the artist
Cameron Art Museum https://cameronartmuseum.org/exhibition/we-belong-here-the-gutierrez-collection/
The Endowment https://theendowment.org/event/cameron-art-museum-cam-after-dark-conversation-with-the-collectors-onay-gutierrez-and-jeffrey-childers/
ArtSuite https://artsuite.com/blogs/community/onay-gutierrez?srsltid=AfmBOopGnj0zCHXUCInnV8PELmUsyhmVUyW0VCdcYlMRTou3JVRDdagM
Issuu https://issuu.com/ncartmuseum/docs/spring_24_preview_web
North Carolina Museum of Art https://ncartmuseum.org/collection/museum-collection/new-acquisitions/
Penland School of Craft https://www.givecampus.com/schools/PenlandSchoolofCraft
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Adrienne L. Childs PhD
Ep. 248 Adrienne L. Childs is an independent scholar, art historian, and curator. She is Senior Consulting Curator at The Phillips Collection. Her current book is an exploration of Black figures in European decorative arts entitled Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts, published by Yale University Press. She is currently co-curator of Vivian Browne: My Kind of Protest for The Phillips Collection. She recently co-curated The Colour of Anxiety: Race, Sexuality and Disorder in Victorian Sculpture at The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England. She was the guest curator of Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, 2020.
In April 2022 The High Museum of Art awarded Childs the 2022 Driskell Prize in recognition of her contribution to African American art and art history.
Childs co-curated The Black Figure in the European Imaginary at The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College in 2017. She is co-editor of the volume essays Blacks and Blackness in European Art of the Long Nineteenth Century, Routledge. She also contributed an essay on art and activism to Volume V, part II of The Image of the Black in Western Art edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and David Bindman.
As former curator at the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland she curated many exhibitions including Her Story: Lithographs by Margo Humphrey; Arabesque: The Art of Stephanie Pogue; Creative Spirit: The Art of David C. Driskell and Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art.
Childs holds a BA from Georgetown University, an MBA from Howard University and a PhD in the History of Art from the University of Maryland. Photocredit: Rodrigo Salido Moulinié
Website https://www.adriennelchilds.com/
Phillips Collection Vivian Browne: My Kind of Protest |The Phillips Collection
https://www.phillipscollection.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/phillips-collection-presents-vivian-browne-my-kind-of-protest-press-release.pdf
https://www.phillipscollection.org/press/phillips-collection-presents-multiplicity-blackness-contemporary-american-collage
https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2020-02-28-riffs-and-relations-african-american-artists-and-european-modernist-tradition
Ornamental Blackness https://www.ornamentalblackness.com/
The Driskell Center https://driskellcenter.umd.edu/news/former-driskell-center-curator-adrienne-childs-phd-wins-2022-driskell-prize
High Museum https://high.org/driskell-prize/adrienne-l-childs/
The Clark https://www.clarkart.edu/fellow/detail/adrienne-childs-(1)
Courtauld https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/reconsidering-riffs-and-relations/
Columbia University https://abolitionism.universityseminars.columbia.edu/people/adrienne-l-childs
The Wadsworth https://www.thewadsworth.org/event/public-lecture-pearl-drops-and-blackamoors-the-black-body-and-pearlescent-adornment-in-european-art-with-adrienne-l-childs/
ARTnews https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/adrienne-l-childs-david-c-driskell-prize-high-museum-1234620561/
Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/tag/adrienne-l-childs/Enfilade https://enfilade18thc.com/2024/09/20/lecture-adrienne-childs-on-pearl-drops-and-blackamoors/
MontclairArt Museum https://www.montclairartmuseum.org/press/press-room/montclair-art-museum-presents-landmark-exhibition-century-100-years-black-art-mam
Portland Museum https://www.portlandmuseum.org/eventscalendar/2021-bernard-osher-lecture
Journal Panorama https://journalpanorama.org/article/riffs-and-relations/
AHNCA https://ahnca.org/event/the-colour-of-anxiety-race-sexuality-and-disorder-in-victorian-sculpture/
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Jas Knight
Ep.247 Jas was born in Hartford CT. His talent for drawing was recognized at an early age. He sold his first painting at age seven and had his first one-man show at the age of eight. He went on to receive numerous awards and later went to study at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Jas currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NYC.
Photo Credit: Damian Griffiths ~ Fugue 21,2022-2023 Oil on linen 183 x 228.7cm
Artist https://www.jasknightfineart.com/
White Hot Magazine https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/solitary-figures-paintings-jas-knight/3231
Entrée to Black Paris https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/josephine-baker-portrait-unveiled-at-u-s-ambassadors-residence
Studio Museum in Harlem https://www.studiomuseum.org/artists/jas-knight
Metropolitan Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/898079 | https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/copyist-jas-knightJas Knight books https://www.jasknightfineart.com/trichromatic-book| https://www.jasknightfineart.com/the-art-of-the-master-copy
Smithsonian Institute https://menofchange.si.edu/exhibit/artist-pairings/jas-knight/
ArtRabbit https://www.artrabbit.com/events/jas-knight-terrain
YRB Mag https://yrbmag.com/tag/jas-knight/
MFA Boston https://www.mfa.org/press-release/fashioned-by-sargent
Long Gallery Harlem https://www.long.gallery/
Art Facts https://artfacts.net/artist/jas-knight/538698
The Cerebral Women media platform presents Cerebral Women Art Talks, a podcast that is an extension of @cerebral_women. Conversations offer insights into the visual art world from artists, mainly artists of color, and female artists who freely articulate what inspires their creativity. In addition, you'll hear interesting perspectives from dedicated art professionals who work with artists and the art institutions that feature them. Art Advisors, Art Critics, Collectors, Curators, Gallerists, Museum Professionals.
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