Archive Mode. Call 2019 NAHS/NJAHS Juried Exhibition ended on 12/5/18, 11:59 PM. Call settings are read only. See Current Open Calls
2019 Jurors
Erik Gullard
Senior Assistant Director / BFA Specialist, Undergraduate Admissions
After graduating with a BFA in Photography in 2012, Erik Gullard jumped right in to higher education at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, where he works with students applying to BFA programs at the university’s College of Art + Design. Gullard chairs its admissions committee, helps students navigate the portfolio requirements for college, and works with the National Portfolio Day Association Undergraduate Marketing Committee to design and implement promotion strategies. He serves on the university’s Bias Education Response Team to address the impact of bias that occurs within the Lesley community as it applies to staff, faculty, and students. He also writes and creates stories for the New England Live Action Role Playing community.
Mary Kazura
Associate Director of Admissions
Born on Staten Island, NY, and raised in Montana, MN, and Kentucky, Mary Kazura has come to call the Twin Cities home for more than 20 years. She received a BFA in Illustration from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1999, where she currently works, as well as a Master of Art in Educational Leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota in 2017. Kazura has been creating handmade artwork and jewelry since childhood and enjoys sharing her visual art skills with others by teaching Portfolio Preparation and Drawing Fundamental courses for teens through MCAD’s Continuing Education department.
Jason Umfress
Assistant Director of Admissions
Jason Umfress is an artist living and working in Orange County, CA. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Drawing + Painting from Laguna College of Art + Design where he works with high school and college students as they prepare their portfolios to pursue an education in both commercial and fine arts. His work has been featured nationwide, including exhibitions across southern California, such as the All Media Juried Exhibition 2015 at the Irvine Fine Arts Center, San Diego Art Institute Winter Exhibition 2015, and various shows at Basement Projects in Downtown Santa Ana.
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Murray McKay
Associate Vice President, Undergraduate Admissions & Enrollment Marketing
Murray McKay has 25 years of experience in multi-arts education, with 17 years of experience in admission recruitment, retention, and marketing and communications for NASAD-accredited schools—public, private, and study abroad. His commitment to diversity is demonstrated by his personal outreach to young people in more than 40 U.S. states and 40 foreign countries. A NAFSA Leader, he is co-chair of the Creative Industries Members Interest Group of NAFSA, the world’s largest international education association. In November 2018, McKay presented research on Creative Entrepreneurship at the Council of International Schools’ Global Forum in Vienna, Austria. He has exhibited, performed, and screened his work at Terra Museum of American Art, The Field Museum, Koehnline Museum of Art, Royal College of Art, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Blue Man Group, The Goodman Theatre, Cleveland Performance Art Festival, and others. McKay earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Flynn Linehan
Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions
Flynn Linehan has worked since 2013 at Parsons School of Design, a college of The New School based in New York City. Currently, she is based in Los Angeles as The New School’s regional admission representative for Southern California. Linehan holds an MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons, where her graduate work focused primarily on printmaking, drawing, and experimental photographic practices. She also holds a BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston.
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Nick Weiss
Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions
Nick Weiss is an artist, educator, and administrator in Chicago, where he works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a BFA in Photography and Studio Art from Columbus College of Art & Design in 2015. Weiss has taught a variety of pre-college courses, ranging from middle school drawing to high school alternative photography. Through documentary photography, fiber-based installations, and alternative photographic processing, he creates bodies of work that all stem from a personal narrative and provoke conversations about queer communities and culture within a contemporary context.
Avalon Mott
Director of Admissions, Recruitment, and International Development
Avalon Mott graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, BC, in 2013, with a BFA in Photography and Minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement. She is an independent curator and has been involved with multiple public art commissions. In addition, Mott is the co-founder of FIELD Contemporary in Vancouver and keeps an active photography practice.
Angela Jones-O'Brien 
Associate Director of Admissions
Angela Jones-O’Brien has worked in art school admissions for more than ten years, mentoring students as they pursue higher education in the visual arts and building meaningful interpersonal relationships within the arts education community. Her studio practice considers the natural resources of our built environment through a combination of drawing, 3D forms, and time-based media. At Tufts University in Boston, she approaches admissions as a way to educate students on the value of an interdisciplinary toolbox that is informed by the contemporary world in which we live. Jones-O’Brien is a builder at heart—whether she is building installations, campus visit programs, or workplace teams, she uses the same critical thinking and collaborative skills that were fostered during her own interdisciplinary BFA studies.
