2025 Scholastic Awards Jurors

Charles Brown

Charles Brown is a Nashville native, attending and graduating Metro Nashville Davidson County schools from K-12. After studying fashion design and marketing at AIU in Atlanta, GA and O’More College of Design in Franklin, TN, he founded his design firm Charles Lord in 2005. Charles Lord is a fashion & lifestyle brand specializing in couture, custom, and one of a kind handmade, repurposed ready-to-wear clothing & accessories.

Theresa Buffo

Theresa Buffo received a BA in Studio Art from The Colorado College with honors in Painting and a Minor in Italian Studies. Growing up, art exploration was her refuge, and sewing, stitching, gardening were talents inherited from her grandmothers and mother. She studied Industrial and Graphic Design at the University of Illinois, Chicago. After moving to Nashville with her husband and two sons she joined COOP Gallery and currently serves on the Board. She is passionate about COOP’s mission to sustain innovative contemporary artists. Her painted assemblage work often incorporates hand-stitched embellishment techniques – old clothing, yarn, ribbons, fabric and leather scraps — reviving and layering paint on textiles on pattern. She enjoys gardening year-round, which further fortifies her art practice.

Sai Clayton

Sai Clayton (she/her) is a Nashville-based visual artist and curator. Clayton’s work situates self-portraiture and cultural icons as representations of transcultural paradoxes. Her solo exhibitions include: neutral zone, The Forge (2024); Game of Two Halves, Electric Shed (2024); and HĀFU, Random Sample (2023). Selected group exhibitions include: Switchyard 1, Zeitgeist Gallery (2024); Between Heaven and Earth, We Build Our Home, Memphis Urban Art Commission Gallery (2024); and Clear Mirror, Bobby X Tinney Contemporary (2024). Residencies include State Gallery, Nashville, TN; Stove Works, Chattanooga, TN; and the Hamblet Artist-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. She is the Curatorial Director at COOP Gallery in Nashville, and the Executive Director of Number: INC magazine. She was previously the 2021-22 Curatorial Fellow at the Frist Art Museum. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts from Middle Tennessee State University.

Kate Faulkner

Artist and museum educator, Kate Faulkner was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and now calls Nashville home. She received an MFA in Painting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and has taught studio art, art history, art appreciation and arts integration courses at the University of Tennessee, Tusculum College, Walters State and Roane State Community Colleges in eastern Tennessee. She has held positions as Assistant Curator of Education at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Director of Public Programs at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, and Director of Learning & Engagement at the Asheville Art Museum. In her current role as Director of Public Engagement at Cheekwood, she develops and manages ongoing multi-cultural festivals and yearly public programs for all audiences to enjoy.

Carlos Hooper

Carlos Hooper is a graphic designer and artist that has been working in the field for over 30 years. He has worked for ad agencies, design firms, national and international corporations, in the US and Mexico. Throughout his career he has had the privilege of teaching at several colleges and exhibiting his artwork. He is currently working as Assistant Professor and Director of the Graphic Design Program at Lipscomb University.

DaShawn Lewis

DaShawn Lewis, a self-taught photographer, focuses his work on life happenings and promoting youth arts. Born and raised in Nashville, TN, his passion for photography traces back to his childhood. When making images, he prioritizes building community and fostering connections. Lewis uses the term “Life Photography,” which aims to authentically document real-life events, people, and environments.

His primary objective is to highlight the significance of everyday life and everyday people. In recent years, Lewis, alongside his creative peers, has collaborated on workshops and exhibitions with the Edgehill Brighter Days Program in South Nashville, under the leadership of Nancy Crutcher. Through his community outreach, DaShawn has been able to connect and collaborate with several local artists which is important to building a stronger arts community in Nashville

Erihii Nyamor

Erihii Nyamor has been a freelance illustrator for over 10 years, having designed illustrations for children’s books, album covers, and family portraits. Inspired by anime and comic book culture, Nyamor primarily works with digital tools, hand drawing his illustrations and then adding color and contrast with clip studio and photoshop. He has displayed art at various festivals including Tomato Fest, Sevier Park Fest, African Street Fest, Nashville Black Market, and much more. Furthermore, he wrote, illustrated, and self-published an inspiring children’s book I Can Draw. It’s about a young man’s journey as an illustrator from kindergarten to adulthood. Currently you can find Nyamor set up at the Nashville Farmers market where he sells his art and is working on commissions and comic books that will be published this year.

www.erihiinyamor.com

Destiney Powell

Destiney Powell is a visual artist and founder of Poetically Illustrated Studios based in Nashville TN. Destiney’s work is a poetic expression of intertwined stories of the ancient past, present reality, and fantastical future. Currently, her work is inspired by African and African American history and creative expression of self. Through portraiture and figurative studies of body image and self-perception, Destiney is documenting a story from past to future of a collective experience within the African Diaspora regarding beliefs and identity around inner peace, acceptance, and connection.

JR Ramsey

J.R. Ramsey is an artist born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in sculpture from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She currently works and teaches at Cheekwood for the Adult Education Program, which offers continuing education for adults in gardening, design, and the arts. As a senior in high school, she received the Scholastic Gold Key award.

Lyn Stevens

Lyn Stevens is a self-taught photographer, who combines her love of photography with her passion for music. She approaches photography as a documentarian, based off the strong belief that she is documenting future history, in the present-day moment. Her work has been featured in Billboard Magazine, the Nashville Music Guide, and on the live telecast of the CMA Awards. In addition, her work has been showcased at the Frist Art Museum, GEODIS Park, Williamson County Public Library, and at Nook (a modern boutique lifestyle retail store in Mount Juliet, TN). Lyn received an honorable mention in 2024, during the Central South Art Exhibition and is a three-time Nashville Independent Music Award winner, for her work on the indie music scene in Nashville.

Randy Wilcox

Randy Wilcox’s work as an artist is about conquering the cycles of addiction, abuse, anxiety and fear, both as part of his personal journey and as an inspiration for others. Wilcox worked for years in graphic design and fine art photography and during the pandemic, his work transitioned from photography to painting and mixed media.

His first series entitled SHIFT was inspired by his own path to overcoming anxiety and trauma. He chose the colors and finishes to reflect the underlying challenges each of us faces in trying to heal and shift into our higher selves. ICONS AND LEGENDS is Wilcox’s most recent series. In it, He celebrates those who have fought through something to create art, whether it be fighting their own personal demons or the limitations society has tried to place on them. He chose each artist for their story of struggle, of triumph over tragedy, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Art can heal and empower those who create it and those who partake in it. He wants his art to shine a light in the darkness of despair and struggle and celebrate the hope of overcoming.

Brandon Williams

Brandon Williams was born in Easton, PA. He received his BFA from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2013, and his MFA from Kansas State University in 2017. He has held previous teaching positions at Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University. Currently, Brandon is an Assistant Professor of Art in Printmaking/Studio Art for the Watkins College of Art at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. He specializes specifically in intaglio printmaking where he creates prints with contemporary techniques, approaches, and imagery. His prints have been shown extensively nationally and internationally in invitational and competitive juried exhibitions. He continues to make prints to this day. You can view more at brandonwilliamsart.com and on social media @rembrandn.