Co-Curators
Jessica Cochran is a curator, administrator, writer and instructor. Currently based at the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College, she has also curated exhibitions for the Contemporary Arts Council, Dominican University’s O’Connor Art Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Around the Coyote Gallery, What it Is and the Wicker Park/Bucktown Chamber of Commerce. She has coordinated exhibitions for the Poetry Foundation, Art Chicago, NEXT and the Artist Project. Her writing has appeared in catalogs for organizations including the Center for Book and Paper Arts and the DePaul University Art Museum, and she has written for Newcity, Proximity, Curating Now and the Studio Chicago Blog. She has taught courses on contemporary art and curatorial practice at Dominican University and Columbia College Chicago.
Melissa Potter is a multi-media artist who exhibits internationally. She is currently an Associate Professor and Director of the Book & Paper Program in the Interdisciplinary Arts Department of Columbia College Chicago. Her creative pedagogy work includes the development of the first graduate level history of hand papermaking course, and special educational, workshop and publishing projects including artistic collaborations with the indigenous peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon, the Guerrilla Girls, and fluxus artist, Alison Knowles. As an extension of her interest in socially engaged art, she curated a number of exhibitions including Among Tender Roots, the first American retrospective of Mexican artist, Laura Anderson Barbata’s work.
Ms. Potter is a two-time Fulbright recipient. In 2006, she was a Fulbright Traditional Scholar implementing a hand papermaking program at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Belgrade in Belgrade, Serbia. She has been the recipient of other awards and residencies in Serbia, Bosnia and the Republic of Georgia, including ArtsLink and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Her critical essays on art have been printed in magazines including BOMB, Art Papers, Flash Art, and Metropolis M.
Curatorial Team
April Sheridan, Studio Technician and Special Projects Coordinator, Center for Book and Paper Arts
Jillian Bruschera, Graduate Curatorial Investigator
Amy Leners, Graduate Gallery and Studio Projects Assistant
Alexis Brocchi, Gallery Assistant and Blog Coordinator
Social Paper 