WHO WE ARE

KELSEY HALLIDAY JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Johnson is an interdisciplinary curator, artist, community radio DJ, and writer from Philadelphia who is deeply invested in underrepresented voices and alternative art histories. Before coming to SPACE she was a curator at the Michener Art Museum and previously held positions at Vox Populi, Locks Gallery, the Penn Museum, Blind Spot magazine, and WPRB 103.3FM. She was an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and Interlochen Center for the Arts, and has been a visiting artist and critic at colleges nationwide. In 2016, Johnson was awarded a grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in support of her independent project Making/Breaking the Binary: Women, Art & Technology (1968-85). Artforum magazine proposed the exhibition would "ultimately aid in bringing about the end of gender determinism and difference in the arts and sciences in large" and Hyperallergic said "this rigorous exhibition uses art to critique the stereotype that men and technology go hand in hand." The 2014 project, Thomas Chimes: The Body in Spirals was nominated for Best Exhibition in a Commercial Space Nationally by the International Association of Art Critics. In 2017, Kelsey was a Fellow at the Flaherty Film Seminar.  (Illustration by Annie Mok)

Email: director@space538.org

TOCCARRA THOMAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR 

Thomas is a media and performance artist, film programmer, and arts administrator. A native of New England, she obtained her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology (minor in Film Studies) at Smith College, during which time, she was awarded both a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and the Smithsonian Research Training Fellowship. Both awards allowed her to study the visual representation of culture in the U.S. and Africa before starting her career in the nonprofit sector. While completing her M.A. in Media Studies at The New School, she was an interview facilitator for StoryCorps—the Peabody Award-winning oral history organization—contributing to the collection at the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Later, she served as program manager at African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) where she produced screenings at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Museum of Art and Design and other institutions across the U.S. and abroad before managing artist resources at New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). She joined SPACE after serving as the inaugural General Manager of Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Email: toccarra@space538.org

Jon Courtney, CO-Founder + EVENTS Programmer 

Jon has a twenty-year history in public events presenting beginning with The Black-Eyed Susan, a live music venue in Daytona Beach, Florida and later as a founding member and events programmer at The Werehouse (neé The Wherehouse), a live/work/perform collective space in Winston-Salem, NC.  He relocated to Portland in 2001 and co-founded SPACE Gallery in 2002.  He daylights as a carpenter and timber framer and grows a variety of food and weeds with his wife, daughter and superlative dog Rosie at their pseudo-homestead in Cape Elizabeth.

Email: jon@space538.org
 

IAN P. HUNDT, PRODUCTION MANAGER

Ian P. Hundt is an engineer, producer and musician with a varied background in studio, live and compositional sound. He moved to Portland in 2014 and quickly found his way to SPACE. On his first shift, he had one of the most powerful musical experiences of his life working with Tal National, and he has loved SPACE deeply ever since. Ian began his engineering career with a degree in Electroacoustics at Concordia University in Montreal, and has since worked in Nashville, TN, for several years with a focus on analog recording. He became SPACE’s Production Manager in 2017, and is thrilled to be working in Portland’s music scene. He is married to visual artist Amelia Garretson-Persans with whom he frequently collaborates. When not working at live shows, Ian can be found tinkering in his basement studio, playing piano or making dinner.

Email: production@space538.org

GENEVIEVE JOHNSON, MEMBERSHIP + COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER  

Genevieve has engaged the intersecting realms of visual arts, culinary arts, and education since 2008. Her personal art practice often features food as a catalyst for bigger conversations and building deeper relationships. Genevieve has collaborated on multi-sensory projects with Hinge/Works and Alexis Iammarino. She has volunteered with SPACE Gallery since 2013.

Email: genevieve@space538.org

PETER MCLAUGHLIN, MUSIC PROGRAMMER

Peter's first ever night in Portland in October 2006 was spent at SPACE, where Wolf Eyes melted his face and destroyed his ears. He remarkably still had enough hearing to join the event staff as a sound engineer in 2010. He joined the staff upstairs in the office as music programmer in 2014. As a drummer, he has played more than 600 shows across North America, Europe, and Asia over the the past decade, with bands such as Woodpainting, Names Divine, Ora Cogan, Lina Tullgren, Yairms, Family Planning, Jacob Augustine, Lisa/Liza, Lady Lamb, The Casco Bay Tummlers, and more. He runs a small record label, Pretty Purgatory. His favorite color is purple.

Email: peter@space538.org

MARTHA SCHNEE, outreach coordinator  

Martha Schnee is an arts educator, maker, and community builder. She's originally from Newton, MA, but moved to Portland in 2015 after graduating from Bates College. She has an honors B.A. in American Cultural Studies, for which she combined a variety of courses in Anthropology, Gender Studies, African-American Studies and Studio Art. She's spent the last two years working at the Portland Museum of Art as the Teen Programs Assistant, at the Art Department as an Artist Mentor, and as a co-coordinator of the Front Street Study Center in the Front Street public housing neighborhood. She is also a trained Direct Support Professional, STEAM educator, artist, and museum educator and combines these skills to create accessible, dynamic arts programming focused on social justice and critical pedagogy. When she’s not working, she loves riding her bike, swimming, taking care of her plants, listening to tons of podcasts, innovating new ways to eat peanut butter, and exploring.

Email: martha@space538.org

ELIZABETH SPAVENTO, VISUAL ARTS PROGRAMMER 

Elizabeth is the Visual Arts Programmer at SPACE where she curates exhibitions, administers the Kindling Fund Grant and runs a residency program dedicated to highlighting the contributions of queer artists and artists of color. From 2014 – 2016, Spavento co-curated ALL RISE, a temporary, multi-disciplinary public art program that took place on an acre of vacant land in downtown Seattle. Previous curatorial projects include exhibitions with Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Open Source Gallery, and Interstitial. She is the Co-Founder of Border Patrol, a curatorial collective and exhibition space that explores the intersection of contemporary art and corporate aesthetics.  

Email: elizabeth@space538.org 

KOREN SULLIVAN, OFFICE MANAGER 

A metalsmith and unabashed YA fiction-lover, Koren began her work at SPACE as an intern in 2015. Now she's managing the office-y goings-on... and occasionally baking cookies for starving artists. When not at SPACE, Koren can often be found working in her studio, gardening, listening to her vinyl collection (Green Day, Jim Croce, The Rolling Stones, My Morning Jacket...) or spending time at home with her family and their pet menagerie, which includes two dogs, a lizard, two guinea pigs, and (on occasion) some sea monkeys. You can check out Koren's website here.

Email: koren@space538.org

JD, LEAD HOUSE MANAGER & Building Manager 

Email: jd@space538.org

our amazing EVENT STAFF:
catherine buxton, Luna Colt, Sierra d'amours, GREG JAMIE, Khalil Lesaldo, nate pronovost

Assistant gallery preparators: 
sam butler and luna colt

SUmmer 2018 interns: 
jake lichter, luisda molina rueda, cassie farmer, grace morris, AND enrique mendia