MING Studios is a contemporary art center and international artist in residency program.

Our mission is to exhibit, experience and explore contemporary arts and culture. Our purpose is educational, non-profit, community driven, multicultural, collaborative, participatory, public and relevant.

We provide exhibition space and resources for featured international artists, whom we support through our Artist In Residency Program and encourage to create new work that is influenced by their experience and collaborations at MING Studios.

We also serve our community by hosting innovative programs including workshops and cultural activities, performances, screenings, readings and artist talks .

MING Studios Board of Directors & Staff

Officers

Jason Morales, President
Jason founded MING Studios to introduce international artists to Idaho through an Artist In Residency program, to host art installations and exhibitions that would not otherwise be accessible to Idahoans, and to offer new opportunities for regional artists. Jason also works for Microsoft on the Worldwide Education team as a Strategy Leader for Data and AI, and as Professor at Boise State University in the College of Business & Economics.
 
Irina Novarese, Vice President
Irina is a research-based artist who likes to expand her practice to interdisciplinary and collaborative projects both as artist and organizer. She received a B.F.A. from the Academy of Arts in Turin and a M.A. in Art in Context from UdK, Berlin. Her work has been presented internationally. Novarese became an active participant of MING Studios after taking part in the Artist in Residency program. Irina Novarese has lived and worked in Berlin since 2000; where she also works artistically with children in numerous educational projects, as well in art-educational programs in Berlin's museums. Among other projects, in 2017 she co-founded the artist initiative HIER & JETZT: Connections, an exchange and residency program for artists in exile.

Alina Nisanova, Secretary
Alina lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and two children. Alina earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Potsdam in Berlin Germany with an emphasis on Jewish Studies and Russian History.  During that time Alina worked at the Jewish Museum where she provided educational and entertaining presentations in 3 languages (German, English & Russian), led museum Educational programs aimed at children ages 6-15 years old and supervised and supported VIP events and symposiums for government officials.

Mark Pemble, Treasurer
Mark has lived in the Boise area his entire life. He regularly visit many of the local museums and galleries in his spare time. Mark also enjoys being involved in the local music scene. He serves on various boards and committees in the area including the Friends of the Library, the Train Depot, and the Historical Preservation Committee. Mark enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, and casually riding his bicycle through new neighborhoods.

Directors

Rod Burke
Over the past 25 years, Rod Burke has been a noteworthy leader in the garden and landscaping scene in Idaho. You may know him from his work at the Idaho Botanical Garden before his retirement in 2019. While at IBG, he viewed the Garden as his pallet. He was instrumental in incorporating local artist’s work into the garden to show how structural art can enhance the natural beauty of the living landscape.

Now, you may find him fishing, cooking, volunteering, and making his own yard a beautiful work of art. Being a part of MING Studios is an opportunity to continue community involvement in the arts.


Advisory Council

Jeremiah Day
Jeremiah works in both performing and visual arts, as well as a teacher of performance and research in the arts.  He studied art at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.  Day's work has been shown at the Centre George Pompidou in Paris and Artist's Space New York, amongst others. A new publication about his work If It's For The People, It Needs To Be Beautiful, She Said will be launched this spring. Day comes to MING Studios via his collaboration with Tim Andreae's ongoing project Holding What Can't Be Held and hopes to contribute to MING Studio's growing community, both in Boise and abroad.    

MING Team

Kristen Cooper, Artistic Director 
Kristen is a conceptual artist whose work has been exhibited internationally. She has traveled extensively; collaborating with artists and curating exhibitions. Kristen received a B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and a M.F.A. from the Dutch Art Institute, in the Netherlands. She currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
kristen@mingstudios.org

J.R. Rivero Kinsey, Events/Operations
J.R. is a writer, singer and musician with a musical education based in folk traditions along with formal studies in Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography. She draws on all these elements to create original work in her own style. She has written and recorded two solo albums and composed for film and dance productions both locally and internationally. Personal narrative is a prominent component in her work and a guiding factor in much of the programming she creates for MING Studios.
JR@mingstudios.org

Kelsey Hall, Operations
Kelsey received her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry at Boise State University and an Associate Degree in English at the College of Western Idaho. Her work primarily exhibits ekphrastic poetry, reflecting desert landscapes with a heavy influence from her home state of Wyoming, including the Northwest as a whole. She also works for Treefort as the Assistant Director and Gallery Coordinator for Artfort and is experienced in event coordination, content and creative writing, digital marketing, and operations management.
kelsey@mingstudios.org