This Virtual Artist Salon series was designed to showcase and advance the 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow's creative practices, provide space for an exchange of ideas and perspectives among all participants, and further the connection between Kresge Artist Fellows and the wider arts community.

Kia ix Arriaga is an Aztec dancer and multidisciplinary artist from Mexico. She works as a visual artist and cultural educator and is known for her multimedia installations, which include ceramics, drawing, traditional sand painting, and metalsmithing. For the past 20 years, Arriaga has installed Día de Muertos ofrendas in prestigious venues, including the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). Arriaga is currently merging her skills as an installation artist and Aztec dancer to develop educational programs that explore Aztec culture through performance, music, art-making, and storytelling. An essay on her work is featured in the book “Essay’d 2: 30 Detroit Artists” (2017, Wayne State University Press).

Chris Jakob is a queer actor and playwright born and raised in Detroit. Holding a BA in theatre from University of Detroit Mercy, he is a multi-disciplinary performance artist focused on the creation of fresh, thought-provoking, experimental work. Jakob is proud to be an ensemble member of A Host of People (AHOP) and Shakespeare in Detroit as well as a Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit alumnus. He has performed at Detroit Repertory Theatre, The Ringwald Theatre, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Planet Ant, and Matrix Theatre, where he is also a teaching artist. Jakob’s work includes the world premiere of Cleopatra Boy, with AHOP in Detroit; previews of his new solo-performance-choreopoem, LOGOS, at Sidewalk Festival 2019; previews of anagoge. at Sidewalk Festival 2018; Cleopatra Boy with AHOP at FURY Factory Festival 2018 in San Francisco; the world premiere of Neither There, Nor Here with AHOP; the premiere and tour of his play, I, Too, Sing America, produced by the Michigan Opera Theatre; and artist residencies at Cleveland Public Theatre and the North American Cultural Lab (New York). Art is long, life is short.