Current Alternate Currents Cohorts
2025-26 Alternate Currents Cohort:
AALIYAHBUTNOTTHEARTIST
AALIYAHBUTNOTTHEARTIST is a reclusive dreamer vibing in the shadows, doodling life in color and quiet chaos, whose work blends the fine line of too real and just art. She explores taboos and channels her own personal experiences to create layered, often cathartic work.
Jade Bailey
Although Jade Bailey received a business degree from the University of Alabama in 2019, all of their professional experience has been about survival work. Therefore, Jade’s pride and joy has been their experience on bookstagram — an Instagram account dedicated to sharing bookish content — during the pandemic. In seeking an online community, they decolonized their bookshelf, deepened their love for reading and writing, and developed a passion for graphic design and community advocacy (through sharing resources, mutual aid, promoting civic engagement, etc.). In 2024, they participated in the North Omaha Writer’s Workshop and co-founded the Liberation Reading Circle. They are based in the lands of the Umoⁿhoⁿ people where they live with their sibling, parent, and a fur baby.
Amelia Broussard
Amelia Broussard, a Louisiana native now based in Omaha, NE, creates mixed media collages inspired by her childhood explorations of the bayous. Using recycled materials, she captures the essence of these memories, exploring their unreliability while also finding joy and appreciation in the beauty of ordinary, everyday life.
April Griess
April Griess is an artist and archivist with over a decade of experience collaborating, coordinating, and researching community-based performance art practices. Under the name april vendetta, they create work that explores themes of control, labor, punishment, and surveillance to examine the physicality and resilience of the body. In 2015, they founded Human Trash Dump, an online, open-source, collaborative archive of digital media. Their’ 2021 M.A. thesis outlines the process of archiving and preserving a home movie collection of audiovisual material that documents the art and life of their late uncle, Kent Bellows.
Ramon Guzman
Ramon Guzman is an artist based in Bellevue, Nebraska, whose work is fueled by a passion for bringing joy and inspiring smiles. Blending realism with abstraction, Ramon’s art uniquely combines modern techniques like 3D printing with traditional craftsmanship. He transforms raw wood into expressive faces using everyday power tools, breathing life into lifeless materials and creating vibrant figures that radiate energy and emotion. His artistic achievements include exhibiting at the Bemis Center’s annual auction for four consecutive years, a solo show at Petshop in Benson in 2023, and a residency at MAMO Gallery.
Alexia Kane
Alexia “Lexi” Kane (she/they) is a graphic designer and art director with over six years of experience in the creative industry. A designer at heart, she loves typography, digital collage, web design, and mixed media. Lexi received her Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Communications and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2021. They currently reside in Omaha, Nebraska with their two cats, dog, and partner.
Aurora Bison Lagattuta
Aurora Bison Lagattuta (she/her) is a dance maker. Lagattuta investigates movement as a meeting place between belonging and dislocation, beauty and neglect, attention and social responsibility. Her work prioritizes accessible, community-inclusive and site-specific practices to offer a different way of tending to the relationships between people and places. Her solo, Inside the Whale, toured throughout Europe, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, where she was awarded the United Solo Award. She has been awarded residencies at Bali Purnati in Indonesia; Palacio de Festivales and Forn de La Calç in Spain, Shiro Oni in Japan and Pacific Studios in New Zealand. She holds an M.F.A. in Contemporary Dance Making from the University of California San Diego, where she received the San Diego Fellowship, and a B.A. in Theatre Directing from Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York City. She currently teaches for the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Moving Company.
Peyton Pearson
Peyton Pearson is a fiber artist based in Omaha, Nebraska whose work explores themes of touch, memory, and community. Graduating summa cum laude from the University of Nebraska with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Art History, Pearson blends graphic imagery and color with historic weaving techniques. Their work has been featured in exhibitions at the Joslyn Art Museum, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Hot Shops Art Center. They’ve also exhibited in their solo shows “Exit Wounds” at Petshop and “Spring Tides” at Project Project, both in Omaha. Pearson’s interest in fiber art began at age 17 when two women at the Omaha Public Library taught them how to knit, sparking a lifelong passion for textiles.
Riké
Riké (Enrique Lopez) is a versatile artist of Maya Guatemalan heritage whose acrylic realism paintings and music embody the cultural narratives of their experiences as a Brown American. While creating visuals for music videos, concert setups, and performances with Collaborations and Solo, Riké honed in on his enjoyment for combining art and audio in set design. As a recording artist, his work bridges visual and auditory storytelling, offering an exploration of identity and resilience. Their art and music reflect a connection to family, social matters, and personal growth. Through both music and visual art, Riké continues to embrace heritage and individuality.
Howard Thiel
Howard Thiel was born and raised in Omaha, NE. He is a self taught artist who uses littered trash from city streets as a vehicle to explore humor and kindness. He explores ways to show both himself and viewers ways to rethink how waste and consumption are intrinsically linked. He has worked closely with the Church Art House, showcased work with BFF Omaha, and Skatefest Omaha, and is looking to host events with Sober Socials.
2024-25 Alternate Currents Cohort:
Justin Alexander
Justin Alexander is a multidisciplinary artist, living in Omaha, NE. He is a citizen of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska. As an avid cyclist, he is a supporter of transportation equity efforts in Nebraska. Justin is a past recipient of a Micro Grant from Amplify Arts. Currently, he works in operations at the Kiewit Luminarium as an exhibit technician. Justin’s creativity and interest in S.T.E.A.M, make him an excellent collaborator, on projects of all types.
Yuanjun Chen
Yuanjun Chen was raised by two artists in Guangdong, China. Growing up surrounded by fabrics, typefaces, drawings, etc., Yuanjun developed an interest in photography as a teenager. Soon it became his everyday hobby and the primary lens through which he explores forms of communication, relationships, and social issues. Yuanjun received an associate degree in graphic design from Private HuaLian College in 2018 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in printmaking from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2023.
Keegan Dunn
Keegan Dunn is a field researcher and photographer currently residing in Omaha, Nebraska. Keegan has spent 2023 performing a comprehensive independent study on the ecology and history of the Missouri watershed within the state. Their current body of work “Cottonwood Study” has received funding from Amplify Arts which allows them to continue learning building dialogue within the region.
Jessie Fisher
Jessie makes art in multiple mediums, but for the last 5 years has primarily been a printmaker. He works in letterpress, woodcut/linocut, monotype, and cyanotype. Whether it’s experiments with processes, or more direct socio-political propaganda, the work encourages questioning what's possible. Jessie grew up on a farm in rural Nebraska, but has called Omaha home for the past 20 years. In that time he's worked in construction, art education and for the past 6 years has been a home inspector. Jessie helped create, an art/community space called “Media Corp.” It provided meeting space for a variety of advocacy groups and also functioned as a food pantry for a time.
Natalie Hanson/Facade Queen
Natalie Hanson/Facade Queen is a multidisciplinary music, theater and movement artist from Tacoma, Washington residing in Omaha. She came to Omaha in 2014 to study Musical Theatre and Dance and is also a self taught musician and producer. In Omaha, Natalie has performed with the Bluebarn Theatre and The Rose Children’s Theatre, where she recently served as a full time company member and Associate Director of Early Childhood Education. Her solo project “Facade Queen” was nominated for Outstanding New Artist and Outstanding Pop from the OEAA awards and her duo project “Twin Pages” was recently nominated for Outstanding Alt/Indie. Natalie has performed professionally in Chicago, Illinois with Comedy Dance Chicago and Teatro Vista Theatre. Natalie has also collaborated with her sister, Emilie and local artists on their experimental music duo “Court The Muse” and has been a past recipient of Amplify Arts Generator Grant Series. Natalie is interested in exploring many topics in her work including mixed race identity, art for the very young, food, dance accessibility and connecting the community.
Cassy Jensen
Cassy Jensen, a writer hailing from Omaha, NE, employs a creative process that commences with attentive listening, keen observation, and a deep connection to emotions. Articulating her responses through various mediums, including poetry, fiction, stand-up, screenwriting, public speaking, and performance, she showcases a diverse range of expressive talents. Bridging the realms of humor and poignancy, her poems evoke laughter, while her comedy explores themes of sadness. As a conscientious storyteller, Cassy recognizes the profound influence that medium and context wield over the reception and real-world consequences of a message for its audience. Pursuing truth and delving into the complexities of ethics, morality, power dynamics, epistemology, oppression, and trauma, she navigates the ambiguities and paradoxes of these subjects. Her ultimate goal is to emerge from each endeavor with newfound wisdom and a touch more confusion, to walk away with something new to chew on.
John Paul
John Paul is a “mark-maker” whose art blurs the line between printmaking, drawing, and painting. He is also a community-arts organizer who works with neighbors, creatives, and cultural institutions to plan and implement events that shine a spotlight on arts, community-building and creative place-making.
Sener
Sener, originally from Mexico and based in Gretna, NE, founder of soundarte.net and the label EAC Records Mx. Since 2013 he has produced contemporary art events in the United States and Mexico, highlighting Noisefest 2023 and Festival ExNihilo 2023. His approach encompasses sound, the exploration of consciousness through art and musical immersion, investigating post-digital art, and the intersection of ancient traditions with the use of audiovisual technology. As a creator and curator, his mission is to promote cultural exchange and foster artistic innovation through unique sound and visual experiences.
Viy
Viy, pronounced /v/, is a non-binary, multi-media artist. Their practice focuses on the materiality and history of objects, breaking them down to better understand them so they can be reconfigured and re-contextualized as art objects. Interested in refuse and refusal, their work comes from their own trash and items discarded by others, refusing the notion that these objects are worthless and instead seeing them as full of artistic potential. Most recently their practice has been focused in handmade papermaking, fiber based media, and relational aesthetics.
Carlie Waganer
Carlie Waganer is a collector, weaver, and perpetual novice. She received her BFA in Fiber arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her work has been shown at Distillery Gallery, Gallery@ArtBlock, Women’s Studio Workshop, Store_Space Gallery, and the Nichols House Museum. Waganer has worked as an administrator at residency centers in Tennessee, New York, and now Nebraska. In her professional life, she considers herself an “artistic administrator,” where the support of artists and the realization of their goals are integral to her own artistic fulfillment. Her material practice includes marbling, fabric manipulation, collage, categorizing, coding, weaving, drawing, baking, journaling, and list-making. She is mostly interested in interconnectedness and impermanence, especially between what we consider the physical and digital worlds.