coLAB Arts' Monthly Artist Grant celebrates artists in New Jersey who use creative practice to support their local communities and create greater public good. Please consider joining coLAB Arts as a recurring donor to expand and sustain this important grant making.
If you’d like to nominate yourself or others to be considered for a future monthly artist grant, use the provided button to access the form.
Jonathan is a mixed media artist and muralist, and the founder of OurNaturalState, a creative brand dedicated to helping people reconnect with their emotions and bodies through art. My work centers around using playful, colorful characters that represent a range of emotions. These characters have been a tool for me to express my feelings freely and rediscover my true, authentic self through the process of art.
OurNaturalState is built on the belief that art is a powerful medium for personal growth, emotional release, and healing. Through live mural events, community-based art experiences, and workshops, I create environments where people feel supported in exploring their emotional landscapes.
My goal is to help individuals use creativity as a form of self-expression and personal discovery. By blending emotional depth with artistic playfulness, OurNaturalState invites people to experience art in a way that allows them to feel everything fully. I’m excited for a future filled with creativity, love, and authenticity.
Nearly two decades ago, I relocated to the United States, bringing with me a profound appreciation for this ancient craft. In my new environment, I began to create unique, wearable art pieces that merge the time-honored traditions of Anatolian lacework with contemporary design elements. Each piece is crafted with the same dedication and precision that has been a hallmark of this art form for centuries, yet is infused with a modern sensibility that makes it relevant today.
My artistic journey has been enriched by formal training at design and technical schools, where I further honed my skills and expanded my creative horizons. This blend of traditional techniques and modern education has allowed me to develop a distinctive style that honors the past while embracing the future.
The resulting collection is a celebration of cultural fusion, where each piece tells a story of heritage and innovation. My work not only preserves the intricate beauty of Anatolian lacework but also reimagines it for a contemporary audience. Through my art, I aim to keep this beautiful tradition alive, sharing its elegance and intricacy with a wider audience and inspiring a new appreciation for this ancient craft.
I am a multi-disciplinary visual teaching artist with a deep commitment to preserving and celebrating Anatolian culture and traditions through my art. My work is heavily influenced by the rich heritage of handcrafted lacework, a technique that has been meticulously handed down through generations for centuries.
Nearly two decades ago, I relocated to the United States, bringing with me a profound appreciation for this ancient craft. In my new environment, I began to create unique, wearable art pieces that merge the time-honored traditions of Anatolian lacework with contemporary design elements. Each piece is crafted with the same dedication and precision that has been a hallmark of this art form for centuries, yet is infused with a modern sensibility that makes it relevant today.
My artistic journey has been enriched by formal training at design and technical schools, where I further honed my skills and expanded my creative horizons. This blend of traditional techniques and modern education has allowed me to develop a distinctive style that honors the past while embracing the future.
The resulting collection is a celebration of cultural fusion, where each piece tells a story of heritage and innovation. My work not only preserves the intricate beauty of Anatolian lacework but also reimagines it for a contemporary audience. Through my art, I aim to keep this beautiful tradition alive, sharing its elegance and intricacy with a wider audience and inspiring a new appreciation for this ancient craft.
Bentrice Jusu is an inspiring Liberian-American contemporary artist, firefighter, and activist known for her multifaceted talents and dedication to community service. In 2011, she founded Both Hands the Artlet, an innovative community space in Trenton that has completed three pilot programs and six cohorts, raising over $150,000 in grants and impacting over 300 teens. For her efforts, she received Wake Forest’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award, Building the Dream Award, and Russell D. and Elfriede Hobbs Student Award.
Internationally recognized, Bentrice’s art has been featured and added to the permanent collection in galleries such as the Phillip Hanes Gallery and SACI in Florence, Italy. She has lectured at venues including the Princeton Arts Council, Philadelphia African American Arts Museum, and John Jay College. As a Resident and Teaching Artist in New Jersey, her work spans sculpture, painting, music, poetry, and augmented reality, often addressing themes of introspection, silence, and censorship in Trenton.
Beyond Both Hands, Bentrice served as the Advanced Community Engaged Leader for The College of New Jersey Trenton Works Network and now as an adjunct professor. She is on the boards of the Trenton Arts Fund and the Cross Communities Foundation and is working on "The Potential Project," endorsed by The Kresge Foundation. Her involvement in this project has received coverage from NPR and PBS News.
Bentrice's commitment extends to the Princeton University Arts Museum Advisory Board and developing public art and education courses for students. Recently awarded a MacDowell Fellowship, she continues to be a leading figure in contemporary art and social activism.
John Marron is a zen artist, poet/ writer, life coach, father, gardener, cat & dog lover, swimmer, dancer, spoken word/ slam performer, retired RU family therapist (26 years), householder, social justice activist, Main Street HP Window Art Walk Art curator & self-care/ meditation teacher/lay zen monk through Robert Aitken Roshi.
Christianne Ebel, a Queer BIPOC photographer & visual artist, grew up surrounded by family lore in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-generational household situated in rural NJ. Her family tales, which originated from different parts of the world, founded her. Those stories inspired Christianne to seek out how people, events, cultures, languages, identities, and silent moments come together to make a narrative. Later on, her passion for stories and storytelling turned into a career as a photojournalist for nearly two decades.
Katelyn Halpern is a multidisciplinary artist living in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Chanika Svetvilas is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker whose practice focuses on mental health difference. Her work is an extension of her continued interest in using narratives as a way to challenge stereotypes in contemporary society and to create safe spaces. She is a disability justice advocate filled with Mad Pride.
Tylie Shider is an American writer and the inaugural playwright in residence at ArtYard. A McKnight Fellow in Playwriting at the Playwrights' Center, he is a recipient of Premiere Stages' Liberty Live commission, two consecutive Jerome Fellowships, and an I Am Soul playwright in residence at the National Black Theatre.
Estefany (Stef) Rodríguez, a 26-year-old Latina artist and art educator from the Dominican Republic, is on a mission to ignite artistic inspiration in the next generation, using art as a means of healing and growth.
Alicia Saadi is a multi-disciplinary artist whose current focus is collage. Her work often references the aftermath of civil unrest, as well as the sexist portrayals of women that lingered during her childhood.