Past Iowa Artist Fellows

Eloy Barragán is an internationally acclaimed ballet instructor, choreographer, and filmmaker. Originally from Mexico City, Eloy is an Associate Professor of Dance the University of Iowa where he’s been teaching since 2005.

Barragán’s career includes performing as a soloist with Compañía Nacional de Danza, Ballet Royal de Wallonie, and Ballet Idaho, where he also served as ballet master. Celebrated for his innovative blend of traditional ballet with contemporary concepts, his choreography has been featured at the Bolshoi Theatre and Finnish National Opera, and he’s created works for companies such as the National Ballet of Mexico and Richmond Ballet. An esteemed educator, Barragán has taught worldwide, including at Beijing Dance Academy and Conservatoire de Paris.

Barragán founded and directs the International ScreenDance Festival and E-DANZA, a non-profit expanding inclusivity in the arts. He also serves as the director of the Iowa Dance Festival. His visionary approach continues to inspire dancers and choreographers globally

Nicholas Cladis is an artist working in Iowa City, IA. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Fukui Prefectural University (Japan) and has been a visiting artist at several other universities, non-profits, and craft schools worldwide. Nicholas’ work incorporates site-responsive / experimental installation, community engagement, and an attention to — and appreciation of — craft in a contemporary fine arts context. To Nicholas, the empowering, uplifting, and transformational act of making paper by hand generates essential connective points to history (time), community (people), and ecology (place)

A former Japan Foundation Fellow and resident of Japan, Nicholas maintains an active relationship with the Echizen papermaking community in Fukui Prefecture. This relationship has inspired an array of cross-cultural arts exchanges, exhibitions, and workshops.

Kelly Devitt, of Creston, is a ceramic artist who primarily creates sculptures depicting emotions physically expressed through the human body. Raised in central Iowa, she received her BFA in Integrated Studio Arts from Iowa State University in 2017 and her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2022. Kelly is currently an Instructor of Art at Southwestern Community College.
 

Susan Metrican, of Fairfield, is currently Assistant Professor and Wege Gallery Director at Maharishi International University. Her work takes cues from various histories surrounding the artists and objects within the decorative and applied arts of the late 19th and early 20th century, particularly objects that convey an exchange of aesthetic ideas between nations and time periods. In her paintings, she manipulates canvas through sewing, gathering, and folding, often borrowing techniques from clothing construction or furniture upholstery. The transformed canvas works in tandem with the imagery, allowing a third form of meaning or language to occur.

Metrican received an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. She has attended residencies at Interlude and Shandaken: Storm King in NY, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions nationally, most recently Concord Art Center (MA), Hodges Taylor (NC), Framingham State University (MA), Headstone Gallery (NY), The Hole (NY), LaiSun Keane (MA), and Rivalry Projects (NY). Her work has been featured in ART MAZE Mag, Cream City Review, and Peripheries Journal.

Jason Snell emerged from the 1990s rave scene in Cedar Rapids and has spent three decades as an electronic music producer, daily meditator, and computer programmer. He combines these disciplines to create sound performances using brainwave and heartbeat sensors, exploring themes of vulnerability, entrainment, and synchrony. His central work involves biofeedback soundscapes designed to guide the brain into creative, subconscious states of mind.

His work has been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Hirshhorn, festivals and galleries in Berlin, Dubai, and Shanghai, and at universities including MIT, NYU, Brown, Imperial College London, the University of Europe in Berlin, and the University of Iowa. His projects have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Iowa Arts Council, Iowa City Public Arts, and the Iowa City Downtown District.