Keynote & Special Guest Speakers

Friday Keynote Dr. Kelly Morgan

Dr. Kelli Morgan is a curator, educator, and social justice activist who specializes in American art and visual culture. Her scholarly commitment to the investigation of anti-blackness within those fields has demonstrated how traditional art history and museum practice work specifically to uphold white supremacy. Dr. Morgan has held teaching positions at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan, as well as curatorial positions at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2014, the Ford Foundation awarded her a dissertation fellowship. She earned her PhD in Afro-American studies and a graduate certificate in public history–museum studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Friday Super Session Guest – Tchin from We Are The Seeds

We Are The Seeds is a non-profit arts and culture organization based in Philadelphia committed to uplifting and amplifying Indigenous voices through the arts.

Tchin is a nationally known, multi-award winning artist. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia and lived in rural Virginia and Rhode Island where he received his early schooling. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. Tchin is an accomplished musician, flute maker, folklorist, jewelry designer, educator, author, painter, and clothing designer. He lives with his wife under glorious New Jersey skies and looks forward to many visits from his four daughters and ten grandchildren. 

Saturday 2021 PAEA Legacy Awardee – Emilee J. Taylor, artist and art educator, is a 1974 graduate from the Pennsylvania  State University, having majored in Art Education. She served as an art teacher for  the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) for 39 years, teaching Elementary and  Middle School Art and Mentally Gifted Fine Arts at the Lowell and Greenberg  Schools. Emilee also taught Advanced High School Art Students as part of the  Saturday Enrichment Program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  

Emilee has the distinction as being the first art educator to achieve National Board  Certification in the School District of Philadelphia in 2005. She also served as  Teacher Support Specialist for Art Education in the Office of Academic Enrichment  and Support supporting the district art teachers throughout the city.  

As a PAEA member for over 20 years, Emilee served on the PAEA Board as  representative of Supervision and Administration and received the following  recognition as a recipient of the following awards: PAEA 2000 Outstanding Elementary Art Educator, NAEA 2001 Eastern Region  Elementary Art Educator and the PAEA Certificate of Recognition for achieving  National Board Certification in Art Education in 2006. 

As a retiree, Emilee remains involved with teachers supporting candidates pursuing  National Board Certification and is an Adjunct Professor at Moore College of Art and  Design, working with Art Education Student Teachers. 

Saturday Keynote Mario Rossero

Mario Rossero is the Executive Director of the National Art Education Association, the leading professional association for visual art and design education across PreK-12, higher education, museums, and community spaces.

Prior to this role, as the Senior Vice President for Education at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mario led the overall planning, management, and supervision of the programs and operations of the Center’s Education Division and national portfolio of programs.

Mario previously served as the Chief of Core Curriculum for Chicago Public Schools. In that role, he provided leadership and strategy to offer a robust education for all students, including Literacy, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, the Arts, and Global Citizenship. Prior to this role, Mario served as the Director of Arts Education, leading the charge to increase equity and access to all art forms through the first ever district wide Arts Education Plan.

From 2010-11, Mario was the Senior Program Officer for Arts Education for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. From 2004-10, he served in various roles in Chicago Public Schools including Director of Magnet Schools and Programs. He began his career as a visual art educator for elementary and middle school students across a variety of school and museum settings in western Pennsylvania and Chicago. Mario serves on a number of advisory boards and is a practicing visual artist.

Saturday Evening Special Event Speaker Roberto Lugo

Roberto Lugo is a Philadelphia-based artist, ceramicist, social activist, poet, and educator. Lugo utilizes classical pottery forms in conjunction with portraiture and surface design reminiscent of his North Philadelphia upbringing and Hip Hop culture to highlight themes of poverty, inequality, and racial injustice. Lugo’s works are multicultural mash-ups; traditional European and Asian ceramic techniques reimagined with a 21st-century street sensibility. Their hand-painted surfaces feature classic decorative patterns and motifs combined with elements of modern urban graffiti and portraits of individuals whose faces are historically absent on this type of luxury item – people like Sojourner Truth, Dr. Cornel West, and The Notorious BIG, as well as Lugo’s family members and, very often, himself. Lugo holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Penn State. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, among others. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2019 Pew Fellowship, a Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize, and a US Artist Award. His work is found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Walters Art Museum, and more. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, PA.

Sunday Morning Keynote Speaker Symone Salib

Symone Salib (she/her) is a first generation Cuban/Egyptian street artist, muralist, and educator based out of Philadelphia. Through acrylic paint and illustration she works to highlight the lives of people, with a emphasis on BIPOC across her city since 2017. She focuses on vibrantly sharing the stories of people in hopes we can connect and resonate with humans who are different from ourselves. She strives to spread joy and create a space where people are not only seen but heard. Her work is a reclamation of space both physically and politically as she asserts the humanity of black and brown bodies and the necessity for justice against police brutality, sexism and homophobia.