2025-2026 Distillery Program
THE ARTISTS:
Kaylani Brown
Kaylani Brown is a Black Nuyorican mixed-media artist, storyteller, and night-sky enthusiast based in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2021, they graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in General Fine Arts. They participated in Bunker Projects’ artist residency in 2025. Informed by the images of their Catholic upbringing, Kaylani’s work is littered with stars and mysticism. Their work explores what connective possibilities can transform people into heavenly bodies, and thus become more human. Emulating the warmth of a journal entry and the playful drawings they made as a child, Kaylani reimagines cosmologies on paper and in panels.
Liv Cocozza
Liv Cocozzais a Pittsburgh-based Transexual artist, originally from New York. They received their BFA in Sculpture from Purchase College in 2020 and was a 2019 Yale Norfolk resident. In 2023 their career was put on pause when Liv was diagnosed and treated for Lymphoma. “I create wet and gross textiles that drape, suspend, and hang from the walls. While working in latex, glue, silicone, and fabrics, I transform and combine materials to memorialize discarded blood, cum, chemo, sweat, or pus-soaked quilts, blankets, and banners. I explore the relations of the body to medical systems, Queer communities, Transness, and the barriers that lie between us. This work serves to reform our ways of seeing the margins, the discard, the invisible, and stand them before us.”
Darya Kharabi
Darya Kharabi is a self-taught artist whose work explores interconnectedness, power, spectacle, diaspora and collective movements through cut paper, sculpture, and performance. “Being second-gen Iranian-american and a community organizer, my eye is always toward those whose existence in this country is most precarious, whether poor, melanated, queer, and/or immigrant. An avid outdoorsperson, I am consumed with the drive toward collectivity and community. I’m interested in the power dynamics of this world, and most of all in prey, whether they be animal or people. I believe deeply in narratives where the prey unite and overthrow their oppressor, and in small, delicate things having a lot of power.”
Ethan Marks
Ethan Marksis a painter and multimedia artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Raised in Mansfield, OH, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he earned his BFA in Painting with a focus in video art. His work has been exhibited at the Reinberger Gallery, Morgan Conservatory, and the CIA Student/Alumni Gallery. He works as an exhibits preparator at the Andy Warhol Museum. His practice encompasses painting, video and performance art, investigating the pervasive influence of mass media and the aesthetic legacies of antiquated media such as analog videotape and four-color halftone print processes. Through a synthesis of pop art sensibilities and neo-expressionist techniques, he aims to interrogate the visual languages that have shaped collective memory and cultural identity.
Sara Jean Ruiz
Sara Jean Ruiz is interested in the type of emotional intensity that is stereotypical of teenage girls, the bodily impact it has, and the idea of treating these experiences with a seriousness they are rarely afforded. Sara works with words, various printmaking techniques, textiles, gum, digital media, found objects, and that feeling you have when you are 14 in a dressing room with your mom and she says something about your legs. And you think about it for the whole ride home. And sometimes you still think about it now. Sara received her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University in 2023, with a specialization in printmaking. She now resides in Pittsburgh, PA where she works as an Early Childhood Educator.
Isabella Schubert-Jones
Isabella Schubert-Jones is an artist based in Pittsburgh, PA, whose work centers around transformation, sustainability, and the surreal. A graduate of Tyler School of Art at Temple University, where she earned her BFA in Sculpture, Isabella is passionate about turning discarded and recycled materials into imaginative, immersive art. Alongside her art-making, Isabella works closely with animals, a connection that grounds and enriches her creative process. Animals have long served as both subjects and muses in her work, reflecting their deep significance in her life. Her sculptures often blur the line between the natural and the supernatural, creating otherworldly creatures and landscapes that invite viewers into a world uniquely her own.
Dominique Swift
Dominique Swift is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and storyteller from Philadelphia. Her work blends painting, poetry, digital storytelling, and multimedia art to explore themes of identity, heritage, and collective memory. She holds a BA in Media and Professional Communications with a minor in Studio Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. She currently serves as the Multimedia Content Manager at Rainbow Serpent, a Black LGBTQ arts nonprofit. “My artistic journey is shaped by the concept of the Domino Effect, a principle that reflects both my creative brand and my belief in the interconnectedness of stories and identities. My work is grounded in the desire to spark dialogue, honor cultural memory, and explore how narratives evolve across generations.”
THE EXHIBITION:
The 2026 Distillery Residency Exhibition will be on view April 16 – June 20, 2025.