Salon XII
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Salon XII 🌟
The Artists of Salon XII
Yiseul LeMieux (she/it)
2025 Visual Artist-in-Residence
“Think you'd like to try something different?“
BEFORE MY BORING BIO: I am not sweet. You may be confused by my voice and how cutified I am, but I am not sweet. I am sweet and bitter. I can be funny when I don’t mean to. I am It. That’s what gives me a piece of peace, a hope to be anything or become anything, anywhere, anytime—like saving the world.
BORING BIO: Yiseul LeMieux is a Korean-born artist based in New York City. Her work spans multiple media, blending vivid narratives and alternative realities. She emphasizes audience engagement and community feedback, rejecting traditional boundaries between media, artist, and audience. Her creative vision explores a global network of interchangeability—where the artist, human, animal, or object holds equal value. This ethos allows her to explore limitless potential in herself and the world.
TBD
2025 Performance Artists-in-Residence
“Old Friends New Tracks”
When TBD first started playing, it was casual but also clear that, at the very least, it was a lot of fun to make music together. As TBD grows and looks for more collaborators, the core is the same: two close friends finding fun sounds and making songs that make you feel and make you dance.
Josh Fulton (he/him) is a 2018 graduate of the Fordham Theater program and primarily an actor & screenwriter based in NYC, but he has always had a connection to music. He started the group TBD with his homie Jamie a little over a year ago. They've been making what they're calling "indie jazz" inspired by the likes of everything between Tune-Yards and SZA. Jamie brings an other-worldly keyboard-based indie production style to Josh's smooth & sexy, brown liquor-esque jazzy melodies.
Jamie Wygle (he/him) grew up in the city before moving to Idaho, growing a love for nature, and returning for college to study theatre. While he loves acting, the piano has always felt like a safe place to express and release outside of expectations.
Antonyio Artis (he/him)
2024 Performance Artist-in-Residence
“I create work that marries the nerd and the black experience within me!”
Antonyio Artis is a multi-faceted NYC artist who graduated with his BFA in Acting from Brooklyn College. Since graduating, Artis has performed in the national tour of “New Jack City,” ’24 NYTF Winning production of “Underground,” and has self-produced 3 short film adaptations of the plays “Thoughts of a Colored Man” (Keenan Scott II), “Boy’s Life” (Howard Korder), and “Jitney” (August Wilson), to name a few things. His solo show, “Tariq’s Interlude,” had its first full-length workshop this past week and will be heading into a full production later this year.
Tessa Bagby (she/they)
2024 Performance Artist-in-Residence
“Assembler of living collages”
Tessa Bagby is a Bay Area-born, Brooklyn-based director, dramaturg, and nurturer of original live performance. Proscenium-averse in practice, Tessa collaborates with candor, rigor, and care to develop and present new work. They’re interested in questions about the dissonant relationships between the spiritual and the corporal, desire, personal responsibility, environment, transformation, embodied queerness and unbalanced power. Recent directing credits include MAiD in America (Dramatists Guild Foundation, NYU), Spew’s Little Baby (The Tank), The Angry Brigade (Drew University), God and Abraham Play Ping Pong (Minnesota Fringe Festival). As an assistant/associate director, Tessa has worked with Emma Went, Will Frears, Jolie Tong, and Jack Serio on his hyper-intimate production of Uncle Vanya (3 Drama Desk Nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Play). Wearing many different hats, they have supported processes on and off-Broadway with The Public, The Apothetae, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Juniper Street Productions, The Tank, Mercury Store, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and, best of all, in basements/roofs/living rooms across the city. With Antonyio Artis, Tessa was The Village’s 2024 Performance Artist-in-Residence, developing Antonyio’s solo show Tariq’s Interlude (full production upcoming in 2025).
Helen Dempsey (she/her)
“Capturing life through my eyes on film”
Helen is a software engineer, designer, and photographer based in NYC. After being introduced to the world of film photography in middle school through her dad's passed-down Canon AE-1 Program, she fell in love with the art of analog and has been shooting a visual journal ever since. She hopes to make people understand why she fell in love with New York City through her photography, as well as other places from her travels.
Emma Ivy (she/her)
Emma trained in ballet for many years before attending the London Contemporary Dance School and completing her BA(Hons) in contemporary dance performance. She has performed with a range of NYC contemporary dance projects, played Mina Murray in Nevermore Immersive's production of 'Dreams of Dracula', and performs her own work.
Riley Kennedy Stark (she/her) & Tess Lancaster (she/her)
“The Horniest Girls in New York City”
Riley Kennedy Stark and Tess Lancaster are two up and coming writer-actors looking to do the impossible: put on their two-woman (+ one man) play. Tess and Riley were both born in Massachusetts and grew to be 5 feet 8 inches tall, and they met where all sexy and perfect talents meet — fatefully on stage at an open improv jam in early 2024. They then decided to use their much apparent free time to take a sketch class, which was awesome. Today, they are beautiful, pre-successful playwrights with love in their hearts, fire in their loins, and bachelor degrees from elite institutions if all else fails.
Tess and Riley have a story to tell you about The Horniest Girls in New York City, whose names also happen to be Riley and Tess. It is an underdog story about two girls who are terrible at making good choices coming of age together with their friend Derek in this great city. The play follows them in their journey of realizing that they’ve been living their lives like bottoms, in the sense that they have been letting life bend them over a table rather than using their agency to take control of what happens to them. With an unrepentant love of friendship and a little help from a lesbian pastor, the two girls overcome their submissive natures and grab life by its balls, and together they learn how to top the world.
Lilly Qualls (she/they)
“The small things are everything. Don't overlook them!”
Multimedia artist looking to connect their love for the arts with rehabilitation, growth, and connection in diverse settings. My works across visual media, writing, and theatre are often centered around interpersonal relationships, identity, womanhood, mental health, and love: in all of its forms (ugly and scary; beautiful and safe). Focusing on the ‘small things’ helps me appreciate life holistically, and doing so reminds us of the overwhelming honor, terror, beauty, and confusion of being a person. I hope something I make will encourage you to make something, too.
Maria Shinas (she/her)
“I paint stuff”
Maria is a scenic painter from Queens, NY. She has a background in theater design, as well as the fine arts. She loves to explore a wide range of mediums from printmaking to oil painting. She loves to incorporate her Greek heritage into her designs.
Julia Stavreva (she/her)
“Bold colors, female forms, and abstractions of my life in motion”
Julia is a 25 year old Bulgarian-American artist from Washington D.C., currently based in Manhattan.
Julia has been creating artwork since before she can remember, and describes her artistic experience as both cathartic and meditative. Her craft spans a wide breadth of mediums: acrylic paint, oil paint, colored pencil, graphite, pen, and, recently, digital. Julia's work primarily depicts female figures integrated into surreal environments, frequently featuring bright colors and bold lines. She often draws inspiration from her own life experiences, exploring them in ultimately abstract ways.
Catalina Toro (she/her)
“I like to transform feelings into form”
Catalina Toro is a Colombian-born multidisciplinary artist who has been living in New York City since 1998. Entirely self-taught, and assisting top NYC artists she has developed a distinctive style that blends figurative and abstract elements, drawing inspiration from art history, theory, and the evocative power of mythic symbolism. Influenced by her collaborations with prominent NYC artists and the music scene, Catalina’s work reflects a confident yet emotionally responsive energy shaped by her diverse cultural background and artistic exploration. Her art incorporates a variety of mediums, including oil and acrylic paints, charcoal, pastels, UV art and gold leaf. Her techniques are influenced by Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism among other styles and all blended with the vibrancy of NYC’s pop art scene, resulting in a style that is both innovative and deeply personal. In addition to her studio practice, Catalina is known for her live painting performances in New York City venues, where she actively engages with the local art scene. She also collaborates with brands, teaches art workshops, and maintains a dynamic online presence, sharing her creative journey on Instagram under the handle @aluunna. Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, earning her recognition in the contemporary art world. Catalina’s diverse portfolio spans paintings, drawings, and live art performances, showcasing her ability to captivate audiences and convey a powerful artistic vision.
Nicholas Louis Turturro (he/him)
“Peaceful moments, a grand expanse, and broad strokes somewhere in between”
My name is Nicholas Louis Turturro. I’m an Actor and Artist, mainly working with acrylic and oil paint.
My works range from large cosmic surrealist pieces to smaller contemporary figure studies and cityscapes. I blend my two disciplines together through theatrical live painting installations, where I work within a large sprung canvased frame placed on the ground and create a new piece for an audience from start to finish.
I’ve been an actor for longer than I’ve been an artist. I do mostly new works in NYC across theater and film (and the occasional commercial bookings). I love theater, particularly for the elements of collaboration. My love for theatrical collaboration is one of the biggest reasons I'm a producer at SERIALS (@serialsnyc), to create as many moments for us to work together as possible.
Brennan Urbi (they/he)
“Creativity is a product of curiosity”
Theatre Artist based in NYC. My goal is to tell stories that reflect my view from the center of the Venn Diagram, the overlapping of experience. Cultivating a team of curious artists creating fast paced, honest, and unrepeatable experiences. Investigating the live element to reimagine the ways we tell and consume stories.
Ayla Marie Decaire (she/her)
“a warm hug, soaked in sunshine”
Ayla Marie Decaire is an actor, dancer, painter, and puppet-maker based in NYC. With a deep commitment to authenticity and empathetic storytelling, she strives to uncover the humanity and lovable qualities in every little thing she creates. Ayla is currently an MFA acting student at Columbia University (so she’s always busy), but when the time comes, she hopes to spend more time creating works that feature a more interdisciplinary type of structure.
Lauryn Williams (she/her)
“Music Junkie”
Lauryn was born and raised in Long Island, NY. Music has always been more than just sound to her. It's a powerful force that shapes culture, connects people, and tells stories that words alone cannot. As a soon-to-be graduate of Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, where she is earning a B.S. in Information Systems, Lauryn has combined her analytical academic background with her deep passion for music and artist development to build a career in entertainment and has fun DJing on the side as another reason to just enjoy music and the positive affects it has on people and spaces. Beyond her course load, she truly loves working with people—mentoring, building relationships, and helping others grow. Lauryn grew up a trained ballet dancer and continues to foster her love for the art form through performance, instruction, and mentorship to children in her community.
Our Team
Caroline Potter Shriver, Co-Founder & Salon Director
Marc David Wright, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Dana Seach, Managing Director
David Kahawaii, Director of New Play Development
Elizabeth Kline, LA Producer
Riva Dhamala, Creative Consultant & UX Designer
Annabel Hope, Creative Consultant
James Kenna, Creative Consultant
Kristine Feng, Marketing Intern
Special Thanks
Judson Memorial Church
Artistic Pizza
Hiatus Tequila
Other Half Brewing Co.
Ana Sophia Colón
Patrick Davis
Paul DuBois
Emily Frantz
Arriella Guidubaldi
Mary Healy
Olivia Mermagen
Jesse Montagna
Patrick Schwartz
Kayce Wilson
Aaron Zimmerman