Meet the Creators

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Curator Precious Jones is a sophomore at the University of Memphis majoring in world languages and literature with a concentration in French. She was born and raised in Memphis, and her hobbies include reading and drawing. 

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Curator Preet Shah is a freshman at the University of Memphis majoring in business information technology. She is an international student from India, and her hobbies include trying new things and travelling. 

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Curator Avery Vanderbilt is a senior at the University of Memphis majoring in history. She was born in California but was raised in Memphis, and her hobbies include creating music and playing rugby.

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Curator Erica Vanhaute is a senior at the University of Memphis pursing a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and moved to Memphis in 2017. Her hobbies include making art and sewing. 

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Graphic Designer Alexis Coleman is a senior at the University of Memphis majoring in graphic design with a minor in art history. She was born and raised in Memphis, and her hobbies include photography and making art. 

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Graphic Designer Hannah Ewing is a junior at the University of Memphis majoring in communications and graphic design. Her hobbies include painting and volunteering.

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Mentor Kim Crowell

Kim Crowell (she/her/hers) is the Access & Inclusive Programs Manager at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, where she creates programming for and with individuals with disabilities and works across departments to make the museum more accessible in general. Crowell has a B.F.A. in Studio Art with a focus in drawing and painting, and she joined the Crystal Bridges team after earning a graduate degree in Museum Studies at the University of Florida in 2016. As a part of the student curated exhibition, Crowell has lectured about accessible exhibition design and worked with the student curators to ensure that the exhibition artwork is displayed in a way that is accessible to all guests.

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Mentor Whitney Hardy

Whitney Hardy is a Black serial entrepreneur, non-profit executive, and public speaker. She is the Chief Capacity Office of Epicenter and founder of 3RDSPACE which includes Young Collectors Contemporary and Memphis Art + Design Week.

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Mentor Yancy Villa

With a B.A., B.F.A., M.B.A., and as A 2020-22 Kennedy Center Citizenship Artists fellow, artist Yancy Villa-Calvo uses the power of art to celebrate unity, diversity, and inclusion. Her work appears in diverse forms and has been widely recognized. The creative process starts by questioning current systems and social dynamics. It encourages her to produce asset-based artwork that is aesthetically and emotionally powerful and that emphasizes dialogue, participation, and action. Her art form provides a platform to see that within our complex humanity there exists common ground and encourages civic engagement for the betterment of our shared space.

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Kristy Griffin

Kristy Kay Griffin is the Assistant Director at AMUM. Much like a cat, she has lived at least four of her nine professional lives with a background that includes media production, tourism and recreation management, anthropology, and museum collections management. She uses skills gained from each of these fields every single day at AMUM. She has a keen professional interest in ongoing efforts within the museum field to make collections more accessible to the public. Kristy enjoys hiking, kayaking, skiing, traveling, a good book, and coffee…lots and lots of coffee.

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Leslie Luebbers

Leslie Luebbers is director of AMUM and of U of M’s graduate museum studies program.   She holds MA’s in history and art history from Johns Hopkins and NYU and a PhD in 20th century art and architecture from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.  AMUM and teaching require most of her mental space—at least that has been true during the can’t-be-over-too-soon COVID era.  Prior to her long tenure at U of M, Luebbers lived and worked  in Baltimore, Chicago,  Oakland/San Francisco and New York, studying and working in nonprofit arts organizations and as an independent curator of international exhibitions for sites in North America, Europe, and Pacific rim countries.  She lives with a talented writer (husband) and a herd of beloved mutts acquired more-or-less unintentionally while avidly volunteering in pet rescue.

Meet the Creators