Show Notes
Ep.250 Valerie A. Francis is the Founding Director of Knowhere Art Gallery, an independent gallery based on Martha’s Vineyard dedicated to showcasing emerging and mid-career artists from diverse backgrounds. The gallery champions inclusive narratives and celebrates the cultural intersections that shape contemporary art today. With a career that bridges global technology innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in the arts, Valerie brings a rare and dynamic blend of strategy, creativity, and cultural insight to every endeavor she leads. Originally trained as an artist, Valerie earned a BFA in Fine Arts from Hunter College CUNY and later an MBA from Rutgers University, specializing in Marketing. Her professional journey took a transformative turn when she entered the world of global healthcare technology at Sanofi, where she rose to serve as a Technology Head leading digital strategy and analytics for teams across North America, Latin America, and Asia. Immersed in a melting pot of cultures and perspectives, she thrived on the diversity and camaraderie forged across continents. Valerie’s unwavering commitment to her artistic roots led her to co-found Knowhere Art Gallery in 2019 — a haven where creativity flourishes and artists find their voice. Since its inception, the gallery has achieved remarkable success, becoming a destination for collectors and cultural leaders alike. Under her curatorial direction, Knowhere has presented more than twenty-five exhibitions and introduced the work of over thirty artists. Signature moments include its participation in SCOPE Art Fair (2021–2023) and an acclaimed presentation during the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with A Common Thread That Binds Us. As a board member of Artists for Humanity in Boston, Valerie has further committed her passion to action, supporting youth empowerment through creativity and entrepreneurship. She is also dedicated to mentoring artists, cultivating private and corporate art collections, and building institutional collaborations that elevate voices from across the art world. Valerie often describes the founding of Knowhere—conceived on Martha’s Vineyard, where she met her partner—as “the nexus of Knowhere,” a place where art, identity, and knowledge converge. Through her work, she continues to sow the seeds of cultural legacy and foster environments where art becomes a catalyst for discovery, connection, and transformation.
Website https://knowhereart.com/ 1-54 2025 NYC https://www.1-54.com/new-york/exhibitor-list/knowhere-art-gallery/ artcloud https://artcloud.market/show/knowhere-art-llc-women-rising MV Arts & Ideas https://www.mvartsandideas.com/2024/07/the-road-to-enlightenment-starts-at-knowhere/ Vineyard Gazette https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2024/05/05/knowhere-gallery-showcased-venice-biennale Vineyard Visitor https://vineyardvisitor.com/2024/08/08/art-in-oak-bluffs/knowhere-gallery/ Martha’s Vineyard Times https://hype.co/@themarthasvineyardtimes/2z7j289w | https://www.mvtimes.com/2024/06/12/meets-eye-knowhere-art-cousen-rose-galleries/ Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas https://www.mvartsandideas.com/2024/07/the-road-to-enlightenment-starts-at-knowhere/ Artsy https://www.artsy.net/partner/knowhere-art
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Ep.282 Jeanne Barral is a curator at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, in Paris, France. She has curated several exhibitions, such as Fabrice Hyber's "La Vallée" at the Fondation Cartier in 2022 and in 2025 at the PSA in Shanghai, and « The Harvest Season » in 2026 in the new building of the Fondation in Paris. Prior to that, as an artist liaison at gallery Mennour in Paris, she has organized solo shows of Ann Veronica Janssens, Huang Yong Ping, Petrit Halilaj, and Bertrand Lavier, while while fostering their artistic development.
Ep. 281 Anina Major (b. 1981, Nassau, Bahamas; lives and works in Upstate New York) holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including being a 2026 USA Fellow, finalist in the 2025 Loewe Craft Prize, winner of The Armory Show Pommery Prize 2024, The Future Perfect Prize 2024, the 2023 Joan Mitchell Fellowship and an artist residency at EKWC, the European Ceramic Workcentre. Major's work has been exhibited throughout The Bahamas, Europe, and the United States, and is on permanent display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of The Bahamas; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Carnegie Museum of Art; the RISD Museum; Pérez Art Museum Miami; and the Detroit Institute of Arts, among others. Photo by Melissa Alcena
Ep.280 Jiab Prachakul (b. 1979) is a figurative painter who lives and works in Vannes, Brittany, France. Known for her luminous autobiographical paintings, Prachakul portrays her community and surroundings in quiet scenes shaped by close observation and restraint. Prachakul was born and raised in Nakhon Phanom, a small town in northeast Thailand. She studied film and journalism at Thammasat University in Bangkok and worked as a casting coordinator for Big Blue Production, where she spent her time observing people and discovering talent. In 2007, she moved to London and taught herself to paint after seeing an exhibition of David Hockney’s work at the National Portrait Gallery. She subsequently lived in Berlin, where she met many of the figures who populate her paintings. There, she turned her focus to representing the Asian diaspora, seeking to amend a lack in the Western canon. In 2020, Prachakul won the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London. She has had solo exhibitions at The Contemporary Austin (2025), Timothy Taylor, New York (2023), and Friends Indeed Gallery, San Francisco (2023, 2021); and her work belongs in the collections of the Roberts Institute of Art, London; the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
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