Michael Farrell (board vice president) is an accomplished still photographer, filmmaker, writer, assemblage artist & educator. Over 30 years he has had over a dozen one-person exhibitions & participated in numerous group and invitational shows. He is co-founder of the Platte Basin Timelapse project. He is a 51-year veteran of public media in production & management of documentaries & programs about the culture, history & environment of Nebraska and the Great Plains for Nebraska Public Television (now NPM).
Degrees: M.S., Illinois Institute of Technology, Visual Communications (Filmmaking); A.B., Fine Arts (Graphic Design & Photography, Art History), Indiana University (studied w/ Henry Holmes Smith). In 2022 he founded WallSpace-LNK as a new model for a visual arts exhibition and gallery process that puts the artist in charge and bypasses the commercial practices which stand between an artist and their audiences.
Lynne Ireland (board president) worked as folk arts coordinator, curator, public information officer, grants writer, director of museums & sites & deputy director for the Nebraska State Historical Society. She taught museum studies at UNL & co-authored a museum administration textbook now in second edition. She served on the National Museum & Library Services Board and chaired the American Association for State & Local History's Council. She continues on the Nebraska Museums Association Board, working with staff & volunteers at smaller organizations. Current board service at Open Harvest Co-op Grocery is expanding her connections with Lincoln's immigrant and under-served communities.
Degrees: M.A., American Folk Culture, Cooperstown Graduate Program; B.A., French, Nebraska Wesleyan. Communications manager for Wall-Space-LNK, she now serves as board president. She has written a weekly cooking column for the Lincoln Journal Star for 26 years.
Patricia Birch, (board treasurer) AIA, LEED AP, worked nearly four decades translating people's dreams into spaces where they can work, live, & learn. Retired as Senior Architect at Schemmer, she serves on Lincoln Rotary Foundation board; past service on Lux Center for the Arts & Rotary 14 boards & Lincoln City Building Task Force. She taught at UNL College of Architecture, from which she graduated & is an accreditation reviewer for architectural degree programs. She has mentored women in architecture & expanded their opportunities through Nebraska AIA & Habitat for Humanity. She is a Master Gardener.
Craig Roper, worked 20+ years as the business manager and partner for Sydney Lynch Jewelry Studio in Lincoln, NE. Designing, manufacturing, and marketing handmade art jewelry via wholesale, retail, and online markets across the United States. Craig is a long-time multi-media artist with solo shows in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, Omaha, and Maastricht and numerous group shows and grants. He has also curated several exhibitions In Lincoln and Omaha, and was the creator/director of ProjectRoom Gallery(2008-2012). He is retired from adulthood and currently serves as board treasurer for the non-profit Live Yes Studios, a studio space for 30+ developmentally disabled adult artists in Lincoln.
Craig holds a BFA (1980) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and an MFA (1996) from the same.