CBPA has had the good fortune over the past four years with their in-house student employees Jeremy Jennings and Keshon Johns. Starting as gallery attendants in their freshmen year, both gentlemen have been instrumental in mounting CBPA exhibitions, starting with 2009’s Pearl of the Snowlands: Buddhist Printing at the Derge Parkhang, and working on every exhibition since then up to this spring’s 2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition.

This spring they both completed undergraduate degrees: Jeremy in Arts Management and Audio Arts, and Keshon in Small Business Management with a minor in Marketing. Their plans moving forward are as inventive and entrepreneurial as one would expect from Columbia graduates.

Jeremy (pictured above with recent MFA graduate Jenna Rodriguez) is now in the planning stages of starting his music and voiceover recording studio in the Pilsen/Little Village area, aiming for a September 2013 grand opening. While he puts the pieces in place for his studio business, he is freelancing around the city as an audio engineer, theater house manager, and taking advantage of internship opportunities at the local TV news networks.

Keshon is busy at work assembling a fine art portfolio of his work in preparation to apply to graduate schools for an MFA in drawing and painting. He currently works at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and is researching the possibilities of an internship at the Arts and Public Life initiative at the University of Chicago, working with the installation and social practice fine artist Theaster Gates.

Both graduates have been valuable partners to the staff, faculty, and InterArts graduate students for the past four years. “It’s only been a short time, but already I miss them terribly,” says CBPA Curator Jessica Cochran. After being such a large part of the InterArts CBPA programming, it’s more than likely that both Keshon and Jeremy will be frequent visitors to their alma mater and the CBPA gallery.