Feb. 6, 2026: Pedantic Winter 2026 Cohort Farewell Celebration

Melinda Laszczynski (she/her) was born in Pittsburgh, PA and grew up in Cleveland, OH, where she received her BFA in Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art. She received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Houston in 2015. Laszczynski was a resident in the 2016-2017 Lawndale Art Center Artist Studio Program, the Artists-in-Residence program at the Printing Museum in Houston, El Sur in Mexico City, and the Vermont Studio Center. Recently, her work has been exhibited at Pablo Cardoza Gallery, Galleri Urbane, and Foltz Fine Art. She currently lives in Houston with her husband and their three cats.

Erica Quinn (she/her) is the founder of River Quartz Collective, a strategic arts and community development consulting practice that helps organizations, municipalities, and creative communities design inclusive, sustainable, and place-based arts initiatives. She also produces Rhoneymeade Fest, an annual artist-run festival that unites local and global artists through immersive arts and music experiences. Previously, Quinn served as Executive Director of 3 Dots, a rural arts incubator fostering creative entrepreneurship and inclusive community engagement. Her artistic practice investigates the meaning of place, space, and memory through analog photography, moving image, poetry, and sound installation. Based in Lemont, PA, Quinn is often on the move, traveling across the state to explore and support grassroots arts and cultural projects.

huiyin zhou 徽音 (they/ta/她) is a writer, multidisciplinary artist and cultural worker who was born and raised in the industrial hub of Dongguan, China. Based in Durham, NC, they work with digital and analog photography, text, installation, and performance with a relational, reciprocal praxis. Creating with intimate and tender sensibilities, huiyin explores themes related to queer feminism, intimacy, memory, diaspora, and community building. huiyin co-founded and co-directs Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective离离草. They have been awarded fellowships and residencies at CulturePush, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Durham Art Guild, The Seventh Wave, and BRIClab: Contemporary Art. They’ve curated multiple community publications and has been published by positions: asia critique, The Seventh Wave, Scholar & Feminist Online, The Common, Tupelo Quarterly, Apogee, Irrelevant Press, Massachusetts Review, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Sine Theta Magazine, and unCoVer Initiative. huiyin received a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.