Meet The Artists

Create Community: Spaces for Discovery

Jeremy Barnett

Jeremy Barnett is an installation artist and scenic designer who works in a variety of media and frequently uses common construction materials and bright colors that have been arranged to engage space in joyful bursts of energy.  Jeremy’s public art pieces invoke a sense of playfulness and invite viewers to become a part of the sculpture.  Jeremy’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University (BFA) and Boston University (MFA) are in Scenic Design; he has designed sets for over 200 opera, dance and theatre productions.  Jeremy began his work in public art in has created public art in 2015, and has created pieces in venues across Michigan and New England, and has held residencies at the Tengenenge Art Gallery in Guruve, Zimbabwe, the ComPueng Gallery in Doi Saket, Thailand, and at Art-N-Ground in the Cuevas Del Rodeo Art Village in Rojales, Spain.  Jeremy teaches Theatre Arts at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.

Jason Maracani

Jason is a New York based Installation Artist, Teacher, and Theatrical Production Designer. Jason’s artwork, often created in outdoor public spaces, uses bold colors, graphic shapes, and tactile textures to create immersive, imaginative, and interactive environments.  He currently serves as Theatre Design and Production Faculty at Columbia Preparatory Division in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.  Jason has created and exhibited work throughout the Midwest and North East, and he has held residencies at Listhus Artspace in Olafsfjordur, Iceland, The Merz Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland, and Art-N-Ground in the Cuevas Del Rodeo Art Village in Rojales, Spain.  He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Design from Oakland University.  In his free time, Jason enjoys hiking and exploring new places. You can check out his work at his website below or follow him on instagram.

Global Travels, Creative Projects, and Playful Spaces

Jason spent a summer doing experiments in the rhythmic shapes in the landscape outside of Olafsfjordur, Iceland and in the intersection of urban landscape and fragility in Detroit. Jeremy explored the shapes of the landscape on the Atlantic Coast of Massachusetts and created sculptures in bamboo, eucalyptus and fire in Doi Saket, Thailand. Together they created sculptures in light in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore and in the forests at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Jason and Jeremy spent a month living in a cave house in the Cuevas Del Rodeo Artist Community in Rojales, Spain, where they used natural river cane to create a circular portal to highlight the sun setting over the Sierra Segura. Their experiments continue in their on-going Sketches series, where they create pop-up installations out of brightly painted sticks of lumber. These sculptures are created with minimal preparation and are built improvisationally in response to the landscape. They are designed to be completed in a matter of hours, enjoyed for the day, and then removed the next morning.

Jeremy and Jason’s process centers around walking in a landscape and asking, “what is the energy here? What makes this sparkle with joy? What can we do to draw attention to this environment?” Jeremy and Jason are committed to the idea of creating art that draws attention to the beauty and vibrancy of community spaces.

Associate Artists

Scotty Jacobs

Scotty Jacobs

2022 Artist in Residence, Scotty Jacobs, has worked with Jeremy + Jason on Spaces for Discovery since it was a day dream in their eyes. Scotty has been hands-on (literally) with the community gardens, exhibition mapping, and growth mindset.

Matt Flick

Matthew J. Fick (Artist Assistant) is a scenic and lighting designer in the New York Metro area. For the past 10 years he has been an adjunct professor of theatrical design at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. Over his more than 25 years working as a designer in the field he has had the opportunity to work with myriad of materials and techniques as each production is unique. His creative endeavors in the theatre have led to a variety of secondary and tertiary artistic interests. Assemblage projects, display and mounting of found objects, as well as scale miniature diorama. Most recently though, Matt has been focusing on the craft of blade and blacksmithing. He is the resident scenic designer and founding member of Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken, NJ.

Kevin MacLeod

SCA Facilities Manager + Technical Director

Cole Skowronski

Facilities + Event Management Intern

Sawyer Reynolds

Associate Installation Artist

Kevin Keller

Volunteer Extraordinaire
Professional Builder, Creative Engineer, Problem Solver

Michael Schmidt

Volunteer Extraordinaire

Keith Paterson

Exceptionally talented SCA volunteer. Keith is our handy, kind and curious engineer. Retired twelve years, Saugatuck local for seven. Lives across the street from the Art Center and is always willing to dive into anything and everything the SCA creatives dream up! Keith enjoys challenges, so this ambitious project is certainly in his wheelhouse!

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Darpel & Associates Builders

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