Please join artist and educator Jiemei Lin for a lecture exploring the role of visual storytelling in community building.

In this moment of political, economic, and social upheaval, how can art help us hold space for one another? Through a selection of her work, Lin will share how she utilizes visual language to engage audiences of all ages—and how her practice serves as a kind of bonfire, a gathering place for self-expression, storytelling, and exchange within the community.

Jiemei Lin is an artist and art professor who was born in Hangzhou, China, and is currently based in Pullman, WA. Lin works with digital and traditional media to create paintings, murals, and illustrations. Her works frequently take on themes of individual and cultural identity with a particular emphasis on design and color. Lin is an award-winning children’s book illustrator; her illustrated works represent and communicate with all audiences from underrepresented groups in her visual language. Lin has been designing and executing large-scale public murals in the Pacific and the Inland Northwest as a public artist. These murals function like vignettes or moments of stories, inviting the viewer into the scene to imagine possible narratives. She is the 2025 Smelser Vallion Visiting Artist at Oklahoma State University’s Doel Reed Center in Taos.

Doel Reed Center alumna and scholarship recipient, Lucy Emerho, took home the $1,000 grand prize for her submission to the Doel Reed Center’s 2025 t-shirt design contest.  A panel of judges reviewed over 25 entries before deciding that Emerho’s design best captured the spirit of the Doel Reed Center. Emerho, who studied in Taos in 2023, has recently begun her PhD program at OSU and reflects that “studying in such an inspiring environment sparked my creativity in ways I never expected.”  Look for Lucy’s t-shirts on campus and read her full interview here.