Skip to content

2026 Festival Jurors

Back

Introduction

The Tephra ICA Arts Festival is a highly selective fine art and fine craft outdoor exhibition. Each year, three top visual arts leaders, artists, and practitioners are identified as jurors to allow a thoughtful and critically engaged review process. Each application will be digitally reviewed by jurors and they will select the most accomplished artists within ten categories from around the nation to present their works at the Festival. The jurors will attend the Festival and will award the top ten artists to be announced at the Festival Cocktail Hour. Learn more about the 2024 jurors below.

Image of juror

Lauren Davidson

Dr. Lauren Davidson is an independent art curator and founder of Museum Nectar Art Consultancy, a practice dedicated to African Diasporic art and to elevating emerging and mid-career artists. Her curatorial work centers on fostering meaningful dialogue around the breadth and complexity of the Black experience through contemporary art.

Davidson has curated a range of noteworthy exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed Solace & Sisterhood, presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (2024) and the University of Maryland’s David C. Driskell Center (2025), featuring artists Evita Tezeno, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Lavett Ballard. Additional projects include [IR]REVERENT at the DC Arts Center (2025), Chosen Family at the Brentwood Arts Center (2024) and joint exhibitions The Ties That Bind and Zero Dollar Bill: The Prints of Imar Lyman at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington, D.C (2022).

Alongside her curatorial work, Davidson leads a successful art advisory practice, assisting both private and corporate clients in acquiring exceptional artwork for their collections. She is an active member of the local arts community, collaborating with organizations including Tephra ICA, the IA&A at Hillyer Advisory Committee, and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

A multihyphenate academic, Davidson holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Florida. She has built a distinguished career in biomedical research over the past two decades and recently completed her Master of Arts in Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University in support of her curatorial endeavors.

Image of juror

Adam Grossi

Adam Grossi (b. 1980, Reston, VA) is a painter, writer, and teacher. His practice courts the creative impulse through a variety of experiments in embodiment, perception, and contemplation. Adam is based in the Northeastern Woodlands of the United States, in the homelands of the Piscataway and Manahoac people. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2003) and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2009). The third edition of his illustrated memoir Wind Through Quiet Tensions was published in 2025.

Image of juror

Tracy Kirkman

Tracy Kirkman is the Public Programming Director for the Waterford Foundation, where she has been a driving force in managing and growing the organization's signature educational and cultural events since joining in 2016. In her current role, Kirkman directly oversees the renowned annual Waterford Fair, now in its 81st year, and the Waterford Craft School. Kirkman holds a BS in Business Management with a minor in Hospitality Marketing from the University of Maryland. A dedicated Virginia resident since 2006, she resides on a small farm just outside the historic village of Waterford, underscoring a deep personal commitment to the local community and its cultural preservation efforts.

Back To Top