Professor Srey Bandaul
Visual Artist, Co-founder
Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA)
Cambodia

Born in 1973 in Battambang Province, Cambodia, Srey Bandaul studied with the French artist Veronique Decrop from 1987 until 1991 in an art school, which she founded in refugee camp (Site two), Phare is the name of the association and also the school name that she founded at Thai border, the school is not a professional art school but more on therapy and melted students study in the huts and some time under the shadow of trees, The school moved to Battambang in 1994 after the peace agreement in Paris to stop the civil war in Cambodia in the year 1991.

In between year 1991 to 1993 Bandaul works and study at the soldier hospital in Phnom Penh and from 1994 with supported by his teacher Veronique Decrop and his 8 friends who is the formers arts students from Site Two, have found the art association Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA) a community-based, visual arts, apply art and performing arts school that provides educational and social support based in Battambang Cambodia with the mission to providing the good quality of arts vocational training, community contribution in safe environment with the vision PPSA Strongly believe in artistic power can change people and give the value on new creative and collaboration in professionalism.

Since 1994 Bandaul is a visual artist, arts teacher, and co-founder of (PPSA) Bandaul has extensively exhibited his works locally and internationally including Norway, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, New York, London, Istanbul, and Myanmar. He also has published two books: Looking at Angkor and The Land of the Elephants and 20 books illustration for wildlife. Moreover, Bandaul is now working on a memoir based on his life as a child refugee and advocated to the social un-justice through his arts.

Professor Shiro Matsui
Department of Sculpture
Kyoto City University
Japan

Shiro Matsui is an international artist and educator who was born in 1960 in Nara, Japan.

Since his first solo exhibition in 1983, he has employed a diverse range of materials and techniques to capture his unique sense of humor and intellect. His projects play with our polarized ideas of interior versus exterior, what it means to be here, rather than there, and how space can be both full and empty at the same time. He invites visitors to directly experience his “spatial inversions” visually, and even to explore them physically.

Shiro Matsui has taught in the sculpture department at Kyoto City University of Arts (KCUA) since 1995, and in 1996 became involved in a joint research project between the university and the Japanese and American space agencies, JAXA and NASA. His first project “Dewy’s forest” in 2009, involved growing an ornate floating garden in zero gravity, and this was followed by his “Message in Bottle” missions in 2011 and 2013, carried out with the help of JAXA and NASA astronauts.

Professor Raymond Yap
Fine Art lecturer
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
Singapore

Raymond Yap (b.1966) completed his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in fine art at the Wimbledon School of Art and Royal Academy of Art Schools. He was awarded several major prizes and scholarships. He is interested in the nature of paint and painting, and the potential of gloss paint as a medium for fine art. He continues to explore and experiment, balancing control and serendipity to achieve work that is unusual and unique. A Fine Art lecturer at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore since 2008, he is still actively participating in exhibitions and conferences, and was recently invited to be a part of the Royal Initiative Project, held at the Bangkok Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre.

Ms. Sarah Laura Nesti Willard
Instructor of Fine Arts
United Arab Emirates University
United Arab Emirates

Ms. Sarah Laura Nesti Willard is a specialist in Animation and Illustration from Kingston University, UK. She was granted a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art of London, where she obtained a Master in Visual Communication in 2004. She initially worked as a free-lance illustrator in the United Kingdom and thereafter moved to Spain where she gained expertise as a Muralist Artist. She received commissions in Spain and Italy where she was also invited to exhibit and sell her work in different galleries. In 2009, she undertook a postgraduate course in education. Since then, Sarah has been working full time as an art educator in higher education. In 2014, she moved to the UAE, where she was approached by IAT/ADVETI schools administration to devise a curriculum for Creative Design. One year later she was asked to develop the curriculum and instructional guide book for Digital Animation (Blender). In 2017 Sarah joined the United Arab Emirates University, where she teaches Painting, Design, Animation, Art History and Art Criticism. She continues to illustrate and create artwork for different patronages.

Dr James Moy
Dean
College of The Arts
University of South Florida
United States of America

James Moy, PhD, is dean of the College of The Arts at the University of South Florida. A graduate of the University of Illinois – Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in art and a master’s degree in theatre, Dean Moy earned his PhD in cultural studies at the University of Illinois – Urbana. Prior to his tenure at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Dr Moy was dean and professor in the Faculty of Art at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and earlier served as dean and chair professor with the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. He also served as dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico, and chair & professor in the Department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison. Dr Moy has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, and the University of Oregon.