Trans Joy for the Holiday | Queerhaven Art Collective

Trans Joy is revolutionary joy. It's the euphoria we feel when we step into our most authentic selves. It's our power to keep going, even in a world that says we can't have joy, or don't deserve it. It's even our delight in small moments, like buying groceries or watching our children grow up. Trans Joy is many things. But most importantly, it is ours.

Please join Queerhaven Art Collective for a multi-media art experience exploring the many facets of trans joy. QAC was originally started so that queer artists could share resources and afford the costs of participating in art shows. It is in this spirit of solidarity that we bring our message of joy during the holiday season. Our love and support for one another shines brighter than disinformation and hate.

Queerhaven Art Collective Artists:

Andrea Alice (they/them) - I was raised on a 50-acre patch of Montana countryside, where my dad worked as a professional artist, and my mom was his studio manager. Growing up, my twin sister and I rode horses, bottle fed lambs, befriended stray cats, and raised box turtles. In 2021, I welcomed a little one of my own into the world! As a nonbinary artist and queer mom, I want my work to show young people that anyone can be anything. Imagination is a powerful first step in creating the world we want to see. Together, let’s color our communities into the fair, just, and joyful places we know they can be.

Q Panas (they/them) As a fiber artist for 30+ years I enjoy the act of exploring what is possible in each type of fiber craft. I love experimenting with textures, colors and geometries, infusing my art with a unique style of nerdiness, activism, and pride in my identity. I frequently use my art to process the world around me and my journey towards becoming myself. 

Samael Leopold-Sullivan (they/them) creates visceral creatures in dialogue with industrial spaces, deepening self-understanding and reflection within the viewer.  They graduated Cum Laude from Macalester College in 2014 with a B.A. in Studio Art and Environmental Studies and completed an M.F.A. in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies at Alfred University in 2019.  Leopold-Sullivan has outdoor sculpture installed at Salem Art Works and Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum, and their work is carried at the numerous local galleries.  Currently Leopold-Sullivan is a teaching artist at Chicago Ave Fire Arts Center.

Hadar Isra aka Hijabi Punani (they/them) is a multidisciplinary fine artist with a tendency to lean into vulnerability, intimacy, and violence. They have a strict focus on access to art. They source materials to make art accessible, noticing that most fine artists cannot afford to buy their own work. Under their circus tent you will find yourself immersed in a world known as "birds 2 the movie" embrace the feeling that something is wrong or funny as you venture into Birds, because something is definitely wrong. 

Rainbow Robbins (they/them/elle) -  I am an omnisexual, transgender, nonbinary, and androgyne visual artist. I make acrylic painting, digital art, and colored pencil drawings about animals in a surrealistic way with bold, bright colors. I have a strong connection with animals and always prefer the company of an animal to people. I am currently earning a BA in art at the university of Minnesota Twin Cities. I also have a degree in biology from the university of Minnesota Crookston campus and hope to someday combine my passions for science and art by painting murals for museums and domestic residences.