2025/26 Board

President: Amena Butler

Art Committee

Amena Butler is Contemporary Mixed Media Artist and Contemporary Historian based in Oklahoma City. Amena grew up overseas in a Military family. She learned early on the value that art can bring to someone’s life. Amena started learning Asian Arts & Crafts at a young age, including Traditional Printmaking. She has a degree in History and a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies. “Art tells the history of a people, the story of a civilization, and is essential to improving the quality of life”.

“I also understand that shifting the perceived traditional narrative on racial and cultural diversity is not always appreciated or recognized. Embracing differences and acknowledging various perspectives is key to decolonizing the mind and achieving equity and accessibility in institutions.”

Amena enjoys working with different mediums and techniques to convey a feeling and visual language in her art. “Color has an impact on our sense of well-being, which is instantly recognized by our subconscious”.

She is a member of and currently serves on the board of the Edmond Art Association, Inclusion In Art, and Owens Art Place Museum. Amena is a member of and serves on the committee of ICOM-International Council of Museums, UMAC-University Museums and Collections, American Association of Museums & Galleries, and Oklahoma Archives Association.

Amena’s works are in private and public collections, including the National Collage Society, the Melton Art Reference Library, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, Cedar Hills Dallas Community Center, University of Central Oklahoma, Langston/OKC University, and Edmond City Offices.

Treasurer: Nick Lillard

Development Committee

Nick Lillard is an artist who began focusing on art early in life, initially being self-taught as a left-handed, only child. His passion for art led him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in studio arts from the University of Oklahoma in his hometown of Norman. During his studies, Nick’s artistic journey took a transformative turn as he increasingly delved into experimental art. Currently, Nick combines a selection of traditional processes, such as the study of the figure, with what he learned from exploring unconventional subject matter, aesthetics, and materials.

While continuing to push the boundaries of his creativity, Lillard embarked on a unique path by conjuring interactive, mechanical, and electrified objects. He actively engages in collaborative, site-specific installations, while working with technical experts and engineers, which continues to expand his knowledge base and abilities in an organic fashion. Alongside these endeavors, Nick also wrote and illustrated a graphic novel, consistently painted as well as continued with his original passion, drawing. As of the last decade, Nick has almost solely focused on crafting sculptures that reflect the diverse range of his pursuits.

Lillard’s artworks embody the amalgamation of his experiences, yet his efforts do not end with his own career goals. Nick has a vested interest in other creatives and often assists them to find opportunities which showcase their talents. He does so by serving his community in a variety of ways, such as volunteering for leadership roles with non-profit organizations that he believes in and by continuing his role as Executive Director of Creaturealm Oklahoma, which is one of Oklahoma’s few independent, collaborative art groups. 

Maria Anderson

Marketing and Development Committee

Maria Anderson received her B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Asian Studies at the University of
Oklahoma. She holds a certificate in Computer Aided Drafting and Design from Moore Norman
Technology Center and a certificate in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She
has been accepted into the M.F.A. program at SAIC and will begin studies in June 2025. Maria is a
professional visual artist and works in radar engineering part-time.
Maria has a passion for serving her community. While working with Variety Care and the Kirkpatrick
Family Fund as an Americorps VISTA member, she established Variety Care’s Teen Clinic to lower
teenage pregnancy rates in Oklahoma City. The program has been running since 2011. She has served as
a board member for Americorps Red River Community Corps and currently serves on Moore Norman
Technology Center’s CADD Advisory Board. She is excited to work with IIA to educate and promote
visual artists of color.

Leticia Bajuyo

Communications Committee

From a small, rural town on the border of Illinois and Kentucky, Leticia Bajuyo began creating art in Metropolis long before realizing what she was tinkering with could be called art. A Filipinx-American interdisciplinary artist and object maker, she creates drawings, sculptures, installations, and public art that highlight crafted materiality, collected stories, and community engagement. Her interest in unpacking value perceptions finds its roots the time and space of quiet landscapes outside and the multi-national dialogues inside her family’s house influenced the development of her critiques of consumer capitalism, fickle domestic desires, and internalized pressures of assimilation.

Currently based in Norman, Oklahoma, Bajuyo is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Oklahoma. She has an MFA from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and a BFA from the University of Notre Dame. In addition to exhibitions of her individual artworks, Bajuyo seeks community and welcomes collaboration by participating in artist collectives including the Filipinx Artists of Houston, Land Report Collective, and Project Vortex as well as serving on Boards of Directors for Public Art Dialogue, the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, and Inclusion in Art in Oklahoma.  

Marlon Ladd

Marketing and Development Committee

Marlon Ladd is known for being on the hit show, Tulsa King and in the Lionsgate film, Ghoster. He is an award-winning filmmaker, content creator and college professor at world renowned HBCU, Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. The son of a Black History and Geography professor (now deceased) and a former Minister and Social Justice Activist, Ladd grew up with big dreams. A talented high school athlete and state champion, Marlon Ladd earned basketball scholarships at the colleges he attended where he went on to earn an Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in English/Creative writing Cumme Laude. After graduation he became a state police officer and sniper for almost 9 years. In his law enforcement experience, he served hundreds of arrest and search warrants, and also conducted numerous high level wiretap investigations.

After law enforcement, his film career began to take off. Ladd is credited with producing, writing and directing the first feature film (Black Marshal: The Hunt for Dozier) about legendary African American lawman, Bass Reeves. After that, Ladd went on to write, produce, direct, act and edit more than 25 short films (including the award-winning Bass Reeves film and Tulsa 1921) and 6 features. He was recently honored to receive The Trailblazer Award from the 3 Rivers Museum in Oklahoma and is slated to release 3 films in 2024.