Artifice

My culinary passion started at a young age. Growing up, I would help my mother make wedding cakes in her spare time and make caramels, brownies, and more with my dad. I developed a love for pastries- the balancing of flavors, the chemistry behind it, the look, the flavor combinations, and of course the taste!

I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since graduating high school, I attended The French Pastry School in Chicago Illinois, where I studied under world-renown french chefs. We learned all aspects of the pastry world: tarts, ice cream, sorbets, breakfast pastries, breads, petit fours, sugar and chocolate candies, chocolate & sugar sculpting, cakes, and more.

My passion for veganism developed shortly after graduating my prestigious school. I started converting, switching recipes, and through (a lot) of trial and error, I was finished perfecting these traditional french pastries to become deliciously vegan without jeopardizing the taste and quality.

Having a relationship with food is an important part in my development of recipes. I want each thing you taste to balance out the next and to compliment one another on your pallet perfectly.

In 2011, I moved to Hawai'i, there I received a job at a high end cake shop as a wedding/specialty cake decorator. I was able to learn traditional and new methods of decorating and have now applied these as well to my products.

https://www.passionflourslc.com/

Sarah Czaplewski was born in Omaha Nebraska, and grew up in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb of Omaha. She started singing and taking voice lessons as a child (kind of had to since mom, grandma, uncle and aunt were all singers). During high school Sarah was in soccer (not really anything to write home about with the soccer skills, but decent to be on varsity), show choir, jazz choir, and musicals. She started singing with cover bands in Omaha around 18 and then, in college at Lincoln University. Go Skers'! She starred in music performance, but somehow ended up with a special education and early childhood degree. Sarah played with a few bands for several years while teaching kindergarten, bartending and singing at weddings, and all kinds of events. In 2014 Sarah moved to Denver Colorado to be a part of Diamond Empire Band. Sarah has played in hundreds of venues spanning across Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. She currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska and travels regularly singing with Diamond Empire Band. She is a Manager /Producer for Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri Diamond Empire crews. Sarah is still in the service industry as well. :) She owns a food truck with her partner, Preston. You can find her booking bands, singing, or on that Food Truck, Nocturnal Eats!

https://www.instagram.com/nocturnaleatsfoodtruck/

https://www.instagram.com/sarahczap/

Ross Hagen is an Associate Professor of Music Studies at Utah Valley University, focusing on musicology and ethnomusicology. He has been at UVU since 2010 and received his Ph.D. and M.M. in Musicology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and his B.A. at Davidson College.

Dr. Hagen’s research interests include underground music scenes, black metal music, medievalism, and avant-garde music. Recent publications include the edited volume Medievalism and Metal Music Studies: Throwing Down the Gauntlet (2019) and a book on Darkthrone's 1992 album A Blaze in the Northern Sky for Bloomsbury's 33.3 book series (2020). Hagen is also an Assistant Editor for the academic journal Metal Music Studies. Current research projects include a book on ritual music in modern heathen spiritualities along with book chapters involving weird fiction, John Cage, and black metal in the Mountain West.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Hagen has been active as a performer and composer since the late 1990s, specializing in extreme metal and various shades of abrasive electronic music. Currently he plays bass and “sings” in the SLC death metal trio Monstrology.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/darkthrones-a-blaze-in-the-northern-sky-9781501354328/

https://monstrology.bandcamp.com/

Drew Nichols, at age 4, received a police escort home while selling handmade puppets door-to-door. He later studied music composition at Arizona State, toured with ALW’s The Wizard of Oz, and worked for Weisersound as a keyboard programming assistant for Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Blvd, Les Mis, Cats, Miss Saigon, School of Rock, and NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live. Now, he's focused on integrating digital production/distribution and musical theatre development with the aim of democratizing, decentralizing, and expanding the industry. His show McCobb Mortality Services is streaming as an elaborate radio musical comedy on podcast platforms—visit McCobbMusical.com.

FinFolk Productions was founded by twin sisters Abby & Bryn Roberts in 2012 and specializes exclusively in realistic, fully swimmable mermaid tails and accessories. From the Lakes of Minnesota, to the beaches of Hawaii, and now to the mountains of North Carolina, the studio location has changed over the years and expanded to a small team of 8 but our commitment to quality, hand crafted art is unwavering. Finfolk Productions is well established within the mermaid performance community, and have provided countless tails for clients worldwide. Our tail making techniques are unique and exclusive to our company, and we can guarantee the highest quality tails on the market.

https://www.finfolk.com/

https://www.instagram.com/finfolkproductions/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@finfolk_productions

https://www.facebook.com/FinfolkProductions/

Mike Steinel is a jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer, arranger, and novelist. For forty years he taught jazz at the collegiate level, most notably at the University of North Texas (32 years). He has performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia; recorded with the Frank Mantooth Orchestra, the Mike Waldrop Band, the Chicago Jazz Quintet; and performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, Don Ellis, Bill Evans, Zoot Sims, Jerry Bergonzi, and others. His most recent releases are: “Song and Dance,” (Origin Records 2018) and “Saving Charlie Parker” (Rosewood Audio 2022). The latter is a companion piece with a novel of the same name.

Links:

https://www.mikesteinel.com

http://www.savingcharlieparker.com

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1eBkg9uqWP02WvQTJ5mPQ

Artist, photographer, dancer, performer. Married to a supportive husband and mother of 1. Somer started her profession as a photographer back in 2004. Shortly after, she fell in love with a new sport of pole. Her passion for dancing and performing has led her to open her own studio and just recently she got to perform at The Snoop Dogg concert at the Usana Amphitheater. Need creative photography or private pole lessons? Feel free to reach out.

www.somerahonen.com

www.polerscove.com

Jordan Clark is a musician, songwriter, music engineer, and producer with extensive experience in writing, performing, and recording musical works. As a musician, he has performed with a number of musical groups, including Vanladylove (named "#1 Artist on the Verge" at the 2014 New Music Seminar), and has worked diligently as a solo artist. Jordan graduated from Utah Valley University and attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Gilbert, AZ. As an engineer, Jordan interned at Entourage Studios in North Hollywood, CA, worked for a short time at New Monkey Studio in Van Nuys, CA, and worked at Willamette Mountain Studio in American Fork, UT.

Music producer, mastering engineer @rigbyroadstudios

@thebandmowth

Solo music @nonahnevermusic

www.rigbyroadstudios.com

The Fresh King Benjamin is a Utah-based comic who has headlined such prestigious events as The Sunstone Symposium and Wyoming Equality’s Annual Rendezvous. He grew up on a Mormon polygamist compound in Wyoming before escaping to the vast and wicked metropolis of Salt Lake City at the tender age of 20. Since then he’s been slowly figuring out how to prosper in the heathen lands while being wildly distracted by all the exposed elbows. Ben is a mildly popular TikToker @thefreshkingbenjamin, where he shares his unique perspective on the modern world.

https://www.thefreshkingbenjamin.com/

Daria Fedorova / Dasha Plesen is a multidisciplinary artist and photographer, based in Moscow. She's developing a unique methodology which allows her to capture the Universal Microbiome, and metaphorically visualize the Nothing.

Experimenting with natural phenomena, decay processes and life and death cycles, she creates very extraterrestrial micro landscapes, full of colour and life.

instagram.com/dashaplesen

Behance.net/daria_ova

Dashaplesen.com