THEY DON’T GIVE A FUCK
ABOUT US
AARON SANDERS
Aaron Sanders is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, murals, sculpture, installation, literature, music production and community-based art projects. Working under the artist moniker Sovereign, Sanders draws from the visual language of global street art, blending influences from graffiti culture, contemporary fine art, and cultural history in his work.
Having originally studied oceanography at Hawaii Pacific University, Sanders later pursued studies in architecture, painting, and drawing, developing an interdisciplinary approach that bridges formal artistic practice and grassroots creative culture. His work has been shaped by extensive travel and artistic exchanges throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including residencies and collaborations in Sweden, Japan, Spain, California, and New York.
Sanders has exhibited and presented work internationally through gallery exhibitions, public art projects, and live painting events, including projects in Barcelona, Tokyo, Miami, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco. Notable exhibitions and collaborations include The World of Tomorrow at the Walt Disney Family Museum, Bewilder at Passion Projects LA, and the mural project System Error in Tokyo. His work has been supported by grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Black Rock Arts.
Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, he built LotusWorks Gallery, which from 2020-2023 served as a multidisciplinary arts space dedicated to fostering creative exchange, collaboration, and community engagement in Beacon NY.
SKYLA SCHRETER
Schreter’s dance work has been commissioned and presented by platforms including the Fire Island Dance Festival,Hudson Valley Dance Festival, Gold Coast Dance Festival, and The Hudson Eye. She is a two-time recipient of the New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award for Choreography, as well as the New York State DanceForce Emerging Choreographer’s Initiative Award, and both Arts MidHudson’s Individual Artist Award and Arts & Culture Grant. She has held artist residencies at Bethany Arts Community in Ossining, NY and Chapman Steamer Arts in Newburgh, NY.
Her 2019 short film “A Flower” was selected for inclusion in the Utah Dance Film Festival, Virtual Pathways Film Festival and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award in 2019.
Schreter served as an Adjunct Professor of Dance at Vassar College from 2021-2023, teaching and developing courses in ballet and choreographic practice. In addition to building Skyla Schreter Dance’s repertoire of original concert works and establishing the company’s voice within the broader dance field, she is deeply committed to bringing high-caliber dance to the Hudson Valley, particularly in Beacon, NY, where she lives and is an active participant in the local arts community. Her work in the region focuses on expanding access to professional performance, fostering local dialogue around contemporary dance, and contributing to a vibrant, inclusive cultural landscape.
As one half of two halves, she uses her movement language, dance expertise and somatic ideas as a foundation to explore interdisciplinary methods of creation across mediums and forms, in collaboration with Aaron, her partner in life and Art.
Skyla and Aaron are based in Beacon, NY - where they also own and operate a small business: LotusWorks Wellness.
Skyla Schreter is a choreographer, director, and professional ballet dancer whose work reimagines ballet as a vehicle for contemporary expression, experimentation, and interdisciplinary dialogue. As a former dancer with San Francisco Ballet, she performed works by many of the world’s leading choreographers and was part of the original casts of several new creations—an experience that deeply shaped her choreographic perspective and continues to inform her artistic vision.
As the founder and artistic director of Skyla Schreter Dance, she is recognized for her genre-fusing, collaborative approach to choreography, blending classical technique with improvisation, conceptual frameworks, and multimedia elements.