Participants

Photo of a smiling blonde woman wearing a blue shirt and turquoise scarf.
Emily Beck is the assistant curator of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota. She received her PhD in the History of Medicine from the University of Minnesota, where she worked on the history of early modern Italian lay medical practice via manuscript medical recipe books. Her research, teaching, and outreach activities at the Wangensteen are broad, including histories of anatomy, scientific illustrations, recipes, and material culture.

Photo of a smiling bearded man with long curly brown hair wearing blue coveralls and a red scarf around his neck.
Bentley Gillman is head distiller at Tattersall Distilling Company. He previously worked throughout the Twin Cities in the bar and restaurant industry, but his true passion is researching and working with local and exotic ingredients acquired by foraging throughout the woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin. A self-proclaimed fermentation junky, he drives the production, research, and development of Tattersall spirits. Gillman earned degrees in philosophy and religious studies at the University of Minnesota.

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Jon Kreidler is co-founder and chief officer at Tattersall Distilling Company. He spent the first fifteen years in Chicago and Minneapolis working in finance, analyzing and investing in businesses at hedge funds and executing mergers and acquisitions at a local investment bank. Kreidler received an MBA with distinction from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a focus on finance and entrepreneurial studies.

Photo of a smiling woman with dark curly hair wearing a yellow sweater and a beige scarf against a dark starry background.
Nicole LaBouff is associate curator of textiles at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and worked previously in the Department of Costume and Textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She received her PhD in history from the University of California, Irvine. Her research deals with the intersection of art, science, and women’s domestic work in early modern Europe, with interests spanning needlework, botany, and distilling.

photo of a smiling bearded man with short brown hair, wearing an orange plaid shirt looking off camera.
Dan Oskey is co-founder and chief operator at Tattersall Distilling Company. Oskey spent his early career in the service industry on the East Coast and throughout the Twin Cities. He has been named “Top Bartender” in Minnesota multiple times, having previously worked for the Blue Plate Company, The Strip Club Meat & Fish, and Hola Arepa. Oskey is a founding member of Joia Sodas & Spirits, as well as Easy & Oskey Bitters.



Alex Bortolot is Content Strategist at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, where he develops exhibition, publication, and digital projects about Mia’s collection. He received a PhD in Art History from Columbia University and a BA in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University.

Kjell Olsen is a technologist at heart (and at the Minneapolis Institute of Art). When he isn’t helping spread delight into the world through art and music he might be riding his bike.

Diane Richard is a writer/editor at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She earned her BA at Smith College, in English and art history, and a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She also works as a radio journalist, with a specialty in documentary, but is never too busy to refuse an offer of a bourbon Old Fashioned.

Ana Taylor is a photographer for the Minneapolis Institute of Art who uses curiosity as a tool to connect with and share visual stories of Mia and its community. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts following two years of study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Kristine Thayer is a senior designer at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She received her design education at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and holds a degree in Humanities from the University of Minnesota. Thayer started her design career at the Walker Art Center, and joined Mia in 2006. Manhattan straight up is her drink.