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The Danforth School of Art faculty consists of part-time teaching artists who are dedicated to the creative process. Click on the instructor’s name to learn more about them.
Angela Ackerman
Angela Ackerman received a B.F.A. in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. She worked as a product designer at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri where she designed cards, gift wrap, books, and related products. Later, she started her own successful design firm which included clients such as The Washington Post, Psychology Today, Avon, The Family Therapy Networker and Random House. Angela’s images have appeared on numerous products, including calendars, mugs, ornaments, sweaters, gift bags, tea pots, music boxes, home decor, baby bedding, stamps, photo albums, fabric, and social expression products. In addition to her Danforth classes, Angela currently teaches Design at the McAuliffe Regional Charter Public School in Framingham, MA.
Andrea Alyse
Andrea is a nationally known bead artist and educator. In addition to teaching both nationally and locally, she has won numerous beading contests. Among these contests, most notably, is one sponsored by the country’s most popular bead magazine, Bead and Button Magazine. Andrea’s formal education includes a graduate M.B.A. from Babson College and an undergraduate degree in Business, as well as an undergraduate degree in Art. She has studied extensively under numerous nationally known bead artists. Andrea’s work can be seen in several galleries in the Boston area.
Adria Arch
Adria Arch is a painter whose work is represented in many corporate and private collections including the DeCordova Museum, Fidelity Corporation, the Boston Public Library, the Federal Bank of Boston, and Hale and Dorr, LLP. Adria has taught at venues in and around Boston including Montserrat College of Art, Endicott College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the DeCordova Museum of Art. She is also a Golden Acrylic Paint Working Artist. Adria recently completed a public wall installation at Lesley University. She will have a solo show at the Bromfield Gallery in October of 2011 and her work will be featured at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA, in 2013. www.adriaarch.com.
Ellie Bento
Ellie received her B.A. from Framingham State College where she majored in Painting and minored in Education and Economics. She has taught a wide variety of children’s classes at the Danforth Museum and other art centers in the Boston Area. Ellie is a working artist and creates and sells unique hand painted crafts from her home outside of Boston.
Carol Davis Blackwell
A Boston artist, Carol works in several mediums: printmaking, collage, painting, and box assemblage. Her work has been exhibited at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School, First Expressions Gallery, The Danforth Museum, Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute, Perkin’s Gallery, Brickbottom Studios, Heywood Gallery, Nave Gallery, DeCordova Museum School Gallery, Newton Library, Art 3 Gallery, Clark House Gallery, and at Ste Marie del Pi, in Barcelona, Spain.
Her work is in the collection of Massachusetts General Hospital, JCI Communications, Danforth Museum, the Elinor M. and Arthur Chovnick Collection, Metrowest Hospital Collection, Arax Corporation, and the Lydenberg Collection. Florida collector Darryl T. Clark owns paintings, boxes, and prints, as does Maine collector Linda Gordon. She is represented by ART 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH, and Clark House Gallery, in Bangor, ME. Most recently, the Boston Athenaeum acquired one of the paintings from her on-going series “Line/Mind,” as well as two other collage paintings. www.cblackwellart.com.
Wilber Blair
In sharing his varied experiences and passions for the visual arts, Wilber hopes to both encourage and challenge each student on their very individual journeys. After earning a B.F.A. in painting at Boston University in 1974, he continued his studies, earning an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Michigan in 1978. Working in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art retail stores, freelance commercial work, and a career in art and antique restoration are a few of Wilber’s experiences over the years. Painting and teaching are certainly his most rewarding work, though. He has taught at Montserrat College of Art since 2003 and the Danforth Museum School since 2006.
Julia Brucker
Originally from Minnesota, Julia studied Art History and German at Lawrence University, Wisconsin, and moved to Boston to earn her M.A. in Art History and Certificate in Museum Studies from Tufts University. She volunteered as a guide for the Tufts University Art Gallery and enjoyed sharing her love of art with visitors there. After graduation, Julia completed a six-month internship at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA, where she coordinated the Spring Family Matinee and developed future programming. She also gained an insider’s knowledge of Boston’s history as she evaluated exhibits and gave tours at two institutions on the Freedom Trail, the USS Constitution Museum and the Paul Revere House. Julia served as the Danforth's Education Coordinator and subsequently as Assistant Director of Interpretive Programs from 2007 - 2011. She is currently at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum where she is Manager of Tours and Visitor Learning Programs.
Catherine Carter
Catherine earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Lesley University, followed by a M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In addition to teaching watercolor and figure drawing at the Danforth Museum School, Catherine is an adjunct professor at Framingham State College and Pine Manor College. She also writes art reviews and a monthly series of artist profiles called “In the Studio” for the New Bedford Standard-Times.
Catherine has exhibited her paintings in solo shows at the Genovese/Sullivan Gallery in Boston, the Marran Gallery at Lesley University, and the Danforth Museum of Art as part of the New England Currents series. She has also participated in group shows at the New Bedford Art Museum, Bristol Community College, the Fuller Craft Museum, and the Chrysler Museum of Art, among others. She is the recipient of a grant from the St. Botolph Club Foundation. www.catherinecarterart.com.
Caroline Cockrill
Caroline received her B.F.A. in Ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art in 1967. Since then, besides marriage and two children, she has been building a studio, teaching and making pottery. Caroline works in a variety of materials from stoneware to porcelain, both slab and wheel work. She has taught at the Holliston after-school program and the Danforth Museum School. Caroline exhibits at local craft fairs and is a long time member of the Clever Hand Gallery co-op in Wellesley, MA. Besides painting on pots, she does watercolors, pastels and oils, and sells some of her paintings in galleries as well. www.cleverhandgallery.com.
Robert Collins
Bob received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Painting from Boston University. He began his career as an industrial and commercial designer and illustrator, and now paints and teaches full time. Bob has taught at Boston University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and the Brookline Art Center. In addition to the Danforth Museum School, he is an adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island College and is currently the anatomy instructor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bob has exhibited throughout New England at galleries including the Bernard Toale Gallery and the Bromfield Gallery in Boston, at the DeBloise Gallery in Newport, RI, and as a New England Currents artist at the Danforth Museum of Art. His work is included in many private and corporate collections including Hallmark Inc., Sears Roebuck & Co., and AMI/Verilyte Corporation. Bob was inducted into Who’s Who in America 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 for contributions in the areas of Painting and Industrial Design. www.robertcollinspaintings.com.
Jill Curtis
Jill earned her B.F.A. in Painting and Art History from Framingham State College. She has taught at various art institutions in the Boston area including the Worcester Art Museum, the Arlington Center for the Arts, and the Southborough Art Center. Currently, Jill teaches children’s classes and runs the Birthday Party Workshop Program for the Danforth Museum School. In her spare time Jill plays the banjo and paints.
Lynne Damianos
Lynne Damianos of Damianos Photography (www.damianosphotography.com) in Framingham, MA, specializes in architectural, product and people photography for business, with over 30 years experience in the field. She received her B.S. in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and has received numerous image awards from Kodak, Fujifilm, the Commercial Industrial Photographers of New England, the American Society of Media Photographers, and Professional Photographers of America. She teaches at Keefe Tech and Zeff Photo, and gives professional seminars throughout New England. Lynne is the author/photographer of The Bancroft Building – 100 Years of History and has recently developed a line of DigiGreyShop products (DigiGreyShop.com) to aid photographers and videographers in achieving accurate color/white balance.
Deborah Davidson
Deborah Davidson received her M.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and her B.A. from Binghamton University. She has taught widely in the Boston area, and currently is part of the core faculty for the MFA program at the Art Institute of Boston. She has worked extensively as an independent curator and was the curator of programs and exhibits for five years at the New Center for Arts and Culture. Deborah exhibits widely, most recently at GASP Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Jane Deering Gallery, William Scott Gallery, Tufts University Art Gallery, Art Complex Museum. Her work is in many private and public collections, including Yale University, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Houghton Library, Harvard University. www.deborahdavidson.net.
Leigh Faramarzpour
Leigh holds an M.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and an M.A. from Framingham State College. She has worked as a professional artist, fine artist and teacher for over 35 years. Her professional experience includes work in the commercial art field, directorships, and public and private commissions from portraits to wall murals. Her art work has been exhibited at the Danforth Museum of Art, DeCordova Museum, Concord Art Association, Jam Gallery on Newbury Street, The Boston Arts Festival, and in numerous exhibitions in Jamaica Plain, Brookline and MetroWest over the past 20 years. She has taught privately, at the Art Institute of Boston, and in the public schools of the MetroWest area in both art and special needs. The creation of original art curriculum and its importance to special needs populations have been of great importance to Leigh over her teaching career.
Nan Hass Feldman
Nan received her B.F.A. from SUNY at Buffalo and completed an M.A. in painting at Goddard College and an M.F.A. at Vermont College. She has taught at a variety of art institutions including the Worcester Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum, and the Danforth Museum of Art (which she helped found) as well as Framingham State College. For the past five years Nan has also taught painting in France, a source of inspiration for many of her recent landscapes. Nan works in a wide range of mediums such as painting, serigraphy, collography, and collage. Over the past thirty years she has had twenty-eight one or two-person shows, and received numerous awards on the national, state, and local levels. Nan’s work is represented in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Japan, and France. www.nanhassfeldman.com.
Howard Gerstein
Howard has been making art since childhood, and it continues to be a passion. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Cincinnati and has been working in clay since 1985. Howard currently teaches ceramics at Mudflat Studio, Boston University (since 1993), and the Danforth Museum. His work is included in the recently published Lark Book 500 Animals in Clay, and was chosen for the juried show “The State of Clay, 2007.”
Melanie Gillis
Melanie Gillis earned a B.F.A. in graphic design from Boston University, completed a Graduate Post Baccalaureate Program in Initial Licensure at Bridgewater State College, and is licensed to teach grades K - 12. During the school year Melanie teaches art at Sharon Middle School. She continues to add to her education, recently taking graduate level courses in Ceramics and 3D Design & Animation, and her latest explorations are into ceramics and textiles. When she isn’t in the studio creating or teaching, Melanie is often off on a photography assignment: www.melaniegillisphotography.com.
Dara Goldman
Dara Goldman received a bachelor’s degree in fine art and art history from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. A freelance illustrator for the last 20 years, her spirited artwork has appeared in numerous publications from Your Big Back Yard Magazine to the New York Times. She has illustrated 18 children’s books and written and illustrated four. The Hiccup Cure was translated into six different languages and Warm At Home received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. To inspire children, Dara also visits schools and libraries to show children step-by-step what it takes to put together a picture book. www.daragoldman.
Jeremy Graves
Jeremy Graves of Damianos Photography in Framingham, MA, specializes in architectural, product and people photography for business. He received his B.A. in Art with a concentration in Photography from Salem State College. Damianos Photography: www.damianosphotography.com
Maryanne Grebenstein
Maryanne has been a professional calligrapher for over 20 years. She is the owner and lead designer of The Abbey Studio, a calligraphy and graphic design studio, in Hingham, MA. She teaches calligraphy and manuscript illumination at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, the Massachusetts College of Art, Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC, and through her studio in Hingham.
She is the author of Calligraphy: A Course in Hand Lettering published by Watson-Guptill and has authored several magazine articles on the subject of medieval and renaissance manuscript collections. She also organizes trips, both domestically and internationally, for the study of manuscripts.
Jason Gura
Jason has a diploma in studio art from the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and a B.S. in psychology from Boston University. He also studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. After a number of years in Web design, doing commissions as a freelance artist, and doing fine arts research, he returned to school and recently received an M.F.A. in painting from the University of The Arts in Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited in New York and Boston. Jason currently lives in Boston.
Sarah Heimann
Sarah Heimann is a potter in Lebanon, NH. Her work can be found in galleries nationally, and images in the Lark Books, 500 Cups and 500 Vases. She started her ceramic education as a Core Student at Penland School of Crafts, studied at the University of the Arts, was a resident artist at Watershed, and earned an M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Since then, she’s worked as a professor of ceramics, studio technician, visiting artist, and community ceramics educator. Mostly, she can be found in her studio, carving pots.
Lisa Houck
Lisa invents new ways to play with color and patterns as she works in watercolor, oil on wood, ceramics, mosaics and etching. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design (B.F.A.) and Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (M.F.A.). Her artwork has been exhibited widely and is in numerous public and private collections, including the Boston Athenaeum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Michael Kachanis
Michael earned his B.F.A. in printmaking from Rhode Island College’s five year, Master Printmaker program. He has been the print-shop manager at Rhode Island College since 2002 and Silk Screen Manager at Classic T’s since 2003. Michael has been teaching etching and monotype in the printmaking department at the Danforth Museum School since 2007.
Linda Klein
Linda Klein retired from Endicott College in May of 2010 and served as Professor of Fine Arts from 1999 until that time. From 1996 to 1999 she was the Associate Dean and Chair of the Fine Arts Department. From 1994 to the summer of 1996, before coming to Endicott College, she directed the International Affiliate Program in Expressive Arts Therapy at Lesley University Graduate School in Cambridge, MA. Prior to that time she taught Expressive Arts Therapy for ten years at Lesley. Linda Klein received an M.F.A. in painting and art history from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University. She also holds an M.A. in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley College and studied painting and drawing at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is represented by Bromfield Art Gallery in Boston and has work in numerous private collections in the US, Canada, England, and Israel. Click for Linda Klein's website.
Cheska Komissar
Cheska Komissar earned her undergraduate and master degrees from Boston University. She teaches a variety of children’s ceramics classes as well as children’s workshops. Cheska is a working potter.
Anne-Marie Z. Kott
Anne-Marie Z. Kott is a ceramic artist and teacher who lives and works in Dover, Massachusetts. Anne-Marie holds a B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an M.S. in Art Education from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. Anne-Marie has worked as a ceramic artist and a teacher in the Boston area for years, having taught in local public and private schools and art centers as well as the Potter’s Shop and School. Anne-Marie’s sculptural ceramic work is shown in galleries throughout Massachusetts.
Ron Krouk
Ron holds an M.F.A. in Printmaking and Painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and a B.A. from Brandeis University where he studied printmaking with Michael Mazur. He has taught at Mass Art and the Museum School and has twice in his life left and then returned to studio art. His prints are mostly still lives and interior spaces and his paintings often include interiors and buildingscapes. As a teacher he is especially interested in art and visual perception and in helping people use what they already know to explore what inspires them at the same time as they learn the basics.
Aija Kusins
Aija Graduated with a B.F.A. in Textile Design from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She works with various aspects of textile design, weaving, color and prints. Since 1977 she has designed high-end, hand woven apparel and upholstery as well as supervised a specialty company that produces fabrics. In 1991 Aija began freelancing work making machine woven, high-end fabrics for such companies as Kravet, Beacon Hill and Schumacher. As well, she is the colorist for Brookline Textiles. Aija has taught weaving and craft classes to all ages and loves to see the joy a person has when they make a piece. With her own work she is fascinated with color; what color does and how color changes.
David LaPierre
David LaPierre has been working in clay for more than 25 years. He received his B.F.A. from the University
of Connecticut. His claywork is wheelthrown, using porcelain and stoneware. David works in series of
multiples of the same form while manipulating the surfaces. David also teaches at Mudflat Studio.
Michelle Lougee
Michelle Lougee is an environmental artist, sculptor, and ceramist. She is a member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery, and her artwork has been shown in many New England museum exhibits, including Chesterwood, The Art Complex Museum, the Danforth Museum, and the Fitchburg Art Museum. In addition, she teaches sculpture and ceramics to adults and children. She holds an M.F.A. and a B.F.A. from Boston University. www.mlougee.com.
Laurel MacDuffie
Laurel lives and works as a potter in Maine. She shares a studio, located just outside her back door, with her husband, David Orser, who is also a potter. Laurel returned to the country in Maine in 1999 after pursuing higher education and living in the city. She enjoys teaching and thinks a balance between a little teaching and a lot of studio time makes a perfect life. Laurel also enjoys spending long hours investigating the nearly 200 cemeteries that companion the abandoned roads of her rural community.
Cynthia Maurice
Cynthia earned a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Boston University, and a second M.F.A.from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Cynthia has taught at numerous art schools including the Art Institute of Boston, Brandeis University, and the Danforth Museum School. Cynthia works primarily from observation and has shown her paintings and drawings in many individual and group shows throughout the North East, and her illustrations have been published in periodicals such as the Boston Globe, New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Peggy McClure
Artist and photographer Peggy McClure combines traditional photography with alternative photography, digital photography, monoprinting, and drawing, to create new mixed media artwork. She teaches beginning photography/darkroom and pinhole camera at the Danforth Museum of Art. As an art major, Peggy received her B.A. from Framingham State after attending Massachusetts College of Art, and has taken numerous classes and workshops at Mass Art, DeCordova Museum School, Danforth Museum School, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Lesley University. She shows her artwork in her Saxonville studio and in the Boston and Metrowest area. www.saxonvillestudios.com.
Ryan Mehigan
After four years of study in both visual art and political science at the University of Vermont, Ryan attended a year of graduate study in art education at Framingham State College. Ryan currently works as an art educator at Qualters Middle School in Mansfield, Massachusetts. His artistic endeavors are focused on painting, drawing, and creative writing. Ryan has exhibited at a variety of galleries including the F Scott Gallery in Sudbury, MA; the Colburn Gallery in Burlington, VT; and the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, MA.
Louise Melton
Artist Louise Melton’s colorful satirical paintings have been included in many exhibitions across the country, most recently in the Main Street Gallery’s “Artooning” show in Groton, NY; the “Lucky 13” show at the Mesquite Fine Arts Gallery, Mesquite, NV; the Arsenal Center for the Arts’ “Laugh” exhibition in Watertown, MA and in the national touring exhibition, “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate” curated by the Holter Museum, Helena, MT. Currently working exclusively as a fine artist, Melton has taught studio classes in drawing, painting and color theory at Franklin Pierce College, Rindge, NH and at the Danforth Museum School, Framingham, MA. She has also published widely, both fiction and articles, and is the author of a cover article on majolica glazing techniques that was selected for inclusion in The American Ceramic Society’s 2002 book, Exploring Electric Kiln Techniques. Melton holds an M.A. from Temple University, Philadelphia and a B.A. from the University of Miami.
Katherine Miller
Katherine Miller graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Fine Arts and received her M.F.A. in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has taught at Skidmore College, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, Studio Arts Center in Florence in Italy, Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts and at the DeCordova Museum School. Katherine paints in aqua oils, acrylic and watercolor and her work is inspired through travel and nature. She has shown in NYC, Boston, Cambridge, Nantucket and Florence, Italy.
Rosetta Nasisi
Rosetta was born in Italy where she attended The Academy of Belli Arte in Florence and received her B.A. in Art from the University of Messina. After relocating to the U.S., she studied fine arts at the Art Student’s League, the Salmagundi Club, and at SUNY Binghamton in New York. Rosetta is a painter whose work ranges in medium from watercolor to acrylic to oils. Rosetta has taught art at various schools in the northeast including: Robertson Center for the Arts and Sciences, School of General Studies and Professional Education at SUNY Binghamton, Dover-Sherborn Community Education, and the Danforth Museum School. She has exhibited in many solo and group shows in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Italy.
Zach Pelham
Zach received his B.F.A. from the Hartford Art School where he studied Drawing, Painting and English. His work is conceptual and multi-media with a concentration on writing in tandem with visual art. Zach teaches drawing, painting and mixed-media classes.
Barbara Poole
Barbara Poole has been creating felt accessories and teaching felt making techniques since 2003. She has a Masters in Art Education from the Mass College of Art and a B.F.A. from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Barbara is the principal in B. Felt where she designs and makes beautiful felted garments and also sells the raw materials for other felt artists. www.bfelt.com
Jill M. Pottle
Jill M. Pottle is an artist from Worcester County and she exhibits her paintings and pastels locally and nationally. In 1977 she graduated from Syracuse University with her B.F.A. and in 1989 she graduated with her M.F.A. from the Museum School in Boston. Jill won two grants from the Somerville Artists lottery and has published in the Artist’s Magazine. Her works have been included in shows at the Fowler Art Gallery, Provincetown Artists’ Association, the East End Gallery in Provincetown, and she has had a one woman show of still life paintings at the Attleboro Art Museum. Her work can also be seen at the Powers Gallery in
Acton, L’attitude Gallery, Boston and at the Walside at Fruitlands Museum, where she is an artist in residence through November 2011. Collections include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Roslindale, MA, Sterling Drug Inc., and Fidelity in Boston. You can view more of her work on her web site, www.pottleart.com and on her blog, jillpottle.blogspot.com.
Hana Reilly
Hana Reilly has a Degree in Professional Ceramics from the School of Arts and Crafts in Prague, Czech Republic. She has been a studio potter, and has taught classes for adults and children in both Europe and the United States, most recently at the Potters School in Needham, MA. She exhibits and sells her work locally. She currently teaches ceramics at the Danforth Museum School.
Rain Robertson
Rain Robertson holds a B.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston / Tufts University. She has taught toddlers through teens in the young artist programs of both the Cleveland Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Rain works with mixed media on paper, primarily gouache and pencil, and oil and acrylic painting on wood or canvas. While she has a background in portraiture, her current subject matter leans toward the abstract with themes surrounding the natural world. Recent shows have included group shows at the Cambridge Art Association galleries and at Mass Audubon’s Moose Hill Sanctuary. Rain is also a graphic designer/illustrator, published poet, freelance writer, amateur photographer, and avid traveler.
Rhoda Rosenberg
Rhoda earned a Four-Year Certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, a B.F.A. at Temple University, and an M.F.A. in Printmaking at the Museum School/Tufts University. She has participated in various shows including "Book as Art," National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; National Traveling Book Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; and Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA. Select awards and grants include: Cresson European Traveling Award, Finalist for Printmaking and Drawing, and Massachusetts Council of the Arts. She was a visiting artist at Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a panelist/juror in works on paper for the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Nan Rumpf
Nan earned her B.A. from the University of Iowa. She is a watermedia artist, who teaches watercolor, drawing, painting and printmaking in her home studio.
Nan has written and illustrated a book on puppetry and stagecraft, and runs dramatic arts workshops in schools and libraries. www.nanrumpf.com.
Ruth Scotch
Ruth Scotch received her M.F.A. and B.F.A. at Boston University in painting and a B.A. in Art History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Beside painting full time since graduating, Ruth has taught at Boston University, Kendall Center for the Arts, and the Danforth Museum School. Ruth has exhibited her paintings throughout New England. Her current focus is portraits. Her website is www.ruthscotch.com.
Zachary Shiff
Zachary Shiff studied Illustration and Animation at Rhode Island School of Design, where he received his B.F.A. He is currently pursuing his Art Education License at Framingham State University, where he both taught and developed curriculum for digital, introductory and advanced visual art courses within the public school setting (grades 5-12). Zachary also worked as an Arts and Crafts Counselor for campers ages 6-13, as a teacher’s assistant for Rhode Island School of Design, and as a freelance illustrator creating logos and artwork for a variety of clientele, from rock bands to hospitals. Zachary specializes in commercial art and design theory and digital art development.
Rachel Shuman
Rachel holds a M.A.T. degree in Art Education from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as her Massachusetts professional teaching license. She earned a B.S. in Fiber Arts and Painting from Skidmore College and studied textiles in Ghana through the School for International Training. Rachel is currently the founding art teacher at Edward W. Brooke 2 Charter School in Boston. Before joining Brooke 2 she was an elementary art teacher at the Brophy and McCarthy schools in Framingham. You can often find her teaching public workshops around the Boston area or at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston. Most recently her own artwork is mixed-media and painting based, greatly influenced by patterns, colors, and textures found in nature and fabrics from across the globe.
Tracy Spadafora
Tracy holds a B.F.A. from Boston University and an M.F.A. from the State University of New York in New Paltz. She is a painter who teaches studio art classes at colleges and museums and provides private painting instruction in her studio in Somerville, MA. Tracy has received grants from the Frances A. Kinnicutt Foundation, the Blanche E. Colman Foundation, the Somerville Arts Council, and the St. Botolph’s Foundation. Her artwork has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and is featured in several books, including The Art of Encaustic Painting by Joanne Mattera and Mixed-Media Collage by Holly Harrison.
Sue Swinand
Sue Swinand is a visual artist, originally from the Philadelphia area who has been living and working in the Boston area since 1984. She was an adjunct painting and design instructor at Clark University from 1992 until 1903 and has taught various classes at the Worcester Art Museum since 1986. She also currently teaches painting classes in the greenhouses at Wellesley College. Sue received her B.F.A. from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. A Sartain fellowship allowed her to travel in Europe and study in Austria with Italian painter, Emilio Vedova. On her return, she attended the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia for two years where she studied the Philosophy and Appreciation of Art. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions up and down the east coast including one person shows at Woodmere Art Museum, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Vorpal Galleries NYC, Arden Gallery in Boston, the Berman Museum at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA.Her work has been selected for "The Boston Drawing Show," the Cambridge Art Association’s National Prize Show and the Fitchburg Art Museum 1998 Biennial, New England/New Talent. She is a two time recipient of the ArtsWorcester Biennial Best in Show Prize.She is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and has received several awards in their International Exhibitions in NYC. www.swinand.com
Lois Tarlow
Lois is a painter, writer, printmaker and teacher. She has explored a wide variety of artistic styles, ranging from realistic still-life and landscapes to canvases combining natural materials with paint. She has exhibited in New England for more than five decades, and in the Southwest since the early1990’s. She has conducted classes and workshops in both regions on an ongoing basis. From 1979 to 2005, she published scores of interviews with artist colleagues in Art New England magazine. She currently offers artist residencies with workspace in Taos, New Mexico, and teaches in Newton, MA. Lois’ 2008 exhibitions include the Carney Gallery at Regis College and the Pepper Gallery in Boston.
John Thompson
John Thompson is a painter and printmaker based at Lincoln Studios in Waltham. He teaches printmaking at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He exhibits regionally and internationally. John holds art degrees from Syracuse, University of Wisconsin-Madison and MassArt. www.JohnThompsonArt.com
Sarah Tomkins
Sarah earned her B.F.A. from Framingham State where she studied drawing and painting. She began interning for the Danforth Museum School while an undergraduate and, once graduated, became a faculty member for children’s education programs and semester courses. Sarah plays rugby and basketball and loves the show “Lost.”
Katia Wish
Katia Wish received her B.F.A. in Illustration with Departmental Honors from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and also attended the Illustration Academy led by renowned American illustrators. Katia is the winner of the 2011 Tomie DePaola Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is an illustrator and enjoys working on a variety of freelance projects. Her work is exhibited in galleries throughout New England. In addition to the Danforth School of Art, Katia teaches Illustration at Massachusetts College of Art.
Pat Walker - Director of Education
Pat studied studio art at Queens College in NY and at Yale at Norfolk. She received an M.F.A. in Painting from Boston University, where she studied with Philip Guston and James Weeks. She has taught drawing, painting, watercolor and mixed media at a variety of institutions in the Boston area including the Museum of Fine Arts, Danforth Museum School, the Brookline Arts Center, Regis College and Pine Manor College. In 2001, she became the Education Coordinator at the Danforth Museum of Art, and was twice named Museum Educator of the Year by the Mass Art Education Association. Pat has served as the Director of Education for the Danforth Museum and School of Art since 2006.
Kendra Keefer-McGee - Education Coordinator
Kendra recently moved to Massachusetts from Texas, where she earned a degree in Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing); a certificate in Art Museum Education, and an M.A. in Art Education from the University of North Texas. Her museum experiences include a prestigious competitive internship at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she helped design educational programming, developed tours and worked in the docent program. She was a Museum Teacher at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where she created tours for K-12 school groups, assisted teaching volunteer educators to use inquiry based learning strategies, and designed and taught workshops that inspired local classroom teachers to use museum collections in their curriculum. At the Dallas Museum of Art, Kendra was the School Programs Talented and Gifted Teacher, where she created special tours to encourage students to think critically about and discuss works of art in context with history, math, poetry and other disciplines. Kendra has also taught art in the classroom, most recently as a long term substitute at an elementary school in Newton, MA . Kendra joined the Danforth Museum and School of Art in September 2011 as the Education Coordinator, and oversees Museum Education Programs, including school tours and docent programs.
Susan Parker - Senior Education Consultant
Susan, with a B.S. in Fine Art from Skidmore College and an M.Ed. from Lesley University, is the former director of the Department of Fine Arts, Medfield Public Schools. She has thirty years experience in curriculum design and teaching art at all levels, with a particular interest in drawing and its role in the development of observation and awareness. She has taught in the graduate program for Art Education at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and in the Emmanuel College program for pre-service art teachers. From 1996-2008, she was associated with the education department at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, working with visitors in looking at art, and teaching studio classes in connection with special exhibits. She is currently participating in the development of the Critical Thinking and Art forum, a consortium of museums, universities, and school programs in Massachusetts. Susan has been working with the Danforth in her current role since September 2010.
Emily Giacomarra - School of Art Registrar
Emily received a Bachelors of Humanities and Art in history and architecture through an interdisciplinary program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She was a member of the Varsity Track team at Carnegie Mellon, and continues to volunteer her time at Algonquin Regional High School assisting the hurdlers. Previously, Emily worked as an Admissions Associate at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and interned at The Witch House in Salem, MA, where she assisted with children’s programs and led group tours. She enjoys baking bread and trying new recipes in her spare time. Emily joined the Danforth Museum and School of Art in November 2009 and became the School Registrar in May 2010.
Anne O’Connell - School of Art Assistant Registrar
Anne studied geology with a concentration in sedimentology, receiving a B.A. from Smith College and an M.A. from Indiana University. After a brief career in the oil industry, Anne returned to Massachusetts where she has worked as a title examiner, naturalist, reading teacher, membership coordinator, assistant to an art conservator, counselor for an obesity study in children, and as an office manager for an accountancy office. In her spare time, Anne works as a volunteer for other non-profits in the Framingham area. Anne has worked in the Danforth Museum and School of Art in a variety of positions over the years, including 2 1/2 years as membership coordinator before returning in 2009 to work in the School office.
Kathleen Berger - School of Art Assistant
Kathleen graduated Summa Cum Laude with Distinction from Boston University with a B.M. in Woodwind Performance (Flute) and Music Education, graduated with a Masters in Creative Arts Education from Fitchburg State University and, most recently, earned a Digital Photography Certificate from Middlesex Community College. Since BU, Kathleen has worked in a variety of roles as teacher, director, conductor, flutist, docent, photographer, and mother. She has worked as a general music and instrumental music teacher in the Shrewsbury Public Schools, an Instrumental Director at Lincoln-Sudbury High School, a conductor of the Worcester Youth Concert Orchestra and as a flute choir director and flute teacher at Assumption College. Currently, she teaches flute in the Wellesley Public Schools, conducts the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra, and is a docent at the Danforth Museum and School of Art and an avid photographer.
She has been working at the Danforth as a weekend School of Art Assistant since January 2011.
Nicole Letourneux - School of Art Assistant
Nicole received her B.A. in Art History with a minor in Museum Studies from Framingham State University. In the summer of 2010, Nicole interned in the Danforth's Museum Education Department. She then became a part of the Visitor Services team and soon after began working in the School of Art. Additionally, Nicole works part time in the Visitor Services department at the EcoTarium in Worcester. She plans to get her M.A. in Art History and would like to teach. Nicole enjoys crafts and cooking, and in her free time is a writer.
Carolyn Melbye - School of Art Assistant
Carolyn Melbye received a B.F.A. with a concentration in ceramics and a B.A. in legal studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She interned at the Danforth Museum one summer, a position which drew her into museum collection registration. She worked as the Assistant Registrar for the Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection from 2006 to 2010. During her first year in collection registration, she continued to volunteer for the Danforth, monitoring the ceramics studio and helping out with events. Currently by day, she is pursuing her Masters of Arts in Expressive Therapy at Lesley University, and on Monday evenings (and varied times), Carolyn can be found in the School of Art office, where she began in September of 2011.
See also the museum contact page for additional information about museum staff members.
Some faculty listed here may not be teaching during the current term. This page was last updated on January 23, 2012.
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