The Danforth Museum School 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.
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.
Sue Bleiweiss
It wasn’t until she graduated from Newbury College with a degree in Culinary Arts that Sue found that her true passion was working with fabric and paper. Now she is an internationally known fiber and book artist published in a number of national magazines published by Interweave Press and Stampington Publications. She maintains an online teaching website with classes that are filled with students from all over the world. She sells her work locally through the museum and through her website. www.suebleiweiss.com
Ron Bouley
Ron studied at Rhode Island School of Photography and teaches a variety of children’s classes at the Danforth Museum School. A commercial photographer for over twenty years, Ron has worked with many Advertising, Public Relations and Corporate Communications Groups, aiding with the photographic production of publicity releases, annual report, advertising, facility brochures, trade show displays, employee activities and many other photographic applications. Primarily a location photographer, Ron has traveled on countless assignments in Europe, Canada and throughout the United States. www.ronbouley.com.
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 the Rhode Island College. Bob has exhibited throughout the New England area and 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 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 is the principal of Damianos Photography (www.damianosphotography.com) in Framingham, MA. She specializes in architectural, product and people photography for business, with over 30 years experience in the field. Lynne 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 the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University and Keefe Tech, and gives professional seminars throughout New England. Lynne has recently developed a line of products to aide photographers and videographers in achieving accurate color/white balance. Visit DigiGreyShop.com for more information.
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.
Laura Fredericks
After twenty years as an art editor and illustrator in educational publishing, Laura Fredericks decided she wanted to be teaching art to young students. She spent four years teaching art in after-school settings and received her M.Ed. in Art Education from Lesley University. Since that time she has been teaching art classes in many media to children from ages five to fifteen years old. She finds the children to be excited learners and she has gotten used to her apartment looking like a storeroom.
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.”
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.
Jill Grimes
Jill received her M.F.A. in Painting from Boston University in 2003 and lives and works in the Boston area. She has exhibited in Boston, New York, Dallas, and Massachusetts. Her work has been published in New American Paintings, and has been reviewed in the Boston Globe and Art New England. In addition to the Danforth Museum School, she has taught drawing and painting at Middlesex Community College and Boston University.
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.
Gabrielle Gura-Gold
Gabrielle has been teaching visual arts in the public schools for the past eight years. She currently works at the Dunning Elementary School in Framingham, MA. She graduated from Rutgers College and received her M.F.A. in Art Education from Framingham State College. As an artist herself, working in ceramics is her main area of interest. She has had her own studio for eight years and has worked with both children and adults.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jacqueline Martell
Jacqui received her B.F.A. and Teaching Certification from Massachusetts College of Art. She currently teaches visual art at an elementary school in Wellesley, MA. Jacqui has a small studio near her home in Hopedale where she makes jewelry and sculpture. Her work has been featured in the book, 500 Bracelets, published by Lark Books.
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.
Ron Mer
Ron Mier is a printmaker and painter. His monotypes, engravings and acrylics are abstract images with strong linear and organic references, inspired by his surroundings in Northern New Mexico. Ron has collaborated with other artists for twenty years in group shows and print shop settings. His work has been exhibited in the United States and France, and he is a member of Boston Printmakers and Los Angeles Printmakers Society. Ron currently lives and works in Santa Fe.
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.
Janet L. Olson, Ed. D.
Janet is a Professor Emeritus of Visual Art at the College of Fine Arts, Boston University and was an elementary school teacher for many years prior. In 1992 she published the book Envisioning Writing: Toward an Integration of Drawing and Writing, in which she articulates classroom strategies to help teachers understand children better and thereby facilitate a higher level of learning for the visual learner. In her book, Janet details the strong similarities between the visual arts and the language arts, and has lead workshops about the subject at various art and education institutions.
Susan Parker
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.
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.
Stacey Piwinski
Stacey received her B.F.A, in painting and her M.F.A. in studio teaching from Boston University. She has been teaching art to children for the past eight years in the Wellesley Public Schools. She has worked for many summers with the Days in the Arts summer camp in the Berkshires, sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has studied abroad in Italy and traveled to Japan on a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship. She teaches and creates in a variety of media such as drawing, painting, printmaking, pottery, and textiles. Her newest obsession is with Japanese Saori Weaving.
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.
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.
Jeanne Scarlatos
Jeanne earned a B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts and a M.A. Ed. from Lesley University. During the school year she teaches preschool in Wayland and at an after-school art class at the Recreation Department in Natick, MA. Jeanne has a long history with Danforth Museum; in high school she volunteered at the Museum, and later began working as an assistant manager and faculty member in the early 90’s. Jeanne continues to be a summer children’s art teacher at the Danforth Museum as well as one of the art specialists for "Children Together in the Arts" at the Center for the Arts in Natick. During her free time she creates jewelry and three dimensional multi-media art.
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.
Rachel Shuman
Rachel recently received her M.A.T. in Art Education from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as her Massachusetts teacher licensure. She holds a B.S. in Fiber Arts and Painting from Skidmore College and studied textiles in Ghana through the School for International Training. Rachel was previously the Visual Arts Program Coordinator for AS220 Broad Street Studio in Providence where she worked with teenagers in the juvenile justice system, and currently teaches various art workshops for all ages at several museums in the Boston area. Rachel’s artwork centers on fiber arts, paint, collage, and mixed-media. Greatly influenced by fabric, her work focuses on pattern, color, and texture- and how they intermingle. Rachel has exhibited her work in Upstate New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and makes/sells handbags under the name “Spaghetti Fish.”
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.
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.”
Sarah Williams
Sarah received her B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and her M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work uses a variety of media including ceramics, drawing, printmaking and video. She has shown at the Massachusetts College of Art, Barbara Singer Fine Art Gallery, Clark Gallery, Beth Urdang Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and Sister Sorel. She has taught at Massachusetts College of Art, Brookline Adult Education Center, Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute. When not making art, Sarah is busy trying to turn her brown thumb into a green one, convincing her boyfriend that she needs a dog and daydreaming of being the first artist-mayor of Worcester.
Jeanne Williamson
Jeanne Williamson is a mixed-media artist from Natick, MA, whose work is a combination of monoprinting, hand stamping, painting and stitching on fabric. Her new book, The Uncommon Quilter, is based on her creating one small art quilt every week from 1999 through 2005. www.jeannewilliamson.com.
›› Jane Goldman |
›› Catherine Kernan |
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Jane Goldman
Jane Goldman is a painter/printmaker and public artist. She has taught at MassArt, UCLA, and Hartford Art School, and is co-director of Mixit Print Studio in Somerville, MA. Her work is in the collections of the Peabody-Essex Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), Brooklyn Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Fogg Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Library of Congress. Her public commissions include designs for terrazzo floors at Logan International Airport in Boston and the Kennedy Center in Providence, RI. More information at: www.janegoldmanartist.com.
Jon Imber
Jon Imber received a B.F.A. from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from Boston University, where he studied with Philip Guston. His work has been in many gallery and museum exhibitions, including the Nielsen Gallery, Fitchburg Art Museum, Danforth Museum of Art, Concord Art Association, the Greenhut Gallery (ME), the G. Watson Gallery (ME) and Boston University. Awards include an NEA Grant, Massachusetts Council for the Arts Award, and an Engelhard Award. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Danforth Museum of Art, the Currier Gallery of American Art, the DeCordova Museum, the Farnsworth Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, and numerous other museum and corporate collections. He currently teaches at Harvard.
Artist Statement: Over the past thirty years my paintings have changed dramatically, from figurative paintings and portraits done in the eighties; to landscapes in the nineties; to the nearly abstract work that I’ve done for the past ten years. The most recent works are of flowers, often pushed to the brink of abstraction. The real essence of the work has, I believe, stayed consistent. There has always been a compelling need to make images that start from looking at the real world but which then transform into a more personal image. The work needs to surprise me, and provoke me.
Early in my career, the content was the subject; the paint was the means to tell a story. Today, the paint itself is the conveyor of what ever it is that I need to say. The paintings now seem to straddle a fine line between capturing the spirit of a place and capturing an inner emotional state not necessarily dependent or reflective of the real world.
Not knowing where the painting is going, and the challenge of finding out keeps me painting.
Joel Janowitz
Joel Janowitz is a distinguished painter and teacher, whose oil paintings, watercolors and prints are in many museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Fogg Museum. His work has been exhibited extensively, including Victoria Monroe Fine Art (Boston), Museum of Fine Arts, Rose Museum at Brandeis University, the Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, and the Davis Museum in Wellesley, among others.
Joel has taught at Wellesley College since 2003, where he received a Faculty Award. He has previously taught at Princeton University, Brown University, Clark University and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His fellowships include the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his M.F.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Images of his work can be found on his website: www.joeljanowitz.com .
Catherine Kernan
Catherine Kernan is a painter and printmaker. She is co-owner, co-founder, and director of Mixit Print Studio, a professional open rental studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. www.catherinekernan.com
Catherine has filled many sketchbooks during travels around the world, and is an experienced landscape painter. She is particularly interested in the cumulative power of field sketching as a sequential and experiential process. Her recent work involves offset woodcut monoprints in combination with many other techniques. No longer a purist, she exploits any available tool or means to transfer color and form to surface.
Represented by Jason McCoy Gallery in New York, Dolan Maxwell in Philadelphia and Soprafina Gallery in Boston, Catherine has been showing professionally for thirty years.
Catherine is known for workshops specializing in non-toxic printmaking with waterbased materials and a wide range of techniques. Her teaching credits include: Anderson Ranch, MassArt / Art New England, MakingArtSafely, and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking as well as the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Wellesley College, the Rhode Island School of Design, Mass College of Art, and Pine Manor College. Her residencies include the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland, Anderson Ranch, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
Catherine Kernan’s work is in the collections of, among others, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Cleveland Museum of Art, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Boston Public Library, Grunewald Collection, New York Public Library, Library of Congress, Detroit Institute of Art, and the Fogg Art Museum.
Ilana Manolson
Ilana Manolson is a painter, printmaker and naturalist who is represented by the Jason McCoy Gallery in New York, the Clark Gallery in Boston, and Nicola Rukaj Gallery in Toronto. Her work has been exhibited at many galleries and museums including the Jason McCoy Gallery, the Clark Gallery, the Danforth Museum of Art, the De Cordova Museum, Fuller Museum, Boston Public Library, Endicott College, Ballin Castle Museum, Regis College, and Gordon College. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, the Danforth Museum, the De Cordova Museum, the Boston Public Library, and numerous corporate collections.
She was awarded the Mass Cultural Council Artist Fellowship for Painting for 2008-2010 and the St. Botolph Artist Grant, Boston. Her residencies include the Ballinglen Arts Foundation residency for 2006, 2007, 2008, Yaddo Artist Colony, and Banff School of Fine Arts. She received a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Manolson has been trained both as an artist and a naturalist. Her work is known for capturing the essence of the natural environment. Manolson’s paintings are based on the lengthy and rich traditions of plein air painting. However the depth of her knowledge of medium and process is rooted in both her lengthy career as a printmaker and her earlier education as a naturalist. Manolson’s passion is equally evident in her work; she has an unfailing desire to search through and observe disparate natural environments, filled with the texture of plant matter such as roots, vines, moss, water and earth; intertwining life wrestling to be released from darkness into the light of the sky. www.manolson.com
George Nick
Born in Rochester, New York, George Nick was educated at the Cleveland Institute, the Brooklyn Museum Art School, the Art Students League (taught by Edwin Dickinson) and Yale University, where he received a B.F.A. and M.F.A. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO; The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH; the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA; Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA; Folks Museum, Essen, Germany; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel; and many other public and private collections.
Nick has received numerous awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; Childe Hassam Purchase Fund at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC, and the Massachusetts Council for the Arts. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the Mass College of Art and Design, Boston, where he has taught for 45 years. He has also taught at University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He currently lives and works in Concord, MA.
Heddi Vaughan Siebel
Heddi Vaughan Siebel is a painter/printmaker artist who has been on the fine arts faculty of Wellesley College and the Massachusetts College of Art, and the visiting faculty of Harvard University and Rhode Island School of Design. She holds an M.F.A. from Yale University and a B.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Allan Stone Gallery, New York; the Marilyn Pearl Gallery, New York; the List Arts Center, Cambridge. MA; the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. Her prints and paintings are in private collections, and the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; the Boston Public Library; and the Yale Art Gallery. www.heddisiebel.com
Willard Traub
Willard Traub is a Framingham-based photographer. His areas of interest have remained throughout his 30 year career: the commercial photography of architecture, the teaching of excellence and self-challenge in photographic vision and printing, and photographing for exhibition and exploration. Traub has won the Massachusetts Fellowship in the Arts in Photography. His work is represented in numerous private collections and in many regional museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, along with the George Eastman House, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In addition to private instruction of darkroom students, Traub is currently head of Photographic Resource Center Board of Trustees.
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 since 2006.
Julia Brucker - Education Coordinator
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 joined the Danforth Museum of Art in February 2007 as the Education Coordinator.
Emily Giacomarra - Assistant Registrar, Museum School
Emily Giacomarra 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 School as the Assistant School Registrar in November, 2009.
Gina Cataldo - Museum School Evening Office Assistant
Gina received her B.A. from Framingham State College in Studio Art and a minor in Art History. She has been painting and working in mixed media for many years and has translated her artistry into a career as a makeup artist. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Danforth Museum in the Community of Artists exhibition and the Victim’s Assistance Services Annual Art Show in Yonkers, New York.
See also the museum contact page for additional information about museum staff members.
See the top of this page for the complete listing of Museum School faculty members. Click here for the Master Class Faculty listings.
Some faculty listed here may not be teaching during the current term. This page was last updated on March 3, 2010.
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