AVA Faculty Members - Fall 2010

Gregory Albright earned a BFA in Film from the San Francisco Art Institute. He was a founder and long-time teacher at the Upper Valley Waldorf School. Over the years, Greg has painted and sculpted when not teaching; now, when not painting, he can often be found building furniture, toys, and houses inspired by Gothic cathedrals. www.albrightart.com

Laura Arnesen, a 25-year marketing veteran, consults for both non-profits and businesses in the arts. For the past 15 years, she has managed the Mad River Valley Craft Fair and is also currently the Marketing Manager for CERF+(Craft Emergency Relief Fund), a national non-profit. She helps artists bridge the gap between their creative work and making a profit in their businesses. 

Judith Bastianelli is a self-taught fiber artist who specializes in knitting and spinning. She studied bobbin lace in France, has taught many people to spin, and has won prizes for her hand-spinning. She is interested in reviving traditional fiber arts and  often demonstrates at fairs and fiber festivals.

Derek Bell earned a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and works in sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. His work won first place in the 22nd Annual Congressional Art Competition and second place in The Artists Magazine annual competition. www.dbellart.com

Penelope Bennett was born in London and came to the U.S. to attend Hunter College and Cooper Union in New York. She has worked in design for several years. Some of her past commissions include an animated movie, various murals, and editions of graphics. Her works are in collections in England, Spain, Mexico, and the U.S.

Jason Berard earned his BFA from Boston University School of Fine Art. He has been picture framing since 1993, and started Yankee Frameworks in 2007. Jason finds gratifying the contrast between the sometimes mysterious process of making art and the craftsmanship of picture framing.

Jeffrey E. Blackman's photography has been featured in numerous high-profile publications, including Life, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and Polo Magazine, as well as in-flight magazines for American, United, and Northwest Airlines. Various assignments include The Ice Festival in Sapporo, Japan; the marble quarries in Pietrasanta, Italy; Formula One in Monaco; and NASCAR races, rodeos, and PGA tournaments. His latest book is Covered Bridges of New England.

Andrea Brownell has been an active participant in AVA’s stone carving community for the past six years; she has been both an apprentice and assistant to Winkie Kelsey. She is currently completing her BFA in Sculpture at Colby-Sawyer.

Robert Carsten's paintings have garnered top awards at regional and national exhibitions. A popular instructor, he teaches nationally and has juried numerous national art exhibitions. Robert is a regular contributing writer for The Artist's Magazine and The Pastel Journal.

Patty Castellini has been teaching children’s classes at AVA for several years. A multi-media artist, she has studied and apprenticed with many local artists, often working with children. She has exhibited her monotypes throughout the Upper Valley, including a solo show at AVA in 2002.

Genevieve C. Cole earned a BFA in Glass and Ceramics from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1995. Since then, she has worked primarily with glass, both as a glass blower in France and for Simon Pearce in Philadelphia. For the past 5 years, she has lived in the Upper Valley, serving as the Executive Director of The Vermont State Craft Center (2005-2006), teaching, and creating custom glass art pieces for private collectors. Gen curated AVA's 2010 exhibition "Cold, Warm, Hot: Glass Art of New England."

Stacey Cushner earned a BA from Brandeis University, studied with the realist painter Tom Oullette, and earned an MFA in Visual Art from Lesley University, Arts Institute of Boston. Her oil paintings have been exhibited in many shows in New York and New England and featured in various publications. She recently won an award from the Joyce Dutka Foundation/Hollis Taggert Galleries for her work.  She divides her time between Vermont and Boston, where she maintains a studio.

Laura Di Piazza is a professional calligrapher specializing in pointed pen hands. At present Laura is a graduate student at Goddard, pursuing a MFA degree in Interdisciplinary Arts. www.lauradipiazza.com

Margaret Dwyer holds BFA and MFA degrees in the visual arts. She works in several 2-D and 3-D mediums, specializing in both traditional and experimental approaches. Her work has been included in national juried exhibitions and has been published in Splash 8: America's Best Watercolors, Splash 9: The Best of Watercolor, and How Did You Paint That? She has been an art educator for many years. www.margaretdwyer.com

Edward Fielding has been working with kids and technology on a Maine island for the past four years, mentoring robotics teams and teaching creative programming. He believes, as in "They Might Be Giants," that robots should "...obey what the children say."  http://imaginecreateplay.blogspot.com/

Gloria Finkelstein has a BA from McGill University and an MPH from Columbia University. She has been an after-school teacher with the Ray School French Club and has offered "Madame G's Fun French Classes" in the Upper Valley since 2001. 

Carrie Fradkin graduated from Temple University, attended Parsons School of Design, and took post-college classes at Moore College of Art and Pennsylvania School of Arts. She taught K-12 art, graphic design at the local colleges, art theory at AVA, and mosaic classes at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. Carrie began working in mosaics in 2003. She works at her studio at AVA, where she also paints in pastels and has a graphic design business.

Charley Freiberg has done commercial photography shots for clients that include IBM, Kodak, and McGraw-Hill, as well as other large and small companies. He has been teaching and shooting for artists and craftspeople for 30 years. http://charleyfreibergphotography.com

Dan Gottsegen has taught at the California College of the Arts and UMass Lowell. He has exhibited nationally, including one-person shows at the Prince Street Gallery in NYC and the Whistler House Museum in Lowell, MA. Gottsegen's awards and fellowships include a Vermont Arts Council Individual Artist Creation Grant, the University Teaching Excellence Award at UMass Lowell, and a Ucross Foundation Residency. He has an MFA from California College of the Arts. www.dangottsegen.com

Althea Goundrey studied art education at the University of Southern Maine, University of New Hampshire, and the Art Institute of Boston. She holds a Master of Education in Childhood Studies from Plymouth State University. Althea has primarily painted in watercolor and pastel; more recently, she's also been working in mosaics, printmaking, and mixed-media collage. She is a member of the Pastel Societies of New Hampshire and Vermont and the Orford Art Group, and she has exhibited at Palisades Gallery, Robin’s Art and Framing, August L. Zollikofer Gallery, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Michael Heffernan received his MFA in Painting from The New York Academy of Art in 1994. He has been teaching studio art at Plymouth State University since 1999. He has exhibited throughout the Northeast including NYC in a three-person show at the Flowers Gallery in 2008.

Larry Howard ran a gallery and studio on Rocky Neck, Gloucester, MA, in the 1970s. He is a member of the New England Watercolor Society, the Rockport (MA) Art Association, and the New Hampshire Art Association. He has been a member of AVA’s faculty for a number of years, and his watercolors were exhibited at AVA in 2008.

John Joline holds a BA in Studio Art from Dartmouth College and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. A specialist in cubism, he has taught studio art as well as art history and architectural design. John is a longtime AVA faculty member and had a solo show at AVA in 2006.

Anzell Jordaan is a graphic designer, illustrator and art teacher. After completing a BFA in graphic design at the University of Pretoria, she moved to Cape Town where she furthered her studies in illustration at Stellenbosch University. She trained under Vicki Thomas, a former botanical illustrator for the British Royal family. Anzell recently exhibited a selection of her botanical work at AVA.

Winkie Kelsey holds an AB from Smith College and studied art at Harvard University and Dartmouth College. Her work has been exhibited extensively, including at AVA, and she is the driving force behind AVA’s Stone Carving Studio and its resident artists, The Uncommon Chiselers.

Robert K. McLellan, MD, MPH is Chief of the Section of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and is Associate Professor of Medicine, Community and Family Medicine, and The Dartmouth Institute at Dartmouth Medical School. He is a past president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, as well as the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Dr. McLellan has had extensive experience as an occupational medical consultant in a wide range of economic sectors and has maintained a clinical practice for over 30 years helping individuals prevent or manage diseases and injuries related to their work or home environment.

Murray Ngoima is an art educator and mixed-media artist who, for many years, has taught in local schools and at AVA, where her children's Summer Art Camps are legendary. She has painted murals, designed theater sets, and taught children’s workshops in Boston, Woodstock, and Nairobi, Kenya. Murray is also AVA's Studio Manager.

Dave O'Neill is a photographer and the co-founder, with his wife Dana, of Northlight Digital, a fine art giclee printing business in White River Junction, VT. Dave earned his BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MA in Photographic Education from Goddard College. Dave and Dana work with many Upper Valley artists and photographers to make fine giclee prints of their work. www.northlightdigital.com

Lia Rothstein has BA and MFA degrees from Boston University. She has been a professional photographer for over 25 years and has taught digital photography and imaging in colleges and art centers. Lia's work is found in many private and corporate collections, including the Polaroid International Photography Collection. In the Fall of 2009 she opened PHOTOSTOP, a photography gallery and studio in White River Junction, VT.www.liarothstein.com ; www.photostopvt.com

William Scavone received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MA from the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His medical and scientific illustrations have won an award from the Association of Medical Illustrators and a Member’s Choice Award from the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Annual Juried Exhibition.

Carolyn Shattuck studied painting at Bard College. Over the last 10 years, she has immersed herself in book arts, exhibiting in many collections.

Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Esq., CIPM is a litigator, legal counselor, and mediator. He has been practicing law since 1993 and served as a prosecuting attorney for 15 years, including nearly seven years as the chief prosecutor and senior law enforcement authority in northwestern New Hampshire. He is an adjunct professor at Plymouth State University’s School of Graduate Studies and the head of the International Council of Museums Legal Issues in Conservation Working Group and is a former Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Art and Cultural Heritage Law Committee. He earned his BA, magna cum laude, from Columbia University and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Henrieke I. Strecker works in photography, printmaking, painting, video, bookmaking, and visual design. In 2008, she relocated to Center Sandwich, NH, and has exhibited her work throughout New Hampshire, Vermont and New York City. Henrieke recently had an exhibition of her work at AVA. www.openthearts.com

Jo Tate graduated from McGill University and did her studio art training at St. Martins College of Art and Design in London. She taught in Westport, CT and obtained her Masters from the University of Bridgeport. She is a member of the Vermont Watercolor Society.

Danielle Taylor has a BA from Middlebury College in Studio Art and Sociology/Anthropology and an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa in Painting, with a minor in Sculpture and Intermedia Art. She has worked individually and collaboratively in multiple media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, performance art, and installation.  Her primary interest is in process and conceptual art-making with a focus on repetition and pattern.    

Kristen Wegner has studied music, art, and aesthetic philosophy while her professional background includes extensive work in computer science and medical technologies. Kristen has been involved with the arts since moving back to the Upper Valley and has her studio at AVA.

David Westby is an artist whose work is often concerned with areas in and concepts of transition.  He has worked in film, photography and painting. http://www.davidwestby.com ; http://www.lucentfilms.com

James Worrell is a lifelong photographer currently shooting conceptual still life, food, cosmetics and stop-motion for advertising, magazines, websites, and restaurants in the NYC area. His work has been widely published and recognized, including in American Photography, Graphis, Communication Arts and by the International Color Awards. http://www.jamesworrell.net ;  http://www.lessismoreworrell.net ;http://www.faucherartists.com

Michael Yatsevitch earned his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. He has been an active member of the AVA community for many years and is instrumental in AVA's Life Drawing Open Studio offerings.

Josh Yunger is a painter, printmaker, and musician. He began classes at AVA at age 14. In 1999, he received a BFA in Printmaking and Sound Design from The Art Institute of Chicago and had his first solo show at AVA the same year. His linocuts appear in The Gardener’s Companion book series (Globe Pequot Press). His band, The Ologists, are working on their third album.