Silversmith, jeweler, pastel artist, also works in fabric and leather. Taught silversmithing, childrens art programs and did financial consulting for the Art Association of Jackson Hole, WY. Controller for the Center for the Arts in Jackson Hole, WY 2004-2007. Studied Graphic Design at the University of Washington, Seattle. NISDA Jewelry program developer/teacher 2010-2011. Lives on Nantucket year-round and sells her work locally as well as online at: www.meganandersonart.com
Adeptly focusing her organizational skills as NISDA’s information/detail liaison in matters of business proposals, grants, financial planning, recordkeeping, assisting accountant. Clothing designer in NYC, enjoys crafts. Attended Hunter College, studying literature and arts.
Barbara Bash is an illustrator, author and performance artist deeply interested in all forms of mark making. Her creative path began with an early fascination with the alphabet and she continues to explore its expressive possibilities. Barbara has collaborated over the years with musicians, dancers, storytellers and poets, mixing Buddhist principles with western art forms. She has also written and illustrated a number of children‘s books on natural history as well as True Nature: An Illustrated Journal of Four Seasons in Solitude. For the past ten years Barbara has been part of the Creative Process team at Authentic Leadership conferences in Canada and Europe. She exhibits her big brush paintings, teaches expressive brush and illustrated journaling workshops and lives in the Hudson Valley of New York. For more information visit wwww.barbarabash.com
Consummate New Yorker accent and all, composer, lyricist, humorist, and graphic artist. Mark landed on Nantucket for the first time at the age of thirteen starting a lifelong love affair with the “Grey Lady.” Mark performed a vignette of his Nantucket musical story „Dance with a Ghost“ on the Dreamland “lawn” last summer and has done a series of graphic art pieces with a Nantucket theme--you may have seen his “Nantucket graffiti”posted around the island during seasons 2009 and 2010. a practice he plans to continue this summer. As a resident artist living at the NISDA cottages, Mark oversees the day to day upkeep of the residence on Washington St. and this summer he will be managing the gallery openings out at the school, introducing the artists and performing music from “Dance with a Ghost”. Looking forward to a busy season, you can find Mark at Sustainable Nantucket‘s “Farmers and Artisan Market” on Cambridge street every Saturday morning with his new graphic art characters called “The Earthlings”.
Lisa Blanchette Instructor and Harbor Cottage Coordinator
BA in Studio Art, Plymouth State Univ., NH; MFA Art, Marywood University, Scranton, PA. Taught Art History at Notre Dame College, Manchester, NH; Drawing at Plymouth State; Watercolor at Granite State College. Currently at Chester Academy enjoying instructing Elementary Art. Lisa is a practicing artist in a variety of media, instructs Watercolor at NISDA and is NISDA Harbor College Artist Colony Coordinator.
Lowry Burgess is a Professor of Art and former Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Distinguished Fellow in the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. He has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and several awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation and the Berkmann Fund. He received the Leonardo Da Vinci Space Art Award from the National Space Society. His book, „Burgess, the Quiet Axis“ received the Imperishable Gold Award from Le Devoir in Montreal. Among his hundreds of exhibitions and performances, „The Boundless Lunar Cubic Aperture“ was the first non-scientific sanctioned payload launched into outer space and most recently, his artworks have been exhibited at SETI in Mountain View, CA., the Festival of Art Outsiders, and the CNES, the French Space Agency in Paris, as well as a solo exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and with his newly formed „Deep Space Signaling Group“ in an artwork involving the International Space Station and NASA in April 2008. He continues work on new aspects of his lifework, the „Quiet Axis“. www.moonarts.org
Widener University, PA. Attended North Bennett Street School, Boston,MA. study in jewelry. Studied Glassblowing at University of Jacksonville, FL. A rennaisance man, he has been a chef, commercial fisherman, carpenter and innkeeper on Nantucket. He has traveled extensively in the US, Europe, India and the South Pacific Islands and is a sailor.
Nantz Comyns is a sculptor and an illustrator whose artwork is currently exhibited in public sites and art galleries throughout New England. A Maine Native, Nantz earned a Master of Fine Art Degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA. Nantz has traveled and worked, extensively through the South Pacific, Europe, and USA. While backpacking in remote areas of the Pacific Islands, she had the privilege to work and live with many artisans and experience their cultural art forms first hand. This was the origin of Nantz recycling of indigenous material into her sculptures. As a touring artist, Nantz specializes in developing creative educational programs, based in her process of sculpture. A diverse and energetic artist, Nantz encourages creative collaboration among children to help them learn about their world and their relationship in it. Her birch twig moose and colorful paper mache’ sculptures can be found in hundreds public facilities and private collections throughout New England. Nantz has successfully raised two wonderful boys and is now mentoring Foster children and creating in Maine.
Nantucket Water Gardens, designs/ creates water features, ponds, raises lotus, water lilies, koi fish. Featured in The Boston Globe Magazine, Vanity Fair, Nantucket Magazine, Inquirer and Mirror. Nantucket Photography Studio and On-site; “Under-way Boat Photography.” Discover Nantucket, site photography with island nature history. Avid fisherman, diver, environmentalist. Great storyteller!
www.nantucketwatergardens.com
Kristen Cronin, registered Yoga Trainer - 200 is a graduate of Spirit Tree Yoga at All That Matters in Wakefield, RI, and holds advanced degrees in Music and Fine Arts. She shares her passion for teaching yoga through nurturing classes that encourage students to honor their bodies and bring greater self-awareness and ease into their practice.
Landscape Architecture, RISD, National Landscape Architects Association Award of Excellence; Sterling College Associates Degree/Resource Management. tcronin@nantucketlightscapes.com
MJ Levy Dickson explores global interconnectedness through her artwork and has discovered a common denominator in the natural world, through touch, color, light, mood, and subject that transcend conventional land and water boundaries. Recently, she was artist-in-residence at the Perkins School for the Blind and traveled to Iceland and the Caribbean to exhibit her work. She hopes to use her environmentally-focused pieces to communicate the importance of preserving our beautiful natural surroundings worldwide. Dickson studied with Jan Cox while in the Diploma Program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has a BFA from Tufts University, as well as an MFA in Art Education from Boston University. She has taught at MIT, the Boston Architectural Center, Lesley University, and the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, as well as privately with all age groups. Dickson works with a variety of mediums in her paintings and drawings to convey a composite relationship between mood and subject. www.mjlevydickson.com
Sandra Q. Firmin has been curator of the UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts since 2003. She holds a Master’s from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (2002) and was awarded a Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative Fellowship at Arcadia University Art Gallery (2003). Kim Jones: A Retrospective, which she co-curated with Julie Joyce, was accompanied by the catalogue Mudman: The Odyssey of Kim Jones, co-edited with Joyce and published by MIT Press (2006). Firmin recently organized Artpark: 1974–1984, which chronicles the seminal years of this innovative residency program located in Lewiston, New York, just north of Niagara Falls, in which artists spent summers creating temporary artworks outdoors. Recent publications include Artpark: 1974-1984 co published by Princeton Architectural Press (2010) and contributions to exhibition catalogues for Max Protetch (New York, 2008) and the Wharf, Centre d‘art contemporain de Basse-Normandie (2007).
Gayle Fraas and Duncan Slade Instructors / Summer Administrative Coordinators
Collaborating artists whose work explores the relationship of ornamental surface and the portrayal of place. They have taught workshops at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ME; Arrowmont School, TN and the School of Visual Arts, NYC among others. Exhibitions include: The Museum of Art and Design, NYC (permanent collection); Portland Museum of Art, ME; National Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. Collections of Philadelphia Museum, PA; Peabody Essex Museum, MA; John Nuveen, Inc. Chicago; Fidelity Investments Inc; Hilton Corp. AZ; as well as University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of Nebraska, Lincoln and the University of Maine. Fellowships include, Maine Visual Artists Fellowship 1989, 2003, NEA/New England Foundation 1995, Artpark - Major Project Grant 1980 - Lewiston, NY. Publications include Art to Wear, by Julie Dale; American Quilts: the Democratic Art 1780-2007 by Robert Shaw and Masters: Art Quilts 2011, American Craft and Fiberarts Magazine. Fraas-Slade maintain a studio in Edgecomb, Maine. Since 2009 they have been NISDA's Summer Administrative Coordinators.
www.fraasslade.com
Tom Hooker Hanford MS Art Education, Southern Connecticut State University. Tom has over 20 years of teaching experience with young children. Fiddler, guitarist and an accomplished children's performer and recording artist, he has been featured at schools, libraries, festivals and historical sites including Old Sturbridge Village and Olana. In 2009, Tom toured England with singer/songwriter Kath Bloom. He is a certified teacher of MUSIC TOGETHER, a nationwide music program for pre-schoolers and their grown-ups. Recenty, Tom completed the CD "Fiddle Dee Dee... Children's Folk Songs of Old New England." www.tomhookerhanford.com
Miranda Howe works out of her studio in rural New Mexico and teaches at Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso. She studied at Texas Tech University, the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts in Greece, and Montana State University - receiving both her BFA and MFA in Studio Ceramics. Miranda has participated in residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Montana, where she was awarded the Lilian Fellowship, the LH Project in Oregon, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado. Miranda’s travels, along with her love of geologic elements, decorative patterning, architecture, and the graphic nature of printmaking, continue to be inspirations for her hand-built functional and sculptural ceramic work.
www.mirandahowe.com
Anne Conway Jennings is a fine art photographer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She earned her BA in English Literature from the University of Oregon and later returned to her native south for an MFA in Photography from Savannah College of Art and Design. In New Orleans she works as an assistant for photographers Tina Freeman and Deborah Luster. She has also worked with photographers Keith Carter and Jock Sturges through The New Orleans Photography Workshops. Her work is narrative based and autobiographical focusing on a personal history with the places and people around her.
World-renowned modern furniture designer, studied architecture at Columbia University and has been designing furniture since 1947. His works are in the permanent collections of the V & A in London, the Vitra Design Museum and Die Neue Sammlung as well as many major museums in the U.S. Recently he has launched the Vladimir Kagan Couture Collection, a showroom to designers and architects in NYC, featuring his designs from the 50‘s to the 21st century. The Complete Kagan, his autobiography was published in 2004, with a preface by Tom Ford. He resides in Nantucket, Palm Beach and NYC., with his wife designer, Erica Wilson. www.vladimirkagan.com
NISDA Founder/Executive Director, RISD, BFA, RISD Assistant Professor, began Nantucket RISD Summer Session, Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellow VI; International Cultural Arts / Education / Community research: USSR, China, S. America & U.S.: Visiting Lecturer, UMass, Darrtmouth, Team Instructor UMass Amherst Art & Biology / Nantucket Field Station. Workshops: Berea College, Univ. of KY, NEA Conf., Nova Scotia School of Art, MCC Educators Con. at Sturbridge, ‘Art Smart panelist,’ Brown Univ., Grad, P.D.P. Multicultural Curriculum, Teacher’s workshops, Nan. Public Schools. Published in Drawing From the Well, Educators Curriculum Guide, NYC Illust., Textile Designer Vogue, Mademoiselle, & Costumer, LaMaMa, NY Times; Performer, Judsons Poets Theatre & Armory Show “EAT” Experiments in Art & Technology, Fiberarts works Sculpture, Neon Drawings: Nudes to Landscapes.
Grian MacGregor Puppeteer, founder director of IVY VINE PLAYERS finds inspiration for her puppetry from her life experiences. She is a gardener, beekeeper, writer, mask-maker, dancer, recycler, traveler, collage artist, and creator of wearable art. Her recycling and environmental outlook are the result of her upbringing as the oldest of nine children. In 1981, upon the birth of her daughter Hannah, she left the formal teaching profession to pursue an uncertain future in the world of puppet theater. These days, when she is not volunteering as an adult literacy tutor, or paddling her own canoe around upstate New York, she can be found in libraries and classrooms from Seattle to Maine to North Carolina, guiding children down the joyful path of puppetry. www.grianmacgregor.com
Morgan Kirkland Maurer is a painter/printmaker currently residing in Portland, Maine. A 2002 graduate of Maine College of Art, Morgan's work synthesizes his love for the representation of landscape and portraiture with more abstract compositional choices such as the interplay between differing pictorial depths and how surface, material and mark-making interact. Illustrator r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal, April 2011. www.morgankirklandmaurer.com
Miki Lovett has worked in fabric and fibers for over 50 years. Beginning as a weaver she received her MFA from Boston University. In 2000 she began marbling and studied with Elin Noble in 2007. Miki‘s work has appeared in Nantucket Island Living, Handwoven Magazine,The Weaver‘s Journal among others. Work has been exhibited at Nantucket Looms; The Pink Adobe Gallery, Tuscon and The Artisan‘s Tree in Scituate, MA. She is a member of the Nantucket Artists Association, Nantucket Arts Council and the Surface Design Association of America. Exhibiting at The Artist Association of Nantucket and at www.mikilovett.com.
Lives life with zest! Envisions and creates expressive sculptures that are friendly, gregarious, mysterious and curious… bumblebees, aliens, and figures, cobbled together from reclaimed junk from the DPW and from gifted objects left at his doorstep. Painted in primary colors, installed in articulated relationships, lighted at night, they express an energetic roadside community. Provides “Advice for 5 cents” at his roadside table. Avid appreciator of nature, he has built and installed over 5,000 birdhouse and shelters. Generous, Matt has been guest naturalist in NISDA’s Inter-Generational Day, sharing wisdom, concerns and love of nature, bringing 25 birdhouse kits for families to build and install at home. This year he is guest Recycle Sculptor!
Joan Potkay graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1971 and also attended the Arts Students League in New York City. She has done invitational tutorials with Helen Frankenthaler and a master studies with Jennifer Bartlett at the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico. In 1999 she did a residency at the Vermont Studio Center and in 2006 was Artist-in-residence at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT. Currently she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and previously in New York City and on Nantucket Island where she taught at NISDA!
Elizabeth (Betsy) Sibley Instructor Textile Studios
BA, Art, Beloit College; MFA Univ. of Wisconsin and Penland Fiberworks Center, & Haystack. Arts educator, fiber artist, papermaker. Extensive instruction of children’s art K-12 at Nantucket Public Schools. NISDA Textile Studio Head and College Program PDP Instructor. NISDA Silo Gallery Director, founded Art Challenge Invitational.
Studio Fiberartist, creates clothworks, scarves and garment with hand-painted, hand-dyed Shibori and clamp/resist techniques, further adding interest with collage and stitching. Maintains private studio and participates in Cooperative Artisans Galleries. Instructs specialized workshops at NISDA, Horizons, Snow Farm as well as college courses at Rhode Island Community College, University of Mass Dartmouth, and in Southern France at Horizons To Go.
Sky Wallace is a self taught silkscreen artist and life long seamstress/clothing designer. Community School Wearable Art Instructor. Have supplied multiple local businesses with silk screened, hand dyed and reclaimed/redesigned clothing. Also private chef, organic gardener and herbalist, tile installer, DJ and single mother.
America‘s first lady of stitchery, graduated from the Royal School of Needlework, London and has taught in the US and abroad since 1954. Her book Crewel Embroidery was published in 1962 by Scribner‘s, selling over one million copies. Author of 16 subsequent books she has produced and starred in two television shows for WGBH seen on PBS and the BBC. She has designed and manufactured needlepoint kits for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as for her own collection. Her store has been a Mecca for needlework enthusiasts for over 45 years. Erica lives with her husband, modern furniture designer, Vladimir Kagan in Nantucket, Palm Beach and NYC. www.ericawilson.com
Biography