NISDA STAFF
NISDA STAFF Ross Rosenberg Ross Rosenberg is a recent graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design where he majored in ceramics. At MassArt he explored the material qualities of paper clay and honed his skills on the wheel. In both these explorations he has focused on themes of interpersonal engagement, using art making as a means of navigating relations to self, others, and environment. Ross has served as a technical assistant for multiple MassArt ceramics classes and recently held a position as studio monitor. Ross is enthusiastic to be a part of the long shed this summer!
NISDA STAFF PIERO FENCI I’ve always defined myself by the work I have done. I grew up on the island, and consider myself as close to a native as one can get without being born on the rock. Work has been my salvation in this world into which I have fallen. On the island I have worked as a busboy, a salad chef, a short order cook, a scallop shucker, a sailing instructor, a bartender, an airplane parker, a carpenter, and an instructor at the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts. I am now a professor emeritus, having taught at the state university of Chihuahua for the past 20 years, and at Stephen F Austin State University, a branch of the University of Texas, for the past 50 years. The key to my happiness is that I adore what I do, and am engaged in a passionate anti-entropic imperative – a quest that creates order in the face of chaos, a life’s work that gives joy to the people I touch. And I’m not done yet. Lots of irons in the fire. As the old timers I worked with banging nails on the island used to say, “Onward through the fog!”
NISDA STAFF PENNY HANSON Penny Hanson received her BFA from Iowa State University in May of 2008. Metals, ceramics, painting, and fibers were her foci along with a BS in psychology as well. Handbuilding is her preferred area of interest in ceramics. Prior to moving to MA, Penny has taught several different classes at a local student art center at Iowa State and has taken many ceramics classes. She has been teaching hand building for the past 2 summers at NISDA on Nantucket. When she isn't teaching, she is the woman chiropractor and enjoys walking her dog, Dalilah all around the island especially the beach. Dalilah is a 12 year old white poodle and she has a 4 year old little brother who is a bearded dragon called Kevin. Penny stays very active in her community with volunteering at the Nantucket Elementary School, Nantucket Pride, as well as The Nantucket Island Fair.
NISDA STAFF DONNA TORNEY Donna Torney (LMHC, CZT) is a Psychotherapist in private practice. Her practice focuses on helping teens and adults to manage stress and build resiliency through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness techniques including yoga, drawing and creative journaling. She is the author of Mindfulness for Emerging Adults: Finding balance in the digital age.
NISDA STAFF SPENCER VERNEY Spencer is a professional artist working in the medium of oil paint with a focus on landscapes, portraits and commissions. He studied at The Florence Academy of Art in Italy. He is affiliated with the Buck & Doe Trust, the Brandywine Conservancy, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, the Nantucket Artists Association, and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. Artists Statement: I believe that art has the ability to transcend language, location, and demographics to connect people to place; to foster a sense of community within that place; and to develop the kind of emotional relationships that encourage education about, and exploration and preservation of, the natural land. It’s my hope that anyone who finds my work is moved by the beauty of our natural world; that they, too, feel an urgent responsibility to protect it, for generations to come. For over a decade, my compositions have advocated for the profound importance of our natural world by focusing on preserved lands and protected water sources in both Pennsylvania’s Brandywine River Valley region and Nantucket, Massachusetts. Alongside my ongoing work, I’ve painted commissions for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, the Nantucket Historic Association, the Brandywine Conservancy, the Buck and Doe Trust, and the Cheshire Land Preservation Fund, each with the mission to raise conservation awareness and promote the stewardship of natural resources among their respective communities.
NISDA STAFF LAURA HERHOLD Laura Herhold attended the Silvermine College of Art and the Art Institute of Boston before earning her degree in Ceramics at RISD. She also did graduate work at Lesley University in “Integrated Teaching Through the Arts.” Throughout her work life she has been engaged in the creative world, whether it be studio life, teaching, or as part of a design/business collaboration. In her mind it all flows together, one strand informing and supporting another. The greatest reward of art making is the realization of one’s creative thinking. Her students will be coached through skills & techniques, encouraged to lean into their intuition and imagination as they engage in the work. Laura has taught clay, nature drawing, and 3D design to children and adults. She has produced mixed media drawings, made vessels, sculptures and mobiles, and shown her work. She has written grants and entered urban art installation competitions. She has designed and built theatrical sets, renovated five houses, designed and built out a restaurant, made quilts, and made Halloween costumes – including a Santa Claus outfit that has been worn for 36 years. She likes to spend time in nature. At NISDA she serves as a special-projects coordinator, a teacher, and as a member of the Board of Directors.
NISDA STAFF MAE BLACKWELL Mae Blackwell is a native Nantucket artist who enjoys working across a variety of mediums and materials. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Simmons University, with a strong focus on photography, screen printing and textiles. She also has a strong background in Arts Administration, with experience in curating, installing and documenting exhibitions, archival work, and teaching. Mae sees art as a powerful method for community building, collaboration, connection and healing. She aims to integrate this belief in the workshops she teaches and in her day to day life, and she can't wait to share her practice with others .
NISDA STAFF HELEN MILLS Coming from a large family of artists and nerds, I've settled quite happily in ceramics. Playing in the mud and creating is how I spent most of my childhood growing up in Indiana. I found a love for studying life and completed a bachelors of biology at Purdue University. Each semester I would enroll in a fine arts course for myself, and eventually I happened to reconnect with ceramics in 2020. I found that I had the patience and curiosity needed to fall in love with clay. Since then, I have been a bit obsessed with the process. It is an outlet, a self-study, a practice in discipline, and a form of expression. Creating offers us the opportunity to connect to source, connect to others, and connect to ourselves as we explore the process of bringing something to life.
NISDA STAFF SOPHIE ELIZA CROSS Boston based artist Sophie Cross will be teaching Kinder & Youth Arts, Drawing, and Forest Bathing. A lifelong artist, Sophie grew up at Nisda! With an innate love of clay, young Sophie explored the natural environment on island, while her mother, director Laura Herhold taught in the clay studio and facilitated NISDA programs. Sophie studied at the Art Institute of Boston and Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts earning a BFA in traditional figurative sculpture. Sophie teaches Figurative Drawing, and Still Life with a special interest in drapery. Sophie expanded her studies and skillset to earn her Masters degree in mental health counseling specializing in Art Therapy from Lesley University. Sophie is holistic in everything she does, offering well rounded children’s programming, including yoga and stretching, exploring the creative process with materials, self expression and gaining technique and knowledge of the arts in other cultures. Sophie combines her passion for the arts and wellness in her work.
NISDA STAFF IAN TORNEY Ian Torney is an artist, an arts educator and administrator, and an exhibition curator. Mr. Torney has been teaching in the Visual Arts for over four decades – he began his career as a Teaching Fellow at the Hotchkiss Summer School, followed by five years at the Pomfret School and 21 years at St. Paul’s School, where he served as both the Fine Arts Director and Arts Division Head. He joined the faculty at his alma-mater Milton Academy in 2012 to teach in the Visual Arts and served for 10 years as the department Chair – he currently serves as the Nesto Gallery Director. Additionally, Mr. Torney served for five years as the Co- President of the Independent School Art Instructors Association, and remains on the leadership council of the Art Association of New England Preparatory Schools. Mr. Torney has mentored countless arts students and peers – his students have garnered numerous regional Art All-Scholastic honors every year, and have won five Gold and one Silver national medals. Mr. Torney is also a practicing, professional landscape painter who exhibits his work annually – he is a member of the Copley Society of Art in Boston, and is represented by the Hurricane Mountain Design Gallery of North Conway, NH. In 2025 Mr. Torney was honored as the Massachusetts Art Education Association as the Independent School Arts Educator of the Year; and in 2026 he has been honored as the National Art Education Association Eastern Secondary Schools Arts Educator of the Year. See more at www.iantorneyart.com .
NISDA STAFF MICHAEL FRASSINELLI Michael Frassinelli studied art at the University of Connecticut, with a focus on design and sculpture, receiving his BFA in 1986. He has been a prop maker, set designer, mask-maker, free-lance artist and ship’s carpenter, and has worked with a variety of people, from Berkeley California's Shotgun Players and The San Francisco Ballet and to Vermont’s Bread and Puppet Theatre, a German theater production company, and a Balinese mask-carver. Although he has worked in a variety of art mediums over the last 40 years his recent work from the Legend of the Pianistas series which includes sculpture made entirely out of piano parts and photorealistic cabinets of curiosity. Since 2002, Frassinelli has taught at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where he is Chair of the Visual Arts Dept. and Director of the Dana Hall Art Gallery.
NISDA STAFF BETSY SIBLEY Elizabeth (Betsy) Sibley is a practicing artist and teacher. In addition to receiving her MA, MFA in Fiber at UWM she has studied with many Fiber/Textile artists throughout the country. Her own recent work utilizes computer images, rescued materials in addition to stitchery to create personal imagery. Betsy is a familiar face at NISDA.
NISDA STAFF KATHY KELM Kathy Kelm is NISDA’s Founding Director. Rhode Island School of Design, BFA/Fine Arts. RISD Assistant Professor; Textiles, Art-in-Environment, Art Ed; Cultural Expressions: Interdisciplinary Curriculum at Providence Campus and founded Nantucket RISD Summer Session 1973 – 1978 which birthed Nantucket Island School of Design & the Arts, founded in 1978 through affiliation with Mass Art Boston. In 1973, with Larry Cronin, began 1st Sand Castle Day, orchestrated NISDA’s program facility rentals: Islander homes for housing, Public High School classrooms, Academy Hill, Coffin School, Historic Association’s Lightship Nantucket, to purchase of 71 Washington Street Artist Residency cottages, Seaview Farm Dairy Barn, Long Shed and gifting of 55 Wauwinet property and house for Residency.
NISDA STAFF EVE WETLAUFER Eve Wetlaufer, who in addition to being a professional potter, has dedicated her life to animal welfare and environmental justice earning an advanced degree in Animal Studies at NYU. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Art Therapy.
NISDA STAFF LARRY CRONIN Nantucket Water Gardens and Nantucket Photography; Photo documenta6on of RISD – NISDA Nantucket Programs. Suppor6ve anchor to NISDA’s founder, overseer of NISDA School and Residency Building through the decades.
NISDA STAFF Adam Mallin Adam completed his studies at Sarah Lawrence College, double majoring in computer science and artificial intelligence. While there Adam also obtained a master's degree in education. He has taught kindergarten, advanced computers, constructed smart houses, trained service dogs, lived and traveled in Israel . Recently Adam began working with drones, initially collaborating with local municipalities to outfit them with equipment for search and rescue operations, as well as providing flying instruction and installation services. At Nisda Adam will lead a workshop introducing the techniques necessary to use the drone in an artistic fashion, documenting locations, events and recreational travel. Experience: FAA AUV – Certified Operator of Unmanned Aircraft; Diverse background across Education, Technology and services for Community Benefit; Independent photographer and Media Specialist Technical Skills: IT & Media, Software, Drone Operation, Aerial Photography, Videography, Real Estate Media, Public Safety Drone Training, Film making Drone Photograph from Artistic Expression to Drone Media Specialty Marketing and Professional Operational Needs. IT Director/Instructor, International School in Stavanger, Norway Taught and designed innovative computer curriculum, Church Street School, NYC, NY Israeli Kibbutz Therapeutic Horseback Riding Instructor Animal assisted therapy and received training as a service dog trainer. Canine training and behavior for adults to Guided at-risk youth training to rehabilitate shelter dogs. A commitment that continues today.
