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.
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.
Doris Birmingham
Doris has a Ph.D. in Art History which she taught at Framingham State, as a Professor Emeritus. She teaches assorted art history workshops at the Danforth Museum.
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.
Suzanne Booth
Suzanne Booth earned her B.A. in Art and Art History from Pennsylvania State and an M.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She is working printmaker and teaches monoprinting classes at the Danforth Museum. Her prints and paintings have been in exhibitions in the Boston area and Europe.
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.
Jennifer Caine
Jennifer received her M.F.A. in Painting from Boston University and lives and works in Boston. She is a painter and printmaker and also creates mixed media artist’s books. Her works have recently been exhibited at the National Academy Museum, the Soprafina Gallery, Boston University’s 808 Gallery and other locations across the United States, including Texas, Connecticut and upstate New York. In addition to teaching at the Danforth Museum School, she also teaches at Boston University.
Margaret Carrier
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Margaret received her Teaching Certification from Framingham State College and studied Classical Realism under Paul Ingbretson for six years. She is a traditional oil painter who works primarily from observation of still-life and the figure. Margaret teaches advanced painting at the Danforth Museum School.
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.
Cheryl Clinton
Cheryl was born and grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts where painting has been her passion since childhood. She received her B.F.A. in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art and earned her M.F.A. at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Cheryl’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout Massachusetts and abroad. Nature and landscape are the primary inspiration for her work. Recent paintings focus on the play of light through water. Currently, Cheryl is working on a series of drawings and paintings based on trees and reflections. www.cclinton.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.
Nora Elton
Nora Elton received her B.S. in Studio Art, with a concentration in Photography from New York University and has an M.A.T. in Art Education from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She holds a Massachusetts teacher’s license and works as an art teacher in Wilmington, MA. In addition to working in the public school system, Nora works as an educator in various museums throughout the Boston area. Before moving to Boston, Nora taught at Fotokids, a photography school in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Nora has exhibited her artwork (photography, mixed media, sculpture, painting, and drawing) in Brooklyn, New York and Florence Italy. In addition to teaching, Nora designs her own jewelry line called Nora P Designs (www.norapdesigns.com).
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.
Harriet Fishman
Harriet Fishman has taught at The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University since 1991. She has participated in master drawing workshops in several states across the country. She co-authored with Nathan Goldstein the book: Drawing to See. She was nominated for membership in the National Academy of Design in 1999. Her works are in numerous public and private collections, including the Arkansas Art Centre, the Danforth Museum, and the Boston Public Library. Ms. Fishman’s drawings are included in several videos on drawing and in six books on drawing, including The Art of Responsive Drawing and Figure Drawing by Nathan Goldstein.
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.”
Robyn Giarla
Robyn received her B.F.A. in ceramics from Maine College of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine. She studied abroad at Studio Arts Center International (SACI) for two years, in the city of Florence, Italy, where she worked as a studio assistant and taught a ceramics class for local children. Since her studies, she has exhibited and sold her work and has also been a busy mother of two and a part time geriatric nurse. Over the years Robyn has found she loves to form figurative sculpture and has also created a line of ceramic beaded jewelry. She works primarily with red terracotta. She is currently a member of The Clever Hand Gallery (www.cleverhandgallery.com) in Wellesley, MA, and The Weston Arts and Crafts Association. www.rgpottery.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 Backyard 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.com.
Jesse Green
Jesse earned his B.F.A. in Sculpture/ 3D Studies from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2000. He works full-time as a Chainsaw Sculptor, Muralist and Illustrator, all of which sprang from a passion for cartooning that began at a very young age. Samples of his wide range of work can be seen on his web sites TheMachineJesseGreen.com and MagicVanIllustrations.com.
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.
Jessica S. Harris
Jessica received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Humboldt University in 2003. She creates and teaches a variety of mediums such as pottery, printmaking, drawing and painting. Jessica also enjoys knitting, quilting, hand-sewing, beadwork and gardening. For the past year Jessica has taught elementary and middle school students at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts. As well, she has been teaching sixth graders from the Esperanza Academy, a school for economically disadvantaged girls. Recently, Jessica has joined the faculty at the Danforth Museum School, teaching children’s sculpture classes.
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.
Anna Lochiatto
Anna received her B.F.A. in art education for grades K-12 from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. She has been an instructor of children’s art classes, ages Pre-K to 4th grade, since 1987, at the Danforth Museum School. Anna is currently a full time art educator at the Lowell Elementary School in the Watertown Public School system. Anna has taught numerous children’s art classes for the towns of Natick, Wayland and Newton. Her own artistic endeavors focus on drawing, painting and abstract collage.
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.
Elizabeth Magilligan
Elizabeth received her B.F.A. from Emmanuel College. She is a working artist and teaches intermediate and advanced watercolor classes at the Danforth Museum School.
Teri Malo
After earning a B.A. in studio art at Emmanuel College in 1976, Teri Malo continued her studies with an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1978. She shares her passion for painting and drawing with her students at the Danforth Museum School, where she has been teaching for over twenty years, and with a small number of private students. Teri is a draftsman, painter and poet whose current work focuses primarily on the New England landscape. Teri has actively exhibited her paintings along the East Coast, including twenty-five solo exhibitions and dozens of juried or invitational group shows. Teri’s work is in prominent regional museum collections, most notably DeCordova Museum of Art, Rose Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Newport Art Museum. Her vision has also caught the attention of several corporations including Blackstone Group, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and the Bay State Medical Center.
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.
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.
David Orser
David Orser is one half of Cedar Mountain Potters, the husband and wife team of Laurel MacDuffie and David. They have lived in their 1800’s era farmhouse in Parsonsfield, Maine since 1999. They operate their studio in a converted small barn that was built from hand-hewn timbers that appear to have been salvaged from an earlier structure.
David has been making pottery and sculpture for more than twenty years. After an early interest in photography and painting, he turned to clay while a student at The School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Art Academy. His work has been exhibited nationally and is in numerous private collections.
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.
Amy Ragus
Amy received a B.F.A. in studio art from Wellesley College and an M.F.A. in painting from Columbia University. She has taught at a number of schools and museums in the Boston area and currently teaches oil and watercolor painting at the Danforth Museum School. Amy has earned residency at numerous art institutions including the Gros Morne National Park and the Art Gallery of Newfoundland & Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada (2000); The MacDowell Colony for the Arts, Peterborough, NH (2001, 1991, 1988); and The Virginia Center for the Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia (2002). Her photographs and paintings have been exhibited in many individual and group shows over the years, and recently at the Brickbottom Gallery and the Peabody Essex Museum. www.amyragus.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.
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.
Cecelia Sharma
Cecilia is a freelance Graphic Designer with years of experience in Advertising, 2D and 3D Design, typography and Visual Communication. She is an accomplished artist and painter with expertise in watercolor, oil painting and painting on silk. She is the recipient of several awards in the past for Graphic Design and Advertising. She studied design at The National Institute of Design in India and later pursued a program in Advanced Studies in Television and Computer Graphics at Center for the Media Arts, New York, NY. She then continued her program at The University of California, Los Angela, CA. She currently teaches Art at The Wayland Art Center, Wayland, MA.
Liz Shepherd
Liz received her M.F.A. from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where she was a two-time winner of the Boit Award (2004, 2005). She divides her time between making sculpture and printmaking. Recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition called I Don’t Know the Details at the Locco Ritoro Gallery in Boston, Simply the Best at the Courtyard Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts and Boston Young Contemporaries at the 808 Gallery at Boston University. She received the Praga Industries Materials Award at the Boston Printmakers 2007 North American Print Exhibition. www.lizshepherd.com.
Avigail Shimshoni
Avigail Shimshoni is an Israeli-American architect and city planner with special interests in education, Japanese architecture and culture, and ceramic tile design. Avigail obtained her graduate professional degrees in architecture and city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Avigail's master thesis proposed ways to enhance public education in the process of planning and designing the Depressed Central Artery (The Central Artery Project in Boston: A Museum to Grow With).
Since her graduation, Avigail has lived and practiced in Israel and the United States and is licensed in both countries. She has conducted architectural research in Japan. Among the architectural education programs Avigail initiated and lead was the model building of Natick Center (Natick, MA) by kindergarten students, as part of their curriculum unit on the town they live in. Recently, Avigail co-lead Kids Create Natick Center, an after-school program for middle school and high school students.
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.”
Elisa Sweig
Elisa Sweig is an artist and art therapist. Elisa has worked in the fields of education, fine arts instruction and in therapeutic settings with all types of creative individuals. She currently works in oil paints with multimedia content, but she started out drawing, using pastels and acrylics to create her art work. Elisa has a B.A. in Art Education from Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Expressive Therapies from Lesley College.
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.
Ellen Wineberg
Ellen received a B.F.A. in Painting from Boston University and a B.A. in Art Education from the University of Washington. She has shown extensively throughout New England and in 2004 was a Massachusetts Cultural Council Finalist in Painting. In 2006 Ellen’s work was exhibited in the Recent Acquisitions Show of prints at the DeCordova Museum.
Pat Walker - Director of Education
Pat studied studio art at Queens College in NY, at Yale at Norfolk and received an M.F.A. in Painting from Boston University. She has taught art at a variety of institutions in the Boston area including the Museum of Fine Arts, Danforth Museum School, Pine Manor College, Regis College and the Brookline Arts Center. In 2001 she became the Education Coordinator at the Danforth Museum of Art, and was named Museum Educator of the Year by the Mass Art Education Association in 2003 and 2004. Pat has served as the Director of Education for the Danforth Museum since 2006.
Jean Maguire - Museum School Registrar
Jean received her B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art in Art History. After completing an internship with the Danforth Museum School, she became the school Registrar in 1998. Jean is the first person you see when you walk into the Museum School office on the second floor. In addition to registering students, she solves student and teacher problems, hangs wonderful student artwork in the Museum School Galleries, and with a smile keeps the Museum School running smoothly.
Kristin Ford - Assistant Registrar / Children's Programming Assistant
Kristin graduated from Wheaton College (Massachusetts) with a major in studio art and minors in art history and theater studies, and interned at the Danforth Museum School. She studied abroad for a semester at Studio Art Centers International (S.A.C.I.) in Florence, Italy. She also traveled to County Clare, Ireland with a group of Wheaton art students to the Burren College of Art, which opened many doors for her own artistic career as a painter. She recently showed her work at New Civilitea in downtown Salem, MA, where she sold some of her first paintings. Kristin joined the Danforth Museum of Art in 2007.
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.
Some teachers listed here may not be teaching during the current semester. This page was last updated on July 1, 2008.
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