Faculty Bios
Lisa Adams has a BA from Scripps College in Claremont, California and an MFA from the Claremont Graduate University, She is the recipient of numerous awards including a Fulbright. She has successfully taught at many renowned art departments throughout the Los Angeles area and abroad and has been an artist-in-residence in Slovenia, Finland, Japan, Holland and Costa Rica. Her work is in the public collections of Eli Broad, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the Edward Albee Foundation. Lisa’s first monograph book, Vicissitude of Circumstance, published by ZERO+Publishing was released in Fall 2011.
Dan Archer creates non-fictional, journalistic comics to offer a new perspective on human rights issues and give voice to stories that wouldn’t otherwise be heard. His journalistic pieces have been published by American Public Media, The Poynter Institute, Huffington Post, Alternet, The Guardian UK, Presente, Wired, Operamundi (Brazil), Expressbuzz (India) and Independent World Report. He was recently awarded a John S. Knight Fellowship for Professional Journalists at Stanford University, where he investigated ways of combining visual storytelling and digital technology to make news stories more compelling. He has also worked with several publishers, including Penguin, Atlantic Books, Random House and Abrams. He is currently working on a long-form piece about human trafficking in the United States. He received his MFA in cartooning from the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont and also co-teaches the graphic novel project through the Creative Writing Department at Stanford University.
Posey Bacopoulos is a studio potter working in New York City. She studied ceramics at several craft schools including Penland and Anderson Ranch. She also studied at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her work has been shown in many national juried and invitational exhibitions. She has won awards in the Strictly Functional Pottery National, International Orton Cone Box Show and Feats of Clay. Her work has recently been published in Maiolica: Ceramic Handbook and several Lark 500 books. She has taught numerous workshops on majolica decoration. Joe Baker (Delaware Tribe of Indians), artist, educator, curator, and Executive Director, Longue Vue House and Gardens, New Orleans, has a distinguished career of arts advocacy. As the former Lloyd Kiva New Curator of Contemporary art at the Heard Museum, he pioneered opportunities for emerging and under-represented artists He is the recipient of many awards, including the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian) Honored Designer Award, “Single Thread: Celebrated Native American Design & Style, 2008”. He has held various faculty appointments across the country. He holds a BFA and MFA from the University of Tulsa and completed postgraduate study at Harvard University.
Lowell J. Bean is an ethnographer/ethnohistorian who has conducted research among some 14 Indian language groups in California and Arizona; all of the southern California groups and Pomo and Miwok in northern California. He began his work in 1958 with the Cahuilla and continues that work until today. He serves as an Editor of the California Journal of Anthropology and Ballena Press, he is on the Board of Directors of Malki Museum and the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA, his dissertation was published as “Mukat’s People.” He served as a Director of Cultural Systems Research Incorporated, along with Sylvia Vane, for over 30 years and is currently working on three books.
Freddie Bitsoie, Diné (Navajo), is the owner of FJBits Concepts, a firm that specializes in Native American food ways. He has traveled the country, making presentations for organizations and companies such as Kraft Foods, The College of Holy Cross, Yale University, the Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. He has been featured in Indian Country Today and Native Peoples magazine. Freddie attended the University of New Mexico, majoring in cultural anthropology with a minor in art history before attending culinary school. Today, he is one of the most sought after and renowned Native American chefs and Native foods educators in the country. www.fjbits.comRichard Burkett has over 40 years of experience in ceramics. He is the author of HyperGlaze glaze software. He loves to make pottery and has studied ceramics around the world. He is also the coauthor of the 6th edition of Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook. As the son of a chemist, he has an understanding of the intersection of science and art, and the ability to explain technical subjects to non-scientists. He is currently Professor of Art-Ceramics at San Diego State University where he teaches beginning to graduate ceramics, including clay and glaze technology.
Rich Capparela is one of the best-known classical music radio personalities in the United States. He is host of the weekday afternoon hours on the University of Southern California’s classical station, KUSC-FM in Los Angeles. Capparela announces concert broadcasts in Southern California for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the New West Symphony. His recording company, Cardiff Studios, produces commercials and programming for US arts organizations, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony. He has appeared as narrator for concerts at Carnegie Hall and with the Boston Pops, and has hosted and presented for the classical Grammy Awards. He is active as a lead singer and guitarist with a four-piece cover rock band, Otherwise Normal.
Karen Christians is the Founder of Cleverwerx, an e-commerce website for metalsmiths and designs quality jewelry tools to honor her trade. She is also the Founder of the non-profit jewelry school Metalwerx in Waltham, MA in 1998. Karen is the author of the book Making the Most of Your Flex-Shaft, published by the MJSA Press. Karen writes articles in major trade magazines, lectures, teaches workshops and fabricates jewelry and sculpture. She holds a BFA with High Honors from the Massachusetts College of Art. She is a regular participant at Burning Man where she teaches resin inlay. Currently she is a member of Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville. Karen is a passionate teacher, photographer, writer, cook and traveler.
David Clark’s encaustic print work has drawn critical acclaim for its graphic style and fineness of execution. He exhibits nationally, showing his work in numerous solo and group shows including the 33rd Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition and Aqua Art Miami. David’s printwork has been published and featured in Contemporary Paper and Encaustic: International Trends by Catherine Nash and Encaustic Works 2011 published by R & F Handmade Paints. David teaches encaustic printmaking around the country and was recently a presenter to a sold out crowd as part of the Monotype Marathon at the 5th International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown, Massachusetts. David is currently preparing for an upcoming solo show of his prints at the Process Museum in Tucson, Arizona. www.davidaclark.com
Gerald Clarke Jr. is a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians located 40 miles southwest of Palm Springs, California. He currently lives on his family’s ranch on the reservation and serves on the Tribal Council as Vice-Chairman. Gerald has taught classes in Sculpture and New Media at Idyllwild Arts Academy for the past seven years. Previously, Gerald served as an Assistant Professor of Art at
East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. In addition to his teaching duties, he has exhibited his
work at a variety of venues throughout the country and abroad. In 2007, Gerald was awarded an Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art.
Brian D. Cohen, newly appointed President of Idyllwild Arts, is an educator and artist. Before coming to Idyllwild, Brian completed 26 years at The Putney School in Vermont, where he was Founding Director of the Summer Programs, Dean of Faculty, and a visual arts teacher. Brian is a printmaker and founder of Bridge Press, publisher of limited edition artist’s books and etchings. He has shown in over thirty individual exhibitions and over 150 group shows, and his books and etchings are held by major private and public collections throughout the country.
David Delgado is a mixed media Sculptor/Potter who has been working in ceramics for seven years, where his focus in clay has been on both the hand-built and wheel-thrown object. Having recently received his BFA in Sculpture from the California College of the Arts, David lives and works in Oakland California where he has a sculpture/pottery studio for his mixed media practice. This will be David’s seventh year working for the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program.
Michael deMeng is an assemblage artist whose work is heavily influenced by Latin American art forms such as retablos, ex votos, and milagros. Born in Southern California, he now works and resides in Missoula, Montana. As an artist he has participated in numerous exhibits that promote awareness of such issues as AIDS, breast cancer, environmental and other social issues. DeMeng is co-founder of Missoula’s Festival of the Dead, an annual event based on the Latin Dia de los Muertos designed to celebrate life, death and the arts, through education, performance, and visual arts. He is the author of the bestselling craft book, Secrets of Rusty Things. As an educator, he offers a variety of mixed media workshops throughout the country and over the years has been actively involved with VSA Montana. Through these activities, as well as his artwork, deMeng fosters community awareness, and offers creative methods to explore the human experience. www.michaeldemeng.com
Matthew Dickman is the author of All-American Poem (American Poetry Review/ Copper Canyon Press, 2008) and the recipient of the Honickman First Book Prize, the May Sarton Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Kate Tufts Award from Claremont College, and the 2009 Oregon Book Award. He is co-author of the forthcoming 50 American Plays from Copper Canyon Press. He has also received residencies and fellowships from The Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas; The Vermont Studio Center; The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; and The Lannan Foundation. His poems have appeared in Tin House, McSweeney’s, Ploughshares, and the New Yorker, among others. W.W. Norton & Co. will publish his second book in 2012. Matthew is America’s bestselling poet under age 60.
Barbara Drake is a member of the Ti’at (canoe) Society of the Gabrielino (Tongva) tribe and has served as secretary of the Tribal Council. She is a member of Mother Earth Clan, a group of Native American women educators who give cultural presentations on Southern California Indians in schools, museums and other venues throughout the region. She teaches Native Californian Lifeways at UC Riverside Extension. Barbara is a consultant to museums, nature centers and libraries and is involved in setting up cultural exhibits and living histories that reflect early California Indian lifestyles.
Samantha Dunn is the author of Failing Paris, a finalist for the PEN West Fiction Award, and the bestselling memoir, Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life , as well as Faith in Carlos Gomez: A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation. Her work is anthologized in a number of places, including the short story anthology, Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles, which Dunn co-edited. A winner of the Maggie Award for Best Personal Essay in a Consumer Publication, Dunn is a widely published journalist regularly featured in O the Oprah Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Ms., among others. A member of the Writers’ Guild, Dunn teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers Program and is program advisor for The Mark at PEN USA.
Robert Regis Dvorák, an artist and popular speaker (over 1000 speeches) on subjects of creativity for education and business, has been teaching drawing and watercolor painting for 35 years at colleges and universities in California and Hawaii. He is a former Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon and the University of California, Berkeley. He has authored: Drawing Without Fear, Experiential Drawing, The Practice of Drawing as Meditation, Travel Drawing and Painting and Selling Art 101. He has exhibited his drawings and paintings in 24 one-man shows and many other group exhibits in the USA and abroad.
www.youcreate.com
Jonna Faulkner has been working with metal clay since 1999. She is certified to teach in both Art Clay Silver and Precious Metal Clay. She is a contributing artist to Art Clay Silver and Gold by Jackie Truty, Exceptional Works in Metal Clay and Glass by Mary Ann Devos, and The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry calendars by Holly Gage for the years 2009–2012. Her Protector Pendant was chosen as the cover piece for Holly Gage’s The Art and Design of Metal clay Jewelry 2011. Jonna has taught workshops at venues in France, New Mexico, California and Arizona. She also teaches out of her home studio in Escondido, CA. Her work has been sold at a number of fine craft shows and galleries. www.jonnafaulkner.com
Amy Friedman is the author of two memoirs, Kick the Dog and Shoot the Cat and Nothing Sacred: A Conversation with Feminism. She recently completed the memoir, Desperado’s Wife, and is the author of the long-running, world-wide syndicated newspaper for children, Tell Me A Story. She often performs her personal essays at Spoken Word venues in LA and has published hundreds of stories, columns and articles. Amy teaches creative writing at UCLA Extension, through PEN/USA and at the Skirball Cultural Arts Center.
Gabrielle Calvocoressi studied at Sarah Lawrence College and earned her MFA from
Columbia University. Her first book, The Last Time I saw Amelia Earhart (Persea Books, 2005), was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award and won the 2006 Connecticut Book Award in Poetry. Her second collection, Apocalyptic Swing (Persea Books, 2009), was a finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Gabrielle’s awards and honors include a Stegner Fellowship, a Jones Lectureship at Stanford University and a Rona Jaffe Women Writers’ Award. Her poem Circus Fire, 1944 received The Paris Review’s Bernard F. Connors Prize. She teaches at the MFA programs at California College of Arts in San Francisco and at Warren Wilson College. She also runs the sports desk for the Best American Poetry Blog.
Linda Ganstrom has been working in figurative ceramics for over three decades, creating a ceramic version of magic realism from her vocabulary of bodycasting techniques combined with hollow forming and modeling embellished with a collage style costuming created from sprig molds. She earned three degrees from Fort Hays State University in Western Kansas, where she is currently a Professor of Art and Design. Linda volunteers as NCECA’s Exhibitions Director, and exhibits around the country. Her sculptures were included in “Form and Imagination” at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California.Amber George received her BA in Fine Art from UCLA in 1994. Her work is represented by galleries across the country. In 2008, she had a solo show at the Museum of the Southwest titled Roots and Branches. Her work was featured in Embracing Encaustic and Studio Visit Magazine in 2011. In addition to private collections across the US, her work is also included in numerous corporate collections including the Four Seasons Hotel, Westin Hotels and China World Trade Center, Beijing China.
Silvie Granatelli has been a full time studio potter working in Floyd Co. Virginia since 1982. She received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Montana State. She has taught ceramics at Virginia Tech and Berea College in Kentucky. Her work is in the collections of the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, The Museum of Ceramic Art in Alfred, New York, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. Silvie’s work has been featured in many publications, including Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, and Studio Potter. Her work can also be found in numerous books, including Pots in the Kitchen, by Josie Walter, The Ceramic Glaze Handbook, by Mark Burleson, Handbuilt Tableware, by Kathy Triplett, and Porcelain Masters: Major works by leading ceramists, curated by Richard Burkett. She was the recipient of the Virginia Museum Fellowship Grant in 1995.Charity Hall is a studio jeweler in Tucson, AZ. She teaches classes and workshops through Pima Community College and the City of Tucson Parks and Recreation. Charity earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Colorado College and worked for the San Bernardino National Forest as a botanist before becoming a full-time artist. Her love of botany and entomology forms the premise of her designs. She received her MFA from East Carolina University. She exhibits work at the Penland Gallery, NC. Her work is featured in 500 Enameled Objects and New Rings: 500+ Designs from Around the World and will also be in Brigitte Martin’s Humor in Craft (2012).
Bridget Henry has been exploring the possibilities of woodcut printmaking since 1994, and continues to be enthralled with this alchemical process. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and the recipient of the 2001 James Phelan award in printmaking. Bridget works in the printmaking studio of UC Santa Cruz and has taught color woodcut at the Cabrillo College Summer Arts program, Momi Lani Paper Arts, California Art Education Association, Art League of Santa Cruz, Idyllwild Arts and out of her home studio on the north coast of Santa Cruz, CA.
Rose Ann Hamilton, Mountain Cahuilla, learned the art of Cahuilla Basketmaking from Donna Largo, longtime Idyllwild Arts summer faculty member and the weaver responsible for the current revival of the tradition. Rose Ann was one of Donna’s first Cahuilla students, and has been making baskets for 20 years . She is active in the Southern California Indian Basketweavers Association, and teaches basketmaking at numerous venues, including Agua Caliente Cultural Museum and UCLA.
Marylin Huskamp is a self-taught artist who has a love of mixed-media and fibers. She has worked with these mediums in various ways for over fifty years. Marylin’s art has appeared in Somerset’s Belle Armoire, Altered Couture, Haute Handbags, Cloth, Paper, Scissors, and various other publications. She is a proud contributor to the books, Collaborative Art Journals and 1000 Artisan Textiles. Marylin’s work has been displayed at 6th Street Gallery, Vancouver, Washington and The Muchnic Gallery, Atchison, Kansas. She teaches at numerous art retreats and quilting events both nationally and internationally.
Tracie Huskamp earned her BFA in Graphic Design from Wichita State University. She shares her love of art and nature by teaching workshops, along with her book, Nature Inspired. She has appeared on ABCNews.com in an Associated Press Interview, on the cover of Somerset Studio Magazine, along with features in various magazines and books. Tracie is also actively licensing artworks. Her first cotton quilting fabric line by Windham Fabrics debuted fall 2010. She launched a second fabric line fall 2011. Her 2012 Nature Inspired calendar line by TF Publishing was selected as an early buy in retail stores, and is expanding her 2013 calendar products.
Deborah Jemmott has shared her love for metal by teaching jewelry making and metalsmithing to others since 1978. She teaches through the San Diego Community College District and Saddleback Community College in addition to teaching many workshops and private lessons in a wide range of topics. Her students have won awards for their work and many sell work that they have produced in class. Deb’s belief that we all have artistic creativity combined with her mastery of jewelry making techniques is key to her teaching. She works at nurturing the artistic creativity in each student as well as helping them achieve their ideas in metal. Deb’s work has been featured in American Style, American Craft, Metalsmith, San Diego Home Garden and Redbook magazines as well as the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper. It has also appeared in Art Clay Silver and Gold by Jackie Truty, The Goodfellow Catalog of Wonderful Things III, Jewelry Making: A Guide for Beginners by Thomas P. Foote, and 20 Years in Metal. She has exhibited widely and currently has work in galleries across the country. She continues to exhibit and create custom artwork in addition to keeping up with her jewelry and metalsmithing company, Enhancements.
www.debjemmott.com
Greg Kennedy: BS, Biology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. National Science Foundation Award for botany and geology studies in the Spring Mountain Range of Clark County Nevada. After graduating with honors in 1972, Greg turned his attention toward ceramics. Since that time, he has been a studio potter and ceramics teacher. His focus and inspiration is mountain topography and is continually charmed by nature. Respectful of traditional pottery, he enjoys meeting with indigenous potters and learning from them during his global travels. This will be Greg’s 27th year of teaching for Idyllwild Arts. His home and studio are located in the coast range of Oregon, where he practices quietness, authenticity, harmony and sustainability.
Peggi Kroll-Roberts, award winning artist and teacher, was trained at Arizona State University and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Peggi worked as a fashion and advertising illustrator before making the transition into fine art. Using intense color and value to accentuate her subject, she moved into fine art with a bold palette, a love for small paintings and a very loose style that achieves a lot with a few very energetic brush strokes. She prefers to suggest reality than render it. Inspired by her children she paints beach scenes and other aspects of their lives. She also breaks away from the conventional still life by painting scenes of cosmetics and the occasional coffee cup or slab of butter. Peggi’s work gives us a new appreciation of our own daily life. www.krollroberts.com
Connie Kupka, violin: after graduation from UCLA she won a scholarship to study chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet at the Yale Summer Festival in Norfolk, CT. The experience created a life long passion for chamber music (and orchestras), and inspired her, with future husband cellist David Speltz, to form their own ensemble, the Arriaga String Quartet, which won the grand prize in the prestigious Coleman competition, and was able to explore and tour with a broad range of offerings that is the magnificent quartet repertoire. Besides the Idyllwild Arts summer program, she has performed at the Oregon Bach and Colorado Music festivals, the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon chamber music festivals, the Ojai, Mostly Mozart and Sedona festivals, and in Los Angeles she regularly performs on the South Bay and Pacific Serenades Chamber Music series.
Stephanie Lee is a plaster artist and metalsmith who teaches to sold out classes both in the U.S. and internationally. Her book Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found Art Jewelry can be found in a bookstore near you. She is co-author with Judy Wise of a book titled Plaster Studio which arrived in book stores in spring, 2011. She has created numerous ebooks packed with video and written instruction that are available through her blog where you can also learn more about what makes her tick.
stephanielee.typepad.com
Jane Levy, viola: Jane is a member of the Pasadena Symphony and has performed frequently with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Long Beach Symphony. She has played in the Oregon Bach Festival and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival for many years. Jane especially enjoys performing early music on period instruments and is a member of the Bach Collegium San Diego and the Corona del Mar Bach Festival Orchestra.
Hank Louis: The founder of DesignBuildBLUFF, Hank Louis received a Humanities degree from the University of Southern California in 1975. After pursuing a career in journalism, passion for design and the building process led him to earn a Master of Architecture from the University of Utah, where he was also honored with the Certificate of Merit in the Study of Architecture from the Henry Adams Fund of The American Institute of Architects for Excellence. Louis founded DesignBuildBLUFF in 2000, which enables students from the University of Utah and the University of Colorado to design and build off-the-grid homes for families on the Navajo Reservation. He is currently principal of Gigaplex, an award-winning architectural design firm based in Park City.
Ken Marchionno is an artist, writer, and educator who resides in Los Angeles, California. His work has been exhibited throughout the US, and in Asia, Europe, and South America. His writings and reviews have been featured in literary and art magazines, and he has taught photography, and media theory since 1996. In 2002 Ken became a stringer for the Associated Press and in 2006 he started the Future Generations Teen Photojournalism Project to work with youth from Lakota Indian Reservations in South Dakota.
Daniel F McCarthy received his BS and MS in anthropology from the University of California, Riverside. For the past 40 years, he has worked at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree National Park and throughout Southern California compiling photographic inventories of rock art sites in these areas and throughout the western region. He has worked with Elders and Traditional Practitioners for over 35 years throughout southern California. For the last 17 years, Daniel has been the Tribal Relations Program Manager for the San Bernardino National Forest and recently received the National Lifetime Achievement award by the Office of Tribal Relations.
Tom McCarthy has been making jewelry for over twenty five years. He has an MFA from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. His work is in numerous private and public collections including the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, NC. Tom often teaches popular workshops throughout the country and has contributed a chapter to The Penland Book of Jewelry. In 2006 he was awarded a Fellowship in the Arts from the State of Florida.
tommccarthyjewelry.com
Stephanie Metz is a fine artist whose innovative work in felted wool has garnered international attention. Her work focusing on the relationship between humans and the natural world fuses sharp wit, thoughtful observation, and flawless craftsmanship to blur the line between art and science, natural and unnatural, organic and man-made. Stephanie has taught at USF, CCA, Cabrillo College, Kala Art Institute, and Penland School of Crafts. She received her BFA in Sculpture from the University of Oregon. www.stephaniemetz.com
Clark Mitchell’s pastels have recently been featured on the cover and in articles in Southwest Art and The Pastel Journal. His work has also been featured in American Artist and Pastel Artist International. He received Best of Show Awards at Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational in 2011, and at the Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational in 2005. He has taught workshops around the country and holds classes regularly in his straw bale studio in the California Wine Country.
Dr. John Molina (Pascua Yaqui) is a graduate of the University of Arizona, College of Medicine, and ASU’s Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law. His academic interest is in Indian Healthcare Law and Policy, Healthcare Disparities, and Patient Centered Medicine. He is the CEO for Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC), AZ, and Founder of Las Fuentes Health Clinic, a non-profit health center in Guadalupe, AZ. Dr. Molina has published numerous medical articles related to the integration of culture and medicine, and has been the recipient of numerous leadership, honorary, and humanitarian awards at universities and institutions around the country.
Harold O’ Connor has studied goldsmithing arts in the US, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria and Mexico. His work has been exhibited in over 200 exhibitions throughout the world. He is featured in many publications, including American Craft, Ornament, Metalsmith, MASTERS-Gold, and the Handbook of Jewelry Techniques; and 500 Brooches. In addition, he has authored several books including The Jewelers Bench Reference and The Flexible Shaft Machine: Jewelry Technique. His work is included in the public collections of 16 museums including: Smithsonian Institution, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN; Koch Collection, Switzerland; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England.
Jeff Oestreich is a full-time studio potter, receiving his BA from Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota. He followed his formal education with an apprenticeship at the Leach Pottery in St. Ives, England from 1969–1971. Throughout the 1980’s, he taught at various universities and has since returned to full-time work in his studio near Taylors Falls, Minnesota, where he has lived for the past 35 years. He continues to exhibit and teach short-term classes here and abroad. His latest adventure was teaching a series of workshops throughout South Africa, culminating with the selection of awards for the 2010 National Ceramics Exhibition in Cape Town.
Edith Orloff, piano: acclaimed performances throughout the U.S. and in Europe as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra; concert coordinator of the Summer Chamber Music Program at Idyllwild Arts; faculty member since 1976. She is a founding member of the Pacific Trio, the resident ensemble for Idyllwild Arts, which tours and records in the U.S. and Europe. She has played with such notable ensembles as the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, Ensemble Con Brio of Bruchsal, Germany, and the Czech String Trio of Prague. To promote new music, she has helped to launch several series featuring works by contemporary composers. A recent CD recorded with her husband, clarinetist David Peck, highlights modern works for clarinet and piano. She is a regular guest with Festival Mozaic, having appeared with festivals in La Jolla, Ventura, Grand Tetons, and Andé, France. A Master’s Degree graduate of CalArts, she has taught privately and given masterclasses for over thirty years.
Barbara Teller Ornelas is best known for her Navajo “tapestry” weavings (95–120 weft threads per inch). She has set several records with her weavings: she has won Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market twice; she established a new record in 1987 by selling a weaving for $60,000 that she and her sister Rosann Lee made; and she has woven the largest tapestry-style Navajo weaving on record. Barbara is a fifth generation weaver who was raised near Two Grey Hills on the Navajo Reservation where her father was a trader. She has been featured in National Geographic, Business Week, Americana and Native Peoples Magazines, as well as numerous books. She has won dozens of awards, and has demonstrated and lectured at museums and institutions across the country and recently did a cultural exchange with the Peruvian weavers in Peru at the request of the US State Department. Barbara and Lynda have taught their popular workshop at Idyllwild Arts for 14 summers.
Walter Parks: In 1984 while working as a consultant to Idyllwild Arts, Walter met Juan Quezada, the famous Mata Ortiz potter, who was teaching in the Native American program. When the class ended, Walter helped transport Juan and his family back to their village in Chihuahua. That trip began a twenty-eight year association with the potters of Mata Ortiz. Walter has written extensively on the Mata Ortiz ceramic phenomenon, including the definitive book The Miracle of Mata Ortiz.
David Peck, Clarinet: principal clarinetist of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and formerly principal clarinetist of the San Diego Symphony. Along with thirty-five years as an orchestra principal, Mr. Peck’s other musical endeavors include a variety of chamber music and solo activities. A number of recordings with the Houston Symphony Chamber Players as well as an album of contemporary works with his wife, pianist Edith Orloff, make up a varied discography. Mr. Peck has had a long association with the San Luis Obispo Festival Mozaic (formerly Mozart Festival) as well as summer appearances with the Ravinia Festival, La Jolla Summerfest and Idyllwild Arts Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Peck has taught clarinet at the University of Houston and at Rice University Shepherd School. In May 2005, he was featured as soloist with the Houston Symphony in the premier of the Clarinet Concerto by Richard Lavenda, a piece specially commissioned for Mr. Peck and Maestro Hans Graf by the Symphony.
Lynda Teller Pete began weaving at age 6 and won her first major award at age 12 at the Gallup Ceremonial. She has gone on to win numerous awards for her weaving; recently winning the Best of Classification for Textiles at the prestigious 2011 Santa Fe Indian Market. Lynda collaborates with museums, schools and other art venues in Colorado and around the country to teach the public about Navajo weaving. She is also known as an accomplished beadwork artist and has won many awards for this work as well.
www.navajorugweavers.com
Steve Pittelkow’s interest in marbled paper stems from a longtime desire to personalize his own bookbinding with distinctive papers. He teaches extensively and enjoys revealing the secrets for successful marbling. Over the years, he has experimented with a wide variety of paints and papers in a quest for materials that allows students a rich and satisfying marbling experience. Steve’s papers appear in museum and library collections and are used by binders and book artists nationally and internationally.
Ron Pokrasso received his MFA degree from Pratt Institute in 1975 and has had over 40 solo exhibitions and more than 150 group shows. His work is in public, private, and corporate collections throughout the US and abroad as well as being featured in several books. He is originator of the printmaking event “Monothon” and has been an ardent supporter of arts programs for youth. His teaching experience includes universities, museums, public schools and private workshops, as well as Artist Residencies in the US, Scotland, Ireland and Italy. www.ronpokrasso.com
Robert Polito’s most recent books are the poetry collection Hollywood & God and The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. Author also of Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award and an Edgar; Doubles (a book of poems); A Reader's Guide to James Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover; and At the Titan's Breakfast: Three Essays on Byron's Poetry. Editor of the Library of America volumes Crime Novels: American Noir of the 30s and 40s, Crime Novels: American Noir of the 50s, and The Selected Poems of Kenneth Fearing. He has taught at Harvard, Wellesley, and New York University, and since 1992 has been Director of the Writing Program at The New School.
Jorge Quintana is an artist, innovator, entrepreneur and teacher. Jorge is known not only for his exquisitely symmetrical polychrome pots, but also for his experimentation with the use of different minerals to color his pots. He has demonstrated the art across the U.S. at venues including the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, Idyllwild Arts, the Autry Museum, and the Sam Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts. His distinctive polychrome pots have been shown in the major exhibitions on Mata Ortiz pottery, including the Exhibits USA Potters of Mata Ortiz traveling exhibition and the American Museum of Ceramic Arts (AMOCA) exhibition in Pomona, California. He is included books on the subject, including The Miracle of Mata Ortiz by Walter Parks.
Claudia Rankine (Special Guest) earned a BA at Williams College and an MFA at Columbia University. She has published several collections of poetry, including Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric (2004) and Nothing in Nature is Private (1994), which won the Cleveland State Poetry Prize. With Juliana Spahr, she co-edited American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Where Lyric Meets Language (2002) and, with Lisa Sewell, American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics (2007). Her poems have been included in the anthologies Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present (2003), Best American Poetry (2001), and The Garden Thrives: Twentieth Century African-American Poetry (1996). Her play Detour/South Bronx premiered in 2009 at New York’s Foundry Theater. Claudia has been awarded fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lannan Foundation. She has taught at the University of Houston, Barnard College, and currently at Pomona College.
Ray Roberts was born in California and has been a professional artist for over 30 years, dividing his time between California and Arizona. Receiving his BFA from Art Center College of Design, Roberts began his career as an illustrator before transitioning to fine arts. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the California Art Clubs’ Gold Medal Award. Roberts incorporates his on-location painting experience into his studio works. He brings to Idyllwild more than 15 years experience conducting plein air workshops.
www.krollroberts.com
Barbara Roth has a degree in art from UCLA, a teaching credential with specialization in art education, and has studied art at Art Students League in NY, Art Center in Pasadena, and Otis Parsons in LA. For many years, she taught school and wrote and illustrated children’s books. Today, she teaches at Palomar College Community Ed, the Encinitas Public Library, in her home studio and at art retreats in the US, as well as in Italy, France and England. In addition she writes “How To” books on Painting, Drawing and Sketchbooking. Barbara uses this method of keeping a color notebook for her own personal painting. www.barbararothart.com
Griselda Saufkie lives on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. She began making baskets upon initiation, when she was about 12 years old. She has the distinction of being named an Arizona Indian Living Treasure. Griselda has received many awards for her basketry, and is included in books such as Art of the Hopi: Contemporary Journeys on Ancient Pathways, by Lois and Jerry Jacka.
Margaret Scanlan is a full-time studio artist in Knoxville, TN, working in acrylic and watercolor, large and small scale work. She is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and the Watercolor USA Honor Society. For many years she has taught painting, drawing, and color theory workshops at Arrowmont, the John C. Campbell Folk School, Penland School, le Petit Bois Gleu and Chateau du Pin in France. Her work is in numerous private, corporate, and public collections in the US and Europe, including the Huntsville Museum of Art (AL), the Springfield Art Museum (MO), Sloan-Kettering Hospital (NY), and L’Abbeye de la Roe (France). She also plays keyboards in a Celtic band, Red-Haired Mary.
Nicholas Simmons has quickly become a renowned name of the contemporary watercolor scene, winning major awards and gaining media exposure. His art is characterized by its diversity and power, and has been featured in a variety of publications, and on Maryland Public Television. In 2008 his DVD Innovative Watermedia was released by Creative Catalyst Productions. He is sponsored by Da Vinci Paint and Escoda Artist Brushes of Barcelona introduced a Nicholas Simmons signature series in 2012. Awards include top prize at the 2007 National Watercolor Society, consecutive gold medals at the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, 2008–2009, and the gold medal at the Texas Watercolor Society in 2010. The artist exhibits internationally with major watermedia stars, and was the only judge representing the Americas at the Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolour Biennial Exhibition in 2010, the world‘s largest watercolor exhibition. He will again judge the Biennial in 2012. Nicholas is one of six painters in the newly-formed North American Watercolor Artists group, which will represent the United States in various international exhibitions. He is sought after as a workshop instructor, lecturer, and judge, known for his fresh, unorthodox, and often irreverent approach. The artist lives in the Washington, D.C. area. www.nicholassimmons.com
Lorene Sisquoc is a descendent of the Mountain Cahuilla and a member of the Fort Sill Apache tribe. She is co-founder of Mother Earth Clan and gives cultural presentations throughout the region. Lorene is the curator of the Sherman Indian Museum in Riverside, CA. She is on the board of directors of the California Indian Basket Weavers Association, as well as Natachee (a non-profit organization dedicated to the continuance of American Indian culture and spirituality). In 1997, the city of Riverside honored her with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visionary Award for community cultural awareness.
Ernest H. Siva is a musician and teacher. He is the cultural advisor and tribal historian for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Siva formerly taught public school music in Palm Springs and Los Angeles before teaching courses in American Indian music at UCLA for 12 years. He and his wife June are Idyllwild Arts alumni and trustees. In 2004, Ushkana Press published his book, Voices of the Flute. He is president and founder of the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.
Ed Skoog (MFA, Creative Writing, University of Montana) is author of Mister Skylight, a collection of poems (Copper Canyon, 2009) and Rough Day (forthcoming from Copper Canyon), as well as many stories and poems in literary magazines such as The Paris Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, The New Republic, American Poetry Review, and Narrative. He also writes for the Los Angeles Review of Books. He has been a Robert Frost Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and a Tennesee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference. His work has won awards from the William Faulkner Society and the Poetry Society of America. He was one of thirteen teachers nationwide nominated for a Distinguished Teacher in the Arts award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts in 2005. He has been a writer-in-residence at the Richard Hugo House and George Washington University. He has taught poetry at Tulane, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and was chair of creative writing at Idyllwild Arts Academy. He lives in Seattle.
Tony Soares learned the fundamentals of pottery from his grandmother at age seven, starting a 30+ year journey to revive the fading art of olla making. Though not of Cahuilla descent, he is credited with helping to revive the art of Cahuilla pottery making through his experimentation with local clays and indigenous handbuilding techniques. Today, his pottery is displayed in art galleries and museums including the Tahquitz Canyon Museum. Tony is dedicated to sharing his knowledge to ensure that Native American pottery making is never lost. He has taught his skills at many venues including the Agua Caliente Band of the Desert Cahuilla of Palm Springs and the Yuman tribes of the Colorado River, Arizona.
Jock Soto, Navajo/Puerto Rican, one of the most celebrated male dancers in the history of the New York City Ballet, graced the stage of the New York State Theater for 24 years. He was one of the last dancers to be personally selected by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet. His life is the subject of a recent documentary by filmmaker Gwendolen Cates, Water Flowing Together, which was broadcast nationally on the Emmy award-winning PBS series Independent Lens in 2008. In 2011, Jock released his autobiography, Every Step You Take, and he currently teaches dance on the faculty of the School of American Ballet.
David Speltz, cello: MA in Mathematics, University of California. Founding member of the Arriaga Quartet, winners of the Coleman Competition, and former member of the Gregor Piatigorsky Master Class at USC. As a member of the ensemble, Musical Offering, he performed at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Library of Congress, Lincoln Center and throughout the USA and Canada. He participates regularly in several Los Angeles chamber music series including Pacific Serenades, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Bing Concerts, the South Bay Chamber Music Society and the IMA concerts. He has been active in the motion picture industry for many years, playing on the scores of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Shifrin, and many others.
Mark Tahbo is known as one of the finest Hopi potters today. Born and raised on the Hopi Reservation, First Mesa, Mark learned the art from his great grandmother Grace Chapella, Nampeyo’s neighbor and a principle pottery “revival” artist decades ago. His distinctive pots have been exhibited worldwide in museums and galleries. Among the many top awards he has earned at the Santa Fe Indian Market is the prestigious Helen Naha Memorial Award for Excellence in Hopi Pottery which he earned for 3 consecutive years. Mark has been profiled in various publications including Native Peoples Magazine, and is included in numerous books and articles on Pueblo pottery.
Roy Talahaftewa is from Shungopovi village on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, and is a member of the Water Clan. He works in both silver and gold, and uses both Hopi overlay and tufa casting in his designs. Roy has been receiving major awards for his work since 1981, including Best of Show at the Heard Museum, among many others. Working with the non-profit Hopi Pu’tavi Project, Inc., Roy teaches Hopi youth the art of metalsmithing, and he is an active advocate and promoter of Hopi artists on the reservation.
Marie Thibeault is a Professor of Art at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches her much sought after color course for painters. This seminal course is highly effective for all levels of painters from beginners to professionals. She received her BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in painting from the UC Berkeley. Her large abstract paintings are arenas of action, informed by the contemporary landscape in transition and utilize symbolic color as an expressive force. She has an extensive exhibition record, and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her most recent exhibitions include Broken Symmetries at the Torrance Museum of Art, and When Worlds Collide at George Lawson Gallery, in San Francisco.
Richard Tsosie is a Navajo jeweler and sculptor from Flagstaff and the Wide Ruins area of the Navajo Reservation and is currently living in Scottsdale, Arizona. His work has been featured in American Indian Art Magazine, Arizona Highways Magazine, the video “Beyond Tradition: Contemporary Indian Art and Its Evolution”, as well as several books including, Southwestern Indian Jewelry by Dexter Cirillo and Enduring Traditions, Art of the Navajo by Jerry Jacka. Richard’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums from New York to California.
John Walz, cello: A celebrated soloist and chamber music artist, known for his dazzling virtuosity and elegant musicianship. A student of famed French cellist, Pierre Fournier, he has appeared as soloist with more than150 symphony orchestras on four continents. His performances of twenty-five different concertos include both standard showcases and rarities like Martinu’s Concerto #1 and William Schuman’s Song of Orfeus. In 1979, he, along with pianist Edith Orloff, founded the Pacific Trio. Now performing with violinist Roger Wilkie, this renowned ensemble has played more than 900 concerts throughout North America and Europe. In addition to his solo and chamber music duties, he is currently the principal cellist with the Los Angeles Opera, a position he previously held for 20 years with the Long Beach Symphony. His ever expanding discography includes recordings of the concertos by Dvorak, Haydn, Shostakovich, Bloch, Martinu, Vivaldi, and trios by Brahms, Dvorak, Smetana, and the newly released Pacific Trio CD featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Archduke Trio.
Pauline Warg is a metalsmith with 36 years experience. She earned a Journeyman Metalsmithing Certificate after completing a 3 year apprenticeship to Master Goldsmith Philip Morton and holds a BFA from the University of Southern Maine. Her work encompasses fabricated jewelry, silversmithing and enameling both jewelry and holloware. Pauline owns and operates WARG Enamel and Tool Center, in Scarborough, Maine. The center features a gallery of her own work, a full service tool and supply store for jewelers and enamelists, and teaching studio for metalsmithing and enameling. She is the author of Making Metal Beads. She teaches at a variety of art centers and colleges across the country. Most recently Pauline created a bracelet for and wrote a segment of the book: Jewelry Design Challenge, a collaborative of 30 selected artists. www.wargetc.com
Carol Webb is a studio jeweler based in Santa Cruz, California. She has been exhibiting jewelry and presenting etching workshops across the country for the past 20 years. Her jewelry is known for the use of silver and black patterned imagery, accomplished through the process of etching copper clad fine silver and through copper-based alloys to achieve a layered and transparent quality.
Roger Wilkie, violin: Concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony, he has also held that position with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, and the Round Top Festival Orchestra of Texas. He has appeared as soloist with many Orchestras, including the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He has given solo recitals for the San Luis Obisbo Mozart Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art/KUSC-FM broadcasts, Swiss National Radio, and National Public Radio’s Performance Today. His chamber performances have included the Santa Fe, La Jolla, and Mainly Mozart Music Festivals, and the Camerata Pacifica of which he is the Principle violinist. As a founding member of the Angeles String Quartet (1987–1993) he toured throughout North America including New York’s 92nd Street “Y” and recorded an interactive CD/video disc for Voyager Company.
Marvin and Jonette Yazzie are from Lukachukai,a small town on the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners region of Arizona. Jonette assists Marvin in flute making, an art they learned from their relative Willard Coyote. Their flutes are carried in the Heard Museum shop and others around the country, as well as Asia and Europe. Recording artist Scott August of Cedar Mesa Music has used Yazzie flutes on Sacred Dreams and New Fire, two of his CDs. Marvin is listed in Flute Magic and Voices of the Flute. Yazzie flutes are used in the music programs of Tuscon and Klamath-Trinity school districts. Marvin and Jonette played flutes in the play Anasazi at the Ramona Bowl in 2011. www.yazzieflutes.com