SOCIETYOFCRAFTS.ORG - Key Persons
Alicia is a fundraiser and nonprofit administrator with almost 20 years of experience. Originally from Dallas, TX, she has spent most of her career working in the visual and performing arts (Dallas Black Dance Theatre/Dallas Symphony Orchestra) but now focuses on youth development and social justice (MENTOR). Read More She is inspired by the arts and empowered by supporting organizations that promote freedom of expression and spaces to create and consume art. Alicia is a dog and human mom, a nurturer of plants, an amateur photographer, and a wannabe yogi. You'll often find her playing board games or watching movies with her family or perusing a nearby gallery or museum. Read Less
Claudia has worked in arts management for 20 years in various roles, with an emphasis on building community and fostering collaboration among artists, donors, curators, and other constituents. Most recently she served as the Director of Development and Institutional Advancement at Fuller Craft Museum. Claudia has an M.S. in Arts Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Fundraising Management from Boston University.
An artist, craftsperson, designer and businessperson, Eddie Bernard was born and raised in New Iberia, LA. In 1996 he earned a BFA from RIT and founded Wet Dog Glass, LLC, a small manufacturing firm specializing in art glass processing equipment for schools, universities, museums, private and public access studios, glass labs and Read More factories around the world. Eddie has written numerous technical articles for GASNews and has taught equipment building workshops across the US. He has instructed hot glass sculpting workshops at Ox-Bow School of Art, Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Craft; Glass Furnace, Istanbul, Turkey; and The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass. He has lectured and demonstrated in Australia, Japan, Taiwan and Korea; and lectured and moderated panel discussions at numerous GAS Conferences. He has written, directed, and performed shows as a magician in glass studios at such notable venues at the GAS Conference at The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA and at fundraising events in Los Angeles, CA and St. Louis, MO, raising over $25,000 for Disaster Relief on behalf of CERF+. Eddie was a founding board member of the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute (NOGCI) and served on the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society (GAS), as Board Secretary of Central Park NC, and as Board Chair of Craft Emergency Relief Fund Plus (CERF+). Eddie currently serves as Town Commissioner in Star, NC. What one gives to community, one does not lose. Read Less
Ellen-Deane lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, and has been a summer resident on Lake George, in the town of Bolton Landing, for over 35 years. She was a Boston area resident for 23 years. Ellen-Deane is an avid collector of fine art and contemporary craft. She also has a passionate interest in classical music.
Ellen-Deane has been an active member of many non-profit organizations in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, and upstate New York. She has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Arts + Crafts for over 20 years and became an Honorary Life Trustee in 2014. Ellen-Deane is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hyde Collection, a historic home and fine art museum in Glens Falls, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Union College Concert Series in Schenectady, and an immediate past member of the Board of Directors of the Saratoga Chamber Players.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Strategic Planning, Chair of DEI
Gary Roberts has served on the Board of Trustees since 2016, overseeing the Strategic Planning and DEI committees prior to becoming president in 2021. Previously he worked at the MIT Sloan School of Management as Director of Faculty and Research Services, developing strategy and overseeing an array of operations and resource planning; prior to that he was
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Chair Governance
Jeannine Falino has been involved with SA+C since she was the Peter and Carolyn Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in the 1990s. Now a resident of New York, Jeannine is a private curator and art historian with a long list of acclaimed exhibitions and books to her credit.
Jessica Calderwood is a sculptor who works in a variety of craft-based media. Trained as a metalsmith and enamelist, her objects and images make statements about contemporary life. Since receiving her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and her MFA from Arizona State University, her work has been exhibited extensively
Joan has worked in arts administration for over twenty years, and has been with SA+C for five. She also works as Administrative Manager at the National Basketry Organization and as Bookkeeper at North Country Studio Workshop, while also managing her family gift shop in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Prior to that she worked for five years at the New England Quilt Museum. At SA+C she is responsible for all bookkeeping and human resource functions, as well as assisting with financial forecasting.
Joseph Pintz creates mundane forms based on utilitarian vessels and other implements associated with the hand. Pintz earned his BA in anthropology and urban studies at Northwestern University and his MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation, the Northern Clay Read More Center, and the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Missouri and exhibits his work nationally. Read Less
Job Titles:
- PR Consultant
- for MEDIA INQUIRIES
- President of JMKPR
John Michael is president of JMKPR: Communications for Creative Industries, a public relations firm focused on working with individuals and organizations involved in the arts. The Society of Arts + Crafts has retained John Michael for more than five years to assist with a variety of public relations needs.
Job Titles:
- Artist
- Chairman of Artist Advisory Committee
Josephine (Jo) Stealey is an artist known for her multi-media work using textiles and handmade paper. Her work is exhibited widely and is found in many private and public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
Judith is a former consultant to small high technology companies in the areas of strategic planning, financial management, and the commercialization of new technology. For many years she was associated with Moleculon Research Corp. (an R & D company in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields) as an officer, a director, and as a director of Moleculon, Inc., a public spinoff, later sold to an Australian company.
Katina Leodas has spent 50 years building, re-inventing and raising funds to support non-profit organizations that address social and economic inequality, build housing, improve health, advance the arts and promote a more just society.
Kyungmin Park is a figurative ceramic sculptor drawing inspiration from childlike perspectives. Contrasting the darker emotions and restricted psyche of adulthood with the boundless consciousness of children, Kyungmin's sculptures confront the view with uncomfortable juxtapositions, encouraging reflection upon personal Read More expectations and narratives. Kyungmin largely uses handbuilding techniques to construct her figures out of porcelain, a material she prefers for its ability to contrast starkly with bright and colorful decoration. Originally from South Korea, Kyungmin earned her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Georgia in 2012 and her BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008. Currently, Kyungmin is an Assistant Professor of 3D studio Art at Endicott College in Beverly,MA. Park was a long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana where she earned 2014-2015 Matsutani Fellowship and 2015-2016 Windgate Fellowship. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, most notably at: the Aqua Art Miami Basel, SOFA Chicago, A.I.R Vallauris, France as well as a number of galleries. Read Less
Lorraine Bressler has been an active participant in the Boston arts community for many years. A collector of contemporary art and craft, she has a special interest in glass and ceramics.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer
- Director of Merchandising at the Peabody Essex Museum
Lynne Francis-Lunn was until recently the Director of Merchandising at the Peabody Essex Museum where she was responsible for generating revenue at the museum store and online. She served as a liaison to major donors, volunteers and the museum's Fashion Visiting Committee.
Marcia joined the Society as Interim Directdor in July, 2023. She has been making or writing about art and fine craft for over 30 years. She is the founder of the Fiber Art Network and former publisher and editor-in-chief of Fiber Art Now magazine. Over the years, she has served on several boards and committees related to fine craft. In her free time, she can be found throwing her latest creation on the pottery wheel or spending time with her family. She lives near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Martin has worked as a consulting CFO for over 30 years with a variety of arts and nonprofit institutions including the Fuller Craft Museum, the deCordova Sculpture Park Museum, Fruitlands Museum, and Concord Museum. Martin has an MBA from University of Connecticut and a BA from Syracuse University.
Martin Wice has been a collector of craft art for 30 years. He and his late wife Cathy began their quest into craft collection with a purchase of two glass sculptures at an outdoor art show in their hometown of St. Louis. They were further introduced to fine crafts at the St. Louis Art
Michael Puryear has been a designer/furniture maker for over 40 years. He has been widely published. The books "Makers: An Anthology of American Studio Craft" and "Furniture With Soul" are examples.
His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Art & Design, the Mint Museum and the Peabody-Essex Museum
Molly Hatch is an artist designer with a formal education in drawing, painting, printmaking and ceramics at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, receiving her BFA in 2000. In 2008, after several ceramic residencies and apprenticeships in the United States and abroad, Hatch received her MFA in Ceramics from the
Queen Allotey-Pappoe is an award-winning Artist born and raised in Accra, Ghana. She moved to England to further her education and finally to Boston (USA) where she worked in the nonprofit Industry for a while before transitioning to study Fashion Design at the Massachusetts College of Art for Design.
Rowland Ricketts utilizes natural dyes and historical processes to create contemporary textiles that span art and design. Trained in indigo farming and dyeing in Japan, Rowland received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2005 and is currently a Professor and Associate Dean in Indiana University's Eskenazi School of Art,
Sylvie Rosenthal started building at age six at the Eli Whitney Museum where she made circuses, catapults, rockets, and robots. She received her BFA from The Rochester Institute of Technology, Woodworking and Furniture Design Program in the School for American Crafts, built two houses from the ground up with her
Job Titles:
- Professor and Head of Department of the Jewelry Metalsmithing Program at Rhode Island School of Design
Tracy is a Professor and Head of Department of the Jewelry + Metalsmithing program at Rhode Island School of Design where she has taught for nineteen years.