Faculty & Staff 2008
Arts teachers at Putney are both practicing artists/writers/performers and experienced teachers. Faculty members have a firm grounding in their art form and are pushing the boundaries of their own creative medium.
Our Farm Program is led by the educator-farmers who run our campus dairy and vegetable farm which is closely integrated with the academic-year program at Putney.
Teachers in the Program for International Education are trained and experienced in teaching English (ESOL) and in multicultural education.
Each dormitory is staffed by 2 or 3 resident staff members, who are college juniors and seniors, MFA students, or young college graduates beginning their careers. These adult dormheads also serve as assistant teachers in the workshops.
Staff members support and nurture students, challenge them to grow, and, as professionals and postsecondary students with a serious dedication to the arts, serve as excellent role models for our high school students.
Summer Programs Staff 2008
Faculty - Dormheads - Administration
Faculty
Jacy Barber, Wearable Arts, is a costume designer, puppet maker and teacher. Her interest in wearable arts started when she was a high school student at The Putney School. She attended Sarah Lawrence College where she studied costume design, puppetry and biology. After graduation she was a resident costume designer at AMDA in New York City and designed world premieres for Fred Ho, Queens Theater in The Park and Andhow Theater Company. As a puppeteer she has worked with Dan Hurlin, Basil Twist and Mabou Mines.
Jeanne Wulsin Bennett, Metalwork and Jewelrymaking, is a freelance metal designer who has taught Jewelry at The Putney School and area schools for many years. She has been with the Summer Programs since 1994.
Jason Buening, Painting, began studying painting and drawing at the New York Studio School and went on to earn a BFA in Painting and Art History at Marlboro College. He completed an MFA in Painting at American University where he studied for a year in Italy. Jason has organized mural painting workshops in elementary and middle schools, taught painting and art history to high school students, and directed drawing marathons at colleges and art centers. Exhibitions include group shows in New York, Boston, Washington, DC and Rome; in 2007 he chosen for the Organization of Independent Artists Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition at The New York Law School. He has taught at Summer Programs since 2005.
Robin Campo, Ceramics, Robin received his MA in ceramics from U.W. Milwaukee and his BFA from Louisiana State University. His work has appeared in numerous books including the Lark Publications 500 Teapots and 500 Figures in Clay.
Elizabeth Ferrill, Book & Paper Arts, is entering her second year of the graduate MFA program in printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. She earned her BFA at Cornish College of the arts in Seattle in painting and printmaking. Before entering graduate school, Elizabeth was the Museum School Director at the Nevada Museum of Art, where she taught art to people of all ages in the local community.
Jenny George, Writing Intensive, has a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She lives in Santa Fe, where she is the editor of Edible Santa Fe magazine.
Tyler Gibbons, Songwriting, is a professional musician, composer, and teacher living in Southern Vermont. He performs throughout the country with the group Red Heart the Ticker, which he founded with his wife Robin MacArthur, has scored four feature-length films and numerous shorts and educational videos, served as musical adviser and sound operator for various documentaries and film projects, worked as a sound designer for theater and, as a freelance musician, played for countless acts from Norwegian pop outfit M2M to jazz singer Sheila Jordan. Gibbons teaches songwriting at The Putney School and the Compass School, both based in Southern Vermont. He graduated from Harvard University in 2000.
Rachel Glick, ESL/International Education, has taught ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in Indonesia, Georgia, Illinois, Vermont, Rhode Island and, currently, in a public school in western North Carolina. She holds a master's degree in ESL from the School for International Training in Vermont.
Melissa Johnson, Weaving & Fiber Arts, has taught Fiber Arts year round at The Putney School since 1995. In addition to teaching, she does custom weaving, dyeing and knitwear design for individuals and several local businesses.
Doug Lynch, Drawing and Printmaking, is an artist and teacher working in New York City. He received an MFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art in 2004, and has exhibited his works in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and China.
Nathaniel Katz, Experimental Animation, has an MFA in Digital Media from the Rhode Island School of Design His work is interdisciplinary, often taking the form of performances, events, animation, video, and installation. Nathaniel's work has been shown at group exhibitions in New York, Paris, and Boston. His animated short film “The Death of T.” was an official selection at the 2004 Ottawa International Animation Festival. He has taught at Summer Programs since 2005.
Neil Knox, Playwriting, earned his MFA in playwriting at Sarah Lawrence College. He was awarded the prestigious American College Theater Festival Award in 2006. He taught stand-up comedy last summer at the Sarah Lawrence Youth Academy. He writes for stage, film, and television and is a member of Wow International, an ensemble theater company in NYC.
Julie Marden, Chamber Music, violinist, performs chamber music, is a recitalist throughout New England, is a member of the Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra, and has toured Europe with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra. An alumna of Barnard College, Julie received her Master's degree in Violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers include Raphael Bronstein, Barbara Krakauer, Maria Ingolfsdottit, and Lucy Parker.
Jon Maloney, Filmmaking, graduated from the New York Film Academy with a major in film direction and production, and has worked for the last decade in theater and film as a director, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has been a professor in film studies at Cine Horto/Grupo Galpao in Brazil and at the New York Film Academy.
Brian Mooney's (Fiction Writing and Poetry Writing) fiction, non-fiction, and poetry has appeared in Cincinnati Review, Indiana Review, Columbia University's Journal of Literature and Art, Crazyhorse, Chicago Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Seattle Review, the anthology American Fiction: the best of the emerging writers, and many other national publications. His work has been presented by actors Leonard Nimoy, Hector Elizondo, and Marcia Gaye Harden at such places as Paramount Studies and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has taught creative writing at Marlboro College and the University of Massachusetts, and he's been a faculty member of the Putney School Summer Programs since 1998.
Rodrigo Nava, Sculpture, is a Mexican-born sculptor focusing on the exploration of form in stone, as well as process-oriented art. He is a graduate of The Putney School and the American University of Paris. He has taught Sculpture at The Putney School Summer Programs since 2002 and has also been involved with The Carving Studio in Rutland, VT. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Jay Noble, Painting Intensive, is a painter and Professor of Art at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design and York College of Pennsylvania. He received his MFA from American University and his BA in Fine Arts Studio from Anderson University. He additionally credits intensive summer study at the New York Studio School and Chautauqua School of Art as integral to his enthusiasm for painting and teaching. His work has been exhibited most recently at Pennsylvania State University; Millstone Gallery, VA; and Millersville University, PA.
Julia Perlowski, Theater, is a Drama and English instructor at Pompano Beach High School in South Florida, where she directs shows and sponsors an improvisation troupe. She is a recent presenter at the National Council Teachers of English, the American Alliance for Theatre Educators, and the Florida Association for Theatre Educators annual conferences, and she serves as an ambassador for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Julia has worked for over a decade in the field of theatre-in-education and is proud be carrying on her practice at the Putney School Summer Programs.
Kali Quinn, Theater Intensive , is artistic director of GUTWorks Theater Company in NYC. She holds an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International and has taught extensively throughout the United States and Brazil.
Whitney Roe, Drawing, holds an MAT from Columbia University and a BA from Williams College. She has taught art at the Northwood Schol, Frank Sinatra High School of the Arts in NYC, the Nantucket Island School of Design, and The Putney School.
Megan Savage, Writing Intensive, has a BA in Literature from Bard College and is now completing an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English at Indiana University where she teaches fiction writing and composition, and is the Fiction Editor of Indiana Review. Her fiction has been twice nominated for Best New American Voices and has appeared in Spork; poems of hers are forthcoming in Subtropics. She has taught writing workshops to diverse groups of people – from youth in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction to elderly residents of public housing. This summer, her second at Summer Programs, she comes to Putney fresh from a fellowship at the Ledig House International Writers' Residency in Omi, New York.
Robert Singley, Music Composition and Audio Art, has written over fifty substantial works for various ensembles ranging from full orchestra to soloist. He is experienced in composing in both acoustic and electronic mediums; much of his work incorporates various multimedia elements. His music has been performed by members of the National Repertory Orchestra, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra, the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble, the Duquesne Electronic Ensemble, and the Ithaca (NY) based group “Tabula Rasa.” He is the winner of several competitions for his music, including the Smadbeck Composition Prize and honorable mention in the 2006 Brian Israel Prize for new music. He has taught music at both Bennington and Ithaca Colleges.
Jared Stolper, Vocal Ensemble, has been teaching music and performing in Vermont and New Hampshire since 1976. A master guitarist, Jared is also passionate about directing, writing and arranging music for vocal ensembles. He has traveled extensively to experience long standing musical traditions in such countries as: The Republic of Georgia, the former Yugoslavia, and Indonesia. Jared sings world music in three different world music ensembles and is also a member of the men's vocal trio "Triptych.”
Joseph Tracy, Glass Arts, has been designing, making and restoring residential and ecclesiastical art glass since the 80's both for his own and for various studios including Arthur Stern, Cummings Studio, Savoy and Roger Hogan. Commissions include work for the Oakland Children's Hospital and the Bakersfield College Library. His instructional experience includes three years as a high school art teacher. Joseph enjoys teaching traditional stained glass techniques as well as exploring fused glass as a medium.
Lesley Tunstall, Modern & Jazz Dance, is currently the director of the CORPS program for pre-professional dancers at Portland Ballet in Maine. She was trained in England, Paris and New York City. Her professional dancing and choreography career includes the Alterballetto Ballet Company in Italy and numerous stage and television credits. She is co-founder and director of Puck's Theatre that works with at-risk children. She directed The Dance Academy of South Carolina until furthering her training at Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto in the teacher training program. There she received distinction in Cecchetti Associate and also taught in the junior associates program.
Lynne Jaeger Weinstein, Photography (Session I), is a nationally published fine arts photographer whose work has appeared in publications such as Oprah, Food & Wine and Parenting. Her work has been exhibited in New York City and through out New England. She was recently recognized by The Maine Photographic Workshop's Golden Light Award as one of the top 50 emerging photographers in the country. A New York City native who has worked as a photo editor for Life Magazine, she currently lives in Vermont with her family and focuses her work on that which grows around her.
Jason Whiton's (Photography, Session II) work as a screenwriter and filmmaker has been recognized and awarded by The Nicholl Fellowships (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences), the Sundance Film Festival, PBS and others. His work has been published in Rolling Stone, USA Weekend, Arcana Comics, and the book Mort Walker Conversations. Jason has been teaching at Summer Programs since 1992.
Dormheads / Apprentice Teachers 2008
Michelle Bonneau, Painting Apprentice Teacher, lives in Queens, keeps her studio in Brooklyn, and works as studio manager at Cooper Union's Long Island City Space. She earned a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City. This will be her second summer at Putney as apprentice teacher/dormhead.
Tasha Chemel, Poetry Apprentice Teacher, graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Brown University. Her senior thesis examined stories and novels produced by fans of the Harry Potter series, and her creative writing borrows elements from poetry, fiction and memoir. Currently, Tasha is pursuing a master's degree in social work from Boston College.
Sarabeth Dunton, Jazz Dance Apprentice Teacher, recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in painting. After spending time gallivanting about Europe and brief stint doing research in India she has relocated to New Orleans in search of her next big adventure. She currently spends her days drawing, thinking, serving coffee, and riding her red bicycle. A background in dance has prompted a renewed interest in bodies, motion, and performance art.
Sophia M. Echavarria, Fiction Apprentice Teacher, is a rising senior at Princeton University studying English, Creative Writing and African American Studies. She plans to teach High School English and Creative Writing, write Science Fiction, and continue to consume exorbitant amounts of Indian food. While a native of Washington, D.C., she has always found peace in shedding the mantle of asphalt and row houses for the rolling green hills of Putney.
A proud alumnus of The Putney School Summer Programs, Nicholas Feitel is happy to return as Filmmaking Apprentice Teacher to help teach the class in which he once made a movie called “The Curse of the Brain-Eaters.” He is currently enrolled, pursuing a BFA, at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Film Production program with a concentration in Writing.
Nathaniel J. Fink, Photography Apprentice Teacher, who was born and raised in the Boston area, is completing his senior year at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where he is studying photography. When not hard at work finishing his degree show, Nathaniel enjoys playing the guitar, cooking, indoor gardening, hiking and, of course, riding his bicycle. Nathaniel is alumnus of the Putney School Summer Programs and a returning staff member.
Lily Friedling, Wearable Arts Apprentice Teacher, graduated in 2008 from Bates College, where she studied art and psychology. At Bates College, she worked in the school's costume shop creating costumes for Bates College theater productions. She also designs and consturcts clothing for herself and friends. Her other interests include drawing, ceramics, drumming, psychology, fencing, and yoga.
Rebecca Gramdorf, Sculpture Apprentice Teacher, is originally from Wisconsin and has spent the last five years living, working and studying in Northfield, Minnesota. In 2007 she earned her BA from St. Olaf College and has stayed with the college this year after being awarded an art apprenticeship. She spends most of her time either substitute teaching or working in her studio where her current work blurs boundaries between drawing, sculpture, photography and installation, and of all materials involves an absurd amount of packing tape. Besides art, Rebecca enjoys running, playing basketball, listening to and making music, reading, studying African-American history and learning to cook Thai and Indian food.
Daniel Granias, Ceramics Teaching Apprentice, is going into his fourth year at the University of Iowa studying art, education, and arts management/entrepreneurship. He has been the Resident Advisor for the Performing Arts Learning Community for two years, and lived in the Learning Community his first year on campus.
Eli Halpern, Writing Intensive Apprentice, is a Literary Arts student going into his senior year at Brown University in Providence. Growing up around Chicago, he began drawing gruesome things at an early age. His interest soon extended to the medium of writing, where his gruesome things found expression in the abstraction and mutation of language. He looks forward to sharing a visual and literary space with the students and faculty of Putney.
Kay Kelley, Drawing Apprentice Teacher, recently graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC with a BFA in drawing and is proud that she was able to turn her obsessive doodling habit into a success academic pursuit. She also enjoys printmaking and book binding, organic farming and long distance bike tours.
Courtney Meaker, Theater Apprentice Teacher, was born and raised in Tennesee, just graduated from Knox College with a double major in Creative Writing and Theatre. She's worked on a number of Knox College student and faculty directed shows in management and design, and has also directed three productions. In addition, she's worked on her school's literary magazine, Catch, for the past two years as Theatre Editor.
Sara Nicolodi, ESOL Apprentice Teacher, is a rising senior at Syracuse University, where she is majoring in English and Textual Studies and Secondary Education. When she's not reading, writing or teaching, Sara loves to garden, knit, and get behind the scenes with theatre.
After growing up in the Boston area, Bayne Peterson, Painting Apprentice Teacher, went to college at Vassar in Upstate New York, where he majored in art and frequently rode bikes. After graduating he stayed in the Hudson Valley and worked at a printmaking shop, making etchings and woodcuts with a view of the Catskill Mountains (on which he would spend his weekends). Since then he's worked on an organic farm in Hawaii and moved to the Boston area.
Jon Ravenscroft, Playwriting Apprentice Teacher, will begin his fourth year pursuing a BFA in Theatre Arts and English at The Theatre School at DePaul University in the fall. Originally from Wabash, Indiana, Jon moved to Chicago to study at DePaul and has had the good fortune to be constantly busy working on productions at The Theatre School and with professional and independent theatre companies in Chicago.
Nicole Rowley, Photography Apprentice Teacher , recently received her BFA from Alfred University, where she served as the Photography Teaching Assistant. She spent 2007 studying photography at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, and last summer in an intensive glass-blowing course. She enjoys photography, traveling, and reading.
Sierra Shaffer, Drawing Apprentice Teacher, is an extremely recent graduate of the University of Colorado, where she received a B.F.A. in Painting and a B.A. in International Affairs. An alumna of the Putney School Summer Programs and a returning staff member, Sierra is counting down the days to another summer of green rolling hills, swimming holes, creativity, and milk lunch.
Sara White, Filmmaking Apprentice Teacher, graduated from Loyola University New Orleans in Spring 2007 with a B.F.A. in mixed-media visual art. She currently lives in New Orleans where she works at a used bookshop matting old maps and various prints. When she's not riding her bicycle or reading books, she's working on projects ranging from printmaking to installation and performance. She is also involved with a local theatre company as a set-designer and served as the Assistant Art Director for the New Orleans-based short film "Glory at Sea." Although Sara is quite attached to New Orleans and her community, she is looking forward to returning to Putney as the filmmaking apprentice teacher this summer.
Karen Wilfrid, Writing Intensive Apprentice Teacher, is a student at Oberlin College, where she is majoring in Creative Writing (fiction is her passion) in addition to studying chemistry and Spanish. Spring semester 2008 finds her studying abroad in Cordoba, Spain. Her other interests include knitting, yoga, playing the organ, peeling a good orange, and one day living in Putney – but for the time being, she is thrilled to be a dorm head/writing apprentice teacher there.
Administration
Jesse deVries, Transportation Coordinator, lives in Burlington, Vermont. She recently graduated from Skidmore College with a major in Religious Studies. In her free time she likes to garden, play music, go on long hikes with her dog Keiser, and read cookbooks.
Susan Farber, Administrative Coordinator, worked in non-profit administration and taught high school English before coming to Putney. She earned her Master's in Education at Syracuse University and her Bachelor's in litereature at Muhlenberg College. Her creative pursuits include writing poetry, choral singing, and contra-dancing.
Tom Howe, Summer Programs Director, taught in the early years of the Summer Programs and brings experience in the performing arts, teaching and school administration to his position as director. He is a graduate of Hampshire College and, for 11 years, worked in New York, performing in numerous downtown venues Off and Off-off Broadway and on tour. In 1987, he moved, together with his wife Mary, to teach at The Putney School. Tom served as Head of the Drama Department at the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago in the mid ‘90's and returned to Putney to direct the Summer Programs in 2001.
Valeria Khislavsky, Activities Coordinator, is a graduate of Brown University with a BA in Visual Art and Italian Studies. She has spent the last year as a high school art teacher and coach in New Hampshire. Val has a long-time connection to The Putney School Summer Programs, as an alumna, former Apprentice Teacher and, in 2007, Activities Coordinator. She is an avid snowboarder and gardener, and loves food, travel and being outside.
Trish Kneeland, Administrative Assistant, lives locally with her husband. Trish enjoys printmaking, gardening, and raising chickens.
Vanessa Mancinelli, Residential Life Coordinator, is a fiction writer and teacher. She recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing at Indiana University, where she has received a number of awards including a nomination to Best New American Voices. This year marks Vanessa's third summer with The Putney School Summer Programs and her second as Residential Life Coordinator. Her interests include music, history, travel, and the outdoors.
Liz Wells, Health Services Nurse, grew up in New York City, and traveled for a year after high school throughout southeast Asia, before starting college in Portland, Oregon. She majored in Sociology and worked in the mental health field after graduation. Four years later, she enrolled in Columbia University's School of Nursing and started her career working in the Burn Intensive Care Unit at NY-Cornell Hospital. Her most recent job was in a homeless health care program in Burlington, Vermont. She lives in Saxtons River, VT, with her husband and 16-month old son. She is training for a half-marathon this summer and a “tinman” triathlon this fall. In addition to Vermont, she holds a deep commitment to the Adirondacks and often spends summers in the “High Peaks” region.
Wendy Wilson, Business Manager, has come to The Putney School after many years as studio woodturner and sculptor. She graduated from Russell Sage College and attended the evening division of the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts for four years. She has experience as an art teacher, museum technician, toymaker, furniture designer and small business owner. Wendy moved to Putney in 1994 and continues her craft in her studio, which is idyllically situated in the woods next to a babbling brook.
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