art school instructors
Bill Barrick
calligraphy | book arts | drawing
A graphic designer and teacher by trade, Bill has also worked as an architectural draftsman, technical illustrator and photographer in manufacturing and owned an advertising & design business for 13 years. He has taught graphic design and drawing and at both the high school and college levels and was the Department Coordinator of Graphics at Vincennes University (Indiana). His last position before retiring in 2016 was Print Shop Coordinator / Vocational Instructor at a private school for at-risk youth in Indiana.
Bill has always been infatuated with the book arts of the Renaissance—paper making, calligraphy, letterpress printing and book binding. He does professional book binding and calligraphy and has conducted dozens of workshops and classes in the book arts for the past 25 years. Bill travels to Italy regularly to hone his skills and sketch the sights.
Bill has a Bachelors degree in Graphic Arts Vocational Education and a Masters Degree in Education from Purdue University.
Kara Bender
drawing
Kara Bender received her BFA in 2008 from the University of North Carolina, Asheville, and her MFA in Visual Arts from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina. Bender's work has been shown in the United States and has been scheduled to show abroad. Most recently, Bender exhibited her work at the Artist for Artists Project Gallery as a Williams Prize Finalist in Simsbury, Connecticut (2014), was included in the juried exhibition entitled "A Fine Line: Contemporary Drawing Exhibtion" at the Claypool-Young Gallery in Morehead, Kentucky (2013), and was featured in a solo exhibtion in Chapel Hill (North Carolina) Juried Exhibitions Series (2013). Her work focuses on issues concerning ethonography and social justice.
Joann Benzinger
photography
Joann Benzinger uses photography as a means of expression. She began with film and her journey has led her to include digital and alternative methods. Her work has roots in more traditional media but has expanded to include unusual print surfaces such as aluminum cans and image transfers to wood. She participates in group and solo shows and is a founding member of the White Rabbit Gallery in Travelers Rest.
Joann earned her Associate of Arts from Wisconsin Lutheran College and studied Visual Arts with an emphasis in photography at Greenville Technical College.
Nancy Corbin
painting | collage
Nancy Corbin is an American contemporary artist working in watercolor, collage, ink and acrylic. Born in Ohio, she earned a BFA at the University of Cincinnati, then moved to Spartanburg in 1976 and started a family, a teaching career, and a studio practice. After 40 years in fine arts coordination and visual arts teaching, Nancy now paints full-time. Using expressive color and figurative abstraction, her layered compositions connect to her passion for observing and celebrating the living of life.
Nancy has vast experience in helping students assemble high scoring portfolios for scholarships, college admissions, and advanced credit.
Kathleen Digney
art school coordinator | painting + drawing
Kathleen has over thirty years experience working as a professional artist and possesses a broad range of skills. She earned a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a focus in medical illustration and portrait painting. Her experience as a medical illustrator includes working for a large medical center in Cleveland, Ohio and as a freelancer for publishing companies, medical magazines and medical legal firms. Gradually her focus changed to creating commissioned portrait paintings and teaching and it is this work that she continues today.
Kathleen relocated to the Greenville area in 2011 and has been with SAM since 2013. She has taught privately through her own studio, art centers, a community college, as well as gifted high school and museum programs.
Christina Dixon
ceramics | ceramic studio manager
Christina was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where creativity can be found everywhere and anywhere. She caught the art bug early, for which she credits her mother, a former art dealer. She studied art at Furman University, concentrating in graphic design and ceramics, and graduating in 2015. While at school, her professor introduced her to horsehair raku, which is still her favorite firing technique.
Following graduation, Christina joined the West Main Artists Co-op in the fall of 2015. Since then, her work has been shown in galleries in South Carolina, Georgia, and at local art fairs. Christina has been the Ceramics Studio Manager here at SAM since the late fall of 2017 and teaching for SAM beginning the summer of 2018.
Elizabeth Goddard
printmaking | collage
Elizabeth Goddard earned her MA in Art Education from the University of New Mexico. She has been an instructor for over 20 years teaching the visual arts to everyone from elementary children to USC Upstate students. Before Goddard relocated to Spartanburg she was the Curator and Director of Education at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2015 Goddard was awarded Museum Educator of the Year by the South Carolina Arts Education Association. She maintains a studio practice with a focus on printmaking and collage.
Cecilia Ho
fiber arts
Cecilia Ho was born into a family of designers in Hong Kong but was first introduced to felting after moving to Nova Scotia, Canada in 2007. It was the local and plentiful sheep farms that influenced her passion and direction into felting and fiber arts. She has held felting demonstrations and workshops at museums, galleries, craft festivals and local businesses across the United States and Canada. Cecilia has taken part in exhibitions, fashion shows and wool campaigns. FELTasticFashion is the business created by Cecilia in 2011 which provides all-inclusive felting DIY kits for beginners.
Stacey Hogue
illustration
Stacey Hogue holds a BA in Elementary Education from Harding University, and an MA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been included in the Butler Institute of American Art Annual Exhibition, where it was awarded an Honorable Mention. Her illustrations are included inThe Art of Storytelling and Relax Restore Renew, both published by North Light Books. Her children’s books are Feather: A Story of Hope, and Childhood Rhymes, which was the recipient of a Silver Moonbeam Award for Illustration. She resides in Simpsonville, South Carolina with her husband and son.
Gary Huntoon
ceramics
Gary Huntoon started working with clay in California in 1962 while attending UCLA. Gary works both in hand-building and wheel thrown techniques, although his preference is hand-building. He taught Ceramics & 3D Art at Parish Episcopal Day School, and was an instructor for High School & Middle School. He also taught Continuing Ed Ceramic classes at Richland Junior College, and workshops throughout the State of Texas, particularly at the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram. He also taught at the Museum School in Houston and Collin Community College in Plano. He recently relocated to Travelers Rest, SC and has been teaching for SAM since the summer of 2014.
Diarmuid Kelly
oil painting
Diarmuid Kelly is a photorealistic oil painter who moved with his family from Ireland to the United States in 2008. He is a self-taught artist and has been painting professionally since 1997. Diarmuid has received national and international recognition for his realistic animal paintings. His work can be seen in many prestigious homes of art collectors in Ireland, England, Wales, Australia and the United States. He has had several successful solo and group shows in Greenville, Spartanburg, and Union Counties since moving to the United States. He was included in the publication "Artists Among Us - 100 faces of Artists living and working in Spartanburg."
Rosemary McLeod
jewelry
Rosemary earned her BS at Winthrop University and a Masters of Education from Converse College where she also minored in art. She has learned the art of jewelry making by taking various classes and workshops from other jewelers she has admired. Using a variety of materials including copper, brass, recycled items, vintage materials and unusual beads provides Rosemary with inspiration and endless opportunities to explore.
Katherine Rausch
painting
Katherine earned her BFA in Advertising Design at Kendall School in 1982. After working in advertising for two years in Germany she returned to school to Converse College where she completed 33 hours of collective studies in Studio Art, Art Therapy, Art Ed, and Theater. She has experience working in Theater as a stage manager, prop master and various back stage crew positions. Currently she teaches painting classes and creates commissioned pet portraits having painted nearly 200 portraits of dogs and cats.
Katherine says, “I find my happiness in watching others find theirs. Teaching painting classes has opened up my heart. The paint your pet nights are the very best. One student explained it like this “it’s like being able to pet my dog one last time with each brush stroke”."
David Shurbutt
multidisciplinary
Edward David Shurbutt was born in upstate South Carolina. He received his MFA in Studio Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MA in Media Art and BA in Art Studio both from the University of South Carolina. David was a museum exhibit specialist for years while working in a variety of artistic disciplines. He has exhibited in New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and currently lives and works in Asheville, North Carolina.
Nora Von Dorn-Ortega
illustration | kids classes
Nora hails for Wisconsin and moved to Spartanburg in 2017. A former teacher with an MA in Elementary Education from Marquette University, Nora has worked for SAM as both an instructor for the COLOR's Outreach Program as well as the Fund Development Specialist. What began as a personal daily journal process, led to creating a fun, quirky series of illustrations about her experiences, anxieties and what it means to be human.
Jim Weber
ceramics
In 1972 Jim discovered his love of clay while taking classes at the Greenville County Museum of Art. These initial classes were the impetus for further study and led to a lifetime of creating pots. These days, Jim produces mostly traditional vessels with function, form and color being his primary considerations.
Jim has 20+ years of teaching experience in both hand building and wheel throwing. He and his wife Sally owned their own gallery and school in Griffin, GA where they held exhibitions and taught classes to children and adults. Concurrently, Jim taught for the Fayette County Recreation Department as well as provided decades of public demonstrations. Jim returned to the Upstate a few years ago, currently lives in Duncan, SC and is a member of the Spartanburg Collective.