Faculty
Our faculty are all working artists, educators, and writers, and all have an advanced degree in their field. All of them have taught at college level, and bring a wealth of experience and innovative approaches to their courses.
Each semester, we invite a selection of teachers from our extended faculty network to teach a course in their field of expertise.
〰️
Sara Rosenthal MA
Director of Studies
Sara True Rosenthal (b. 1991, she/ they) is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist, writer, weaver, and researcher whose expressive, textural creations explore micro- & macroscopic wild transformations. Born in California, she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from UC Santa Cruz, including a semester at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. She holds an MA in Performance, Design, and Practice from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London.
Sara has been artist in residence at SNETHA in Athens, Greece; Can Serrat in Catalunya; Carousel Institute of the Arts in Poolsbrook, UK; Inteatro in Polverigi, Italy; and Arts Letters & Numbers in New York.
She has presented interactive workshops at the Tate Modern museum in London, performed at the Jerusalem Biennale, lectured at the annual Kristeva Circle Conference and at UCLA, and exhibited widely. She is a founding member of LAC (Lady Art Collective).
Sara is also a member of the Textile Society of America and will be contributing several entries on sustainable textile materials to the forthcoming 10-volume Encyclopedia of World Textiles published by Bloomsbury.
〰️
Dr. Matt Webber
Director of Programs
Matt Webber is an anthropologist, photographer, and writer.
Matt has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Social Anthropology, and a PhD in cultural theory. His work focuses on the role of culture in the development of democracy - in both the ancient and contemporary worlds. He has taught at universities in London, Bristol, and Helsinki, and his teaching focuses on drawing out cultural and social connections that are often overlooked in accepted historical narratives.
〰️
Gwendolyn Hope Gussman BFA
Performance & Movement
Gwendolyn Hope Gussman is a director, choreographer, performer, movement teacher, and generative artist based between Denver, Colorado (Ancestral Lands of Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples) and New York City (Ancestral Lenape homelands).
Gwen has accepted positions as a guest teacher and choreographer for Yale University, New York University, Denver School of the Arts, Opening Act (NYC), Steps Ahead (NYC), BOUNCE Festival (NYC), and MOVE! (Denver). In Fall 2023, Gussman choreographed the musical, Once, at the renowned Gallery Players in Brooklyn, NY.
Gwen graduated in 2014 with a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In addition, she is honored to maintain a private practice of pilates, somatics, and yoga students.
〰️
Neva Bergemann MA
Drawing and Painting
Neva Bergemann was born (1968) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Upon completing her studio arts and art history degree under the tutelage of Diane Katsiaficas, and Joyce Lyon at the University of Minnesota, Neva went on to achieve her Masters in Art Education at the same institution.
In 1997, Neva traveled to Greece to attend the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts on the island of Paros where she studied under Jane Morris Pack. After settling permanently in Greece she set up her own art studio and created Artists on the Move, a program combining the visual arts — working with a variety of media, both en plein air and in the studio — with an exploration of the rich traditions to be found expressed in the architecture, landscape, and cultural life of the island of Paros.
Neva has been noted for creating art inspired by natural elements deeply rooted in Mediterranean culture and focusing on a classical standard —figure painting, still life, landscape, portrait — but through a modern lens and with a contemporary approach.
Neva’s artwork has been exhibited internationally and resides in numerous private collections all over the world.
〰️
Leah Tieger PhD Candidate
Poetry and Creative Writing
Leah Tieger (she/her) is a poet.
A recipient of support from the Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Leah is a doctoral candidate in the University of Southern California’s Literature and Creative Writing program. She has worked as a teaching artist for the Writer’s Garret and poetry contest editor for American Literary Review.
As a 2023 Wrigley Institute fellow, her ecopoetic practice led to a qualitative study of communities surrounding the Santa Susana Field Lab. Recent related work appears, or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Poetry Northwest, Waxwing, Blackbird, Vassar Review, and Tupelo Quarterly.
〰️
Kathie Halfin MA
Textiles
Kathie Halfin is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice is navigating the complexities of personal identity and emphasizes issues of migration, sustainability and holistic healing practices. She embodies a caring agent who stands in direct interaction with her surroundings to bridge between cultural and spiritual contexts that she inhabits. Drawing from her immigrant journey, healing modalities, and personal mythos, she forges channels for healing among humans and between humans and the Earth.
Kathie earned her Masters with honors in Fine Arts from the School Of Visual Arts, (NY) and Bachelors from Shenkar College in Israel.
Kathie has presented her work in group exhibitions at the Bronx Museum AIM Biennial (NY), The Immigrant Artist Biennial, (NY), AIR Gallery Brooklyn (NY), and Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, NY. Kathie had a solo show at the Ely Center Of Contemporary Art, New Haven, (CT). She has presented her performances at the Immigrant Artist Biennial: Contact Zone, Itinerant Performance Festival in Smack Mellon ( NY), Knockdown Center: Sunday Series, (NY), Art In Odd Places Performance Festival, (NY). Kathie has been an Artist-in-Residence at The Icelandic Textile Center in Iceland and Cha North Residency (NY). She was an AIM fellow at the Bronx Museum Of Art (NY) and received a full fellowship at Vermont Studio Center. Kathie was awarded a full two-month-long educational fellowship at Wassaic Project Residency (NY) and was an artist in residence at A-Z West (CA).
〰️
Isabel Bonafé MA
Drawing and Sculpture
Isabel graduated with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the University of Seville in 2014 and a Master’s in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 2019.
In her current practice she tries to relate the way we consume, perceive and live with virtual images and certain physical phenomena that question our common sense and our ordinary experience.
Isabel begins by considering elements common to both virtual and physical worlds, such as those related to electromagnetism and optics, or light and vision. She then designs pieces that seem to blur the boundary between the physical and the virtual, pieces that draw from issues related to memory as well as the presence and ontological status of photographic media.
〰️
Dr. Felipe Armstrong
Culture and Anthropology
Dr. Felipe Armstrong is the Head Curator at Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, in Santiago, and holds a PhD in archaeology from University College London. Specializing in the archaeology of pre-Columbian and indigenous art of Chile and Rapa Nui, Felipe integrates a deep knowledge of historical and cultural contexts into his curatorial and academic endeavors.
Throughout his career, Felipe has emphasized interdisciplinary research and education, leading collaborative projects aiming at shedding light onto the roles art played in the past. At the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, he oversees the curation of temporary exhibitions and directs the strategic vision of the curatorial department, ensuring each initiative educates and engages with the community.
As a lecturer at different universities Felipe shares his insights on pre-Columbian art and its ongoing relevance in contemporary art discourse. His current research includes exploring the bodyscapes of Chile’s semi-arid north from pre-Columbian periods, offering new insights into the cultural narratives of the region and the way art helped in shaping bodily notions and experience.
〰️
Helen Schoene MA
Performance & Movement
Helen is a yoga teacher, dancer, and performance artist. Through these practices, Helen explores movement and the possibilities of sensing and expressing through the body as pathways for getting to know oneself, by becoming open and receptive. She also views movement as a source of joy and playful interaction.
As an instructor, Helen combines yoga and dance to emphasize the immediacy of movement practices in the body. Her teaching highlights the simplicity of sharing and receiving as she reacts to her students and the shared space.
In teaching yoga and movement, Helen takes a precise approach to techniques, alignment and working well with the body. At the same time, she hopes to give each student the confidence and the freedom to feel strong within themselves, ready to explore and connect the dots.
Helen artistic career as a visual performance artist informs her current teaching. She has performed in more traditional gallery and dance settings, as well as site-specific venues. Her work encompasses written and spoken word, drawings, one-of-a-kind books, and live installations. She enjoys involving the audience in her performances in a way that is collaborative, fun and easy. A joint effort.
What connects all of these elements is ‘thinking’ through the body. Making the visceral visible. Being present and sharing presence.
〰️
Ruth Rist MA
Student Coordinator
Ruth (she/her) is a 28-year-old German-Alpes born and Berlin-raised sociologist by education, and a voyager by trait.
She has a bachelor’s degree from TU Dresden in Sociology and Pedagogy and a master’s degree from FU Berlin in Eastern European Studies. During her master’s degree program she has had the chance to deepen her knowledge and interest in the post-Yugoslav region, specializing in migration studies.
For half of her life, Ruth has roamed the world with her backpack. While traveling, she tries to understand and connect the things she observes with endless curiosity and growing wisdom. Ruth’s travels have mainly concentrated on Europe, with a focus on the Balkans. Recently, she has been based in India. Traveling has helped expand Ruth’s intuitive understanding of people from many backgrounds and it is this empathy that she brings to the role of Student Coordinator.
Creativity also plays a significant role for Ruth - from flower collecting to baking, building wood constructions to photography, lamp making to writing. Topics that are important to Ruth include: mental health, feminism and social justice.