INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHIES

Tim Abel (MFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design; MA/New York University) is an installation and book artist who has exhibited work throughout the Midwest including at MCBA.

Visiting artist Nina Bagley is a writer and jewelry, altered book and mixed-media artist from the mountains of western North Carolina. She has been a professional jewelry designer since 1988 and started teaching workshops nationally and internationally in 2000. Her artwork has been featured in collections, catalogs, and books and magazines across the United States and Canada. Whether in metal or paper, Nina's work incorporates text with image and bridges a gap between book arts and other art forms.

Sue Bjerke (BA/Metropolitan State University) devotes full time to printing and binding for pleasure. For over 20 years, Sue taught woodcarving under the auspices of community education programs and the Minnesota Wood Carver’s Association, where she is a member and past president. 

Mandy Brannan (BA/Loughborough College of Art and Design) was born and raised in England and has traveled and lived in Kenya and California. Over the past 20 years, Mandy had worked in clay, wood and plastics, but since 1991 has concentrated on handmade paper. The designs of Mandy’s papers are built up in layers using traditional Japanese methods.

Kevin Brown is the owner of Smart Set, Inc., a 20-year old graphic arts company in Minneapolis. Smart Set provides services and products for most printing methods. Kevin gives regular lectures and workshops in the area and has served on the advisory board for the Graphic Design department at MCTC.

Emily Carr Moore (MA/Lesley University) is the Community Programs Coordinator at MCBA. A former elementary school writing teacher, she is excited to help children make connections between writing and book arts.

Allison Chapman (BA/Macalester College) is a Book Arts in the Schools Artist/Instructor at MCBA and the proprietor of Igloo Press. She has taught numerous classes and designed and conducted tours for the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History and several Minnesota organizations.

Visiting artist Béatrice Coron was born and raised in France but has been living in New York since 1984. Her vast catalog of work includes books, installation pieces, sculpture and large-scale public art pieces. She has exhibited extensively throughout the world and her work is included in collections at the MOMA, The Getty, Walker Art Center, and many other public and private collections. Béatrice teaches regularly at the New York Center for the Book and Columbia College’s Center for Book and Paper Arts and has led workshops at many other institutions all over the world.

Kathy Coulter (BS/Moorhead State University) has 20 years of experience teaching art in public and private schools. She took her first class at MCBA 15 years ago and has been making books with children and leading book residencies in schools ever since.

Erik Farseth (MA/University of Iowa) is a printmaker and collage artist. He is the creator of Wipe Away My Eyes, for which he received a 2000 MCBA / Jerome Book Arts Fellowship. He has been publishing zines since 1988, and was featured in the "Alt.Youth.Media" exhibition at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art (1996). Erik is a founding member of the Stevens Square Center for the Arts.

Ellen L. Ferrari (BA/Carleton College) is a preschool art teacher. She has worked with children and families at Twin Cities arts organizations for more than 20 years and runs Art with Ellen, an art school for children 12 months to kindergarten.

Georgia A. Greeley (MFA/Hamline University) has a background in graphic design, printing, illustrating, and book arts. Both writer and artist, one of her passions is combining word and image. She was Artist-in-Residence at MCBA in 2005 and in 2006 published her first letterpress edition, Among the Displaced by Robert T. Laudon, under her press name, Artichoke Press. Her work is collected and exhibited regionally.

Sam Hiti is an independent comic book creator whose credits include work for Nickelodeon, Disney, Nike and The New York Times, and is working with major Hollywood studios to turn his work into a live action film. Published works include Tiempos Finales, Long Dark Train, Ghoulash, and the upcoming Death-Day.

Emily Hoisington (MFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design) is an artist who works in handmade paper and printmaking. Inspired by her garden, her artwork uses paper and print to build layers that evoke the complex interrelationships of living creatures in the soil. She enjoys introducing students to the possibilities of print and paper, ranging from the subtle inking of Japanese woodcut to the tactile encounter of papermaking.

Linda Koutsky (BFA/School of the Art Institute of Chicago) is the graphic designer at Coffee House Press in Minneapolis. She is also a book artist and co-author/designer of the forthcoming book "Minnesota State Fair."

Lin Lacy (BFA/Minneapolis College of Art and Design) is a Twin Cities fiber artist who works as a Youth and Community Programs Associate at MCBA. She has studied design at Reitveld Academie in Amsterdam, Holland and has artwork in the permanent collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota State Lottery. She creates both fabric and paper books.

Mary Lee is the owner of Riverlark Studio, focusing on contemporary books and boxes. She is particularly interested in the way that artists’ books combine structure, visual art and writing to make something entirely original. She took her first class at MCBA in 1994 and has studied with Hedi Kyle and many others at Penland, Haystack and Paper Book Intensive. 

Curt Lund (BFA/Iowa State University) is a graphic designer, collage artist, writer, spoken word performer, art museum tour guide, and MCBA's Audience Development Manager... What all these things have in common is what Curt loves best: combing visual arts and the written word in new and interesting ways.

Paulette Myers-Rich is a fine press book artist, photographer, writer, librarian and the proprietor of Traffic Street Press. A former artist-in-residence at MCBA, she has taught and lectured at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She received the 2000 Minnesota Book Awards in fine press and has been a finalist for the award twice. Her work is exhibited and collected nationally.

Chandler O’Leary (BFA/Rhode Island School of Design) is a book artist, photographer, illustrator, graphic designer, and the proprietor of Anagram Press. She illustrated MCBA’s 2004 Winter Book, which won a Minnesota Book Award. She was recently an Artist-in-Residence at MCBA, and is currently a member of the artist co-op. Her work is exhibited and collected nationally.

Jana Pullman (MFA/University of Wisconsin, Madison) has a varied background in the arts as a printer, illustrator, bookbinder and owner of a small book press, Western Slope. She has taught papermaking, binding and conservation workshops nationally.

Jeff Rathermel (MFA/University of Minnesota) is the current MCBA Paper Artist-in-Residence and is the proprietor of Reliquary Editions. His prints and artist’s books incorporate a variety of print techniques, often including sculptural handmade paper elements. His work has been exhibited nationally.

Jenea Rewertz-Targui (BS & BFA/Bemidji State University) is the Program Associate for the East Side Arts Council. She has taught visual art to metro area families and children at schools and art organizations, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and MCBA.

Regula Russelle (MA/Hamline University) is a former MCBA print artist-in-residence. Regula proprietor of The Cedar Fence Press, and together with Cori-Beth Sherlock co-founder of Accordion Productions, a series of collaboratively produced fine press artists’ books that combine literature and art. Her work is exhibited and collected nationally. In 2007, Accordion press received the Minnesota Book Award in fine press.

Wilber “Chip” Schilling (MFA/University of the Arts) studied printmaking and typecasting at the Clearing Press and bookbinding with Hedi Kyle and Daniel Kelm, and is a former artist-in-residence at MCBA. Chip has taught and lectured at the College of Visual Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He is a Minnesota Book Award finalist in the category of fine press and his work is collected worldwide. Chip owns and operates Indulgence Press in Minneapolis.

Erica Spitzer Rasmussen (MFA/University of Minnesota) was an Artist-in-Residence in papermaking at MCBA from 1997-98. In 1999 she received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Assistance Fellowship to create new sculptural works made of paper.  Rasmussen teaches studio arts at Metropolitan State University and exhibits internationally.

Roslyn Stendahl (MA/University of Minnesota) works as a graphic designer and illustrator of textbooks and magazines. Roz has kept written and visual journals most of her life. Roz successfully pushes the creative envelope each time she experiments with new materials and concepts.

Anna Tsantir (MFA/Memphis College of Art) has worked with teens as an artist/instructor for the past 10 years in a variety of settings from rural ranch schools in Wyoming to alternative public schools to inner city youth organizations in Memphis, Tennessee. Anna is a printmaker with degrees in Art History, Art Education and printmaking.

Nancy Walden (MFA/Hamline University) is a poet and letterpress printer with a strong interest in Japanese and Chinese culture. She is a member of the Laurel Poetry Collective.

Jill S. Weese (M.ED/University of Minnesota) is the MCBA Youth Programs Coordinator. A licensed elementary teacher and book arts enthusiast, she has been teaching book arts to children and families at MCBA and other local art centers since 1998. She will likely bring chocolate to class.

Jody Williams (MFA/Rochester Institute of Technology) is an artist and teacher in Minneapolis, producing artists' books, prints and handmade paper under the name Flying Paper Press. Jody teaches at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally. She was a recipient of a 1995 MCBA/Jerome Book Arts Fellowship.

Claire Wilson has taught cooperative learning and creative writing to youth of all ages. She was director of programs at a residential summer camp for girls ages 6 to 18. She taught at Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, and loves adventures that involve the great outdoors, play and writing.