Meet Our Faculty

Bayda Asbridge

Bayda Asbridge is a local community artist who has the ability to work in a wide range of mediums. Since her arrival in the United States in 2007, Bayda has been added very strong element to the Worcester Art Museum's education department contributing a vast knowledge in painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, weaving and a wide range of other mixed media. Her work has been recognized in several local galleries, including our faculty exhibitions and at the Fitchburg Art Museum, giving her a well rounded knowledge of all stages of artistic production; from conception through to presentation. Since 2010 Bayda has placed in the top three in several art exhibitions and has also been interviewed twice on local television networks to honor her work. Bayda continues her ever-growing career as an artist and as a member of the Worcester Art Museum faculty.

Christopher Khounbanam

Claudia Guzman-Jovel

Donalyn Schofield

Elaine Smollin

Pratt Institute, BFA; Pratt Institute, MFA; New York University, MFA

The figure has been central to art from the earliest civilizations. Working together with artists here at WAM gives me a beautiful new dimension to our shared artistic experience. Together we explore what the figure can mean to each of us, we learn our crafts of seeing and of image-making and preserve our personal vision. My figure classes combine drawing/painting and new perspectives on use of materials. Our understanding of the figure is expanded in my sculpture classes. Here at the WAM I first saw the extraordinary range of figurative art as an impressionable child. That early exposure inspired my career in archaeology, work in which empathy for other cultures is paramount. As a painter and exhibitions manager in New York City, (1972-2006), I studied at NYU’s Cinema Studies program to understand the impact of narrative form and the human figure. Because cinema studies is taught historically, I became an arts and film writer. I report on current exhibitions in New York City in In Vero Art and live and work in studios in Rhode Island and in the Hudson Valley just north of Manhattan. Instructor's websites: EAS Paintings and Drawings http://elainesmollinpaintingdrawing.blogspot.com/ EAS FILM AND SOCIETY http://elainesmollinfilmandsociety.blogspot.com/

Ella Delyanis

Ella Delyanis graduated cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor's Degree of Fine Arts in painting. She further studied art education at Suffolk University. Ella has enjoyed teaching adults at the Worcester Art Museum since the fall of 1977. Ella has been doing pastel landscapes of Worcester County for over 25 years. Her work is in many private as well as corporate collections, including Fidelity Investments and Dunn and Bradstreet. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in drawing. She has been a finalist with the Massachusetts Arts Fellowship program twice, and received the Worcester Art Museum's Kinnicutt Award for foreign travel and study in 2001. Ella's work is represented by Artana Gallery in Brookline, MA, where she had a show last October. She is having another show of her pastel landscapes there this coming September. Past one person exhibitions of her work have occurred in galleries both in Boston and New York City.

George Hancin

Hannah Gaucher

Haruo Shiga

Denver University, BFA; Rhode Island School of Design, MFA

Haruo Shiga, originally from Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan, is a local artist with a rich history in Art Education. Following his BFA at the University of Denver, he continued on to the esteemed Rhode Island School of Design in order to receive his MFA. In addition to his numerous personal showings in galleries in Denver, Rhode Island, Brown University, and even local exhibits like the Fitchburg Art Museum and WAM, he has gained experience in nearly every age group involving art education. His past work as a proprietor and Art instructor as well as his ability to work with any level of student has made him an impressive addition to our staff here at the Worcester Art Museum.

James Welu

Loras College, BA; University of Notre Dame, MA, MFA; Boston University, PhD

In 1966, Dr. Welu received his MA and MFA from the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. in art history from Boston University. He received honorary degrees from the College of Holy Cross, Loras College, and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Welu taught at Clark and at the Worcester Art Museum for several years before joining the museum staff as an assistant curator in 1974. He served as the chief curator from 1980 to 1986 before becoming the director. He served in this position for twenty-five years. Welu retained oversight of Old Master paintings and taught on a continuous basis. A specialist in 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting and cartography, Welu organized many exhibitions including Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World, the first show of the most famous woman artist from Holland’s Golden Age. In 2007 Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800 was the first exhibition in North America to examine the response of the visual arts to the plague. He lectured widely and wrote such books as 17th Century Dutch Painting: Raising the Curtain on New England, Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her World, The Collector's Cabinet: Flemish Paintings from New England, and Mask of Mirror. Welu served as president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and chaired the Accreditation Commission of the American Association of Museums. He was also a member of the advisory council for the art museum at Princeton University and the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. --- Source: "Museum to Host Director," Telegraph Herald, January 17, 2012

Jane Lattimore

Jane lattimore completed her BFA at Massachusetts College of Art and earned a Masters of Education at Lesley College. She enjoys teachi

Jenn Falcon

Pratt Institute, BFA Jenn Falcon loves color, nature, animals, and patterns, integrating them in her work. She received a Worcester Cultural Commission grant in 2009 and recently completed an Artist in Residence program at Petrified Forest National Park. She was born and raised in Worcester but has career experience spanning the country, including positions at Shemer Art Center in Arizona and Randall Children's Museum in California. Jenn proudly served two years in AmeriCorps, helping children to read and speak English. She also worked in Worcester Public Schools as a preschool and elementary educator.

Jennifer Swan

Rhode Island School of Design, BFA Jennifer Swan received her BFA in Painting from RISD and has studied bookmaking, ceramics, photography, and bronze-casting, completing an apprenticeship in the lost-wax casting method in 2000. Swan teaches youth and adult programs for the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester Center for Crafts, and for the Town of Shrewsbury. In addition to teaching, she paints murals and exhibits work in local galleries. In 2001, Swan received a Kinnicutt grant and traveled to India where she completed a series of illustrations on Tibetan medicinal plants for publication in the Trans-Himalayan Journal.

Jessica Harris

Julienne Ugalde

Worcester State College, BS; WheelockCollege, MS

Katie Doyle

Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, BFA; Lesley University College of Art and Design , MFA

Lisa Montanaro

Lisa Montanaro has taught on the Faculty of Worcester Art Museum and MassArt. She holds a B.F.A. from Paier College of Art and has studied color theory and printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. Ms. Montanaro has worked as a freelance illustrator in Washington, D.C. Clients include: U.S. News and World Report; Mondadori Publishing, Italy; The Los Angeles Times News Syndicate; The Washington Times; The Chronicle of Higher Education; The Weekly Reader Corporation. Lisa established and ran a successful illustration business through self-representation with clients in the editorial and publishing fields in national and international markets on a freelance basis. Working in mixed-media incorporating oil painting, photography and collage, she has exhibited and won national juried competitions in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. She gained international and national recognition for excellence in educational journalism for work on social issues such as teen pregnancy, gang violence and AIDS education. Lisa has now begun to work in the printmaking field. Most recently producing monoprints. These monoprints are achieved by painting on a piece of plexi-glass and then running it through a press for a single print in simple terms. The process is immediate and a departure from the more labor intensive and technique heavy illustration work of the past. Because of the immediacy of the printmaking process, her work is freer with an active line quality that she welcomes. She tends to work from life using the figure, found objects or the natural world. These are subjects that have a special quality that speak to her in a way other objects may not. The results have a graphic quality that Ms. Montanaro has embraced over the last five years and continues to explore today in her painting and printmaking. Group Shows include Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA; The Visual Club, New York, N. Y.; The Arts Club, Washington, D.C. and The Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA.

Lydia Bolton

Lyn Slade

Lyn Slade is one of the Northeast’s premier needle felting artist-authors. Her work has appeared in numerous national periodicals, in group & solo art exhibitions, and in her book “Creative Needle Felting, wool art with a painterly style.” Lyn has taught

Martha Chiarchiaro

Anna Maria College, BA, MBA; Williams College, MA

Patricia Kelly

Massachusetts College of Art, BFA

Randy LeSage

Rebecca Duffy

Pratt Institute, BFA

Richard Hoyer

Southern Connecticut University, New Haven, BA; Fairfield University, MA

Richard Paul Hoyer is a photographer and educator who works with fine art photography in gelatin silver prints as well as the latest digital media. He currently teaches classes at the Worcester Art Museum in digital photography and Photoshop. In addition, Richard is a member of the fine arts faculty at Manchester Community College in Connecticut, where he teaches photography and digital photography. He exhibits his fine art photographs at galleries in New York and New England on a regular basis.

Scott Nelson

Freelance artist, author, and illustrator; clients include Hallmark and Goldenbooks for Children; Worcester Technical Institute, Certificate Since early 1987, Scott Nelson has been one of the nation’s top freelance juvenile and humorous greeting card artist/writers. He has done freelance assignments for all the major card publishers and has written and drawn numerous children's books for many well known manufacturers including Golden Books for Children/Random House. In 2006 he won The Mom's Choice Award for his book titled "Mulch the Lawnmower" published by KRBY Creations. After studying illustration and landscape art under the late great Alex Gazonas in the mid 1980's, Scott has continued developing his mentors teachings to this day. He enjoys plein air painting in his central MA community and the shores of ME. Working in either watercolor or acrylic, Scott can often be found on the side of the road or next to the ocean painting in his expressionistic style.

Sue Dion

Art Institute of Pittsburgh, BA; Rhode Island School of Design, MA; certified Grumbacher Instructor

Susan Slepetz

Susmita Bando

Theresa Monteith

Framingham State College, BA

Thomas Grady

Thomas Kellner

Tom Kellner earned a Masters in Fine Arts from UMASS Amherst in 1983, where he created sculpture in wood and bronze. After teaching youth at the Museum School through the 1990s, Tom has been teaching a variety of drawing and sculpting skills to both teens and adults. These have included classes in figurative and three-dimensional portraiture; mold making; and techniques for wood, stone, ice, clay and plaster sculpture. He particularly likes to help students understand sculptural forms, and various styles and approaches. Currently, Tom works out of his studio in Royalston MA, overlooking the northern bank of the Miller's River. There he has produced a number of monumental stone pieces that now adorn homes and gardens across New England. Tom has worked as an artist in Residence in numerous school districts, including Athol-Royalston, Quabbin, Shrewsbury, and Worcester.

William Griffiths

Bill Griffiths graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA and began teaching at the Worcester Art Museum over 30 years ago. He teaches over 5 classes per semester and has developed a following of students who study with him semester after semester to continually absorb the wealth of knowledge he possesses. Bill's knowledge about a wide variety of painting media (watercolor, acrylic, oils, pastel, and colored pencil) is enhanced by his extraordinary expertise in the use of color, shared each class in both group and individual critiques. The courses he has taught include: Watercolor for Travelers; Color and Light I & II; Color and Light Extended; Watercolor classes at all levels; Introduction to Watercolor for Adults and Teens; Putting it All Together: Demystifying Old Master Techniques of Final Glazes and Scumbles; and Acrylic Painting. Bill's own work—in watercolor, acrylic, and oils—show his truly deep understanding of media, color and light, and the artist's touch!