Art Faculty

Amy Werbel
Professor of Fine Arts: Art
B.A. Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges; Ph.D. Yale University

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR, 2011-2012 (8/2011-7/2012)
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Guangzhou, China
Currently teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in American Studies and American Art History to Chinese students in the Department of English Literature and Culture

Courses Taught: Introduction to American Studies: 1960s; Looking at Art; Special Topics in Art and/or Architectural History; Survey of the History of Art II; Visual Culture of the United States; West African and African Diaspora Art and Culture; Art History for the Classroom Teacher

Areas of Expertise:  American visual culture, gender and sexuality studies.

Recent Scholarly Achievements: Fulbright Scholar 2011-2012; My book: Thomas Eakins:  Art, Medicine, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia (2007); Co-Chair, with Frederick Lane, at the College Art Association Conference session:  Jurisprudishness:  Law & Visual Culture in the United States, 1842-1973 (Feb.2011); Article: "Searching for Smut: Hot on the Trail of Anthony Comstock" Common-Place Journal (Oct. 2010); Smithsonian American Art Museum Senior Fellowship, (Jun.-Aug. 2010)

On Teaching and Research:  My passion for research is inseparable from my goal of conveying to students the excitement and importance of studying the past.  At the same time, I try to also help students improve the very practical skills they will need in their lives--the abilities to think critically, write clearly, and speak confidently.

Outside of Saint Michael's: I enjoy travel, spending time with my family, and taking an active part in local politics.

 
Campus Office
Saint Edmunds 133
Phone: 802.654.2271
Box 391
E-mail: awerbel@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/awerbel/

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Will Mentor
Associate Professor of Fine Arts: Art
B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design

Courses Taught: Painting with Oil; Life Drawing; Painting Tutorial

Areas of Expertise: Mr. Mentor inquires into the contemporary comingling of biological, manufactured, and virtual environments by combining hand-made and computer-derived imagery in his paintings.

Recent Scholarly Achievements: Mr. Mentor gave an exhibition of his artwork at the Lesley Heller Gallery in New York City.

On Teaching and Research: Mr. Mentor presents theory, history, and practice as inextricably connected in his courses. He gives his students instruction in manual and conceptual skills, and then encourages them to create their own work.

Outside Saint Michael's: Mr. Mentor enjoys being a contra dance caller.

Campus Office
Sloane Art Center 226
Phone: 802.654.2884
Box 364
E-mail: wmentor@smcvt.edu

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Brian Collier
Assistant Professor of Fine Arts: Art
B.F.A. Suny at Buffalo; M.F.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Courses Taught:  Digital Video Art, Digital Imaging, Sculpture: Subject Object, Sculpture: Time Space, Performing Presentations

Areas of Expertise:  Sculpture, Installation Art, Digital Imaging, Video, Web Design, Interdisciplinary Art and Ecological Art.  Prof. Collier is particularly interested in artworks that traverse traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Recent Scholarly Achievements:  In 2011 Prof. Collier had a solo exhibition of his work at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, showed work in a group exhibition at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia and created a public art project for selected buses and bus stops in Boulder, CO.

On Teaching and Research:  Prof. Collier leads students to understand that successful art making is a balance of technical skills, focused research and creative experimentation.  Students are shown a wide range of art historical examples for assigned projects but encouraged to find their own unique and diverse solutions.

Outside Saint Michael's:  Prof. Collier enjoys kayaking, biking, hiking, parrots and all kinds of animals.  He is also Founder and President of The Society for Re-Natural Environment.

Campus Office
Sloane Art Center 262
Phone:  802.654.2851
Box 347
E-mail:  bcollier@smcvt.edu

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Terryl Kinder
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Fine Arts: Art
A.B., M.A. Syracuse University; Ph.D. Indiana University

Campus Office
Library 242
Phone: 802.654.2683
Box 357
E-mail: tkinder@smcvt.edu


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Leah Clark
Henry G. Fairbanks Visiting Humanities Scholar-in-Residence
Art History/Humanities
B.A. University of British Columbia; M.A. Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London; D.Phil McGill University

Courses Taught:  Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Early Modern World:  Translations, Transformations, and Visual Culture; Survey of the History of Art II-Renaissance to Modern; Collecting in the Renaissance. (Dr. Clark also teaches in the Humanities program.)

Areas of Expertise:  Collecting and court culture in Renaissance/early modern Italy; Mediterranean cross-cultural encounters; gift and commodity exchange; intermediality and replication of artistic forms.

Recent Scholarly Achievements:  Dr. Clark has recently published an article in the Journal of Early Modern History, "Transient Possessions: Circulation, Replication, and Transmission of Gems and Jewels in Quattrocento Italy." She is also currently completing a book manuscript, Objects and Exchanges: Circulation, Replication, and Association in the Italian Courts that builds on her Ph.D. thesis, "Value and Symbolic Practices: Objects, Exchanges, and Associations in the Italians Courts (1450-1500)" (awarded the McGill Faculty of Arts Insights Dissertation Award in 2010).

On Teaching and Research: As an art historian, Dr. Clark strongly encourages the use of a variety of sources from a multiplicity of disciplines in studying any artwork.  Dr. Clark is keen on introducing students to a variety of media and having students interact with objects first-hand. In her own work she argues for the agency of objects in court relations, and in the classroom, she encourages students to understand artworks, not merely as representations of society, but as contributors.  Dr. Clark teaches students to analyze and investigate art, providing them with tools, she believes, that allow them to see a historical period in a new light.

Outside of Saint Michael's: Dr. Clark grew up sailing the high seas and travelling, and still enjoys travelling whenever she gets the chance.

Campus Office:
Library 308
Phone: 802.654.2984
Box 384
E-mail: lclark3@smcvt.edu

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Adjunct Faculty:
Jeremy Ayers, Studio Art
Maea Brandt, Studio Art
Geoffrey Burnham, Calligraphy
Amy Danielson, Studio Art
Jordan Douglas, Photography
Valerie Hird, Studio Art

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Emeritus Professors of Fine Arts: Art
Lance Richbourg
Gregg Blasdel