School of Visual Arts
Artistic Staff

Artistic Director

Randy Williams, Artistic Director, is an active visual artist and a Professor of Studio Art and Art Education at Manhattanville College. He has been on the faculty of the School of Visual Artssince its inception in 1976. Professor Williams is also an instructor and educational consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has won numerous prizes and awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to the American Academy in Rome. Professor Williams has been recognized by the New York State Council on the Arts, Visual Arts Division, and the New York Foundation for the Arts with a fellowship in sculpture.

Professor Williams' work has been the subject of more than 35 solo exhibitions and scores of special projects and group shows. His artwork may be viewed in numerous public and private art collections.

 

Other noted artist/educators serve as master teachers for the summer school, each working with a highly-qualified teaching assistant.

Laura King, Assistant to the Artistic Director and Master Teacher, is an active artist whose work has been exhibited nationally in the last seven years. Her work is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional. Laura is originally from upstate New York. She moved to Seattle in 2002. She teaches art at Shorecrest High School. Each summer, Laura returns to New York to work at the New York State Summer School for the Visual Arts. This will be her second year as Assistant Artistic Director and fifth year as a Master Teacher. The previous five summers she was the Assistant Director of Administration. Prior to that, she was a Teaching Assistant for two summers. Laura received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Following graduation, she furthered her studies in metals at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. Laura later received her Masters in Art Education from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.

Rylee Eterginoso, Assistant Director for Administration and Teaching Assistant, studied Art and Art History at Manhattanville College where she received both a BFA and BA in 2004. Her current academic plans are to obtain a Masters in Art Education. While under the tutelage of Randy Williams, she was introduced to the New York State Summer School for the Arts. She began her NYSSSA experience as a Counselor in 2004 and the following year returned as Head Counselor. In 2006, Rylee became the Assistant Director for Administration. This year she continues as ADA and is also enjoying her time as a Teaching Assistant.

Master Teachers

Yayoi Asoma, Master Teacher - Drawing and Painting, received her BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design in 2002 and recently completed her MFA at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in May. She loves her 20­year old cat dearly, despite being allergic to it for the past decade. She currently is a part of a group exhibition at Leo Fortuna Gallery in Hudson, NY.

Sandra Camomile, Master Teacher - Mixed Media 3D, recalls her love of art since she was a child. Her third grade teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, nurtured her as a young artist and encouraging her to continue. Sandra was fortunate to receive private instruction as well as taking every art class in public schools, which consisted mostly of drawing and painting instruction. Sandra received a BFA in sculpture in 1994 from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. She received her MFA in mixed media in 1996 from the Mount Royal School of Art at Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently an Associate Professor at La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA where she teaches digital art in the Digital Arts and Multimedia Design Program in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. Sandra enjoys her summers teaching 3D Mixed Media as a Master Teacher for the New York State Summer School for the Arts. She has been with NYSSSA since 2000. Sandy has exhibited nationally and internationally and she is currently undertaking a new form of art that she exhibits in virtual reality. Please see www.sandracamomile.com for more information regarding exhibitions, honors and awards.

Cindy DeFelice, Master Teacher - Mixed Media/Installation

G. George Girard, Master Teacher - Figure Studies/Drawing and Painting, has a MFA in Painting from State University of New York at Albany and a BFA from Alfred University in Art and Design with a concentration in two-dimensional studies and a minor in Art Education. With over ten years of teaching and decades of painting experience he has shared his insight at every level from elementary schools, colleges and universities.

Gary Horn, Master Teacher - Figure Studies/Traditional Painting, has been with the NYSSSA program since 1999. He currently is an art instructor at the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula in Bronx, NY.

Greg Lendeck, Master Teacher - Sculpture, is an Artist, Teacher, Designer, and Tinkerer. Greg works two and three dimensionally in various media and has been experimenting and playing professionally for over ten years. During a moment of perfect lucidity Greg had an epiphany that loosened the tenuous grasp he holds on his sanity just enough to allow him to create representations of the interlocking parts of the seen and unseen universes - without the usual self-consciousness and common sense that most people would feel. Greg holds a B.S. in Studio Art, a B.F.A. in Sculpture, and a M.F.A. in Sculpture. He has shown widely at various venues nationally. For ten years Greg has taught art at the high school and college level. He currently resides, blissfully, with his wife and children in upstate New York.

Paul Marcellino, Master Teacher - Figure Sculpture, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1954. He attended the Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1976. He later earned his Masters Degree in Fine Art at the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. He has since exhibited his work in group and solo shows throughout the United States and has received numerous awards. He has served as juror for regional and national exhibitions, and has received funding for his work from Arts institutions including the Putnam Arts Council, The Upper Catskill Community Center for the Arts, and the New York State Council For the Arts. Since 1983, he has taught art at schools and institutions throughout the Northeast. Mr. Marcellino has conducted courses and workshops at the Pratt Institute, the New York Academy, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. He is currently on the faculty of the New York State Summer Institutes, where he has served since 1998. He will also be a visiting artist at the International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture in Montecastello in Umbria, Italy, August, 2007. He is currently on the faculty of the Niskayuna School District, Niskayuna, NY, where he teaches during the school year. He lives with his wife and family in Worcester, NY.

Masha Ryskin, Master Teacher - Drawing and Painting/Printmaking, is painter, printmaker, and installation artist, whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has participated in numerous artist residencies, both in the United States and abroad, and is a recipient of a number of fellowships and grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship to Norway. Masha has taught at NYSSSA since 2000. She is also on the faculty at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY.

Christian Tribastone, Master Teacher - Drawing and Painting/Printmaking, trained as a printmaker at Alfred University, Christian Tribastone now uses interdisciplinary mediums to explore conventions notions of public space in relation to our corporeal existence. He bakes a killer carrot cake and refuses to shave his beard.

Teaching Assistants

Ben Baker, Teaching Assistant, is studying blacksmithing and silversmithing (along with as many other materials and processes as possible) at SUNY New Paltz, set to graduate in 2008. Ben has had a few student shows with friends in New Paltz. Ben is a former NYSSSA student in 2002 and 2003 and NYSSSA counselor in 2006 and 05. Ben is currently a TA in drawing and painting and the official NYSSSA trouble maker.

Joyce Chan, Teaching Assistant, has been with the program for 3 years. She received her BFA from Manhattanville College in 2001. and is currently employed at the Museum of Modern Art as a Senior Visitor Assistant and Cuchifritos Gallery/Project Space as a Gallery Assistant and an assistant with coordinating community­based art projects. Past experience includes the Brooklyn Museum of Art (Intern Educator) and the Neuberger Museum of Art (Marketing Intern). She currently resides in Astoria, Queens NY.

Leah Derring, Teaching Assistant. Hello there, it is a pleasure to meet me. My Name is Leah Derring and they tell me that I was found somewhere outside of Locke, New York; which means that I am originally from No-wheres-ville. After earning an Associates degree in Fine Arts from Monroe Community College, I moved onto SUNY Brockport where I expect to graduate in the Spring of 2008 with a Bachelors in Fine Arts my concentration in Printmaking. 

Brooks Girsch, Teaching Assistant, is a teacher and painter. She has a BFA in Visual Arts with a concentration in French. She is a Rochester native who currently lives in Harlem.

Erica Harney, Teaching Assistant, is in her third­year as Teaching Assistant, and was a NYSSSA student in 2000. She has a BFA in Painting and a minor in Art History from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She has also studied art and art history at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy. She is a practicing painter whose work has recently been shown in Albany, Schenectady, Woodstock, New York City and Italy. Erica currently works at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs as an art handler/installer and gallery associate, and recently completed a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT. Website her website at www.ericaharney.com

Colleen Melisz, Teaching Assistant, currently resides in Rochester, New York, where she works as an Elementary Art Teacher. She has a MST degree in Art Education and a BFA degree in Metals from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her current work is exploring how to communicate through a visual language. Art being a global language can cross borders and speak to the masses. Art creates dialog in context of life and society. She's exploring a more global perspective in terms of arts/ crafts, fostering tolerance, and an appreciation of diversity in art and culture.

Meghan Numrich, Teacher Assistant, was a student at NYSSSA in 2002. She has a Bachelor's degree in Art Education with a minor in Art History obtained at SUNY New Paltz.

Danielle Scalera, Teaching Assistant, is pursuing a degree at Manhattanville College as an Art Education major. She currently resides in West Harrison, NY but is originally from Columbia County. She keeps herself busy working with different educational programs and has also interned with the Katonah Museum Artists Association, as well as at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

Residential Life Staff

Megan Graham, Head Counselor, Meg Graham graduated from Manhattanville College in 2004 with a BFA in Studio Art. At present, she resides in Seattle, Washington where she continues to create and exhibit installation art. She was introduced to NYSSSA through Randy Williams, whom she studied under during her time at Manhattanville. 2007 marks her second year as Head Counselor for the New York State Summer School for the Arts.

Danielle Garfinkel, Counselor, was a student at NYSSSA in the summer of 2004 and has returned as a counselor this year. Originally from Albany, NY, Danielle is a rising Junior at Brandeis University where she is triple majoring in Studio Art, in Health; Science, Society and Policy, and in Keeping It Real. She enjoys black and white photography, painting, and screen printing among other media and hopes to combine her passion for art and science in her future pursuits.

Emma Halaburka, Counselor, is a first year NYSSSA Visual Arts Counselor. Emma is from Binghamton, New York and attended a pre-college program at the Maine College of Art in 2005. She attends Pratt Institute, located in Brooklyn NY, where she is currently studying Industrial Design.

Juliet Hinely, Counselor, hails to NYSSSA from Lexington, Virginia by way of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and, most recently from Parsons the New School for Design in Manhattan where she spent the spring completing a semester of independent studio study in The New York Studio Program. She will return to MICA this fall as a senior pursuing a BFA in Fiber Art, with particular interests in textile design and sculpture. This is her first summer at NYSSSA and she is VERY excited.

Yash Jhaveri, Counselor, is currently attending Columbia College, Columbia University, where he studies visual arts and mathematics. During the summers of 2002 and 2003 Yash participated with NYSSSA as a student, and this summer, 2007, he is a counselor. In May of 2008 Yash will complete his bachelor's degree. His post graduate plans are still undecided.

Leah Koltko, Counselor, is in her second year as a counselor at NYSSSA Visual Arts. She also attended as a student in 2002 and 2003. Leah attends the Maryland Institute College of Art, majoring in Printmaking with a minor in Art History.

Allison Leed, Counselor, was a student at NYSSSA in the summer of 2001, and this is her first year as a counselor. Allison is currently attending the George Washington University in Washington, DC where she is studying Psychology, Art, and Art Therapy. She plans to graduate with her BA in December.

Yesenia Valencia, Counselor, attended Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2006. She is a second year counselor at NYSSSA this summer and will proceed to teach at a nursery school in the fall.

Gary Wurzer, Counselor, was enrolled in the 2004 NYSSSA Visual Arts program as a student and this is Gary's first year as a counselor. Gary Wurzer lives in Rochester New York and is attending Monroe Community College for fine arts. After Monroe Community College Gary plans to complete his BFA and go on to graduate school.