Judy Bowman Anthrop is a local preservationist, artist, long time Ox-Bow student and the author of A Portrait of Ox-Bow. She attended the University of Missouri for her undergraduate work, studying art, education, and psychology. Her Graduate work was in Textiles at Western Michigan University. In the past Judy dealt in Antiques for 25 years, taught weaving for 15 years, and was an elementary school teacher. In 2008 Judy participated in Ox-Bow's Fall Residency Program.
Kimberly Meyers-Baas holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Loyola University Chicago, a teaching certificate and MA in art education from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kim is an arts educator who has worked in public and private settings in Chicago, Michigan and on the Mexican/Texas border cultivating youth, community workers and young artists since 1992. Currently, she teaches art & design at East Kentwood High School in Michigan.
David Baker M.F.A., Indiana State University; B.S., Western Michigan University. Teaches: Southwestern Michigan College. Exhibitions: Vesuvius Gallery, Glenn, MI; Colfax Cultural Center, South Bend, IN; Carnegie Center for the Arts, Three Rivers, MI; Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI. Awards: Painting award, John Blank Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN; Purchase award, St. Joseph Annual Art Competition.
Jessica Bohus has her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has taught at Fiasco glass, Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Ox-Bow, and Water Street Glassworks. She has exhibited at Beacon Street Gallery in Chicago; Vesuvius Gallery, MI; Torpedo Factory, MD; Kalamazoo Institute of Art, MI; Albion College, MI; and Lighthouse Glass, LA; Mindscape, IL; Good Goods, MI. You can learn more about Jessica at blueroanstudio.com.
James Brandess is both a figurative and a landscape painter. He is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He maintains his studio in Saugatuck, Michigan.
Kimberly Meyers-Baas holds a BA in Fine Arts from Loyola University Chicago, a teaching certificate and MA in art education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Kim is an arts educator who has worked in the public and non-profit sector in both Chicago and on the Mexican/Texas border cultivating youth, community workers and young artists since 1992. Currently, she is a middle school art teacher with Kentwood Public Schools.
Andrea Peterson has her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; MFA, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Co-director: Hook Pottery Paper, a paper, print and pottery studio. Teaches: Columbia College, Interdisciplinary Arts and Art and Design Dept and Chicago Center for Book, Paper, and Print. Exhibitions: Deggendorf Museum (Germany); Steyrermuhl Museum (Austria); LaMaPa Farm (IN); South Suburban College (IL); The Paper Studio (AZ); Scoula di Grafica (Italy); Chicago Center for the Book and Paper Arts. Lectures and Workshops: 2006 International Artist and Paper Makers Association, Austria; 2005 Friends of Dard Hunter, National Conference; Syracuse University, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice, Italy.
Rita Petteys is the proprietor of Yarn Hollow, a company specializing in hand-dyed yarn, fiber, and fabric. Rita has been an ardent fiber arts enthusiast since 1991, and had dreamed of having a fiber arts business since the mid 90s, after her first trip to the Michigan Fiber Festival. Yarn Hollow came about in 2005, when Rita started selling hand-dyed yarn at the Fulton Street Farmer's Market. Five years later, Yarn Hollow is available in shops around the Midwest, as well as at select fiber shows, and on the internet. Rita has taught several classes through knitting stores, fiber guilds, and fiber fairs throughout Michigan. This is her first experience teaching at Ox Bow. Rita loves experimenting with color, fiber, and new techniques, and is especially interested in the textile traditions of other cultures.
Michael Pfleghaar has been a professional oil painter for the last twenty years and currently a MFA candidate at the Art Institute of Boston at Leslie University. This will be his third Art on the Meadow workshop. Pfleghaar has also taught at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Artworks, as well as the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI.
Jack Ridl is an accomplished poet, living and working in Holland, MI. His latest collection is Losing Season, named by The Institute for International Sport as the best sports education book of the year and by The Boston Globe as among the top ten best sports books for 2009. His collection Broken Symmetry was co-recipient of the best book of poetry award from The Society of Midland Authors. Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins selected his Against Elegies for the 2001 Chapbook Award from the Center for Book Arts in New York City. He taught for 36 years at Hope College where he received the Hope Award for Outstanding Professor and was named the Michigan Professor of the Year from The Carnegie Foundation. More than 65 of his students have gone on to earn their MFA degree and are now publishing.
E.W. Ross got his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ross is currently Ox-Bow's Program Director and is the former Dean of Continuing Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Performances/Exhibitions: University of Chicago; University of Minnesota; Atlanta College of Art; Western Michigan University; Chicago Cultural Center; Cajarc, France. Awards: Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist's Fellowship; Chicago Council of Fine Arts; Alliance of Independent Colleges of Art Grant; School of the Art Institute Faculty Enrichment Grant; IAC Governor's International Arts Exchange Grant.
Catherine Sky graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001 with a BFA in painting and art education. She is a practicing painter and has taught art in the Chicago Public Schools for the past eight years. Her paintings explore the intersection of landscape painting with digital technology and incorporate imagery from travels in Ecuador, Australia, and the Pacific Northwest. She has been part of the Ox-Bow family since her first encounter in 1998 and continues to be inspired by Ox-Bow and its magic.
Ellen Sprouls has been involved with a variety of non-profit organizations in Michigan and beyond. She has taught courses in Ox-Bow's Art in the Meadow program for several seasons. She has years of teaching experience learning from students as she explores the world with them.
Nick Stockton is the President, Head of Manufacturing, and Head Designer for Teamwork Design, a Grand Rapids based company that makes bags from salvaged sails and tire tubes. A graduate of Kendall College of Art and Design, Nick also founded Fwd.Space Gallery, a contemporary exhibition space. He has taught Screenprinting at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art and was an Artist in Residence at Ox-Bow in the Fall of 2008.
Jeremy Tinder is an artist and cartoonist residing in Chicago. He has taught classes in drawing and comics at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Marwen Foundation, the Evanston Art Center and Scattergood Friend's School. He exhibits paintings internationally, and his comics have been published by Top Shelf Productions, Image Comics, and Tugboat Press, among others. Tinder is a member of the artist collective Paintallica, and the Chicago-based jam comics group Trubble Club.
Image: by Nick Stockton, Brutus the Barber, screenprint, 2009.