School Staff
MAR JIMENEZ
Office Manager
In addition to keeping things running in the School office, Mar teaches our Jewelry Making with Precious Metal Clay classes, and has also been an instructor with our Side-by-Side program for preschoolers since 2014.
Office Manager
In addition to keeping things running in the School office, Mar teaches our Jewelry Making with Precious Metal Clay classes, and has also been an instructor with our Side-by-Side program for preschoolers since 2014.
KEELY NOFFSINGER MASSIE
Executive Director
Executive Director
School Instructors
CHUCK ALMAREZ After 10 years of military service (four years as a photo intelligence analyst), Chuck formalized his photography education with a degree from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. He participated in the Shroud of Turin project undertaken in 1979 and later worked as a staff photographer for Santa Barbara Research Center, a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft. In 1982 he joined a fellow Brooks graduate in operating a commercial photography studio in San Francisco. Years working in technology marketing intervened until a move to Glen Wilton, Virginia in 1989. In1994 he started Kid Pix Photography, shooting team and sports photos in Clifton Forge, VA., and by 2002 he had made a transition from film to digital photography. In 2014 Chuck completed a Master’s degree program in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His work can be seen at www.fireandlightgallery.com and www.almarezphoto.com
BENJAMIN ANSTED started his artistic journey (and training) as a charge artist while earning a degree in theatre arts. After receiving his training, Benjamin used his new found skills and knowledge to expand his interests by using his skills to design and create sets for theatrical performances and eventually teaching scenic painting at a collegiate level as a co-teacher while still attending school. After receiving his bachelors degree, Benjamin used his new skills to continue to create art by designing and building an art installation for a group of local artists and eventually using his skills as a tool to assist at-risk youth channel their creative energies into positive behaviors through art. Ben’s love for tabletop gaming also caught his interest and he began to expand from large paintings to small paintings. The skills of art history, color theory, design, and various mediums in painting.
GEORGE AYARS has taught stained glass for more than 45 years. He teaches many forms of glass art including traditional foil and lead came construction, fusing, lampshades, and glass mosaics. He also teaches many practical applications of glass work, including design, marketing, repair and installation. As a guest instructor he has traveled across the US, and written for various glass art publications. He enjoyed his own full-time studio in Burlington, NC, for six years before returning to Michigan to manage a major art glass supplier and oversee its educational programs. He now lives near Covington, VA, with his wife Robin, where they maintain a small farm.
HEATHER BAKER is an artist who enjoys teaching art as much as doing art. In 1994, Heather double majored in Art and Psychology from Radford University, anticipating working in a career in art therapy. With a passion to work with children using art in a therapeutic setting, she began her employment with the National Children’s Advocacy Center in Huntsville, AL. She also started a custom framing and decorative painting business. Heather’s business of custom framing and specialized paintings and murals took off. Her works were displayed in many model homes and numerous clients’ homes throughout Northern Alabama. After moving to Covington, VA in 2007, Heather pursued her teaching license to satisfy her desire to work with children. She taught art to little ones from 2007-2009 before making the jump to high school art teacher. For 12 years she taught different levels of art (beginner to advanced) to students in 8th grade - 12th grade through a variety of teaching methods, such as hands-on experiences, demonstrations, lectures, and critiques/discussions. From a very young age, Heather has always enjoyed drawing and painting. She focuses on realism and surrealism. She also loves learning new techniques and exploring different mediums of art. Since 2014, she has been developing her watercolor painting skills. Heather has always been passionate about teaching art to those who want to learn. Heather lives in Covington, VA with her husband, 2 children and 5 fur babies.
MAC BEARD is a retired Information Technologies and Computer Systems specialist whose career in these fields has spanned over 40 years.
JULIE M. BENNETT arrived in the United States 12 years ago as a professional translator of languages in New York City, with an avocation in the art of knitting. Born and raised in Soviet-era Russia, Julie began knitting at the age of 11 out of necessity due to shortages in the Soviet Union to provide clothing for her and her family in the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, near Siberia. She oftentimes performs the rare art of recycling yarns from clothing in order to have quality fibers for her projects. She has a clientele throughout the eastern United States making clothing on a custom- order basis. “I’m trying to take the stress out of the knitting process by not relying on reading patterns,” Bennett says, and adds, “various techniques will be offered to achieve this.”
GLEN BRYANT has been a metalworker and blacksmith for the better part of 40 years. Some of his larger projects can be seen in the Alleghany Highlands. He designed, built, and installed both signs for the C&O Railway Historical Society and the CSX Office Building; same for the fence and decorative gate around Virginia Landscaping & Supply; the matching chandeliers hanging in The Company Store & Iron Company Restaurant; and the ornate door handles at Jack Mason's Tavern. His smaller works may be less noticeable but they also reflect his artistry and craftsmanship.
MALLORY BURRELL is a Harrisonburg Virginia based artist who cross-pollinates drawing, painting, photography, collage, and installation work. Investigating polluted spaces and left-behind objects and detritus propels her practice. Burrell has art degrees from Virginia Tech and obtained a master’s degree in fine art at James Madison University. She has had residencies and exhibitions in various states and cities in the country. Her work can be further explored at malloryburrell.com.
MARY KATE CLAYTOR is a native of Natural Bridge Station, Virginia and has been exploring the intersections of art, history, and culture for over a decade. After graduating from high school in 2009, Mary Kate began her career in the museum field as a historical interpreter at the Natural Bridge of Virginia’s Monacan Indian Living History Exhibit. While working there, she learned a wide range of traditional skills including hide tanning, basket making, and hand-processing clay for pottery. Mary Kate majored in Studio Art with emphases in drawing and printmaking at Hollins University, and continued her museum and public history education at Virginia Tech with a masters degree in Material Culture and Public Humanities. Mary Kate is a part-time artist and is the Associate Director of Interpretation at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia where she continues to be a “Jill-of-many-trades” doing hide tanning, blacksmithing, sheep shearing, woodworking, and hand-spinning.
TROY COTTRELL was born in the Alleghany Highlands, his school years were spent in Baltimore, but this was always home. At age sixteen, upon graduation from high school, he packed his van and came home to the Highlands. He put his hands to working on wood in the construction trade and hasn’t put wood down since. Like his father and step-father, Troy is a self-taught wood worker. Troy’s pieces are made from locally harvested trees of oak, sassafras, walnut, cherry, hickory and others that he finds. Troy and his wife are an example of the kind people you will find here. They have made a home here for their children; biological children, adopted children, and more than twenty foster children.
WENDY CHRISTINE DUKE has been making Oshi-e (oh-she-aye) for over four decades & learned the obscure old Japanese craft technique while living in northern Japan. She has lived in many places in the world, but none so enchanting as the Blue Ridge Mountains where her home and studio are in Glasgow, VA. Her work has been commissioned for more than 50 residential and corporate settings and has won awards regionally, nationally and internationally. The classes are part of her research on a book she is writing as an Introduction to Contemporary Oshi-e. A display of Wendy's oshi-e process is on display at the School of the Arts. Some of Wendy's oshi-e work can be seen in a slideshow on her website at http://www.cloudhavenstudio.com/Oshi-eSlideShow/index.htm
JOANNE HAYSLETT is a longtime resident in the Alleghany Highlands and brought her considerable talents to the School in September, 2014. Well-known throughout the area through her participation on the piano in an assortment of musical events, cultural programs and other festivities, presently Ms. Hayslett is the accompanist for the Alleghany Highlands Chorale. For more than thirty years, she has adhered to the principle of one-on-one teaching; that each student has the ability to learn at their own pace and level of understanding. Her focus is to raise the interest and nurture the talent in each student. Ms. Hayslett has lived in the Alleghany Highlands since her teen-age years. She is a graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, and has received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano.
CYNDY SHORTER LITTLETON was first introduced to clay in 1979 while a student at Mary Baldwin College. At the time, Jim Hanger of Staunton was instructing students from MBC at his studio. In 1981 she changed her major from art to biology and put her pottery tools away. In March of 2013, Lee Taylor offered a pottery class at CFSOTA and Cyndy picked up her tools again. Since then she has studied under famous potters such as Steven Hill and raku artist Lynn Conyers. Currently she instructs in wheel throwing and raku while building a portfolio for her business Earth, Fire, and Clay. Her work can also be found for sale at http://alleghanyhighlandsartisansshops.com/brands/Cyndy-Littleton.html
JUDITH SIVONDA is retired from the New Haven, Connecticut, public school system and has taught at the School of the Arts since our opening. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford and a Master's in History from Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT). She has studied with Roy Superior, Wolfgang Biehl, Paul W. Zimmerman, Rudolf F. Zallinger, Mary Barnes, Micheal DiGiorgio and Charlie Hunter. Judith works in oils, acrylics, dry media, sculpts, and is the proprietor of The Art Store at our School.
JOAN VANNORSDALL returned to Clifton Forge after she retired from teaching in the International Baccalaureate program at Salem High School. A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Joan received a BA in English & Political Science from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and a Master of Arts in English from University of Minnesota. Joan is actively involved in three passions: writing, yoga, and teaching. Joan has been practicing yoga for twenty years and became a certified Ashtanga yoga instructor in 2009. She has taught students ranging in age from sixteen to seventy-five. She has completed a Therapeutic Yoga for Seniors course at the Duke School of Integrative Medicine, Yin Yoga certification completed in 2016 with Bernie Clark in Vancouver, BC, and has studied with Sarah Powers, founder of Insight Yoga. Joan is committed to teaching safe, heart-opening, injury-free yoga, assisting students with improving flexibility, strength and balance in every aspect of life. Joan is the author of three novels and numerous articles with essays appearing in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Roanoke Times and the Baltimore Sun as well as regional magazines. With a committee of interested citizens, she recently initiated a local history book and recording project, What's Your Story?
SUZANNE WILLIAMS Hand-stamping became a passion of Suzanne's in 2010. Beginning with aluminum (as we will use in this class), she branched out into brass and copper. These harder metals proved to be more of a challenge to stamp well. Initially, she sold her jewelry through farmers markets, fairs and festivals (including Kristkindlmarkt). She has received numerous custom orders this way along with through her business facebook page. She has branched out into learning how to rivet metal to metal and metal to leather, allowing her to expand her inventory into stamped rings, leather bracelets with "plaques" and more. In 2017 she was juried into the Pocahontas County Artisans Co-op and sells her jewelry at both their Marlinton and Cass, WV galleries.
JOE WOOD was born and raised in Alleghany County. Both his father and grandfather were master carpenters. Joe received his first woodturning instruction in a woodworking class at Alleghany County High School. He has continued his passion for woodworking throughout his lifetime. Since his retirement from a nearby paper company, Joe has had more time to devote to his craft. He enjoys using native woods, especially woods that may be rejected by commercial lumber yards. In addition to lathe work, Joe also enjoys making furniture. He participates in local craft shows and farmers markets.
