Visual Arts

Visual Art Graduates

Graduates: or…whatever can one do with a degree in ART?

Since our first senior class in 1964 we have graduated over 600 majors in Visual Arts, many of whom have gone on to earn graduate degrees in a variety of fields. Since 2006 our graduates have earned advanced degrees from, or are enrolled in graduate programs at institutions such as Goddard College, Savannah College of Art & Design, Pratt Institute, San Francisco Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Rochester Institute of Technology, Ohio University, University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of New Mexico, Southern Illinois University, University of Kentucky, Seattle University, Pennsylvania State University, George Mason University, Kent State University, University of Missouri, University of Delaware, Virginia Commonwealth University, Claremont Graduate School, Pacific Northwest College of Art, University of Indiana at Bloomington, Lesley University, Ball State University, American University, Texas A&M at Corpus Christi, Hunter College, Watkins College of Art, Mills College of Art, Edinburgh College of Art (Scotland), and the Burren College of Art (Ireland).

Our graduates ultimately travel down a great many career paths, many of them art-related. One can find our Visual Arts alumni/ae engaged in art-related fields as varied as university or college teaching, public school teaching, sculpture, photography, design, illustration, advertising, graphic design, printmaking, visual effects, computer graphics, ceramics, functional pottery, jewelry, stained glass, painting, architecture, art direction, fashion design, community-based arts, film production, exhibition design, arts consulting, communications, performance art, woodworking, calligraphy, urban planning, theatre set design, lighting design, gallery owning, branding, landscape architecture, interior design, arts management and art therapy.

Not all of our majors elect to pursue art as a career, for we also have had alumni/ae who have chosen professions in fields as varied as civil engineering, psychotherapy, banking, retail sales, antiques, online networking, computer programming, music, military intelligence, social work, golf instruction, nursing, nutrition, youth ministry, law, radiology, real estate, and the list goes on!

Here’s what some of our alumni are up to…

Selected Visual Arts alumni updates

Jason Adkins ’96 (MFA, Claremont Graduate University) is a painter now based in Arizona.

Margaret Brommelsiek ’80 recently retired as Associate Research Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Missouri / Kansas City. She has spent many years developing interdisciplinary programs between the fine arts and other academic subjects.

Grace-Anne Alfiero ‘04 (MFA, Goddard) is President and CEO at Arts in Action in Philadelphia, a consulting firm for non-profit organizations. She was founder of Creative Clay in St. Petersburg, and served as its Executive Director until 2011.

Kristin Baker ’85 is a teacher of gifted children, and in 2017 the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children recognized Kristin as Teacher of the Year.

Glory Benacka ’06 is a greenhouse supervisor at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas.

Andrew Blaurock ’21 is a biologist and graphic artist at AABexotics in Largo, Florida.

Hope Chanel ’02 is the founder and Director of 8-Count Creative in Tampa.

Bede Clarke ’83 (MFA, University of Iowa) is Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he taught ceramics beginning in 1992.

Jay Clewis ’96 earned his M.S. in Communications, and is a Lecturer of Communication at the USC Iovine and Young Academy in Los Angeles.

Kevin Collins ’99 is a professional golf instructor at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.

Neverne Covington ’77 is a painter, printmaker and book artist in St. Petersburg.

Jonathan Creamer ’98 is a Research Advisor at MGC Health Advisors in St. Petersburg.

Carolanne Currier ’69 has taken on a second career as a ceramic artist after spending many years as an investigator for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Lisa Daily ’03 earned her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at George Mason University, and is now on the faculty at NYU.

Susan DeMay ’77 (MS, Peabody/Vanderbilt, and MA, Tennessee Tech) taught ceramics for many years at Vanderbilt University.

Ben Dimmitt ’76 is a photographer who taught for years at the International Center of Photography in New York. In 2023 he published a book of his work in photography titled An Unflinching Look: Elegy for Wetlands.

Dawn Regan Ellenberg ’86 has been the Creative Director at Eckerd College since 2004.

frje Echeverria ’66 (MFA, University of Arkansas) is Professor Emeritus of Painting at the University of Northern Iowa.

Brad Ennis ’10 was once a photo assistant and production assistant at Annie Leibovitz studio in New York, and since that time he has been working as a fashion photographer, as well as a lighting director, first assistant, and gaffer for other photographers, directors and Directors of Photography.

Justin Erickson ‘03 is Assistant Director at Manatee Technical College.

Callie Ferraro ’11 is a painter, and currently works and exhibits at the Wedge Studios in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

Matt Fisher ‘98 (MFA, Claremont Graduate University) is an artist, writer, editor and web developer in Oakland, California, and member of the artist collective Finishing School.

Jamaica Fredericks ’04 is a software developer, artist and educator living in New York.

Lawrence Frey ’93 owns and operates a custom stained glass business in Pennsylvania.

Zoe Friedman ’07 earned her MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  She works in photography, video, installations and finely cut paper, and is Associate Professor of Time-Based Media at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.

Esther Rodriguez Fuldauer ’92 is a painter, and also a UX/UI designer in Blanes, Catalonia, Spain.

Lori Loveberry George ’08 is an artist and teacher in Sarasota.

Samantha Goresh ’03 earned her Master’s in Photojournalism at the University of Ohio, and is a freelance photographer in Boston.

Danny Griffin ’14 works as an artist at the Cider Creek Collective on the Mendocino Coast in California.

James Heaton ’88 is President and Creative Director of Tronvig Group, a branding firm based in Brooklyn. Tronvig Group was listed by Clutch as a top advertising and marketing agency (2017), and in 2021 Clutch named Tronvig as a “Top B2B Consulting Firm”

Paige Howard ’08 is now working as a Career Adviser at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Stanton Hunter ‘80 (MFA, University of Southern California) is Professor Emeritus of Ceramics and Sculpture at Chaffey College in California.

Molly Hurd ’16 earned her Master’s in Counseling with a concentration in Art Therapy from PennWest Edinboro University, and is now working as an art therapist in Atlanta.

Harriett Huss ’73 is a painter, and founding member of the Melrose Bay Art Gallery near Gainesville, Florida.

Stuart Hyatt ’97 is an interdisciplinary artist and musician, and founder of Team Records. His cd package design for his own collaborative recording Clouds was one of five finalists for a Grammy Award in 2006. Stu earned a Masters of Architecture from Ball State University (in addition to his MFA from Indiana University), and he also is a member of the M12 Studio, an innovative art and design collective that explores the aesthetics of rural cultures and landscapes. In 2018, with the Field Works Collective, he composed and premiered a new album with a sold-out live performance from deep inside the Cave Without a Name, near Bourne, Texas. In 2019, Stuart was honored by being named a National Geographic Explorer.  And in 2020 Stu’s recording “Ultrasonic” was reviewed in the New York Times.

D.J. Jackson ’12 is now an independent scientific illustrator.

Martha Ensign Johnson ’75 is now retired from teaching printmaking at Westmont College, and currently lives and works in Asheville, NC.

Blaze Birge Jones ’98 was a founding member of the Flynn Creek Circus in Mendocino County, California, committed to “pushing tradition to the edge.” Blaze is Creative Director of the circus, and specializes as a trapeze artist. The “Daring Jones Duo” won the Silver Medal at the International Circus Festival in Izhevsk, Russia, in March, 2014.

Owen Josiah ’08 is Art Director for DGT2GO in Clearwater, Florida.

Jonathan Keeton ’80 is retired after a long and distinguished career as a pioneer in the visual effects industry, and he has been winning state and national awards with his paintings.

Betsy Lagana ’69 is a designer, printmaker, fabric artist and writer living in Bradenton, Florida.

Mary Law ’69 (MFA, Alfred University) is Senior Lecturer in Ceramics at Contra Costa College, and recently also at Diablo Valley College, in California.

Betsy Orbe Lester ’93 (MFA, USF) has been teaching Visual Problem Solving for us for a number of years.  She maintains a studio at Art Lofts in St. Petersburg.

Jessica Loving-Campos ’05 has been exhibiting her paintings frequently in her home state of Colorado. Jessica and her husband also own a web/graphic design business there.

Nadya Lyapunova ’19 is a Multi-content Coordinator at LENA, in Denver, and works in graphic design and illustration.

Fabrice Maurel ’92 is an award-winning artist in the world of graphic design, animation and visual FX.

Ainslee McAndrew ’07 is a designer at Block Shop Textiles in California.

Devin McDonald ’10 recently earned her MFA at the University of Missouri-Columbia (where Bede Clarke ’83 was on the faculty.)

Casey McDonough ’03 (MFA, RISD) has been a resident artist at the Morean Center for Clay, Red Lodge Clay Center and the Hjorring Kunstmuseum in Denmark, as well as an apprentice to Don Reitz. He has also taught at Cedar Crest College and the University of Central Arkansas.  He currently teaches at the Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg.

Barbara McFadyen ’74 is a metalsmith and enamelist who has been designing jewelry in gold, silver, and enamel for over four decades. Barbara received her MFA in Metal Design at East Carolina University, and has exhibited with the American Crafts Council, the Smithsonian Institution, SNAG, and the Enamelist Society.

Ian Meares ’00 earned his MFA in Studio Practice at Pennsylvania State University, and more recently an MFA in Critical & Curatorial Practice, at the University of California Irvine, Irvine California.  He has taught at several institutions, among them Ohio State University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Illinois.  Currently he is Artist in Residence at the Interdisciplinary Ceramic Research Center and an adjunct professor at the University of Kansas.

Beth Mueller ’77 has her own production company, featuring ceramics, clothing and paper products of her design.

Lia Nydes ’15 spent many months as a photography and video intern with the National Park Service in Alaska, and earned her MFA in Environmental Filmmaking at American University. She is now a freelance cinematographer.

Ingram Ober ’98 (MFA, Claremont Graduate U) teaches sculpture and foundry at Palomar College in California.  He and his partner Marisol Rendon recently installed a sculpture at the Underwater Museum of Art in the Florida Panhandle that now serves as an artificial reef.

Brandi Palmer ’97 earned her Master’s in Arts Administration at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and is now owner and principal of her own niche brand positioning and public relations firm, WordStoryBoard.

Mark Pauline ’77 is founder of the San Francisco-based performance art group Survival Research Laboratories, which boasts of staging “the most dangerous shows on Earth.”  Here is a 2018 interview with Mark published at Artspace.

Conor Pickett ’13 is now a ceramics teacher at the Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

Hunter Pressley ’19 earned her M.Ed in Counseling & Personnel Services with a Concentration in Art Therapy from the University of Louisville, and now works as an art teacher and art therapist in North Carolina.

Lourdes Rosas Rasdall ’84 is a board member and Chair of Communications at Wildlife Artists of the Carolinas.

Scott Ross ’97 earned his MFA in sculpture from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and recently taught at Linfield College in Oregon.

Taryn Sabia-Fritz ’01 (M. Arch. RISD, and Ed. M. at Harvard) is Associate Professor of Research in the School of Architecture and Community Design at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and co-founder and President of the Tampa Urban Charrette.

Maggie Sanger ’15 is a designer and installation artist in Nashville.

Emily Schadow ’16 is a graphic designer in Minneapolis.

Nick Schwartz ’98 is co-owner and Director of the Cider Creek Collective in California, a community of artists offering classes, workshops and residencies, and devoted largely to ceramics.

Garvin Sealy ’02 earned his MFA at the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and he is now a member of Applied Arts in Scotland.

Ward Shelley ’72 is a sculptor and performance artist whose work has been exhibited in ten countries, has often been featured in Art in America and Artforum, and is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and other major museums. In 2014 he was featured on CBS News as a result of his performance collaboration with artist Alex Schweder during which they lived in a very large hamster wheel for ten days. More recent collaborations with Alex Schweder, ReActor (2016) and “Slow Teleport” (2019) gained international attention.

Lisa Sibley ’12 earned her MFA at Lesley University in Boston.  She is a professional photographer, and recently has taught courses for us here at Eckerd.

Zack Sierke ’02 is a functional potter working out of his own studio with local clays in Fairhope, Alabama.  Here’s a recent (2021) interview with Zach, featured in Studio Potter.

Jayden Simelda-Longe ’21 is a multimedia designer and Junior Marketing Manager at PeopleForBikes in Boulder, Colorado.  She also has her own personal brand, Radiate/Creative.

Leslie Simons ’97 is owner and president of Simons Designs, working as art director, wardrobe stylist, and set and props designer, while also working in retail display and residential design.

Joseph Skinner ’14 earned his MFA in Studio Arts at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and he is now an instructor there.

Steve Smith ’74 (MFA, University of Florida) has examples of his Artistamps included in the Moscow Artistamp Collection, and the Gina Lotta Post Online Artistamp Museum.

Michael Specht ’11 worked for 11 years with Apple in Silicon Valley as a Camera Image Quality Engineer, helping develop iPhone computational imaging technology.  He is currently a Product Manager and Golden Eye for Google’s Pixel Camera, working to develop the most authentic and equitable cameras using the latest AI technology.  He also continues to make his own photography.

Melanie Taylor ’74 (M. Arch., Yale) is an architect in New Haven, Connecticut. She was one of the first architects to participate in building the planned community of Seaside, Florida, designing Rosewalk.

Carrie Hall Tomberlin ’00 (MFA, Clemson) is now Gallery Director and Lecturer at the University of North Carolina in Asheville.

Mila Kollock Turtle ’90 is the owner of her own graphic design firm in St. Petersburg, Turtle Moon Graphics.

Jorge Vidal ’89 is now the CEO of Florida CraftArt in St Petersburg, after having worked for years on the staff of the Museum of FIne Arts.

Hallie Rae Ward ’12 is Business Manager & Art Director at the Art for the People Gallery in Austin, Texas, and regularly exhibits there.

Carey West ’98 is a ceramic artist who teaches in the Independent School District in Austin, Texas.

Tiffany Willey ’06 has been an exhibit designer for Gallagher and Associates in New York, and is now Exhibit Creative Lead for Art Processors.

Jordan Wood ’19 earned her MFA from the Maine College of Art and Design, and is now a lecturer at the University of Southern Maine.

Mary Yates ’91 earned her MA in Photography and Digital Media at the University of Louisville, and she has taught photography for Spalding University.  She is now a Manager of Enhanced Content for SANS Institute.

Zara Yost ’12  earned her Master’s of Arts in New Arts Journalism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a writer, artist, and curator of interdisciplinary and contemporary art.