Art History Faculty
Marlena Hobson , Associate Professor
of Art History
Marlena
Hobson has a PhD in art history from Virginia Commonwealth University in
Richmond, Virginia. Her dissertation focused on the work of the Novecento
group of painters in 1920’s Italy and their relationship to Benito
Mussolini and the Fascist Party. Marlena’s minor concentration was
in Pre-Columbian art and architecture. She takes frequent trips to Mexico,
including the Yucatan, Chiapas, Campeche, and Oaxaca regions to study ancient
Mayan and Zapotec archeological sites. In May 2004 Marlena took a group of
Mary Baldwin College art students to Oaxaca as part of an interdisciplinary
May Term abroad course with the Department of World Languages, Literatures,
and Cultures. Marlena began teaching at Mary Baldwin College in fall 1987.
She teaches courses in modern art, women in the arts, history of photography,
American art and architecture, pre-Columbian art and architecture, and twentieth
century Latin American art. She has published exhibition reviews in the New
Art Examiner and the Art Papers Magazine.
Sara Nair James , Professor of
Art History
Sara
Nair James, Professor of Art History, holds a BA in art from Mary Baldwin
College, an MA in humanities (Medieval Studies) from Old Dominion University,
and a PhD in art history (Italian Renaissance) from the University of Virginia.
She teaches art history and interdisciplinary courses in Ancient, Medieval,
Italian Renaissance, Baroque, and early English art and architecture. During
May Term, she leads groups of Mary Baldwin students on a trip --- usually
to Italy --- to share her knowledge of, and enthusiasm for art, history,
and contemporary culture. Dr. James has received travel grants for research
from the Kress Foundation and the Ross and Yum Arnold Fund. For spring 2007,
she has received her second appointment to the American Academy in Rome as
a Visiting Scholar. She contributes regularly to the Sixteenth Century
Journal,the Renaissance Quarterly,and Historians of British
Art as a book reviewer. Her publications include a chapter, "Vasari
on Signorelli: The Origins of the Grand Manner of Painting," in Reading Vasari (Philip
Wilson, 2005) and a book, entitled Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto:
Liturgy, Poetry and a Vision of the End-time, (Ashgate Publishing, 2003).
Her web site address is: http://academic.mbc.edu/sjames/
Studio Art Faculty
Shay Herring Clanton , Adjunct
Assistant Professor of Art
Shay
Herring Clanton graduated from Mary Baldwin College where she received a
BA with a double major in art history and studio art. Subsequently she finished
two years of graduate course work in the School of Art History at Vanderbilt
University; and, in 2000 she earned the MFA in painting and drawing from
James Madison University. Shay currently teaches courses in painting, drawing,
and foundation design at Mary Baldwin College. She also teaches studio art
courses at the Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton, Virginia, and she
periodically teaches classes for the gifted and talented program for area
high school art students. From 1996-2000 she taught Figure Drawing and Basic
Drawing in the art department at James Madison University.
Shay is a professional painter, working in oil and watercolor as well as
pastel. She has an extensive exhibition record and has exhibited at the Southeastern
Center for Contemporary Art (Winston-Salem, N.C.), the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts (Richmond), Bridgewater College, Mary Baldwin College, William
H. King Regional Art Center, the Staunton Augusta Art Center, and the Beverley
Street Studio School. Currently she is working on a series of watercolor
journal paintings that reflect her interest in the natural world and in environmental
advocacy. She is also working on a series of large abstract oil paintings
based on local springs and rivers. Shay lives on Clayton Mill Creek near
Deerfield, Virginia.
Sue Marion , Instructor of Art/Education
(part-time)
Sue Ann Marion studied art at Radford College in Radford, VA where she earned
a BA in education. She started her teaching career as a junior high art teacher
in Adelphi, MD. She became an art supervisor for the Clarke County Schools
in Athens, GA and taught art classes for the Continuing Education Department
of the University of Georgia. After moving back to Virginia, Sue was employed
as an elementary art teacher for the Lexington City Schools in Lexington,
VA. She became an elementary art teacher for the Waynesboro City Schools
teaching one year as a high school art teacher. Sue began teaching courses
in art education at Mary Baldwin in 1983. She "retired" from the
Waynesboro City Schools in 1990 to concentrate on her passion for teaching
students at Mary Baldwin, emphasizing the practice of incorporating art in
their curriculum as future teachers. Sue graduated from Radford University
with a Masters in Science in 1990 with a concentration in art education.
She has taught for the Augusta County Schools as an Artist-in-Residence,
worked with the talented and gifted, and held teacher workshops. Sue has
also judged various public school art shows and now volunteers to teach art
as a community service. Sue has been an art educator for over forty years.
She has exhibited her paintings for a number of years at the Waynesboro Fall
Foliage Festival.
Nancy Ross , Adjunct Instructor
of Art
Nancy
Ross received a BA in studio art from the University of Maryland. She did
not begin to work in clay until she returned from serving two years in the
Peace Corps. Primarily self-taught, Nancy started her career as a studio
potter in 1973 with a line of functional, wheel-thrown stoneware. In 1980
she received the MA in ceramics from James Madison University, with the intention
of teaching ceramics. However, she pursued a full-time career as an independent
studio potter for the next 20 years, exhibiting throughout the East coast
at various annual craft fairs and galleries, and teaching community courses.
Nancy has been involved in AVA, the Virginia professional organization for
artisans, as a juried exhibitor, board member and officer and was president
when the Artisans Center of Virginia was formed in 1998. Nancy began teaching
at MBC in 2002, finding it a perfect fit for her desire to share her love
of clay with many motivated students. She continues her own studio work in
addition to various professional activities, including coordinating “The
English Connection,” a national clay conference held at MBC in June
2006.
Paul Ryan , Professor of Art
A
painter and art critic, Paul Ryan is Professor of Art in the Department of
Art and Art History at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia. He teaches
all levels of drawing and painting, and courses in art criticism and contemporary
art. He is also the Director of Hunt Gallery, the college’s art gallery.
Paul has an MFA in painting from the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth
University, and a BA in English from Principia College. Since 1983 Paul has
shown his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in a variety of venues,
including Reynolds Gallery (Richmond, VA), 1708 Gallery (Richmond, VA), Hartell
Gallery at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), The McLean Project for the Arts
(McLean, VA), The University Gallery at The University of South Carolina
(Spartanburg, SC), Fine Arts Building Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University
(Richmond, VA), The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA), Leeds Gallery
at Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana), and the Armory Gallery at Virginia
Tech (Blacksburg, VA). Paul has been a contributing editor for Art Papers
Magazine since 1990. Since 1989 he has contributed to Art Papers
Magazine, Sculpture Magazine, Artlies Magazine, and
the New Art Examiner. He is represented by Reynolds
Gallery , and his paintings are in numerous public, corporate, and private
collections. His web site address is: http://www.mbc.edu/faculty/pryan/
Martha Saunders, Adjunct Assistant
Professor of Art
Native
Virginian, Martha Saunders, currently residing in Charlottesville, Virginia,
received her undergraduate degree in painting and printmaking from Virginia
Commonwealth University in 1981. She maintained a studio and exhibited work
on the East Coast for ten years, and in 1993 received a MFA in painting from
Maryland Institute College of Art. In tandem with studio work Martha has
spent twenty one years in the field of education working in a range of positions,
from art program facilitator in a large inner city school system to teaching
visual art studios and art history for universities during the past twelve
years.
Although starting out as a figurative painter and printmaker, beginning in
the 1990’s her work combined sculptural, painting, and drawing sensibilities
and moved towards a studio practice which revolved around materials and methods
possessing properties of flexibility, delicacy, and transparency. The resulting
works are formed with layers of materials and drawn or collaged imagery invoking
notions of stability and flux simultaneously. The 2000 SECAC Artist Fellowship
supported the completion of one such piece, Mind Skin II, a 90’ x
3’ beeswax wall relief. This work was shown at the McMaster Gallery,
University of South Carolina in the fall of 2001. Currently Martha is working
on and exhibiting a series of encaustic panel paintings, Oscillating
Vistas, which draw inspiration from the experience of walking and how
it shapes our thoughts. Her work is part of several corporate collections,
including Capital One, MCV / VCU Health Services, and CMSS Architects.
martha-saunders.com
Jim Sconyers , Assistant Professor
of Art
Jim Sconyers, Jr. is an artist in a variety of media, including printmaking, photography, and digital media. In 2002, he received his MFA in Printmaking with Distinction from Indiana University's Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. Since that time, his work has been selected for both national and international exhibition, including, in 2007, Rentas Sempadan: An International Print Exhibition at the Penang International Art Festival in Malaysia and, in 2008, NO DANGER 3-Dimensional Airplane Prints, an international exhibition at Richmond International Airport, Richmond, Virginia, and at Robert L. Ringel Gallery, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. Jim’s new body of work made its debut at Hunt Gallery, Mary Baldwin College, in January 2009 and is scheduled to be shown in a solo exhibition at Main Art Gallery, Richmond, Virginia in May 2010. Most recently, Jim was honored to be invited by Professor Edward Bernstein of the Henry Radford School of Fine Arts at Indiana University to participate in an exhibition at IMPACT: International Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference, which took place from September 16-19, 2009. IMPACT was hosted by the Centre for Fine Print Research, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. The show was comprised of 15 artists working with the title “Old Traditions in New Clothes”, loosely focusing on the interface between tradition and technology, both technically and conceptually.