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Home » Art » Faculty Biographies

Faculty Biographies

Department Chair

David Ulrich

David Ulrich is an active photographer and writer whose work has been published in numerous books and journals including Aperture, Parabola, MANOA, and Sierra Club publications. Ulrich's photographs have been exhibited internationally in over seventy-five one-person and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, and universities. For fifteen years, he served as Associate Professor and Chair of the Photography Department of The Art Institute of Boston. He is a former Program Head of Pacific New Media at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Ulrich is the author of The Widening Stream: the Seven Stages of Creativity and the co-author of Through Our Eyes: A Photographic View of Hong Kong by its Youth. He earned a BFA degree from The Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston and an MFA degree from The Rhode Island School of Design.

Core Faculty

Associate Professor Judith Allen

Photography Studios l - Vl,  Foundations,  Senior Exhibit/Thesis,  Selected Topics/Electives: “Self Portrayal”, “Image and Object”, “Documentary”

Judy is a photographic and mixed media artist, who received an NEA Visual Artist's Fellowship in 1990 and a Betty Bowen Special Recognition Award in 1994. She has exhibited her work at the Tacoma Art Museum, Center on Contemporary Art, Bellevue Art Museum, Photographic Center Northwest, S.F. Camerawork Gallery, and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.  She was awarded the Cornish Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000.  Judy received a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from Mills College.

Professor Bonnie Biggs

Art Elective, Draw III or Life Draw III, Foundations, Life Drawing I, Life Drawing IV, Senior Art Practicum, Senior Exhibit/Thesis

Bonnie is an artist utilizing an industrial laminating process to produce large-scale figurative images in layers of glass. She is past President of The Glass Art Society and former juror of the Fellowship Selection Committee of The Creative Glass Center of America. She has exhibited and lectured extensively and taught at Tyler School of Art, Massachusetts College of Art, Cleveland State University, Ohio State University, Goddard College and Pilchuck. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of The Corning Museum in NY and The American Museum of Glass in NJ. She earned a BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in 3D/Glass from Massachusetts College of Art.

Professor Robert Campbell

Video Studio I, II, III, IV, V, VI, Survey of Experimental Cinema, and Digital Imaging

Bob works as an installation artist, digital printmaker, documentary filmmaker and video artist. Since 1984, he has exhibited internationally in Europe, Japan, Canada and the U.S., including the WRO 90 Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, Montbeliard International Video Competition in France, the Tokyo International Video Festival in Japan and IMAGE Film and Video Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1992 his collaborative video-for-dance work has premiered in On The Boards' New Performance Series, Northwest New Works Festival Series, and Artist Access Series. His dance-on-video work has been presented in the Dance on Camera Festival at New York's Lincoln Center, and in Seattle's New Dance Cinema Festival. His documentary projects have taken him to Africa twice since 2003. He has been awarded two Centrum Creative Artist residencies at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, as well as a month-long summer artist residency at the Burren College of Art in Ireland. Bob was awarded Cornish Excellence in Teaching Awards in 1999 and 2004. He earned both his BFA and MFA degrees from the School of Film and Video at California Institute of the Arts.

Professor Elizabeth Darrow

Visual Art History I, II, Modern & Contemporary Art History; Critical Methods

Elizabeth Darrow received a Ph.D in art history from the University of Washington in 2000 and has taught at Trinity University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Washington and Montana State University. Dr. Darrow studied restoration of painting and art history in Italy and her research & scholarly interests emphasize early modern art history from the Renaissance into the nineteenth century. She is a pioneer in the study of the effects of restoration of art on art interpretation and was a Guest Scholar in Residence at the J.P. Getty Museum & Research Institute in 2005-06, completing a manuscript about the restorer in 18 th century Venice for the Getty Trust entitled Restoring the Myth of Venice (2008). Her discovery of a lost Renaissance altarpiece, Madonna & Child with Six Saints (1456), by Neri di Bicci at St James Cathedral in Seattle generated world-wide attention, an exhibition and she was co-author of Focus On the Renaissance (Seattle, 2004).

Professor Claudia Hollander-Lucas

Drawing 1, Drawing IV, Intermediate Studio, Intro Studio

Claudia is a painter who has exhibited her work at BVAU in Boston, Rutgers University in New Jersey, Portland Art Museum in Maine, Emerson College in Sussex, England, and the Tacoma Art Museum. Claudia earned a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Professor David Nechak

Advanced Studio, Intermediate Studio, Intro Studio

David is an installation artist receiving grants from: Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, Catalyst Art in Belfast N. Ireland, Washington State Museum in Pullman, Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle, Boise Art Museum, Creative Time, and Art Matters (both in New York), Portland Metropolitan Arts Commission, Artist Trust of Washington State, Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, Port Angeles Art Center in Port Angeles, Soil Gallery and Horsehead invitationals in Seattle. Artist-in-residence includes Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, Washington and the Flax Studios in Belfast, N. Ireland. David received an M.F.A. from the University of Oregon.

Professor Barbara Noah

Advanced Painting, Drawing II, Mixed Media/Collage, Professional Art Practices, Selected Topics

A mixed-media artist whose work includes pieces at the Canal Substation and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Barbara is featured in the book The Painter Speaks: Artists Discuss Their Experiences and Careers. Her work has been published in Art in America and ARTnews. She has also exhibited in various cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Paris. Barbara is the recipient of the Pollock/Krasner Grant, a Betty Bowen Merit Award from the Seattle Art Museum and a Faculty Excellence Award. She earned an MFA from Pratt Institute in New York.

Professor Heather Dew Oaksen

Video Studio I, II, III, IV, V, VI; Senior Professional Art Practices; Senior Exhibit/Thesis; Selected Topic; Community/Professional Internship Advisor.

A media artist, independent producer, and the founder/recent Board President of 911 Media Arts Center, Heather has produced a strong body of personal work that challenges viewers to see social issues in new ways through altered scale, sequence, light and point of view. She has received numerous awards including support from The Flintridge Foundation, Artist Trust, Art Matters, The Phelan Foundation, the Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the American Film Institute, and the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship. Heather's videos and media installations are exhibited throughout the U.S. and Canada. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.U.P. in Urban Planning from the University of Oregon.

Professor John Overton

Art Elective, Drawing 1, Intermediate Studio, Intro Studio, Senior Art Practicum, Senior Exhibit/Thesis

John's work is represented in collections of the Seattle Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum in New York, Museum of Art/Rhode Island School of Design, H.J. Heinz Foundation in Pittsburgh, and the cities of Kobe, Japan, and Beersheba, Israel. His work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Rhode Island School of Design, Impressions Workshop Gallery in Boston, Tacoma Art Museum, and in Seattle at the Seattle Art Museum, Center on Contemporary Art, and many other area galleries. John was a recipient of the Seafirst Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1986 at Cornish. John studied at Michigan State University and Cornish College of the Arts.

Professor Kathleen Rabel

Advanced Studio, Drawing III & IV, Intermediate Studio, Intro Studio, Life Drawing II, Selected Topic, Senior Seminar

Kathleen Rabel's painting, sculpture, and prints are shown internationally and throughout the United States. Rabel was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholars grant to Portugal sculpture). She was invited to be one of twenty-five artists representing the United States in an exhibition with the Contemporary Print Artists of Paris. She is beloved artist-in-residence at the Abbey of San Vincenzo in southern Italy. International exhibitions include Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Italy, Israel, Russia, France, and Canada. National exhibitions include Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Walker Art Center, Rhode Island School of Design, Carnegie Institute, Seattle Art Museum, and The Henry Gallery. KR's intaglio work "Paraclete", was acquired by The British Museum for their Collection of 20th Century Prints and Drawings and the publication, Kathleen Rabel: Selected Prints 1972-1992 was accepted into the archives of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. She is a co-founder and artist-in-residence of Seattle's experimental workshop +=studio blu=+. Selected collections include The British Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Brooklyn Museum, Seattle Art Museum, and the Cities of Seattle; Kobe, Japan; and Beersheba, Israel. Kathleen Rabel has a Bachelor of Arts degree (painting) and a Master of Fine Arts degree (print art) from the University of Washington, and was awarded a “Nelly” by Cornish College of the Arts Alumni for excellence in teaching.

Assistant Professor Ruth Marie Tomlinson

Whether reconfiguring the form of a truck tire inner tube or re-contextualizing hand gestures found in newspaper photographs, Ruth Marie Tomlinson utilizes repetitive processes to exercise her passion for systems, for cataloging and for restructuring. Tomlinson shows her work in a variety of settings in the Northwest, including G. Gibson Gallery. A graduate of the Evergreen State College with an MFA from the UW, Tomlinson is currently a professor at Cornish College of the Arts.

Professor Preston Wadley

Introduction to Drawing, Draw II, Life Draw II, Life Draw III, Foundations, Introduction to, Intermediate, and Advanced Photography

Preston's work has been exhibited at the: Pacific Arts Center, Seafirst Gallery, G. Gibson Gallery, the Fisher Gallery and the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington. He has received grants from 911 Media Arts Center, Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission and the NEA. Preston received both a BFA and an MFA from the University of Washington.

Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct Assistant Professor Julie Gaskill

Drawing Applications, Life Drawing

Julie Gaskill's work has been exhibited in Lyons, France, in Shenzhen, China, at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA, the Lancaster Museum of Art in Lancaster, PA, the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, Minnesota, the Janet Turner Print Museum in Chico, CA, in the 9th, 10th, and 12th Biennials of Pacific Prints of Palo Alto, CA, the LA Printmaking Society's 18th National Biennial Exhibition, Pasadena, CA, the Seattle Art Museum Gallery, and at Davidson Galleries in Seattle.

Julie was invited to be an Artist-in-Residence in August 2006 at the Artists' Enclave at I-Park in East Haddam, Connecticut. Julie was also an Artist-in- Residence at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy in August 2002, and a recipient of the 1996-97 PONCHO Artist-in-Residency Award at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle.

Julie studied at Webster University, Missouri and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, where she lived for ten years.

Julie has prints and sculpture in the permanent collections of the Mulvane Art Museum of Topeka, Kansas, the State of Washington, the cities of Seattle and Shoreline, WA, and in the Alice B. Cooley Print Collection of Cornish College of the Arts, where she has taught drawing since 1994.

Adjunct Instructor Tamara Moats

Visual Art History I and II, Modern Art History, Cultural History of India

Tamara Moats has been curator of education at the University of Washington's Henry Art Gallery since 1988. She regularly teaches at the UW School of Art, the College of Education, and the Museology graduate program, and also teaches art history at the Bush School Upper School. She was a research assistant at the Pacific Asia Museum from 1979-80 and curatorial assistant in the Far Eastern Art Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1981-82. Moats holds a BA degree in art history from the University of Puget Sound and an MA in Asian Studies from the Claremont Graduate School. Her interdisciplinary thesis addressed Buddhist art, religion, and mythology. She has lived and traveled in Europe and Asia, including a study tour with the late mythologist Joseph Campbell to Southeast Asia and Japan (1977), a tourist ministry project in India (1984), and a sabbatical in Paris (1998).