Faculty and Staff

Biography

Tendai Johnson earned a BFA and a MFA from the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia.

Tendai is an artist and a professor of art at Montgomery College’s Rockville campus. He is currently the chair of both Rockville and Germantown Art Departments. Tendai lives and works in his studio in Baltimore. Prior to Montgomery College, he taught at American University for one year and was faculty at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, PA for ten years.

Tendai’s work reflects the influence of living between two cultures: the Euro-American and Southern African. Born in Zimbabwe, Tendai spent his formative years there and moved to the United States in 1984 to pursue fine arts studies, attaining his Masters of Fine Arts with Distinction from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. Since then, he has exhibited widely in both national and international venues, and has been invited as visiting artist/critique at a number of institutions, such as Yale University Graduate Program and Keisho Arts Association in Japan. Tendai’s work is included in both private and public collections. 

The expression of humanity through life’s challenges and transformations is central in Tendai’s work. Individuals portrayed in his work are developed from visual memory, emphasizing the shared experiential nature of our being rather than representing a portrait of any specific person. Yet, each individual embodies a sense of identity expressed through a confrontational gaze that is often present in his work. This confrontation compels us to identify with our own humility and acknowledge the uncompromising presence of our shared experiences and histories. 

Website: Tendai Johnsonnew window

Biography

See John's sample gallery.

Biography

Lucy is the Coordinator of the Jewelry and Metalsmithing/Crafts Area at Montgomery College (MC), Rockville. Additionally she is the advisor to the MC club, Student Art League.  Lucy is also a board member of the non-profit organization Ethical Metalsmiths (EM), acting as facilitator to multiple chapters of EM Students around the world.

See Lucy's sample gallery.

Biography

Ken Jassie is a Professor of Art History at Montgomery College. He earned a BA from Oberlin College, and an MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Dr. Jassie has lectured at the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and other area cultural institutions on topics ranging from Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Contemporary Art, ancient Chinese burial objects, Maya temples, Japanese prints, and medieval cathedrals. He is also the Coordinator of Art History and the Coordinator for the Portraits of Life Holocaust exhibition and educational program.

Biography

Sumita Kim, an artist and Professor of Art at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, was born in Gwang-ju, South Korea. Growing up in Seoul with artist and journalist parents, she developed a deep appreciation for the power of art and language at an early age.

After earning a B.A. in English Literature from Sogang University in Seoul, she worked as a broadcaster at the Dong-A Broadcasting System for two years. In 1979, she came to the United States to continue her education, and in 1982, she was awarded a Master’s degree in film-making from the American University in Washington, DC. She then worked for Voice of America for 10 years as a broadcaster in the Korean Service. There, she received notable recognition, including being selected for the Distinguished Program Award.

In 1992, Kim decided to pursue a formal education in fine arts, and resigned from her position at VOA.  She was admitted as a painting major to the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1997. After receiving this degree, in 2000, she was hired as a full-time professor by Montgomery College through a national search. For 20 years, Kim has experienced immense joy teaching at an open-enrollment community college.

Kim is currently the Painting Coordinator of the Art Department at the Rockville Campus at MC. From 2008 to 2011, she also served as the Chair of the Art Department. She has been an active member of the college community, serving on school wide committees such as the General Education Revision Committee. In 2011, she was recognized for her excellence in teaching by earning the Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award.

While committing herself to teaching, she has also continued her career as a practicing artist. Her most recent one-person show, In Limbo, at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland, received a review in The Washington Post.

See Sumita's sample gallery.

Biography

David Krueger was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. He received his BFA in painting at the University of North Dakota and his MFA at the University of Maryland.  Krueger’s works predominantly in the medium of painting. Krueger’s expressive paintings are figuratively loaded with iconography scratched from the internet. His juxtaposed images do not function as literal renditions or as nostalgic sideshows but as dynamic allegories that operate on social, cultural and environmental levels. He has individual artist grants in painting from: Maryland State Arts Council; National Endowment in the Arts; Claude Monet Foundation and Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Artist Foundation, Giverny, France; National Endowment in the Arts; Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; Pollock-­‐Krasner Foundation; Fine Arts Work Center Fellowships, Provincetown, Massachusetts; Richard Floreshiem Annual Fellowship, Chicago Illinois. He has exhibited his work locally and nationally. He lives and works in Hyattsville, Maryland.

See David's sample gallery.

Biography

Zdeno Mayercak studied Wood Carving at School of Fine Arts, Bratislava, Slovakia (1968 - 1972) and figure sculpture at Academy of Fine Arts, Bratislava (M.F.A. in sculpture, 1979) In 1978 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, Italy (Prof. Lorenzo Guerrini)

He received several awards and grants:

ART/OMI, Omi, NY - International Residency; Fulbright Fellowship - Finland

Pollock-Krasner Grant (1989 and1992); Millay Colony Residency; Slovak National Artist Grant; Academy of Fine Arts Annual Award, Bratislava (Best Artist/Architect Collaboration of the Year; Italian Government Scholarship, Rome, Italy 

Zdeno had numerous solo exhibitions in USA and Europe:

2011      Sculptures, Sarah Silberman Gallery, Montgomery College, Rockville, MD

2010      Sculptures and Prints, (with D. Grecner) Slovak Embassy, Washington, DC

2003      The American Years: 1985-2003, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine

2000       Round Top Center, Damariscotta, Maine

1999       June Fitzpatrick Alternative Space, Portland, Maine

1998       Between the Muse, Rockland , Maine

1997       Davidson and Daughters, Portland, Maine

1993       University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland

1992       Town Center, Terchova, Czechoslovakia

1992       Museum of Fine Art, Zilina, Czechoslovakia

1991       101 Wooster Street, New York 

1990       O.K. Harris, New York 

 

Zdeno Mayercak participated in numerous group exhibitions in USA and Slovakia:          

2016       Then and Now, Sarah Silberman Gallery, Montgomery College

2014       Capitol Arts Network, Rockville

2013       Sculpture in Space, Maine

2008       Sculptures for Contemplative Garden, Maine

2007       Glenview Mansion Art Gallery, Rockville

2005       College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine

2001       Maine Art Gallery, Wiscasset, Maine

2001       University of New England, Portland, Maine

2000       Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY

2000       Greenhut Gallery, Portland, Maine

1999       United Nation Secretariat, New York 

1999       Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine 

1999       G. Marshal Store Gallery, York, Maine

1998       Sculpture and Object III, Bratislava, Slovakia

1998       Judith Leighton Gallery, Blue Hill, Maine

1998       Round Top Center, Damariscotta, Maine

1998       Cole Haan, Yarmouth, Mainee

1997       Wingspread Gallery, Northeast Harbor, Maine

1997       Lakes Gallery, Casco, Maine

1996       Painting & Sculpture, Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA

1996       Burlington College, Pemberton, NJ

1996       Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA

1995       Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

1994       Grey Brick, Klatovy, Czech Republic

1994       Sculpture in the Park, Allentown, PA

1993       State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

1993      Spala Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

1992       Sculpture Symposium, Terchova, Czechoslovakia

1991       Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA

1991       Slovak Fine Art from 1900, Neuhofen, Austria

1991      Museum of Fine Art, Zilina, Czechoslovakia                                                                                                                           

1991       Museum Kollar, Banska Stiavnica, Czechoslovakia

1991       University of New York, NY

1991       Bennett Siegel Gallery, New York

1991       Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

1990       Farfield University, Farfield, CT

1990       Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY

1990       Stuart Levy Gallery, NY

1990       Washington Square East Gallery, NY

1989       Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY

1989       Washington Square, DC

1989       Sculpture '89, Washington Square, DC

1987       Walker, Ursiti & McGinniss Gallery, DC

1984       1st Biennial of Young Artists, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

1984       17th Exhibition of Park Sculpture, Piestany, Czechoslovakia

1984       City Art Museum, Brno, Czechoslovakia

1983       City Art Museum, Presov, Czechoslovakia

1983       The Spa Gardens, Piestany, Czechoslovakia

1981       Artists' Union Gallery, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia

1974      25th Anniversary of the Academy of Fine Arts, Art Center, Bratislava

See Zdeno's sample gallery.

Biography

See Robin's sample gallery.

Biography

See Molly's sample gallery.

Biography

Born in Washington, DC to Italian/Canadian parents, Sara Parent-Ramos’s work stems from her international background and her work experience in the field of psychology and education. Her current work explores the processes that influence human actions that are beyond conscious awareness. She sees a direct allegorical relationship between the scaffolded scenarios she create and the biological and psychological processes that are the invisible scaffolding for human actions.

Parent-Ramos obtained a BA from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA, a MA in Education from Framingham State University in Framingham, MA and a Masters in Fine Arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She has been the recipient of a State University of New York Thayer Fellowship and a Cite International des Arts, Paris Residency Fellowship. Parent-Ramos received a Fulbright scholarship to Italy in 2005 and a Graduate Student Fellowship from the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts in 2013. Most recently she has participated in exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Texas, Art Produce in San Diego, the VisArts Gallery in Rockville Maryland and the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh PA. Parent-Ramos is excited to teach at Montgomery College as she took her first college art class at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD.

See Sara's sample gallery.

saraparentramos.com

Biography

Michael Sellmeyer earned an Associate of Arts degree from East Central College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Missouri State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

While pursuing his education, Michael worked as a sign painter, summer camp art director, picture framer, jewelry production designer, gallery partner, graphic designer/illustrator, and built stained glass windows. Working with the tools from this array of professions influenced Michael to expand his use of media for his own art making. These materials range from drawing with cattle markers to creating collages from computer-scanned trash. Over the years, Michael’s art has evolved in the forms of nonobjective paintings, drawings, collages, woodcuts, and etchings. This art is often grounded in Michael’s interest in surface textures and irregularities found in nature as well as what is discarded from everyday life.

In addition to exhibiting nationally, Michael has taught college studio art for twenty-four years. He is currently a Professor of Art at Montgomery College-Rockville Campus, where he teaches courses in two-dimensional design and introduction to drawing. Michael has a studio in his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

See Michael's sample gallery.

Biography

Judy Stone has taught Design Studio courses at Montgomery College since 2011. A native of Maryland, Stone attended Montgomery College before earning a BA degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She received an MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Prior to teaching, Judy spent a number of years as an independent artist in the Washington DC area, and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Stone’s current work employs taped and gridded systems of scaffolds and ladders, and small sculptures using found glass vessels and concrete. More information and images can be found at judy-stone.com.

See Judy's sample gallery.

Professor Judy Stone

Biography

Sarah K Jorgensen is a professor of art history and painter who has extensive experience in different art spheres and continuously engages with a variety of artists and their processes.  Currently a Smithsonian Fellow, Sarah's interest in the art world was piqued in high school when she researched California artists for the Orange County Museum of Art. She spent a year in Nepal researching the economics of tourism it’s the effect on the market for spiritual art. After receiving her BA, she began her career in the art world in New York. There Jorgensen served on the board of an art, activist and social action collective that held art shows at AIR gallery, developed mentorships and art and activism conferences at Barnard College.  While in New York she also completed her second master’s thesis that proposed reassessing the organization of encyclopedic museum collections. Sarah has also worked broadly in the art world, including years researching in the specialty departments at Sotheby’s, at White Columns gallery, in organizing an exhibition of Amate painters in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and in research and outreach in the education departments of The Guggenheim and The Brooklyn Museum. She writes art criticism for Artist Portfolio and gives tours at Washington DC museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Gallery of Art.  Lately Sarah’s been interested in the meditation themes in Juan Sanchez Cotan’s still lifes, the biology of perception and James Turrell’s installations, mapping the different locations of graffiti writer REVS’ work, thinking about balance in Rauschenberg’s collages and why so many museums have bad lighting. Sarah K Jorgensen enjoys and respects her students and is pleased to be a part of the Montgomery College community. 

Biography

Paul Reuther lives, works, and exhibits in the Washington area. He studied painting in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he completed the 4 year certificate program and art history at The University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated (BFA) magna cum laude. Attending graduate school in Washington, DC and earning an MFA, he studied with William Woodward and Frank Wright at The George Washington University. He was the recipient of the 2014 City Arts Projects Grant, District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the 2014 Artist Fellowship Grant, District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He is the founding member of The Washington Drawing Center, a non-profit group dedicated to the discipline of drawing.

He paints out of doors regularly in the summer months, often in Italy, but sometimes in places farther flung. He was artist-in-residence at arte studio ginistrelle, Assisi, Italy in August 2012 and again at JSS in Civita Castellana, Italy in 2014. In addition to landscape subject matter, the artist draws the figure from life. Not lining up very neatly with any particular breed of art or artist, he labors along the painterly line relying upon direct observation and natural perception in search of chance moments of compressed visual splendor.

Paul Reuther teaches drawing, painting, and technical art history in the Washington area at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD and at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

paulreuther.com

Biography

2016 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow and current Museum of Natural History Researcher in drawing, Lynn Sures is a Washington, DC based artist working in handmade paper, pulp painting, drawing, artist books, printmaking, and ceramic sculpture. Her current focus is the nexus between art and science, in which she considers the physical world and its juncture with the origins of humans—as early humans’ interdependence with ecology has currency with our contemporary discourse. Her artist books have appeared in several published collections, including the Penland Book of Handmade Books. Her work is held in collections including the United States Department of State, the US Library of Congress, Yale University, New York Public Library, and the American Museum of Papermaking. Sures has exhibited in solo shows in New York, Istanbul, and Mexico City, and created art works for events in Australia, Japan, Italy. In Sri Lanka, she was a U.S. State Department American Artist Abroad. She is founding director of the National Collegiate Paper Triennial exhibition; and of the annual Fabriano Paper/Print/Book Italian study abroad experience. She was guest editor of the 2016 Winter issue of Hand Papermaking magazine, on the papermaking of Italy. Most recently Professor and Chair of Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC, she has also taught at Columbia College, Chicago; University of the Arts, Philadelphia; and George Washington University, Washington, DC; and has been a visiting artist at universities and museums nationally and internationally.