Faculty and Staff

Biography

Dr. Norberto Gomez Jr. is a media archaeologist and artist based in Baltimore, Maryland, whose work engages in the interstices and chasms of death and technology, as well as aesthetics, horror, and media/popular culture. As an educator, they are particularly interested in visual/media/digital literacy.

Since 2015, they have taught within a variety of disciplines at Montgomery College (MC): media appreciation, film, graphic design, professional practice, and illustration. They have served as department chair since 2018. Previously, they taught part-time at MICA, Towson University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Houston.

An interdisciplinary artist and scholar, they earned a BFA from Texas A&M University –Kingsville, an MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Houston, and a PhD in media art and text from Virginia Commonwealth University, where they studied digital (sub/pop) culture, broadly. During their professional development leave at MC, they obtained a post-baccalaureate in professional Spanish from Towson University.

Gomez is co-founder and editor of Sybil Press (est. 2013), an independent publisher of art books and other printed matter, which has participated in print, art book, and zine fairs/fests throughout the nation, as well as internationally, at events such as Printed Matter: LA Art Book Fair and the Vancouver Art Book Fair, to name a few.

Recent scholarly publications include: “Eva RochaL Digital Desaparecido in the Postinternet,” Digital Encounters: Envisioning Connectivity in Latin American Cultural Production (University of Toronto Press, 2023); and “From Friends to Monsters: The Horrors of Technology, Friendship, and the Monsters Next Door in Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend,” Refocus: The Films of Wes Craven (Edinburgh University Press, 2023).

Their paintings have been featured in New American Paintings #142. Select exhibitions include Box 13 (Houston), Rhizome DC, Ben Bailey Art Gallery, (Texas A&M University, Kingsville), CICA (South Korea), Little Berlin (Philadelphia), Valet Gallery (Richmond, VA) and (e)merge art fair (D.C.).

Select conference presentations (as panelist and/or chair) include Digital Humanities (México City), Approaching Posthumanism and the Posthuman (Geneva, Switzerland), Northeast Modern Language Association Conference (Boston), and a whole host of Southeastern College Art Conference events since 2011. Gomez has written for Fangoria Magazine, Blumhouse.com, Digital America, and Cvlt Nation.

Biography

Biography

Michael holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Ceramics & Sculpture.

As instructional Lab Coordinator he works in the Art Studios to provide Instructional Support, Student Support and assist with Art Exhibitions.

His specialized area is the Sculpture and Ceramics studios.

Biography

Jenny Walton holds an MFA from American University (D.C. and Italy). Walton has shown her work nationally and internationally and has been awarded an Artistic Fellowship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities among several other grants and residencies including Vermont Studio Center, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center and Hamilton Princess, Bermuda. She and has been critically published and her work is held in several distinguished private and public collections.  She is the Lab Manager for the Department working with faculty on instructional needs, our exhibitions and programs, and operational support.

Website: www.jennywaltonart.com

Biography

Biography

Biography

Biography

Biography

Dr.Cash holds a BA from the History of Art and Architecture from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MA and PhD in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. Her professional work centers on the Art of the Americas, museum practice and open education. 

Professor Cash came to Montgomery College as a full-time faculty member after serving as part-time faculty teaching African art history. Prior to MC, she served an 11-year tenure at St. Mary's College of Maryland as Associate Professor of Art History. At SMCM, she also served 4 years as Director of Boyden Gallery and the Fine Art Collection. At MC, Professor Cash teaches Art History Survey I and II, Survey of African Art and Survey of Asian Art. She looks forward to expanding her course offerings in art history, global humanities, and museum practice.

Beyond the classroom, Professor Cash is committed to professional development, open education and pedagogy and the decolonization and applied practice of art history. Since her arrival at MC, Professor Cash has been awarded the MC UN SDG Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship (Summer 2020) and a Faculty Development Seminar in Pakistan from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (January 2021).

Biography

Miriam Ellen Ewers is an artist who works with found objects, images and sculptural form. She received her undergraduate degree in Fine Art, Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000, and completed her MFA in Sculpture at the Virginia Commonwealth University in 2004.

Miriam Ellen Ewers is Assistant Professor of Sculpture, 3D Design and Drawing at Montgomery College in Maryland, USA, her teaching specializations include traditional as well as twenty-first century sculpture methods/materials, and combining theoretical and social issues into studio pedagogy.

Biography

Biography

Assistant Professor of visual art Mieke Gentis teaches analog and digital photography at Montgomery College. Mieke Gentis is an artist operating in several modalities including photography, installation, and performance. She has served as the director of operations for BuoyRR- a residency retreat for those on the feminine spectrum. She invites you to collaborate, so please send an email f you have an idea. Professor Gentis holds a degree in Imaging and Digital Art from UMBC and a Degree in Sociology from Salisbury University. 

Biography

Biography

Biography

Sowbhagyalakshmi Areke is an independent filmmaker who also has been teaching all aspects of video production for the past three decades in Washington DC metro area educational institutions. Having worked at BET and other TV stations along with professional training at NBC-4 and Maine Media Workshops, she brings in industry-related experience to classroom.  

Areke is a recipient of the Scholarship of Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship, NATPE Faculty Development Fellowship, UFVA/Kodak Scholarship, Eddie Murphy/Paramount Pictures Creative Writing Award, and honorable mention Paul Robeson Award. She has been serving as a jury for the Emmy Awards for over two decades.  

Biography

Biography

Biography

Biography

Casey Kaleba has worked in both the Film and Theatre programs at Montgomery College.  He has taught throughout the region on theatre and film theory, history, and practice, including Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Catholic University, and Gallaudet University.

As a professional artist, Casey has worked in theatre as a director, fight director, and intimacy choreographer, and in film in art departments, stunts, and motion capture.  He has created movement for nearly six hundred theatrical, opera, and media productions including regionally for the Washington National Opera, Ford's Theatre, Round House Theatre, Folger Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Wolf Trap Opera, and nationally at the Guthrie Theatre, Spoleto Festival, Northern Stage, and Glimmerglass Festival.  He served four years as an audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live and almost a decade smashing things on the YouTube channel Men at Arms: Reforged.

Biography

Nick is a writer, director, and media artist. His creative interests are represented through screenwriting, directing, and media arts practice. His academic writing interests surround cinema, media ecology, and expanded media environments.

Throughout Nick's films, he often utilizes hybridity — mixing media, along with fictional and nonfictional narrative devices. He does this most prominently in a piece titled, Thesis Film, as well as in a piece titled, Friendship Therapy: An Experimental Film Without Resolution. His methods put a microscope to human behavior and provide perspectives for how to see the world, while allowing the audience to intimately engage with those perspectives.

In addition to hybrid filmmaking, Nick also engages more directly with experimental filmmaking techniques to shed light on our lived-in media environments. He often uses the blend between ‘nature’ and culture to do so. In today’s world, we cannot separate ‘nature’ from culture, and the ways in which mass media, as cultural phenomena, have informed ‘nature,’ particularly with nostalgic images of the west. Nick explores and plays with those ideas in my experimental filmmaking.

Nick holds an MFA in Media Arts from Southern Illinois University. He's currently a Full Time Lecturer at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the Department of Communication. He's also an Adjunct Professor at Montgomery College in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Biography

Nilou Kazemzadeh (b. 1993) is an Iranian-American artist based in Maryland. She holds a B.A. in Studio Art and Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland College Park and a Masters in Fine Arts from Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Her work has been exhibited in various galleries in the DMV and Philadelphia area including the Katzen Art Center, Maryland Art Place, Target Gallery, and IA&A Hillyer. She is currently an adjunct instructor at Montgomery College and Prince George's Community College where she teaches Ceramics and 2D Design. 

Biography

Kate Kretz earned a Cours De La Civilisation Francaise certificate at The Sorbonne, a BFA at SUNY Binghamton, garnering the SUNY Foundation Award for Excellence in Fine Arts, Harpur College Departmental Honors in Art, and Harpur College Academic Honors. She earned her MFA at the University of Georgia. Exhibitions include the Museum of Arts & Design in NYC, Van Gijn Museum, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Wignall Museum, Katonah Museum, Frost Museum, Racine Museum, Fort Collins MOCA, San Jose Museum of Textiles, Telfair Museum, Fort Lauderdale Museum, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.  

She’s received three MD Arts Council grants (in Crafts and in Painting), the NC Arts Council Grant, The South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, Florida Visual Arts Fellowship, and a Millay Colony Residency. She received the SECAC award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, she’s a James Renwick Alliance’s 2020 Distinguished Artist and is on the Fulbright Specialist Roster until 2021. She was an Associate Professor/BFA Director at Florida International University for ten years before joining Montgomery College, where she was recently awarded the Shoenberg Fellowship to complete her first book on finding visual voice.  

Biography

Educational Background

• DMA - Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
• MM - Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

Biography

Matthew McLaughlin is a mixed media artist and curator whose work explores the human relationship with their environments and spaces, both physically and psychologically. He received his BFA degree in Fine Arts from Ringling College of Art and Design and his MFA degree in Printmaking from Arizona State University. Matthew has had solo exhibitions in Washington, DC and Phoenix, among other areas. His work has been included in group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, in commercial galleries, artist-run spaces and museums. He has received numerous awards including the Maryland State Art Council Individual Artist Award 2016 in Works on Paper. His work is in the collections of the Zuckerman Museum of Art and various universities, along with private collectors. He has curated for numerous national exhibition spaces including the American University Museum in Washington, DC. 

Biography

Alexander McSwain is an assistant professor at Howard University, Washington DC. He received his BFA in Communication Design as well as an MFA in Environmental Design from Howard University. During that time, he worked in the not-for-profit arena working with Shaw-Eco Village (tackling the issue of stormwater run-off in DC), DOEE formally the DDOE (educating youth about the importance of green collar work, environmental awareness, and education), and MCSR (Men Can Stop Rape Organization teaching young men how to be strong without being violent). He was asked to become an executive board member for MCSR in 2015 and continues to serve as an active member. 

For the past decade, Alex McSwain has worked as a freelance designer. He has had the opportunity to work with several companies and clients ranging from Cushman and Wakefield to start up magazine companies. His portfolio contains works from various design disciplines; UX design, web design, publication/marketing materials, brand development, packaging, 2D Animation, and apparel design. Currently, he is taking on volunteer design projects to help not for profit organizations nationally in hopes to reconnect with his, not for profit roots and allow his skills to improve the lives of others. His design aesthetic by default stems from his time as an architect apprentice with a clean line and geometric symmetry with a keen sense of synergy. 

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” 

Biography

Carrie Rennolds teaches illustration and graphic design, and is the creator of the Fake New Yorker; an unedifying parody publication which explores problems and failures in modern society. She has a degree from Lawrence University in Printmaking, and an M.F.A. from UMBC in Imaging and Digital Art, and loves bad ideas. 

Biography

Alzira Lena Ruano, a Washington, D.C. native raised in Montgomery County, is an accomplished interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and educator. She embarked on her creative journey at Montgomery College, mastering printmaking, before refining her skills at the Art Center College of Design, where she explored the moving image. With an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, her artistry evolved to incorporate captivating still photography and performative elements.

Ruano's work delves into the complex interplay of gender, body, heritage, relationships, memory, socio-economic structures, and domesticity. These themes reveal her profound insights into the human experience and societal narratives. Beyond her artistic accomplishments, Ruano's role as an educator and scholar empowers emerging artists, fostering meaningful dialogues that transcend traditional boundaries. Her diverse background and contributions make her a significant presence in both the artistic and academic realms.

Biography

Biography

Meryl has been teaching dance for the Performing Arts department here at MC TP/SS since 2006.  She has also taught ballet, modern, and jazz on the Rockville campus. She was awarded “Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award” in 2013. 

She owned her own dance studio and company, The Dance Addition of Takoma Park for 18 years, until 2010.  She taught ballet, modern, and jazz there, and directed and choreographed numerous performances. 

She danced with many DC local companies including Tony Powell Music and Movement, Pola Nirenska, Momentum Dance Theatre, and Maryland Dance Theatre, just to name a few. 

She also performed in NYC, Bates College in Maine, San Diego, Knoxville, White Mountains Dance Festival, and also abroad in Canada and in Israel. 

She has choreographed for many musical theatre productions including for Imagination Stage, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Catholic University, St. Mary’s Community College, and Fort Meade Theatre Productions. 

Her dance degrees were acquired from U of Md., and her graduate degree from the George Washington University. 

She is currently and passionately involved with communities of Latin dances and other social dances here in the DC, New York, and in the northern New Jersey areas. These include Tango, Salsa, Bachata, and West Coast Swing,  

Biography

Biography

Anjuli M. Singh is a film historian and curator who has worked in museums and cultural institutions across the country, including the Smithsonian Institution, the American Film Institute, and the Museum of the Moving Image, creating exhibitions exploring the history of cinema.  In addition to teaching at Montgomery College, she is also an adjunct professor at George Mason University and has previously taught film history and film studies courses at Northern Virginia Community College.  Anjuli holds an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University, as well as an MA in Museum Studies and a BA in Film and Media Studies, both from The Johns Hopkins University. 

Biography

Andrea Adams, Professor Emerita at Montgomery College, received her AFA degree from Northwestern Connecticut Community College, BFA degree from Syracuse University, and MFA from Colorado State University. She also attended the Art Institute of Boston. She taught at Colorado State University, Maryland College of Art and Design, and Montgomery College. Over the years she taught Graphic Design, Drawing, Figure Drawing, Color Theory, and Design.

Biography

Wilfred Brunner received his BA from Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania and his MFA in painting from George Washington University in Washington, DC. He is now Professor Emeritus at Montgomery College where he taught Painting and was instrumental in the planning for the Cafritz Art Center. He previously was on the staff of The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Referred to as an “imagist” by the Curator Walter Hopps his work is included in private and public collections including The Baltimore Museum of Art, The American University Museum at the Katzen Center, Princeton University and The Phillips Collection.

Biography

Roger Coleman served as Professor of Music at Montgomery College from 1998 until his retirement on January 1, 2018. 

Courses taught include: American Popular Music, World Music, History of Jazz, Listening to Music, Intro to Music Theory, Class Piano and Class Guitar. 

From 2002-2009, he composed and recorded original music for theater productions in the Black Box theater. 

In 2007, he created the MC Music Society, a student organization that provided students an opportunity to create and perform music. 

In 2015, Professor Coleman wrote and published an e-book for the Intro to Music Theory class which became the textbook for his class, available at no cost to students. 

Service to the College included participation in College Area Review, Faculty Council and Academic Assembly, and Outcome Assessments for the Listening to Music course. 

He performed regularly in faculty recitals at the College with other music professors, featuring a wide variety of music styles. 

Professor Coleman coordinated with the Office of Student Life to schedule live music performances for student enrichment, including African drumming and Native American, Chinese and Latin music. 

In retirement, Professor Coleman plays in several area music groups, including the Washington Piano Society, Swingtime Big Band and Paramount Jazz Orchestra. 

He was granted the status of Professor Emeritus by the Montgomery College Board of Trustees in June 2018. 

Biography

Professor Helsley spent over twenty-five years in the television industry as a designer and art director.  He has designed for both print and video. He is the recipient of numerous awards and received three television Emmy Awards for on-air graphics, animation, and set design.

Biography

Joyce Jewell was born in Washington, D. C.  and currently resides in Takoma Park, Maryland.   She received her A. A. from Montgomery College; B.A. from American University and M.F.A in printmaking from George Washington University. Post graduation, she studied at The Tamarind Institute of Lithography.   She taught drawing, design, and all forms of printmaking at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Md., for many years and designed printmaking facilities for two fine art buildings.   Currently a Professor Emerita, she is exploring mixed media monotypes which incorporate drawn and photographic images developed on pronto lithographic plates.   Her work has been exhibited in many national juried printmaking exhibitions and published in numerous catalogues.

Biography

David Rothman has been involved in theatre and with Montgomery College for over forty years, first as a student and then, since 1986, as faculty.  Over the years, he has taken on various roles as an actor, director, producer, fight choreographer, production designer, technical director and teacher. He holds undergraduate and post graduate degrees from the University of Maryland and is a past member of the Society of American Fight Directors having been certified as an Actor-Combatant With Recommendation and a member of SAG-AFTRA.  Recent directorial efforts by David at Montgomery College include Social Darwinism, The Glass Menagerie, Animal Farm, Doubt, Bootycandy, Natural Causes, Almost Blue, Waiting For Lefty and Art of Murder. David recently directed Kasturba versus Gandhi for Natya Bharati, a local Indian theatre group. Additional shows directed by David include The Diary of Anne Frank, Blythe Spirit for The Foundry Players and Brer Rabbit & The Briar Patch for Adventure Theatre. David last performed onstage in Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s West Side Story.  Additional performances at MC include Notes On The Cold War In Kansas and Christopher Durang’s The Marriage of Bette & Boo. He has also performed locally in The Christmas Revels at Lisner Auditorium as well as in productions at The Studio Theatre, Classika Theatre, Source Theatre and Washington Theatre Wing.  Regional credits include performances at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Champlain Shakespeare Festival and Birmingham Children's Theatre. David also plays blues harmonica and sings in the local blues band, Cooking With Gas, having appeared at the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Silver Spring Blues Festival.

Biography

Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Rousseau completed a B.A. in Art History at Hunter College (C.U.N.Y.), and her M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York. While living in Rome, she taught various study abroad programs in Italy, and then taught art history at Washington University in St. Louis.  After five years living and working as an art critic and translator in South and Central America, she was a Guest Professor at the Freie Universität in Berlin.  Arriving in Maryland in 2001, she taught art history at the Maryland College of Art and Design until 2003 when she joined the art faculty at Montgomery College where she is currently Professor Emerita.  An internationally published scholar of Renaissance and Modern art, she is an active critic and Editor-at-Large of East City Art. Dr. Rousseau has curated many contemporary art exhibits at venues in the Washington DC region, and she continues to serve on the Public Arts Trust Steering Committee of the AHCMC, as well as the Art Review Panel of the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission for Public Art.  Since 2010 she has been a juried member of the prestigious International Association of Art Critics (AICA) for her writing on art.

Biography

Perry T. Schwartz, Professor Emeritus, taught film, speech and theatre at Montgomery college from 1978 to 2017.  He was chairman of the Department of Speech, Theatre and Film for many years.  Directed and produced plays for all the years he taught at Montgomery college.  He has directed over 100 theatre productions at the college and professional levels. Professionally, he has been the artistic director for two theatre companies, Playwrights' Co-op and the Washington Theatre Wing.  He is the Producing Director of his video production company, Ol' Black Bear Productions, established in 1989.  For Ol’ Black Bear Productions, he has produced and directed several short films most notably the narrative shorts, “Leo and Mars” and “Kansas Peaches” and the documentary film “Watermarks,” which features the large sculpture in the Cultural Arts Center.  His published works include, the textbook, "Enjoying Theatre Arts" a text on film and theatre appreciation, and two educational video’s, “Theatre Arts: The Basic” and “The Language of Film.”  He is currently working on a feature concert documentary entitled, “Bluegrass Court Jester: Ron Thomason.”

Biography

Biography

Priscilla Walker worked in the Visual and Performing Arts Department for 21 years before retiring in October 2022.

In her role, she was responsible for the day-to-day running of the department office, assisting students, faculty, the public, and other employees at the College,

“The College is very diverse, and this has given me the opportunity to meet, work, share, and appreciate other ethnic cultures.  I love art and, therefore, have been privileged to be around students, faculty, and visiting artists.  I have also had the opportunity to take classes in both visual and performing arts to enhance my personal knowledge and assist faculty and students."

Priscilla holds a BA in Communication, Languages, and Literature from the University of Abidjan, Côte d”Ivoire. 

Biography

Professor Mudd taught all levels of sculpture as well as foundations, design and printmaking. 

Professor Mudd was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Montgomery County, MD. He began attending Montgomery College in Takoma Park as a part-time student in 1994. Completing his Associates Degree, he decided to continue his studies full time at University of Maryland, College Park where he was introduced to metal casting and foundry operation. In addition to studio art, he also did work in creative writing (poetry) and comparative literature. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art as well as a Citation in Comparative Studies in spring 2000. 

After earning his MFA in Sculpture in 2002 Lincoln worked as an Adjunct Instructor at University of Maryland, Montgomery College, and Prince Georges Community College. In 2006, he became a full-time faculty member of Montgomery College. Beginning in 2012 he was an Associate Professor of Art.  From 2014-2016 he served as Department Chair for Visual and Performing Arts.

Biography