College of Fine Arts and Design

Charleen Weidell, Department Chair & Associate Professor of Jewelry & Metalsmithing

cweidell@uco.edu

Fortunate to spend her childhood growing up in the mountains and deserts of Arizona and the coastal regions of Southern California, Charleen was inspired by nature's grandeur at an early age. As an adult, she lived in San Diego, CA for 22 years having the Pacific Ocean as her muse. After receiving her M.F.A. in 2002 she moved to Denver, CO to be near the Rocky Mountains. She joined the faculty at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2004 where she is currently Associate Professor of Art, Chair of the Art Department and head of the Jewelry/Metalsmithing program.

Charleen's work in metal has been exhibited and collected on the international, national, and local levels. Tart Server, a broad blade silver server, was recently published in Contemporary Silver Part II: Recent Commissions written by collector Seymour Rabinovich and acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England. Her latest commissioned work was the Ceremonial Medallion for President Roger Webb at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Jacqueline Zanoni de los Santos, Adjunct

jdelossantos@uco.edu

Jacqueline Z. de los Santos is an artist and curator who takes an explorative approach to the process of making and understanding art. Her recent work includes large-scale, site-specific sculptural works which take their cue from the duality of strength and fragility found in Nature's cycles and are designed to encourage visitor interaction. She studied art and art history at Clark University (BA) and holds an MFA in Art and a MA in Art History from the University of Oklahoma. She also spent several years living in Mexico City and had the opportunity to study at Trier University in Germany and at the Universita degli Studi Firenze in Florence, Italy. Ms. de los Santos is the past president of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and was an Artist-in-Residence for the State of Oklahoma.

Lacye Swilley-Russell, Adjunct

lswilley@uco.edu

Lacye Swilley-Russell teaches both Drawing and 2-Design at UCO.  She also teaches at Oklahoma City Community College, and Oklahoma Christian University, in addition to workshops at [Artspace] at Untitled and the Oklahoma City Art Museum.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art-2D from Louisiana Tech University and her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts from Memphis College of Art. Her art has been part of exhibits throughout the United States. She currently resides in Edmond.

Robert T. Smith, Adjunct

rsmith1@uco.edu

Rob Smith teaches Serigraphy & Etching and is also director of the Lachenmeyer Arts Center in Cushing, OK. He has been actively involved creating prints for thirty years. He holds a MFA from University of Oklahoma, Norman and BA from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS. Mr. Smith's prints have been exhibited in over 150 juried art shows nationally. Recently, the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, MO purchased several prints for their permanent collection.

Shawn Meyers, Adjunct

smeyers3@uco.edu

When Shawn Meyers was seven years old, she knew she was an artist. As the daughter of a builder, she was raised in close proximity to the materials and processes of construction sites, inspiring a fascination that continues to this day. Her work consists of both installation and sculpture produced from a wide variety of media and often includes recycled materials.

After graduating from Drew University, Madison, NJ with a BFA in art history, Ms. Meyers moved to OK where she earned an MLAT in studio from Oklahoma City University and a MFA in contemporary sculpture from the University of Oklahoma. She has won numerous awards for both artistic and academic excellence.

Ms. Meyer's experience as an educator brings yet another layer of proficiency to professional endeavors. She has 13 years of experience teaching at the university level and is currently instructing art history, metals, figure drawing and three-dimensional design. Other professional experiences include: juror for the Plaza Artists ('09), the Sculpture Park ('06) and Windscapes ('07, '08) at the Oklahoma Festival of the Arts as well as juror for the Paseo Arts Festival and committee member on the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition exhibitions committee.

A further reflection of her artistic strength is found in her diverse professional studio experience ranging from silver and goldsmithing, commerical furniture construction and monumental bronze work. As a result, Ms. Mercer's works have been exhibited and collected on the international, national and local levels.

A fascination with alchemy pervades Ms. Mercer's distinctive work. Disparate combinations of elements become transformed beyond their industrial context to create unexpected and poetic compositions. Her work, intuitive in nature, is often driven by those materials and the endless variations found in their innate properties.

Sunni Mercer, Adjunct

dmercer2@uco.edu

Sunni Mercer holds a Liberal Arts degree in Communication and a BFA and MFA in studio art. She is a NEA Regional Follow and has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the US and abroad. She has designed and installed multiple art and educational installations. Her work is archived at the Smithsonian Institution and she is certified with the National Parks Service in Interpretive Planning. Over the past 10 years, Ms. Mercer has received numerous awards and grants in both art/design and business. She has designed and installed multiple interpretive installations and exhibits. Recently, the Federal Employees Credit Union Remembrance Garden earned her a national award for interpretive design. She has extensive experience in the area of community and mult-interest group projects.

Ms. Mercer served as the Director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center overseeing the design phase of the museum. She coordinated staff, hundreds of volunteers and worked with the National Parks Service, design team, family members, survivors and rescue workers to develop the museum.

She has taught advertising, promotional and marketing strategies, art history, sculpture and painting at the university levl. Ms. Mercer has been a visiting lecturer and presenter at numerous universities, businesses and conferences including the American Association of Museums National Conference. She directed a non-profit organization and worked to establish community/artist partnerships. Throughout her career, Ms. Mercer has developed, written and adjudicated many grants. Her personal studio, interpretive design and installation work have been the subject of over 40 articles in a variety of national periodicals and publications.

Deborah Luber-Meyers, Adjunct

dluber@uco.edu

Deborah's artwork originates from a love for drawing and a multi-disciplinary background involving pastels, painting, jewelry and clay. She has exhibited artwork at various local, regional and national venues in a variety of media and has worked with various artists across the United States. In her studio she continues to explore organic and figurative forms where she strives to capture the beauty of light, shape, color, and the tensions, which interact in these relationships. Believing it is these artistic reactions to the external world, that evoke dynamic energy and spontaneity in recreating the qualities that are appealing to expressing and communicating the interconnectedness of life. This immediate connection to life and the energy contained in the integrity of nature becomes the motivation for her work. 

Gayle Singer, Professor

gsinger@uco.edu

Gayle Singer is a Professor of Art (Ceramics) at UCO; her interest in clay began thirty years ago as an undergraduate student. Over the past twenty years, she has taught and maintained a private studio out of her home. Her work has been widely exhibited in national exhibitions and galleries throughout the US.

Ms. Singer has earned degrees from the following institutions: a BA in Education from Central State University in 1981; a M.Ed. from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1982; BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1987; and an MFA from New York State College of Ceramics in 1989.

"Functional forms are an integral part of my current work that enable me to bring an element of surprise, intimacy and accessibility to each piece. These are best translated by the way I choose to manipulate and exaggerate the plasticity of the clay. My approach to the material is direct yet responsive to its innate properties. Additionally, the hand-material connection that clay provides in relation to the use of the potter's wheel engage me physically and allow me to respond spontaneously."

Dr. Candice Schilz, Assistant Professor

cschilz@uco.edu

Dr. Candice Schilz came to UCO in Fall 2007. She is the Art Education coordinator and teaches Elementary Methods for Art, Secondary Methods for Art, Introduction to Art Education and Art for Elementary Teachers. She holds a doctorate in Art Education from Indiana University and a M.eD. from Southwestern  Oklahoma State University. Her major research interests are teacher preparation and effective strategies for technology in K-12 art.

In her university teaching career, she has taught courses in art methods for elementary and secondary art as well as graduate courses including Research in Art Education, Technology in Art Education and issues in Art Education.

Dr. Schilz is active in the National Art Education Association and United States Society for Education through Art (USSEA) and on the Executive Board of that group as Chair of Children's Art Exchange Committee.

Publications

"Mustangs, wigwams, and odes to the Chiefs," Arts Education, 59(1), 2006.

"Technology in teaching and creating Art," ED-MEDIA 2005-World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hyper media & Telecommunications. Montreal, Canada. June 2005.

"Developing a curriculum tool for preservice art education majors, in Willis, D., (ed.), "Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference," Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Electronic publication available through ACCE. March 2003.

"Printmaking Animals: Integrating Art and Science," School Arts, 1999, v.98, n.7.

"Korhogo Story Cloth," School Arts, 1996, v.95, n.8, p.43+.

"Dissertation: A Study of Preferences of Sixth Grade Students for Abstract Expressionist Slide Reproducations," Indiana University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1993.

Dr. Robert Palmer, Professor

bpalmer@uco.edu

For the last fifteen years, Dr. Robert Palmer's life has revolved around teaching, photography, mural painting and family. He currently teaches photography at UCO.

Dr. Palmer is President of Palmer Studios, a professional mural painting business. He and his assistants have literally painted around the world with projects in Canada, Mexico, Croatia, Macedonia and Eastern Europe. Dr. Palmer was selected as the featured muralist in 2007 for Oklahoma Cantenial and was voted by the Oklahoma Art Education Association (OAEA) as the outstanding educator for that year.

Dr. Palmer is most proud of his students. They are feature photographers and mural painters all over the country. Many of his students go on to work on MFA degrees and become teachers and professors at colleges and universities around the U.S.

Finally, Dr. Palmer celebrates with his wife, Carolyn, 30 years of marriage and two daughters, Megan and Blake. They attend the Bethany Church of Christ where he serves as elder. Both he and his wife are enjoying their new grandson, Roland.

David Maxwell, Assistant Chair, Associate Professor

dmaxwell3@uco.edu

After receiving his BA in Art at Knox College in Galesburg, IL and his MA and MFA in Painting from the University of Dallas, David Maxwell started a career in higher education that has now lasted 10 years. He has also studied at the Charles Cecil Atelier in Florence, Italy and traveled extensively in Europe and the US. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Boston, Las Vegas, Arlington and Oklahoma City. Mr. Maxwell continues to work on a series of paintings that address of language, material and our own inherent physicality. He contributes much of his time to local charities and organizations working with issues of health and equality.

Rhys Roark, Adjunct

Dr. Roark received art degrees from Rose State College (AA,1985) and the University of Central Oklahoma (BA,1990) and art history degrees from Syracuse University (MA, 1994) and the University of Louisville (2004).  His interests concerning the visual arts are both historical and theoretical, examining the intersection between the visual arts, religion and science.  This includes the transformation of the Italian Renaissance aesthetic into the era of artistic Modernism of the 18^th through 20^th centuries as well as the era of Late Antiquity as the Classical world transforms into the Christian one. 

Elizabeth Brown, Associate Professor

ebrown5@uco.edu

Elizabeth Brown is a sculptor and an associate professor of Art at UCO. She has been with the university since 2004. She teaches both capstone courses in the Studio Art degree program for Sophomore Portfolio and Exhibition Presentation. Ms. Brown serves on the Program Committee at Untitled Art[Space] in Oklahoma City and in exhibition programming for Oklahoma Visual Artist Coalition.

Ms. Brown received her MFA in Fibers from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ and her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Exhibiting both nationally and abroad in invitational and solo exhibitions her current work focuses on organic sculpture using synthetic materials. These forms play with creating objects that reference natural forms but remain elusive in their definition.

Barbara Broadwell, Assistant Professor

bbroadwell@uco.edu

Barbara Broadwell is a mixed media sculptor whose primary media clay, also a mixed media two-dimensional artist; her work is often a complex layering of varied imagery. She has a BFA in sculpture from Sonomoa State University and an MFA in ceramics from San Diego State University.

Born and raised in Great Falls, Montana, Ms. Broadwell's formative years were enriched by many outdoors activities such as camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains. As a young adult, she served in the Armed Forces as an Army nurse which enabled her to travel and live all over the United States. She has taught drawing, foundation design and ceramics at San Diego State University, Southwestern College, Metropolitan State College of Denver and is currently Assistant Professor of Art at UCO.

This varied mixture of life experience is the nectar that feeds the imagery for her drawings and sculpture. She uses clay as her primary sculptural medium and supplements it with a variety of mixed media. The twisting of the human frame and the juxtaposition of rusted metal next to clay articulates the corrosion of the soul and mind. The combination of varied materials, especially found objects, carry a history that is essential to her work. The weathered materials and wood bear the marks of age, time and events, as do the psyche. Ms. Broadwell also believes the use of such varied materials echoes the many facets of the human condition which is the core of what her work is concerned with. Her work in sculpture and drawing has been exhibited and collected on the international, national and local levels. She is the recipient of numerous awards.

Sarah Hearn, Adjunct

sarahwilliamshearn@gmail.com

Sarah Hearn is a native Oklahoman who completed her Master of Fine Art degree in Imaging Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. During her time in Rochester, she apprenticed with Process Historian and Master Printer Mark Osterman at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.

Hearn's artwork explores the ways in which our culture uses the constructs of science and art as powerful systems of belief. The artist's work is interdisciplinary. Although originally based in photography, she explores endless possibilities of overlapping the mediums of drawing, collage, sculpture, sound, video and installation.

Hearn's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She was one of three artist selected to represent the United States in the 2010 World Creativity Biennale. In addition, she has had several solo exhibitions, and participated in numerous prestigious group exhibitions: including an Exchange with Sol Lewitt hosted by Mass MoCA & Cabinet Magazine, and the invitational, Chain Letter Exhibition exhibited this August in Berlin. Hearn has been the recipient of awards and honors including: The Levy Scholarship at RIT and the Oklahoma Visual Artist Coalition Award of Excellence. 

David Crismon, Adjunct

dcrismon@uco.edu

David Crismon received his BFA in Painting from the Kansa City Art Institute (1986) and his MFA from the University of Oklahoma(1990). He currently is represented by Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, Texas. He has participated in numerous exhibitions nationally and abroad. He has been teaching classes and exhibiting professionally since 1987.

Current works include:

Dislocated Histories: a visual examination of the intersection of history and its representation.

Shannon Fitzgerald, Adunct

Shannon Fitzgerald is an independent curator, writer, and educator based in Oklahoma City.  In Oklahoma, she is guest curator of projectscreen at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and has guest curated exhibitions for the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition where she is currently Lead Mentor for the Oklahoma Art & Curatorial Writing Fellowship. 

She has curated contemporary museum exhibitions with local, national, and international artists, to include projects with Janieta Eyre, Julie Moos, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Polly Apfelbaum, Michael Paul Britto, Dzine, Yun-Fei Ji, Kendell Geers, Michael Lin, Ruby Osorio, Keith Piper, and William Pope.L, among others.

Fitzgerald was Chief Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis where she worked for seven years. Prior to moving to St. Louis, Fitzgerald worked at INOVA, the Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

She was Adjunct Faculty in the department of Art and Art History at Webster University, St. Louis and was the 2010 Scholar-in-Residence in Art and Art History at Columbus State University, Columbus, GA. 

She has published many essays on contemporary artists and has contributed to the art journals ArtPapers, ART21 Blog, Bootprint, Review Magazine, and Art Focus.

Fitzgerald holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and an MA in Art History and Museum Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Teresa Pac, Assistant Professor, Art History Coordinator

Dr. Teresa Pac is an interdisciplinary art historian who did her BFA at FIT, MA at Hunter College and doctoral work at Binghampton University. She has taught a variety of art history courses at the University of Cincinnati, Binghampton University, and Marywood University. A recipient of a Kress Fellowship in Munich, Germany, she was a Fulbright Scholar at Gdańsk University in Poland. In her research, she focuses on the use of visual culture, language, and urban space by ethnically and culturally diverse social groups in negotiating their position within urban and social settings.

Michael Litzau, Assistant Professor, Drawing Coordinator

Michael Litzau was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a Green Bay Packer football fan throughout.  Much of the images in his work revolves around Packers football and sports in general.  The materials he uses often include scrapbook paper, wall paper, intaglio, and graphite.  Together, the images and materials explore issues of fantasy, fandom, and ritual.

Michael received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004 from Columbus College of Art and Design and in 2006 obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree at The Ohio State University in printmaking. He has taught at Columbus College of Art and Design, The Ohio State University, and Dennison University.  He is currently an Assistant Professor of Drawing at The University of Central Oklahoma where he over sees the drawing and printmaking area.  Michael has shown his artwork extensively through solo, juried and trade print exhibitions throughout the United States.

His work can be viewed at his personal website as well as The Drawing

Center online viewing program.

Michaellitzau.com