Alumni Success

Crystal Nath: BFA Teaching Certification, Art History Minor '12

Since graduation Crystal has moved from Pittsburgh, PA to Phoenix, AZ to teach art full time to elementary school students. She finds the work incredibly rewarding and has received multiple grant and fundraising projects for her students, funded primarily by Donor's Choose. Her most recent fundraising opportunity was to buy thirteen large canvas wrapped prints of Master's Paintings and set up a Mini-Museum in an empty classroom to talk about art with her students. Many of her students do not have the ability to go to an art museum, so she has brought the museum to them. Crystal also works part time at Painting with a Twist - Tempe, where she teaches adult painting classes at night. Though it's not the same as creating your own works of art, she finds it enjoyable to be back in an art studio and going through the painting process. After moving to Phoenix, Crystal soon started training at East Valley Krav Maga to learn self-defense.

Crystal continues to look for community art opportunities in the area and hopes to pursue her masters in the near future.

Kristin Thomas: BFA ’13

In May 2016 Kristin received her Masters of Art in Art Therapy with a specialization in Counseling from Seton Hill University. Thomas says: "SRU offered me a chance to get to know who I am as an artist and what I can offer the world through the eyes of the artist, but the title art therapist has taught me so much more. It's my duty to prove to the world what we already know; art is good, so, so, so good, and needed! Not just for the beautiful things on the walls or the floors of the museums but because our soul needs it and sometimes it is easier to creatively express ourselves".
Through her internship experience, she learned what art offers those who have been victims of horrific crimes and met incredible beings who made her hopeful and humble. Her culminating project, "Hot Air Balloons and Containers in Art Therapy: Helping Survivors Thrive and Flourish Through the Use of Metaphor to Hold and Change Stories," taught her how art can give power and courage to face the darkness when words become too difficult. Today, Thomas works as an Art Therapist for a mental health organization in Butler, PA. She works with children, adults, and families with a mental health diagnosis as well as trauma. "I am simply a guide through a chapter in their stories. Art always has a story and it belongs in the hand making it", she says.

Thomas plans earning a certification as a trauma professional as well as in sandtray therapy and play therapy. After earning her clinical hours, she will be a board certified art therapist and licensed professional counselor and will pursue a doctorate in art therapy at some point.

Lauren Mitchell: BA ’06

Laurel Mitchell graduated with a B.A. in Studio Art and emphasis in photography. Soon she began her career at Carnegie Museum of Art. As the Rights, Reproductions & Photographic Services Manager, she is a part of the publications department, a comprehensive team that includes senior editors, designers, photographers and a videographer.

Laurel is responsible for overseeing the quality and completion of all new photography projects related to CMOA's collection, including the photography of objects, exhibitions, and events. She also manages the image archive of historic exhibition photos. Laurel oversees all image licensing/permissions for both museum projects and external affairs. She has worked with numerous scholars and companies from around the world including ESPN, Disney, PBS, Paramount Pictures, and many more. She most recently collaborated with Paramount Pictures on the film Fences, starring Denzel Washington. In 2016, Laurel received a certification in archival image management through the Summer Educational Institute for Visual Resources & Image Management at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Laurel actively pursues her own photography and design projects. In addition to occasional commercial work, she has continued to publish her work and exhibit in regional and national exhibitions. She completed an eight-month studio residency at the Brew House Association, Pittsburgh, as part of Distillery 6, which allowed her to extend her experimental and non-traditional photography practices into both print making and installation art. By participating in the I Am An Arts Lover project, she was able to launch a new website featuring her latest work (laurel-mitchell.com). Laurel is currently working on photography commissions for various Pittsburgh corporations and partnering with the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden to teach photography classes.

Maria Camera: BFA ’15

In 2015 Maria graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in Metals/Jewelry, a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology, and a Minor in Art History. Influence in her artwork begins with landscape, from details that are large and small. She is interested in how objects of adornment convey messages to others to reveal an emotional landscape. Currently she is an apprentice at Jared in the Design and Service Center, learning the commercial field of jewelry. By learning the work of a commercial bench jeweler, she is refining her craftsmanship in her own work as well as learning more efficient fabrication methods. She has plans to further her education in the coming years by working towards a MFA in metalsmithing and would eventually like to teach at the college level. Her works are in private collection and in permanent collection of Brockway Center of Arts and Technology.

Megan Shever: BFA with Minor in Graphic Design ’14

Megan Shever BFA with Minor in Graphic Design’14 Megan has been working as the Graphics Specialist at the Community College of Beaver County Since August 2014, designing posters, logos, fliers, brochures, billboards, invitations, postcards, PowerPoints, and more. All projects deal with an event, class information, presentations or are strictly for college promotion. She also takes on the role as the College's photographer at all of our major events. "SRU prepared me for a job in the Graphic Design field better than I ever could have asked for", says Megan. "Two of the many things SRU helped me improve upon that I use daily here at CCBC are; a better understanding of how to take and learn from constructive criticism, plus, my ability to meet project deadlines in a timely fashion. Those may be two of my most valuable lessons learned from SRU, but they are not the only ones I use in my day to day routines. Daily I can go from using the simple lessons like the color wheel and color theory to using a technique I learned from an old master in Art History. The SRU Art Department gave me the foundation that I needed to succeed both as a professional and as an artist, and for that I couldn't be more thankful".

Samuel Van Aken: BFA ’95

Born in Reading Pennsylvania, Sam Van Aken received a BA in Art and Communication from Slippery Rock University in 1995. As part of his studies he participated in the international exchange program and studied at the University of Arts in Poznan Poland. Working with former dissident artists through the University of the Arts provided a transformative experience that continues to inform his art making. Van Aken then received his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and since this time his work has exhibited nationally and internationally receiving numerous honors including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, Association of International Curator's of Art Award and a Creative Capital Grant. Sam Van Aken lives and works in Syracuse New York, where he is currently an Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Coordinator for the School of Art at Syracuse University. Van Aken's work is represented by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.

Sharif Bey: BFA ’97

Sharif Bey – BFA ’97 Sharif Bey is an Associate professor of art and art education at Syracuse University. Bey earned a B.F.A. in ceramics from SRU in 1997. Since then he went on to earn an M.F.A in studio art from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in art education from the Pennsylvania State University. Bey is a teaching artist with extensive experience in ceramics and art teacher training. He continues to conduct workshops and facilitates collaborations in the visual arts for children and adults in schools, museums, arts centers, and universities throughout the United States. In addition to being an active teacher and productive scholar, Bey is a prolific studio artist who exhibits his ceramic works nationally and internationally. In 2010 he completed a large commission for the United States Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan and has also represented the United States in Vendsyssel, Denmark's SCANCERM international exhibition. In 2016 the U.S "Arts in the Embassies" program included Bey's work in an exhibition in Kampala, Uganda and is planning an additional commission of his work for their new embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. Over that past 12 years Bey has served as a resident artist at The Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia, The McColl Center for Visual Art, Hunter College in New York City, The Vermont Studio Center, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Wisconsin. Presently, Bey is an artist in residence at the Pittsburgh Glass Center where his current series of conceptual adornment-inspired sculptures continue to evolve through cast and blown glass techniques. He has two upcoming solo exhibitions at Baltimore Clayworks (May, 2017) and The Pittsburgh Glass Center (March, 2018) Bey's work ranges from functional vessels to ceramic/mixed-media sculptures, which are influenced by function, ritual, and identity.

Art

Alumni Success

Art

Contact Information