Art Department Faculty & Staff
Faculty
Sarah Clunis, 116 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4814
Douglas Hanson, 118 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4328
Christina McOmber (chair), 214 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4137
Anthony Plaut, 114 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4355
Hugh Lifson, Emeritus
Part-time Faculty
Susan Coleman, 216 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4491
Sandra Dyas, 218 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4496
Codi Josephson, 218 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4496
Maria Schutt, 306 McWethy Hall, (319) 895-4264
Fine Arts Secretary
Cathy Schonhorst, 128 Armstrong Hall, (319) 895-4228
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Sarah Clunis, Assistant Professor of Art, is originally from Kingston, Jamaica, and specializes in art from societies that have had colonial encounters. Clunis received her degree in African art, has worked with collections of African and Pre-Columbian art internationally, and wrote her dissertation on contemporary art practice in the Caribbean. Most recently, Clunis was curator of African Art at the University of Iowa Museum of Art, and she continues to research, write about, and curate exhibitions of contemporary art from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Ph.D. and M.A., University of Iowa; B.A., Simmons College |
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Doug Hanson, Professor of Art, teaches courses in sculpture, ceramics, and drawing, including courses in Mexico and Japan. Hanson gained an appreciation for other cultures during a 1978-79 Fulbright-sponsored experience in Bristol, England that provided a philosophical foundation for his career. As a founding member of "Potters For Peace" he has traveled to Central America numerous times and has coordinated exhibitions of pottery from Nicaragua and other countries. His work has appeared in 29 competitive and 110 Invitational exhibitions since 1967, winning 12 awards. M.F.A. and M.A., University of Iowa; B.S. and B.A., Moorhead State University |
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| Christina McOmber, Associate Professor of Art, teaches courses in art history and is committed to teaching the love of art through the examination of material culture from various peoples and periods. Her research focuses on gender studies and the art and architecture of early modern Europe, as well as questions of identity in contemporary art. She has given lectures on depictions of women from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries throughout the United States and continues to present her research on the lives of nuns as patrons in seventeenth-century Rome. She serves as program advisor for pre-architecture and participates in the women's studies and ethinic studies programs. Ph.D. and M.A., University of Iowa; B.A., University of Virginia |  |
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Tony Plaut, Professor of Art, teaches painting, drawing, collage, design and senior seminar. His 2008 Luce Gallery exhibition, YOKO and the WINDOW WALL, included oil paintings, drawings, mechanical sculpture, and an homage to Yoko Ono. Earlier works included assemblages made from wood and found materials; very small paintings somehow inserted into glass wine bottles; mechanical sculptures featuring hand-cranked phonographs; and oil paint on canvas borrowing from the surrealist legacy of biomorphic abstraction. He has exhibited widely throughout the Midwest with major shows occurring in Chicago and Des Moines. M.F.A., University of Chicago; B.S.S., Cornell College |
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| Susan Coleman, Gallery Coordinator and Lecturer, has served as coordinator of Cornell's Luce Gallery since February 2000, and she also teaches Drawing I and Studio Basics. Her drawings and paintings focus on landscape themes encountered in the local environment. Susan's work can be seen at Chait Galleries in Iowa City, CornerHouse Gallery in Cedar Rapids, and Quad City Arts in Rock Island, Ill. M.A and M.F.A., University of Iowa; B.F.A., Webster University |  |
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Sandy Dyas, Lecturer in Art, teaches courses in intermedia, video art and photography. Her recent book Down to the River: Portraits of Iowa Musicians captures her twenty years of photographing musicians in Eastern Iowa, both on-stage and off. Visit Sandy's photo gallery to learn more about her work, including images from Down to the River and earlier projects. |
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| Maria Schutt, Lecturer in Art, specializes in fiber arts and teaches classes in weaving, surface design, papermaking, advanced textiles and 2-D design. With practice, students tailor specific techniques to communicate their ideas and visions. She works with students to develop a language of materials that best suit their individual manner of self-expression. Schutt is a mixed media artist, and she is an ardent consumer and armchair "archivist" of contemporary cultural practice. M.F.A., University of Arizona; Special Student Berea College; B.E., Vanderbilt University | |
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| Hugh Lifson, Emeritus Professor of Art, taught for 36 years at Cornell. He has shown in the Museum of Modern Art, The Nelson Museum of Kansas City, City Museum of St. Louis, San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, Walker Art Center and elsewhere. He works in painting, drawing, and collage which make extensive use of transparencies, either with plastic wrap or with computer generated acetate images. The sources of his work are largely derived from Islamic, Norman and Italian Romanesque, and American Architecture. | |
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| Cathy Schonhorst, Fine Arts Secretary |
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