Erin Stack (www.erinstack.net), Co-Director, holds a MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MA in Counseling Psychology from Leslie University. After many years of teaching at the University of Iowa and working and exhibiting as an abstract painter, Erin left the art world. She pursued her psychology degree and worked in addictions counseling, and creativity training. Moved by her spiritual practice in both Zen and Christian communities, Erin became increasingly involved in environmental activism and building meaningful community. In 2006, Erin integrated her many passions and aspirations in the founding of the Green Artists League.
Stephenie Strogney, Co-Director, studied architecture and art history at Barnard College and received her Master of Architecture degree from the Ohio State University. She is a LEED accredited professional and is currently completing her architectural internship at Signer Harris Architects in Boston. Although her schedule permits her only a dilettantish art practice, Stephenie loves to be an (often antithetical) voice at the GAL discussion table.
Jeannie Dunnigan, (www.jeanniedunnigan.com), Co-Director, received a BFA from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. She is one of the founding members of GAL. Jeannie has a passion for making art for building awareness of our environment in the community. She developed a youth art program at the Lower Merrimack Valley Boys & Girls Club. Her work includes large scale portraits made from shredded junk mail, as well as paintings, and works in other media. Jeannie is currently Creative Project Manager for The Journeyman Press, an FSC certified commercial printer.
Deb Cinamon Whalen (www.debcinamonwhalen.com), Co-Director, is an environmental artist from the New Hampshire seacoast. She holds a BFA degree from The New Hampshire Institute of Art, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Deb works primarily with fibers and photography in an effort to raise awareness about social and political issues. Her work has been exhibited in juried shows and art galleries across the country. It is Deb’s hope that her work is enjoyed for its aesthetic qualities and also challenges viewers to consider their day to day behaviors that may be adversely impacting our environment.
Eva Maria Lee (http://www.evamarialee.com), Co-Director and a native of Germany, studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt, which combined her two strongest interests: engineering and art. She was also trained in various fine arts media such as watercolor, drawing, pastels, collage, and modeling. Eva was a full-time working architect in the Frankfurt area until around 1988, but continued doing freelance architecture and painting as she was raising her children. Eva relocated to Newburyport, MA, in 2003, and now has a painting studio in Amesbury, MA.
Ruth Rosebury Trussell, Co-Director, holds a MFA degree in painting from the Yale School of Art and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. She has extensive college-level teaching background in fine arts and graphic design and has been the Principal of Trussell Associates, a small design studio, with clients including Houghton-Mifflin, the Center for Collaborative Education, Middlesex Community College, and others. Ruth has also been a beta tester for graphics software, a computer trainer, and worked for over five years at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston as a Macintosh Studios Curriculum Support Manager. Her passions for the environment, green living, and art, have spanned many years.
Tim Gaudreau (www.timgaudreau.com and www.wake-up.ws), Co-Director, explores the role of artist as cultural instigator, asking questions that raise issues and challenge assumptions about our relationship to nature. His work combines humor and irony as artistic tools, with photography, video, new media, graphics and sculpture, to provoke public consciousness and advocate awareness of eco-issues. Awards including the Artist Advancement Fellowship from the NH Charitable Foundation, Fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and NH State Council on the Arts, and commissions from the city of Portsmouth, have given Gaudreau the opportunity to create public art projects that have stimulated collaboration, interaction, and have challenged conventional thinking.
Tina Wasserman, Co-Director, is a faculty member in the Visual and Critical Studies Department at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University. Her publications include “Constructing the Image of Postmemory,” in The Image and the Witness (Wallflower Press, 2007), “Intersecting Traumas: the Holocaust, the Palestinian Occupation and the Work of Israeli Journalist Amira Hass” in Culture and Conflict: Contemporary Perspectives on War (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), as well as several articles on film and visual culture in Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Screen, C Magazine, New Art Examiner, Dialogue, and others. Tina has been awarded fellowships and residencies at the Whitney Museum Independent Studio Program, Ragdale Foundation, Ucross Foundation, and Banff Center for the Arts. She has received grants from The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and The National Endowment for the Arts Regional Media Fellowship, among others. She has a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University and also works in film, digital media, and the visual arts.
Andrea Panaro, Co-Director, earned her BFA in painting at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, in 2008. She interned with the Green Artists League in the summer of 2008 and has continued on as a full member. Her work has been shown at Fowle’s Coffee Shop in Newburyport, MA and she has participated in a group show entitled, “Spatial Relations” at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill, MA. As an Intern with GAL, Andrea helped to create the New Eden’s “Octopus’s Garden” parade float for the Yankee Homecoming parade in Newburyport (Summer 2008). Andrea has also joined Erin Stack in creating a mural about sustainable living in Newbury, MA.