ISLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Island Center Faculty
Island Center Directors
Tom Dempsey is the Founder and Director of the Island Center for the Arts and a Visiting Professor of Painting and Foundation Studies at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, since 1984. Tom's work is exhibited widely in Greece and the U.S., and he has been the recipient of many grants and awards for public art projects. Tom is committed to building a positive, open, creative environment for artists in Skopelos. He brings to the Island Center 26 years experience as Program Director and faculty, as well as his encouraging and challenging teaching style.
View Tom Dempsey's Artwork
Isabel Dempsey is Co-Director of the Island Center for the Arts and Director of Greek Cultural Workshops. She earned her BFA from the University of Northern Iowa and studied Modern Greek as an Independent Scholar at Harvard University. Isabel was awarded a Maliotis Foundation Research Grant for documenting changes in the women's role in rural Greek society . She is the author of Breath of Madness - on the isle of Skopelos an ancient Rite Endures, a book recently published by the Municipality of Skopelos, which documents the Carnival customs of the island. In addition to her research, Isabel is a painter, assemblage artist and illustrator who's work has appeared in major publications and exhibitions in Greece and the U.S.
Read More about Isabel's Book View isabel's Artwork
Painting
Nan Hass Feldman received her BFA from SUNY at Buffalo, her MA at Goddard College and an MFA in Painting at Vermont College. Since 1981 she has had more than forty one-person shows, numerous museum exhibits and received many awards on the national, state, and local levels. She continues to teach at the Worcester Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum, the Dansforth Museum of Art and Worcester State College. Her work is represented in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Japan and Europe.
View Nan's Artwork
Kat O'Connor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing with highest honors from Montana State University and a Master of Arts in Painting from the University of Texas. Her work is exhibited nationwide and she has won numerous awards, including the Worcester Cultural Commission's 2002 Creative and Performing Fellowship, the Jacob Knight memorial Award and a Kinnicut Award. Kat has taught painting at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Southwest Texas State University, Worcester State College, Fitchburg State College, the Worcester Art Museum and the DeCordova Museum. Her work is represented by Joyce Paulson Associates of Cambridge, MA.
View Kat's Work
Michael Shyka is an artist-designer who earned his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He entered the fashion industry as painting assistant to renown New York fashion designer Michael Katz. Michael's own line of hand-painted clothing and accessories, established in 1998, serves a clientele from the fashion, textile arts and entertainment industries, and his hand-painted fabrics have been featured in fashion magazines including Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Michael's creations have been exhibited at numerous fashion shows and design exhibitions in N.Y., Florida and Maine, including a solo installation of hand-painted silk at the University of Maine Museum of Art. Michael is currently a fellow of the Quimby Colony in Maine where he teaches and creates textile arts. He also conducts private fabric painting workshops at his studio in Bangor, Maine.
Elizabeth Da Costa Ahern is a graduate of Boston University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has studied painting in a master class tutorial with Helen Frankenthaler at the Santa Fe Art Institute, College of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is instructor of painting and drawing at the DeCordova Museum School and Lesley College. As a participant in the American Artist Abroad program of the United States Department of State, Elizabeth went to Luanda, Angola, Africa where she conducted painting workshops, met Angolan artists, and exhibited her work in the spirit of cultural exchange. Elizabeth has won numerous grants and travel awards for her drawings, monotypes and paintings and her work is in private, corporate and museum collections throughout the United States.
View Elizabeth's Artwork
Bill Griffiths has over twenty years of experience as Instructor of Painting at the Worcester Art Museum with special expertise in teaching watercolor, oil, and acrylic techniques as well as color and light. Pratt University.
Photography
Steve Tourlentes is Photography Program Director at the Island Center and Visiting Professor at Massachusetts College of Art. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and three time recipient of the MacDowell Residency Fellowship. Steve's photographs are exhibited nationally, widely published, and included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
View Steve's Work
Tom Dempsey is the Founder and Director of the Island Center for the Arts and a Visiting Professor of Painting and Foundation Studies at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, since 1984. Tom's work is exhibited widely in Greece and the U.S., and he has been the recipient of many grants and awards for public art projects. Tom is committed to building a positive, open, creative environment for artists in Skopelos. He brings to the Island Center 26 years experience as Program Director and faculty, as well as his encouraging and challenging teaching style.
View Tom Dempsey's Artwork
Isabel Dempsey is Co-Director of the Island Center for the Arts and Director of Greek Cultural Workshops. She earned her BFA from the University of Northern Iowa and studied Modern Greek as an Independent Scholar at Harvard University. Isabel was awarded a Maliotis Foundation Research Grant for documenting changes in the women's role in rural Greek society . She is the author of Breath of Madness - on the isle of Skopelos an ancient Rite Endures, a book recently published by the Municipality of Skopelos, which documents the Carnival customs of the island. In addition to her research, Isabel is a painter, assemblage artist and illustrator who's work has appeared in major publications and exhibitions in Greece and the U.S.
Read More about Isabel's Book View isabel's Artwork
Painting
Nan Hass Feldman received her BFA from SUNY at Buffalo, her MA at Goddard College and an MFA in Painting at Vermont College. Since 1981 she has had more than forty one-person shows, numerous museum exhibits and received many awards on the national, state, and local levels. She continues to teach at the Worcester Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum, the Dansforth Museum of Art and Worcester State College. Her work is represented in numerous corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Japan and Europe.
View Nan's Artwork
Kat O'Connor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing with highest honors from Montana State University and a Master of Arts in Painting from the University of Texas. Her work is exhibited nationwide and she has won numerous awards, including the Worcester Cultural Commission's 2002 Creative and Performing Fellowship, the Jacob Knight memorial Award and a Kinnicut Award. Kat has taught painting at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Southwest Texas State University, Worcester State College, Fitchburg State College, the Worcester Art Museum and the DeCordova Museum. Her work is represented by Joyce Paulson Associates of Cambridge, MA.
View Kat's Work
Michael Shyka is an artist-designer who earned his BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He entered the fashion industry as painting assistant to renown New York fashion designer Michael Katz. Michael's own line of hand-painted clothing and accessories, established in 1998, serves a clientele from the fashion, textile arts and entertainment industries, and his hand-painted fabrics have been featured in fashion magazines including Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Michael's creations have been exhibited at numerous fashion shows and design exhibitions in N.Y., Florida and Maine, including a solo installation of hand-painted silk at the University of Maine Museum of Art. Michael is currently a fellow of the Quimby Colony in Maine where he teaches and creates textile arts. He also conducts private fabric painting workshops at his studio in Bangor, Maine.
Elizabeth Da Costa Ahern is a graduate of Boston University, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has studied painting in a master class tutorial with Helen Frankenthaler at the Santa Fe Art Institute, College of Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is instructor of painting and drawing at the DeCordova Museum School and Lesley College. As a participant in the American Artist Abroad program of the United States Department of State, Elizabeth went to Luanda, Angola, Africa where she conducted painting workshops, met Angolan artists, and exhibited her work in the spirit of cultural exchange. Elizabeth has won numerous grants and travel awards for her drawings, monotypes and paintings and her work is in private, corporate and museum collections throughout the United States.
View Elizabeth's Artwork
Bill Griffiths has over twenty years of experience as Instructor of Painting at the Worcester Art Museum with special expertise in teaching watercolor, oil, and acrylic techniques as well as color and light. Pratt University.
Photography
Steve Tourlentes is Photography Program Director at the Island Center and Visiting Professor at Massachusetts College of Art. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and three time recipient of the MacDowell Residency Fellowship. Steve's photographs are exhibited nationally, widely published, and included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
View Steve's Work
