Artistic Faculty and Staff
Artistic Director
Randy Williams, Artistic Director, is an active visual artist and a Professor of Studio Art and Art Education at Manhattanville College. He has been on the faculty of the School of Visual Artssince its inception in 1976. Professor Williams is also an instructor and educational consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has won numerous prizes and awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to the American Academy in Rome. Professor Williams has been recognized by the New York State Council on the Arts, Visual Arts Division, and the New York Foundation for the Arts with a fellowship in sculpture.
Professor Williams' work has been the subject of more than 38 solo exhibitions and scores of special projects and group shows. His artwork may be viewed in numerous public and private art collections.Other noted artist/educators serve as master teachers for the summer school, each working with a highly-qualified teaching assistant.
Laura King, Assistant to the Artistic Director, is an active artist whose work has been exhibited nationally in the last seven years. Her work is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional. Laura is originally from upstate New York. She moved to Seattle in 2002. She teaches art at Shorecrest High School. Each summer, Laura returns to New York to work at the New York State Summer School for the Visual Arts. This will be her twelfth year with the program. She has been the Assistant Artistic Director, a Master Teacher, the Assistant Director of Administration and prior to that she was a Teaching Assistant for two summers. Laura received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Following graduation, she furthered her studies in metals at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. Laura later received her Master’s in Art Education from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.
RyleeEterginoso, Assistant Director for Administration and Emerging Master Teacher: Mixed Media 3D, studied Studio Art and Art History at Manhattanville College where she received both a BFA in Studio Art and BA in Art History in 2004. While under the tutelage of Randy Williams, she was introduced to the New York State Summer School for the Arts. She began her NYSSSA experience as a counselor in 2004 and in 2006 became the Assistant Director for Administration. This year she continues as ADA and is also enjoying her time as an Emerging Master Teacher for Mixed Media. She recently graduated with her Masters in Arts Administration from Pratt Institute. When she’s not working at NYSSSA, Rylee is a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Arts Council and sits on their Community Arts Re-grant Panel.
Yayoi Asoma, Master Teacher: Drawing and Painting - Yayoi is an artist and educator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI and her MFA in visual arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Recent solo and group exhibitions of her work include CUE Art Foundation, New York, NY; The Work Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; The Studio, Armonk, NY; and her work has been reviewed in the New York Times. Asoma is an adjunct professor at Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY, an instructor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, and teaches in NYC public schools through studio in a school.
Cindy DeFelice, Master Teacher: Landscape Painting/Installation - Cindy earned her BFA from the Alfred University, School of Art & Design and creates site-specific public installations and performances. Inspired by her students, NYSSSA colleagues, and experience as a social worker, Cindy is currently pursuing graduate coursework in clinical psychology at SUNY Brockport. She lectures on topics in art, education, and mental health, and has been honored by the RCSD for her leadership in parent engagement and student advocacy. Cindy is a former NYSSSA student.
Matthew Keeney,Master Teacher: Mixed Media Construction- Matthew Keeney is an artist educatior who resides in Central New York. Having received a BFA from SUNY Fredonia and MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, he has exhibited and performed his work both nationally and internationally. Having worked in the classroom setting for close to a decade, it is the dialogue with the student that he finds most inspiring.
Greg Lendeck, Master Teacher: Sculpture - Greg is an Artist, Teacher, Designer, and Tinkerer. Greg works two and three dimensionally in various media and has been experimenting and playing professionally for over twelve years. Greg holds a B.S. in Studio Art, a B.F.A. in Sculpture, and a M.F.A. in Sculpture. He has shown widely at various venues nationally. For ten years Greg has taught art at the high school and college level. He currently resides, blissfully, with his wife and children in upstate New York.
Paul Marcellino, Master Teacher: Figure Sculpture - Paul was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1954. He attended the Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1976. He later earned his Master’s Degree in Fine Art at the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. He has since exhibited his work in group and solo shows throughout the United States and has received numerous awards. He has served as juror for regional and national exhibitions, and has received funding for his work from Arts institutions including the Putnam Arts Council, The Upper Catskill Community Center for the Arts, and the New York State Council For the Arts. Since 1983, he has taught art at schools and institutions throughout the Northeast. Mr. Marcellino has conducted courses and workshops at the Pratt Institute, the New York Academy, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. He is currently on the faculty of the New York State Summer Institutes, where he has served since 1998. He will also be a visiting artist at the International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture in Montecastello in Umbria, Italy, August, 2007. He is currently on the faculty of the Niskayuna School District, Niskayuna, NY, where he teaches during the school year. He lives with his wife and family in Worcester, NY.
Masha Ryskin, Master Teacher: Printmaking - Masha is a painter, printmaker, and installation artist, whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has participated in numerous artist residencies, both in the United States and abroad, and is a recipient of a number of fellowships and grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship to Norway. Masha has taught at NYSSSA since 2000. She is also on the faculty at Rhode Island School of Design.
Christian Tribastone, Master Teacher: Drawing and Painting - Christian is trained as a printmaker at Alfred University. Christian Tribastone now uses interdisciplinary mediums to explore conventional notions of public space in relation to our corporeal existence.
Danielle Scalera, Master Teacher- Mixed Media: Danielle is currently living in Brewster, New York. She is originally from Columbia County, NY which is where most of her inspiration as an artist comes from. Danielle uses her influence of the landscape where she grew up in and her knowledge of the Hudson River School Artists, and inspirations from her incredible family and friends around her to create her books and painting. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Manhattanville College in 2007 and her Masters of Arts and Teaching from Manhattanville College in 2008. She is an art teacher in Katonah, New York. This is her fifth year with the NYSSSA program.
Gary Wurzer, Teacher’s Assistant - Gary was enrolled in the 2004 NYSSSA Visual Arts program as a student and this is Gary's fifth year with the program. Gary Wurzer lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Monroe Community College and completed an associate degree in fine arts. Gary is pursuing a BFA at Cleveland Institute of Art with a concentration in painting and a minor in sculpture.
Faith Law, Teacher’s Assistant - Faith currently resides in Seattle, Washington. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and is planning to move to New York to complete a degree in Art Education. This is Faith’s third year in the program.
Julia Romano, Teacher’s Assistant - Julia is from Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of Manhattanvilled College with a Bachelors of Fine Arts. She has been a practicing artist since early on in high school, her primary medium being painting, mixed media collage, and printmaking. She would like to continue making art while working as an art teacher. This is her third year with the program.
Kathy Norman, Teacher’s Assistant–Kathy is from Kansas City, and currently resides in Rochester, New York. She graduated cum laude from Roberts Wesleyan College with a BS in Art Education. Even though she enjoys most mediums, her favorites are ceramics and digital photography.
Roxxi Minor, Teacher’s Assistant - Roxxi is currently residing in Boston, Massachusetts, entering her senior year at the Art Institute of Boston. She is pursuing a major in Fine Arts and a minor in Creative Writing. She is excited by experimentation in different media and tries to enroll in various different courses that correspond to Photography, Printmaking, Installation, Illustration, Experimental Video, and anything else she can squeeze into. Roxxi is a former NYSSSA student.
Julia Vicars, Teacher’s Assistant – Julia was raised in White Plains, NY in the suburbs of New York City. She graduated cum laude from Manhattanville College in 2010 with BFA degree. She has interned in the education department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art assisting with weekly drawing classes. She has also volunteered with Creative Expressions Through Art, an art mentoring program for underprivileged children, and served as vice president of the Student Art Scene at her college. She was the recipient of the art department’s Grebstein Award in 2009 and the Fagin Award in 2010. She also received departmental honors and portfolio distinctions from Manhattanville. Her favorite mediums are mixed media sculpture and installations utilizing found objects. She loves exploring the city, visiting museums, hiking, reading and spoiling her two dogs Jeter and Sadie.
Juliet Hinely, Head Counselor and Emerging Master Teacher-Juliet graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Fiber Arts and Textiles. She spent the last year in Jacksonville, Florida, working at a diner, orchestrating a publicly-sourced audio tour project, and applying to graduate school. This fall she excitedly moves to Ann Arbor to begin her MFA at the University of Michigan.
Malanya Graham, Counselor –Malanya is from the Bronx and goes to Hunter college. She plans to major in art and psychology. She is inspired by music, love, family and change. She is happy to be on the NYSSSA spaceship.
Danielle Nash, Counselor – Danielle is going into her senior year at Alfred University with a focus in painting. She attended NYSSSA in 2007. Danielle will be having a booth in the Lewiston Art Festival in August. She enjoys yoga, riding her bike and playing piano.
Megan Hooper,Counselor – Megan is a graduate of SUNY Potsdam with degrees in English Lit & Writing and Studio Art. She enjoys painting, drawing, making messes and causing general havoc. This is her second year playing with the fine people at NYSSSA and she is thrilled. In the fall she will be starting her master’s degree at Boston College.
Meg Wachs,Counselor – Meg was a student at NYSSSA during the summers of 2006 and 2007. She was inspired by her classes at NYSSSA to pursue a BFA in art. She is going into her fourth year at SUNY New Paltz as a BFA concentrating in metal, with a minor in Art History. Meg hopes to continue to return as a counselor at NYSSSA in the future and in the hopes that more students can be influenced as much as she was.
Jordan Bunn,Counselor-Jordan is from Staten Island, NY. He is a graduate of SUNY Oneonta, where he majored in studio art. He lives in the San Francisco bay area. Jordan enjoys playing drums and guitar, cooking, being in natural areas, gardening, live music, and friends and family. He is a big fan of improvisation in art. Jordan’s art has been shaped by a wide array of influences, maps, graffiti, biology, music, film, architecture, gardens, as well as most of the canon of art history. They have all been important contributors to his style. He tries to infuse artistic creativity into everything he does and works in many mediums to keep things interesting and fresh. Jordan is excited and honored to be on the NYSSSA reslife staff.
NaroozSoliman, Counselor – Narooz has been expanding his art-making practice to include commercial chemicals, cardboard, and white out. He enjoys playing stringed instruments and making flutes out of PVC pipe. Narooz is currently traveling and making art while exploring his existential place in the world. Narooz believes in the power of experimentation and positive thinking; and love.
Aliya Bonar, Counselor – Aliya Bonar graduated from Hampshire College in 2009 with a BA in Socially Engaged Art, exploring the intersection of art-making and community-building. She has since worked in a programming and community outreach role at many arts non-profit organizations including Commonwealth Center for Change (Northampton, MA) and Elsewhere Artist Collaborative (Greensboro, NC). She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is working with Creative Time as an assistant producer and outreach coordinator for an upcoming exhibition in September, as well as participating with The Laundromat Project’s Create Change program. She is exploring what the next adventure will look like.