Art Department Faculty and Staff

• Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management & Leadership, University of Georgia 
• MFA, West Virginia University
• BFA, Slippery Rock University

https://forrestmatt.wixsite.com/mysite

Receiving his BFA from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2005, Matt Forrest studied at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts Poznan Poland, specializing in silkscreen and poster design.  In 2008, Forrest received his MFA from West Virginia University in Printmaking and in 2020 Forrest received his Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the University of Georgia. Forrest has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently including shows at the Sarah Spurgeon Gallery (Ellensburg, WA), the Janet Turner Print Museum 11th National Print Competition at CSU (Chico, CA), the Wheaton Biennial Printmaking Reimagined at Wheaton College (Norton, MA) and Nothing About US Without US, Flatbed Center for Contemporary Print (Austin TX). Forrest’s research has also been published recently in both print and digital formats, and he has been the recipient of several grants to make printmaking more accessible to students and individuals with disabilities. Forrest is committed to expanding literacy through art within Middle Georgia in partnership with the Little Library Project. 

• M.F.A. in Ceramics, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Certificate: Ceramics, Escola de Ceramica y Artesianias de La Bisbal, Catalonia, Spain
• Certificate: Ceramics, Escola de Ceramica y Artesianias de La Bisbal, Catalonia, Spain
• B.A. in Religious Studies, University of California at Berkeley

www.sandratrujilloart.com

I was born in Vallejo, California. I received my BA in religious studies from the University of California at Berkeley and received my MFA in ceramics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

I have had exhibitions in venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta, the Grimmerhus Museum, Denmark, the Ann Linneman Gallery in Copenhagen, and the Palacio de Dom Manuel in Evora, Portugal – a UNESCO Heritage site.  I am a Fulbright-Hays fellow.  I have been a resident artist at national and international art centers such as the Archie Bray Foundation for the ceramic arts in Montana, where I was the recipient of the Lillian Fellowship; the OBRAS center in Holland, the OBRAS center in Portugal, the International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, Quarry Tile Factory in Washington, The Mendocino Art Center in California, and the Ceramic Center-Berlin in Berlin, Germany. My art and academic contributions are included in journals such as Ceramic Arts and Perception, Drawing, ArtWeek, and Gastronomica – UC Press.  My two letterpress books FUNERAL FOOD (2019) and Trouble (2021) are collected in over 75 university special collections nationwide. I have lectured at public and private institutions and organizations such as the University of South Bohemia České Budějovice, the University of Anadolu, and universities. I am a Professor within the Department of Art at Georgia College and specialize in ceramics.

• MAS, Archival Studies, Clayton State University
• B.S., History, Georgia College & State University

• Ph.D. in Art History, University of Kansas
• M.A. in Art History, University of Kansas, (with honors)
• B.S. in Visual Communications, Towson University

Elissa Auerbach received her Ph.D. in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art from the University of Kansas in 2009 and began teaching at Georgia College in 2006. Her research examines the depiction of the Virgin Mary as a traditional Roman Catholic theme in early modern Dutch visual culture and related developments in devotional practices, science, and domestic conduct after the Reformation in the Netherlands. Her current research focuses on the phenomenon of spiritual pilgrimage to illegal places of Catholic worship in post-Reformation Dutch altarpieces, prints, illustrated books, and maps.

Recent publications have studied the domesticated Virgin Mary in scenes of the Holy Family in early modern Netherlandish visual culture; pilgrimage and the liminal landscape in the Dutch Republic; Marian Piety in post-iconoclasm Haarlem in Hendrick Goltzius’s print series, The Life of the Virgin; and Cartesianism in Rembrandt’s print, The Death of the Virgin.

Courses taught include Northern and Italian Renaissance art, Baroque art, Christian Art and Iconography, the History of Photography, Writing about Art, Art and Ideas, The Ancient and Medieval Worlds, and from the Renaissance to the Modern World. For GC, she has also directed and taught on faculty-led summer study abroad programs in Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome. 

• MFA, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• BFA, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Megan has taught foundations at Montserrat College of Art, was Assistant Professor, Chair of Interdisciplinary and Fine Art and Gallery Director at Chester College of New England and faculty at the Community Colleges of Rhode Island, Middlesex Community College and Middle Georgia State University.

Megan is painter exhibiting nationally, most recently with a 10 year retrospective exhibition of collaborative work from the Agglomeration series with Luke Buffenmyer at Columbus State University in Columbus Georgia.

As a curator, Megan has been Gallery Director at Chester College of New England, Director of Curation for the Macon arts Alliance and Curator of Art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon Ga.

Megan lives in Macon, GA and is owner of Black Cat Studios, a artist studio building in Macon.

• Ph.D. Art History (African Art): Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY
• M.A. Art History (The Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas): University of East Anglia, (UEA) Norwich, England
• B.A. Hons., Fine Art, Theatre, & Education: University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania
• Certificate in Fine Art & Education, Butimba Teachers’ College, Tanzania
• Teachers’ Certificate, Korogwe Teachers’ College, Tanzania

A teacher by profession, Fadhili Mshana began teaching at Georgia College in 2002. Previously he taught at a primary school, a teacher training college, and at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Research interests include indigenous, modern, and contemporary art history and visual cultures of Africa, particularly Tanzania. Current research concerns Western Christian mission art patronage of African artists. 

Fadhili Mshana’s work has received numerous fellowships and awards including a Fulbright Scholarship for his dissertation research among the coastal peoples of Tanzania. He is the author two books namely, African Artists under Mission Patronage: Focus on Tanzania, Lexington Books, 2023, and The Art of the Zaramo: Identity, Tradition, and Social Change in Tanzania, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, 2016. Mshana is also the author of journal articles and book chapters on Tanzania art, including in the ground-breaking exhibition and book with the same name, Shangaa: Art of Tanzania. A practicing visual artist, his work has featured in group shows in Tanzania, Cuba, Denmark, and the United States.

Courses taught at Georgia College are African Art and Islam, African Art History, Art Criticism: From Plato and Kant to Post-Modernism, Art of the African Diaspora, Contemporary African Art, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt, From Renaissance to Modern World, The Ancient & Medieval Worlds, Fine and Applied Arts in Civilizations, Teaching Multiculturalism thru Art: K-12, and Understanding Visual Art. He has also taught on faculty-led summer study abroad program in Paris.

• PhD in Visual and Cultural Studies, University of Rochester
• M.A. in Visual and Cultural Studies, University of Rochester
• M.A. in Cultural Studies, Javeriana University (Bogota, Colombia)
• B.A. in Visual Art Education, University of Antioquia (Medellin, Colombia)

https://independent.academia.edu/YepesRuben

Ruben Dario Yepes Muñoz received his PhD in Colombian contemporary art and film from the University of Rochester in 2017. His dissertation, which addresses the mediation of the Colombian armed conflict in visual art and film, was published in 2018. Between 2017 and 2021, he taught in the Cultural Studies Department at Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia.

Ruben’s research addresses modern and contemporary art and visual culture in Colombia and Latin America. Current research focuses on the art produced in Latin America in response to the Covid-19 crisis and the genealogy of Latin American Visual Studies.

Ruben is the author of three books: Afectando el conflicto: Mediaciones de la guerra colombiana en el arte y el cine contemporáneo (2018), María José Arjona: Lo que puede un cuerpo (2015) and La política del arte: Cuatro casos de arte contemporáneo en Colombia (2012). He is also the author of a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters published in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States.

Ruben has received several important fellowships, grants and awards, including the National Prize for Scholarly Essay in Art History (2017, Colombia), a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2016), a Grant for Research on Colombian Art from the Colombian Ministry of Culture (2015) and a Fulbright Scholarship (2012).

At GCSU, Ruben teaches or has taught courses such as Latin American Art & Film, Contemporary Art, Visual Culture: Critical Perspectives, Gender and Visual Culture and Understanding Visual Art.

MFA, Visual Arts, University of California, San Diego

https://www.changastudioworks.com/

• MA degree in Type and Media, The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), The Netherlands
• Postgraduate Certificate in Typeface Design, The Cooper Union, New York
• MFA in Studio Art, University of Nevada Las Vegas
• BFA (Cum Laude), Concentration in Graphic Design, Painting and Drawing, University of Nevada Las Vegas
• AA, (with Distinction), Truckee Meadows Community College
• Diploma of Vocational in Business Office Technology, Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center 

http://anbassadesign.com/

Abraham Abebe was born and grew up in Ethiopia. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Art, Graphic Design at the Georgia College & State University. He came to Georgia College with the opportunity to develop two new curricula for the BA in Art with Graphic Design Concentration and Graphic Design Minor, which included the development and approval of seven new courses. Both programs were designed to better prepare students with the skills, creativity, and imagination. The curricula emphasize on design theory, history, and research to provide students direct and applicable methods to redefine design problems, adopt emerging technologies, and embrace design thinking to advance diversity.

Abraham has previously taught Graphic Design, Design Fundamentals and Drawing courses at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He also oversaw the Design Fundamentals III (Digital) class while teaching at UNLV. His ongoing research interest is centered around library signage, wayfinding system, security printing design (specifically developing currency and passport), and multiscript type development (focusing on Ethiopic and Latin writing systems). Most of his Ge’ez (Ethiopic) typefaces are being used by number of Ethiopian televisions, electronic medias, and print medias such as ARTS TV, Haleta TV, Awtar TV, Minber TV, Andafta Media, Zehabesha Media, Donkey Tube, Nahom Records, and Feteh (ፍትሕ) Magazine (the leading Ethiopian Amharic weekly publication). Abraham’s typefaces are being used in number of tv series and feature films such as Eregnaye (እረኛዬ) (the popular Ethiopian TV drama that has been aired on ARTS TV and streamed on YouTube). Sene ena Segno (ሰኔ እና ሰኞ) (drama series being aired on Fana Television), Min Litazez (ምን ልታዘዝ) (comedy series being aired on YouTube), and Doka (ዶቃ) (feature film released in theaters). His Ethiopic typefaces also used on the music albums titled “VI” by Rophnan, and “Lewit: ለውጥ” by Samon.

As a studio artist, Abraham exhibits regularly both in the USA and abroad. His paintings, drawings, and installations have been featured in 11 solo and more than 50 group exhibitions.
 
Abraham is the author of an experimental typography book, “Professor Fuzo: Poems and Short Stories”, published in 2018, and a book of poetry, “Eggmel”, published in 2012. Both books were written in his native language Amharic.

Abraham holds an MA degree in Type and Media from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), The Netherlands, Postgraduate Certificate in Typeface Design from the Cooper Union, New York, Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Cum Laude) with concentration in Graphic Design, Painting and Drawing from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Associate of Art Degree with Distinction from Truckee Meadows Community College as well as Diploma of Vocational in Business Office Technology from Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center.

• MFA, Photography, Indiana University, Bloomington

• BFA, Photography, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Seth Cook is an artist from the Bayou Teche region of south-central Louisiana. He utilizes the swamps and marshes of his home as a point of departure for his versatile studio practice. Cook holds a B.F.A. in photography from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and an M.F.A. in photography from Indiana University, Bloomington. In 2021, he was awarded 'Juror's Selection' from the New York Center for Photographic Art for his alternative process photography. In 2020, he was named one of Lenscratch's 'Top 25 to Watch.' Also, in 2020, he accepted a ten-month residency with Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center in Cincinnati, OH, where he worked and taught as their 'Scholar in Residence.' His work has been displayed nationally and internationally, including in South Korea, Louisiana, New York, California, Colorado, and Massachusetts.

• MFA, Ohio University
• BA, The College of William and Mary

https://billfisher.dreamhosters.com/nohate.html

William Fisher is Professor of Art in the Department of Art, Georgia College.  MFA, 1996, Ohio University; BA, 1985, the College of William and Mary; apprentice to woodblock Master Toshii Yoshida, 1989-93, Tokyo, Japan; Under Secretary of Southern Cultural Hegemony and Rural Visual Authority, US Department of Art & Technology. 
 
Whether print-based in the tradition of fine art printmaking, through digital or commercial print media or performative installations, these projects involve students, friends, strangers and colleagues, depend ultimately upon the efforts of community and often result in audience functioning as author.
 
Exhibitions/performances include District Fine Arts Gallery, Washington, DC; Phoebe Conley Gallery at California State University, Fresno, CA; Glass Gallery, University of Texas at El Paso, Texas; Jewett Arts Center Galleries, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Central Missouri State University; Ohio University; University of Wisconsin at Madison; the Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Gainesville, GA (censored); the Athens Institute of Contemporary Art, GA; Macon Arts Alliance; Blue Tower Gallery, Atlanta; Eyedrum Gallery, Atlanta; 24K Gallery, San Diego, CA; Columbia College, Chicago.  Fisher's work is in private and public collections internationally.
 
Publications featuring work include Stone Lithography by Paul Croft, and The Indiana Review, 2005 Special Summer Issue. Interviews by Eye Candy Magazine, Bad Subjects, Vivir Latino, Slacktivist.com, Take Back the Media and Rolling Stone. Work has been solicited by the Nation, Cursor and Cabinet Magazine web sites and Rhizome Art Data Base, and was shown in Winnipeg and Vancouver in early 2007 as part of the traveling exhibition "Allegories of the Genome." Fisher was chosen to represent Georgia in the first 20-state fine art invitational "20/20," at Fire House Gallery, 2008.

• MFA, Pennsylvania State University
• BFA, Kansas City Art Institute
• BA, Earlham College

Curtis earned a BA in French from Earlham College in 1993, and met John Glick at a workshop while studying ceramics at the Worcester Center for Crafts in 1994.  He worked as Glick’s Studio Assistant at Plum Tree Pottery from 1995-1996. He earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1998 and his MFA from Penn State in 2000.  In 2003, he began a two-year residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Curtis has exhibited his work and given workshops nationally.  In 2017, he created an artwork for the Georgia Council for the Arts Governors Award. It was presented to National Infantry Museum in Columbus, GA. Curtis currently maintains his studio in Milledgeville.