Faculty

Below is a list of our current faculty who teach classes and workshops. They share their talents and their love of art with children and adults, inspiring students to explore and express themselves in a safe environment. Click on the name below to learn more about each instructor, and view more of their artwork.

  • Phyllis Beinart
    Received her MA from Montclair State College and her BFA in painting at Syracuse University. She began teaching in 1989. She has taught at NECCO, Salem State College and Lesley University.
  • Diane Collier
    Studied graphic design, typography and illustration at Rivier College and Mass College of Art. Started graphic and type design business in 2000. Teaching part-time since 1980 (NECCO, BCAE, Middlesex CC). Working with clay since 1985.
  • Pam Cooper
    I create art in a variety of media, including: sculpture, prints, handmade paper, installation and bookarts. Overall themes addressed in my work are emotions: fear, dread, insecurity and anxiety.
  • Flyn Costello
  • Pam Davis
    Pam Davis comes from an artistic family. She has been involved with stained and fused glass since 1974. She has studied with local and nationally know glass artists. Some of her pieces have been published.
  • Cassie Doyon
    Cassie Doyon received a BA in graphic design at Salem State College and a master's in Art Education at SMFA/Tufts University. She has taught elementary and high school art education for eight years and has also taught adult education in desktop publishing and polymer clay.
  • Nancy Dudley
    Nancy Dudley received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She began teaching in 1982 and has taught at Salem State College, Brookwood School,and North Shore Community College.
  • Sandy Dukeshire
    Sandy has worked in stained glass for 10 years. She has studied with local artists and at the School of Museum of Fine Arts and at Mass College of Art in Boston.
  • Rachel Hunt Durocher
    Rachel earned a dual B.F.A. in Art Education and Fiber at the Massachusetts College of Art and M.F.A. at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Rachel shares her passion for textile arts, instructing at the Fuller Craft Museum, New Art Center in Newton, and the Essex Art Center.
  • Larry Elardo
    Received his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and BFA from Northwest Missouri State University. He is a member of Northshore Clayworks, began teaching in 1975 and has practiced pottery, photography and drawing since.
  • Daniel Fionte
    Dan Fionte grew up in Andover and currently resides in Newburyport. Dan has been an artist his entire life and prefers to work in Oils, Pen & Ink, and Watercolor using people, places and spaces as his main inspiration. Dan was a student at Essex Art Center in his youth, an integral part of his artistic development.
  • Linda Germain
    Linda's one of a kind prints are about layering color, shapes and lines to form images that have many levels of expression. She works back and forth with different techniques to bring the print to some kind of balance, harmony or understanding.
  • Jessica Harris
    Jessica earned a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art from Humboldt State University in Fall of 2003. She enjoys working in a wide variety of artistic mediums. Working with clay and printmaking are her two favorite mediums. Her passion for printmaking began when she was a young girl.
  • Dennis Hart
    Dennis Hart’s current work centers around the suburban landscape, and the dichotomy between the human-made or altered elements, and the natural environment emphasizing what Americans do not typically pay attention to.
  • Mark Hayden
    Achieved Copley Master status in 1992 and has continued his artistic journey through portraiture, still life , landscape, and marine study.
  • Heather Hudson
    Heather earned her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009. She is most interested in creating narrative images that examine her awe and aversion to the wicked and wonderful habits of humanity she encounters.
  • Tamara Krendel
    Received her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Todd Lamond
  • Phuong Lai Matzker
    Phuong received her BFA in Art Education and Illustration at Massachusetts College of Art and Designs. She has been teaching at the Essex Art Center since 2000. She also enjoys cooking and making art during her spare time.
  • Don Mathias
    Don Mathias Jr. is an award winning freelance illustrator and cartoonist. Born and raised in northern Massachusetts, Don received his BFA in Illustration and graphic design at Montserrat College of Art, a small traditional art school located on the North Shore coast of Massachusetts.
  • Mary Ann McArdle
    Landscape painting as a child with her mother, Mary Ann went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and has created works in watercolor and pastel throughout her adult life. Her process involves the ongoing search for the inner essence and beauty of the image. Her subjects are inspired by nature on both land and sea.
  • Cathy McLaurin
    My practice is interdisciplinary, employing whatever process is most appropriate for the concept - painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, video. I am especially interested in the performance form as transformation. My studio is wherever I am at a given moment.
  • Joe Montroy
    Joseph holds an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Joe teaches as an adjunct professor as well as offering workshops at a number of community art centers across the northeast.
  • Sharon Morley
    Sharon Morley loves painting and teaching art to teens and adults. She has been awarded many grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to teach pastel workshops throughout Massachusetts.
  • Karen Nastuk
  • Alketa Niko
    I love painting, and I started since I was in elementary school. I have been teaching art since 1995. I have BS in education, and my medium of choice are: oil, acrylic and watercolor.
  • Jenny Page
    Jenny has been creating artwork since early childhood. Working intuitively, her work encompasses all aspects of drawing painting and sculpture. Her work is held in many private and public collections locally and worldwide.
  • Darren Perocchi
    Received his BFA with a concentration in photography from Umass Lowell. He has his artist studio in the Essex Art Center building.
  • Paul Prue
    Specialized in designing and fabricating new stained glass windows for churches, restaurants, and homes for over twenty years.
  • Georgia Renfroe
    I am a native of Western Massachusetts. I grew up in the Berkshires surrounded by music, theatre and art. After college, I studied in Paris, France for a year, before returning to the US to teach French and study art.
  • Thea Shapiro
    I love dresses. I love to dress up. Sewing paper, tea bags and other fabrics into dresses I can not wear is something I am drawn to do.
  • Caleb Stone
    Studied at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, received the New England Heritage Award in Oil, John Stobart Fellowship Award, and Wood Award for Excellence in Watercolor.
  • Jana Tarbox
    Received her MA in Art Therapy from Lesley University in 2011, and intends to practice in the Boston area. Since 2006 she has been teaching at the Essex Art Center, her art making is focused on oil painting and mixed media sculpture.
  • Taina Vargas
  • Peter Wood
    Received his M.Ed at Tufts University and BA from Brown University. He has been teaching since 1970 and is currently the Essex Art Center clay technician.
  • Jennifer Wood
    Jennifer Wood received her BFA from MA College of Art & Design. She teaches visual art and photography courses at Quincy College. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions in Massachusetts. Her studio is in Boston.