Wesleyan women in the fine arts are debunking the myth of the starving artist. A liberal arts background equips Wesleyan women with a unique perspective that makes them highly competitive for many professional opportunities, and quite successful at whatever they choose to do. Wesleyan fine arts majors are consistently accepted into excellent graduate programs, and have gone on to fulfilling careers practicing and teaching the arts. You'll find Wesleyan women excelling in the fields of art, music, and theatre.

The term ‘fine arts’ generally refers to any field of work dedicated to creating or preserving beauty. Across the world, Wesleyan women in fine arts are representing diverse careers, earning international recognition, impacting the lives of others, and even amassing great wealth.

Many Wesleyan women combine a passion for the arts with other professional disciplines to achieve great success. Raquel Farrell-Kirk ‘96 works as an art therapist to special education students in the Miami-Dade County Public School District. At Wesleyan, she was an art history and psychology major who later earned a master’s degree in art therapy. Sharon Harp Campbell ‘65 is an artist curator and art researcher in Greenville, South Carolina, and Nancy Haller ‘57 recently retired from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where she was a textile conservator. Attorney Catherine Tucker ‘05 uses her Wesleyan minor in theater to develop an immediate presence and presentational style in the Tampa, Florida, courtrooms where she is an Assistant Public Defender. She continues to remain involved in theater, performing in two productions last year and stage-managing another.

Nationally, about 63 percent of artists working in the fine arts are self employed, like Jeanne Luke Longerbeam ‘80 who owns an entertainment company and talent agency in Cumming, Georgia, and Tina Farkas Williams ‘74 who founded Young Actors Theatre and School for the Performing Arts, a non-profit youth theater in Tallahassee, Florida -- the fourth largest youth theater in the nation. In 1999, Louise Barfield founded Little Carnegie of the South in Macon. This non-profit business hosts concerts and art exhibits, holds camps for people of all ages, and provides performing opportunities for advanced pianists. Louise’s early musical training began at the age of six when she entered the Wesleyan College Conservatory of Music. Years later she was awarded a full scholarship for study at The Juilliard School in New York, where she earned a master's of music degree, then spent many years traveling, performing and teaching abroad and in the United States.

With a rich heritage of excellence in the fine arts, Wesleyan produces graduates who have a great understanding of the important role arts education plays in our collective future. You’ll find Wesleyan music scholars teaching in schools and churches across the country, like Jana Witham Janeway ‘68 who teaches middle school music in Wilton, Connecticut; Debba Davis Ulrich ‘77 who directs choir at Marietta Middle School in Atlanta; Abbyjane Walker Eller ‘82 who is a music and choral teacher at Midway Covenant Christian School in Kennesaw, Georgia; Ellen Hogle McLemore '85 who directs choir at Westside High School in Macon, Georgia; and Loisanne Tatum Robins ‘79 whose Englewood High School choir represented Florida at the Presidential Inauguration in 2005.

The internationally acclaimed Syracuse Children’s Choir has performed from Carnegie Hall to China, serving as Central New York’s musical ambassador to the world. Wesleyan graduate Dr. Barbara Marble Tagg ‘69 is founder and artistic director of the group. She is also an instructor at Syracuse University where she conducts the 70-voice Women’s Choir and is a member of the choral music education faculty. In demand internationally, Barbara has presented concerts and workshops in England, Europe, Canada, Hong Kong and China, as well as for universities and choral organizations throughout the United States.

Christine Harness Thompson ’03 majored in music performance and minored in psychology. Today she is teaching children aged three through six at a Montessori school in Alpharetta, Georgia. She also teaches music to the same age group. Christine said, “It was my graduate studies that gave me the knowledge, but it was my Wesleyan education that gave me the confidence, the character, and the courage I need in my career.” Monica Alexandra Harper '04 majored in music and is currently working toward a doctor of music. Read her story!

Sharon Dew Andrews ‘79 majored in music with an emphasis in piano performance. After graduating from Wesleyan, she moved to Dallas, Texas, and received her master’s degree in piano pedagogy from Southern Methodist University and then went on to teach piano for more than twenty years. But in 1987, she completed a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. She began working at a local math and science magnet school and teaching science became her new passion. In 2008, Sharon was named the South Dakota Teacher of the Year. Read her story!

Patricia Harper White ‘56 teaches voice and piano in her home in Alpharetta, Georgia. She was director of music in three churches for sixteen years, and sang for many years with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus under Robert Shaw. Caroline Thomas ‘81, an international opera singer, studied at The Juilliard School of Music in New York after graduating from Wesleyan. She has spent more than a decade in Europe performing lead roles with icons like Placido Domingo.

Following in their footsteps is Music and Studio Art Major Chenny Gan ’02, who recently earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Chenny’s third CD, Mirrors, has just been released. She taught and performed in China as a visiting lecturer, and spent the summer of 2008 performing in Germany. While there, she completed a mural in a castle that was once Mozart’s childhood summer vacation home. Read her story!

Dona D. Vaughn ‘66 earned a degree in music and theatre at Wesleyan and has served as PORTopera’s (Portland Opera Repertory Theatre in Portland, Maine) artistic director for several years. She is also the artistic director for New York’s Manhattan School of Music Opera Program. She studied under Lee Strasberg and began her career as a performer in the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Read her story!

On another chart, Suzanne Spooner-Faulk ’97 pitches songs to record label executives and music producers for country artists in Nashville and often works with legendary songwriter Bob DiPiero. Back in the 60s, Barbara Barnes Sims ‘56 worked in promotion and publicity for Sun Records in Memphis, and wrote album lines and notes for the first albums by Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. In 2006 she taught a course in “Sun Records and Early Rock and Roll” at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.

Theatre is a collaborative art form expressing and critiquing the thoughts, dreams, and culture of a society. Through the study of theatre in a liberal arts context, students learn to examine themselves and the world as they develop their creative abilities. Ashley Hare ’07 majored in theatre and graduated with the goal of working with youth at risk. While a student, she directed a play about tolerance in four local schools. After graduation, she worked for two years in Omaha as a teaching artist for a professional company for youth theatre. Now, she's working toward a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre for Young Audiences at Arizona State University. This is one of the two top schools for Theatre for Youth in the U.S.A. She intends to do theatre work with under-served and at-risk populations, such as youth in hospitals and detention centers.  Read her story!      Theatre has taken Marge Guiberteau ‘00 around the world, as well. Since graduation, she’s toured the United States, Southeast Asia, and Australia as head of the props department of Disney on Ice. She has also worked with Cirque du Soleil, and this November began working with the Great American Circus.

2008 Miller Middle School Teacher of the Year Pilar Wilder ‘01 is the fine arts director at Miller Middle school where she leads the only traveling dance troupe in Bibb County. In 2004 she received a Cultural Award from Macon Arts for her outstanding contributions to the artistic and cultural life in the Middle Georgia area. Pilar is the artistic director of Hayiya Dance Theater Movement Institute and Center for Culture Arts. She has been teaching West African Dance since she opened her studio in 2001. Her professional adult dance troupe, Harambee African Tribal Sounds Unlimite, and her children's Hayiya Dance Theater perform all over the country. For four years she was adjunct professor teaching dance in the African studies department at Ft. Valley State University.

Transitioning fine arts to law school, English, or financial services is standard business with a liberal arts degree. Katie Taylor ‘02 was an active theatre minor while at Wesleyan and completed an MFA in acting at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. But after trying a career in acting, she enrolled in law school. Meanwhile, Shanna Malcolm Allen ‘04 turned down seventeen law school acceptances to pursue an acting career. She just began graduate study in acting at the prestigious Cal Arts in Los Angeles.

Tamara Francis ‘05 combined an English major with a theater minor while at Wesleyan. She considers the combination to be a strong foundation for a wide variety of careers; and most importantly, she credits Wesleyan for providing her with an education that stressed individual responsibility and teamwork. Both late night play rehearsals and work at the Writing Center prepared her for graduate school at Florida State University, where she earned a master’s degree in rhetoric and English composition. Now, Tamara is working in financial support services with Florida's Division of Emergency Management.

Young alums find inspiration in the accomplishments of Wesleyan women like Sylvia Shirah Hayne ‘80 who established herself as an exemplary drama teacher at Macon’s Stratford Academy before fulfilling her dream of establishing a fine arts school. In 2004, she opened the Academy of the Performing Arts, Macon’s first theater and instrumental music school.

Amanda Jacobs Dean ’84 majored in piano at Wesleyan, then earned a master's degree from Georgia State University. After further conservatory training and certification work, she began a career as a musician and playwright in New York City. She co-authored "Daniel: The Musical," part of the 2000 FRINGE Festival in Edinburg, Scotland. Some of her current projects include a musical adaptation of Jane Austen's novel "Pride & Prejudice," two film projects for RIT film students, a second set of art songs based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses," and running a music and theatre licensing/publishing company. Read her story!

Above all, Wesleyan women love the spotlight. Sandra Deer ‘62 is an internationally acclaimed, award-wining playwright and director at Alliance Theater in Atlanta, the leading professional resident theatre in the Southeast. Recently, she was the recipient of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award®. And three thousand miles away, Liz (Mollie) Hughes ‘02 earned a master’s degree in film production at Chapman University in Orange County, California where she is working in film.

Many alumnae are earning fame as professional actors, like Page Clements '84, who is a member of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and also co-founded Highwire Productions in New York City, and Heather Hughes ’05, who finished her course work at American Musical Drama Academy in 2007 and recently performed in a showcase of industry professionals in Manhattan. Other Wesleyan women excel as theatre professionals back stage like Sarah Chandler ’02 who graduated from Virginia Tech with a master’s degree in stage management. Her advice to women interested in theater is “learn as much as you can about every aspect of theatre. Even if you are going into direction or design, know as much as you can about acting, stage managing, technical direction, design, artistic direction, audio, public relations...trust me!”

Wesleyan graduate EunJin Cho ‘02 concurs. She is assistant professor of sound design at Louisiana State University and teaches introduction to theater design, sound technology, and sound lab. Cho is also associate head of the MFA Technology and Design Program, and a faculty member of the women’s and gender studies program at LSU. “Wesleyan is the place where I realized my passion for theater,” she said. “Wesleyan offered such a great support system for me to grow as a woman and as a human being.” Cho is planning to return to campus and conduct a workshop soon.

Danielle Sawtell ‘06 is production manager at Excitement Technologies in Dallas, Texas. She has built and designed laser shows for Christina Aguilera, Roger Waters, Hannah Montana, (the artist formerly known as) Prince, and others. This fall she will not only help build a laser show for Black Sabbath but also tour with the group. She’ll also help build special effects for the touring show of Shrek: The Broadway Musical.

Complementing the successes of Wesleyan women in the fields of music and theatre are the extraordinarily creative alumnae working in the fields of visual art. They are art historians serving as gallery operators, museum curators, art therapists, and educators. They are studio artists producing work in the areas of painting, drawing, ceramics, computer graphics, photography, sculpture, and printmaking. They are women with unlimited creativity and energy.

Arrin Freeman ’02 draws her inspiration from children. She served as the art director at the Georgia Children’s Museum in Macon, Georgia, and has already authored, illustrated, and published a children’s book. For years, Shantras Lakes ‘90 worked as the Director of Family and Community Programs at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Today, Shantras works as a Program Officer at Fulton County Arts Council. Read her story!

Many Wesleyan women teach fine arts, or use the arts to reach their students, like Carrie Ann Parks-Kirby '76, who is a professor of art and design at Alma College. Jeanette Loflin Shackelford ‘61 became the founding Executive Director of MidSummer Macon, in 1988. The program has served thousands and enriched the Macon community immeasurably. She also served as Chair of the Wesleyan Music Department and has produced musicals, directed choruses, and taught general music classes. She is also a founder and director of the Galloway School for the Arts in Atlanta where she has worked with students from preschool through adulthood in a variety of artistic disciplines.

Dot Ogden Brown ‘67 works as the coordinator of the Bibb County Institute for the Arts and The Arts Education Task Force in Macon. She is also the site coordinator for Lesley University’s masters and doctorate degree programs for arts integration. Despite a busy work schedule, Dot still finds time to teach, paint, and exhibit her work. Recently she curated a major two-gallery exhibit for Wesleyan showcasing the Ogden Campbell Collection of Contemporary Art. Included in the exhibit were the paintings, drawings, and documents of her aunt, alumna Helena Ogden Campbell, plus a wide selection of the traditional early 20th-century American representational artwork Helena collected and donated to the College.

Many Wesleyan graduates have become wildly successful and well-regarded in graphic design, like Nanci Williams ’66 who is a graphic designer for CNN, Jenni Harris ’98 who works for Sam’s Club Corporation, and Jennifer Shermer Pack ’95, a former ad agency art director who is now self employed as a freelance designer in Macon. Jen majored in studio art and minored in history. Today, she is owner, art director, and designer of Black Cat Studios. Her work has won several ADDY awards and been published in Graphic Design: USA. Jen credits Wesleyan’s internship program with playing a large role in her professional success. “Wesleyan’s internship program enabled me to learn graphic design from the inside,” she said. “I was able to see what the job entails and work in a professional setting.” This year, Jen designed the first book published by the newly formed Wesleyan College Press.

Illustrator Lindy Blasingame Burnett ’76 has enjoyed great success illustrating children’s books. She teaches at the Portfolio Center in Atlanta where students learn about design, advertising, photography, illustration, and media architecture. Lindy is versed in the business side of illustration having worked with agents, publishing houses and corporations, as well as on advertising campaigns for companies like Kellogg's and Coca Cola. Read her story!

Darlene Rutland Murphy ’05 was a non-traditional student who graduated with a double major in advertising & marketing communication and studio art. Today, she is a working artist and exhibits regularly at the Middle Georgia Art Association’s ArtZone Gallery. Shirley E. Adams ‘56 uses her liberal arts degree to run Papillon International Enterprises, a commercial art business located in Atlanta.

Other Wesleyan women artists are making an impact through sculpture like Mildred Woodard Cotton ‘43, Jane Duskin Norman ‘70, Christine Smith ’69, and Joan Finney Hatcher ‘88. Many working artists quickly find ways to combine artistic talents with business savvy and capitalize on specialized niche services. Elizabeth Hodges McKeever ’96 of Charleston, South Carolina, for example, teaches art at the Gibbes Museum Studio and co-owns Luna Design Studio, a commercial painting business specializing in small murals and faux finishes. Elizabeth even tutored actress Rachel McAdams in painting for her role in the movie The Notebook. “I was a studio art major with a minor in philosophy,” she said, “but the scope of my learning was unlimited. Leadership and perseverance were encouraged during my years at Wesleyan and these qualities are essential to me now as an independent business woman.”