Penny Redmon Visiting Lecturer Series
The Penny Redmon Visiting Lecturer Series provides funding and support to bring up to four artists from outside our community to Rockport Center for the Arts each year. During their time in Rockport, these visiting artists present their work through public talks and hands-on workshops for members. The program aims to promote highly accomplished individuals from outside the region who work in media that are presently underrepresented in current programming.
The Penny Redmon talks and workshops are free for members. This funding was generously provided by Evelyn Atkinson, 1998 Poster Artist, in honor of her late step-daughter Penny.
Avrel Seale, January 2025
Avrel Seale is the author of 12 books, including memoir, humor, philosophy, history, religion, and unsolved mystery. He has written two books on family history — "Staggering: Life and Death on the Texas Frontier at Staggers Point" and "The Hewetts: An American Saga in the Age of Vaudeville, Circuses, and Bands." Currently he is writing a novel based on family history. He is on the staff of The University of Texas at Austin, where he has served as editor of UT's alumni magazine, speechwriter for the university's president, and a writer in the UT news, marketing and development offices. Avrel is the youngest son of Jan Seale.
Jan Seale, April 2024 & January 2025
Jan Seale, a native Texan, is the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate. She has taught writing in three universities and presented workshops in many locations over the nation. Her writing has appeared in such publications as The Yale Review, Texas Monthly, and Writer’s Digest.
Seale is the author of books of poetry, short fiction, essays, biographies, plays, and children’s literature. Her awards include a fellowship with the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and citations from the New York Poetry Forum. Her latest books are A Lifetime of Words and Particulars: poems of smallness.
One more fact that may astound:
Americans eat eight million pounds
of guacamole Super Sunday,
making us pounds fatter Monday.
What to conclude of the avocado:
It’s a fruit we eat a lot o’.
from “The Avocado”
from Particulars
She has three sons and four grandsons and lives in McAllen, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Doerte Weber, April 2024 & February 2025
Doerte Weber was born in 1962 in Blender, Germany where she earned a degree in social pedagogy. After a few years of traveling and living in Asia and England, she moved to Texas in 1986. Although she took several years of weaving classes at the Southwest School of Art in the early 1990s, she didn’t start weaving artwork until she returned from a visit to the Bauhaus Exhibit in Berlin in 2009.
Her artistic journey is deeply influenced by the pioneering spirit of the Bauhaus women weavers. These remarkable individuals were autodidacts, unburdened by preconceived notions, and embraced free experimentation in their craft. Their unwavering commitment to learning through trial and error resonates with my own path as a predominantly self-taught artist.
Her work revolves around the concept of discovering the subtle beauty concealed within our daily surroundings and transforming often-overlooked materials into expressions of art. In this process, she searches to push the boundaries of the materials she is using which enables her to tell a story.
Her works are infused with traditional weaving patterns, adding texture to their surfaces and evoking a sense of familiarity and connection to our shared history. These patterns serve as a bridge between the past and the present, reminding us of the enduring threads that tie us together.
Jesse Lane, April 2025
Jesse Lane (b. 1990) has been called a pioneer. In stunning photorealism, he transcends drawing into painting. “I’m always looking for the easily missed moments of everyday life. I work to design and capture an instant of emotion,” Jesse says. “Every image I create has a story. My stories share moments of intimacy, private moments. If you feel the story, I’m satisfied.” Jesse discovered art while struggling in school with the challenges of dyslexia. “Growing up, I often felt alone,” Jesse says. “I desperately wanted to find a place in life where I didn’t feel inferior. For years, I bottled up my feelings. Then I realized they could be a source of inspiration. I began creating images of personal struggle and intimate emotion.”
Jesse’s honors include the “Pioneer of Realism” Award from the International Guild of Realism. He also won the world’s top award for colored pencil from the Colored Pencil Society of America, as well as honors from the Salmagundi Club, the American Artist’s Professional League, International Artist magazine and many others. Publications include Fine Art Connoisseur, American Art Collector, International Artist, Professional Artist, Artist’s Magazine, Southwest Art, The Washington Post, and Huffington Post. Jesse’s artwork is popular on social media, with more than 7,000 followers on Facebook and more than 17,000 on Instagram. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Jesse also studied art in Italy. In 2021, he was honored to join the faculty at the Realism Live Convention. Jesse is represented by RJD Gallery in Romeo, Michigan. His work is included in prominent private collections. He’s exhibited in galleries and museums in the US and England. He lives in The Woodlands, Texas, with his artist-wife Kinsey, and their two whippets.
Jillian Sortore, August 2023 & March 2025
Jillian Sortore received her MFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2010 and her BFA in Jewelry Design and Metals from Pittsburg State University in 2006. A variety of materials inform her work, which ranges from cheerfully lightweight and bright earrings to wearable sculptural adornment. In addition to maintaining an active studio practice, Sortore is currently the Chair and Professor of Metals at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, TX.
www.facebook.com/jilliansortore
@jilliansortore
SPENCER TINKHAM, SEPTEMBER 2023 & February 2025
Spencer Tinkham developed a fondness for the natural world, investigating the water’s edge throughout his childhood. Before passing away from cancer, his grandfather instilled a lifelong passion for carving at age eight. Nothing enthralled Spencer more than large flocks of hungry waterfowl wintering behind his home. His first carvings were from small wood scraps. Next, Spencer carved life-sized duck decoys to lure waterfowl closer and to critique his work next to wild birds. As a teenager, he twice won the Youth World Duck Decoy Carving Championship. His sculptures are no longer utilitarian, but Spencer still uses many reclaimed materials. Entirely self-taught, his recent body of work was inspired by a feather he closely examined on a daily walk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Colors, shapes, and textures in natural objects, which are not easily discernible to the human eye, inspired his “macroscultpures.” Spencer’s work is collected and exhibited internationally. He is a David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Artist of the Year 2023 finalist and has pieces in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and Dollar Tree, Inc. collections.
https://www.facebook.com/SpencerTinkhamArt @spencer.tinkham.art https://www.spencertinkhamart.com
Douglas Garey, FEBRUARY 2023
Douglas Garey, Blacksmith, is an artist who combines his keen observation of shape and form with his love and respect for nature. His degree is in entomology, but his training in blacksmithing from Frank Turley in Santa Fe in 1982 set him on his present path of architectural, functional and artistic ironwork. He resides in Ingram , Tx. During his Penny Redmon Workshop, Doug led participants in creating several pieces using blacksmithing techniques.
LYN BELISLE, FEBRUARY 2023
Lyn Belisle, nationally-known San Antonio mixed media artist, works with Texas clay and wood, beeswax, found objects, paint, paper and sinew to produce unique spiritual and symbolic assemblages, collages, and paintings. She is an active member of the San Antonio Art League (Past President), the Fiber Artists of San Antonio (Co-President), The San Antonio Potters' Guild, the Encaustic Art institute, the International Encaustic Artists (Vice-President), and the American Craft Council. During her Penny Redmon Workshop, Lyn led students in encaustic collages, focusing on how to tell unique stories through layering.
Marley foster, october 2022
Marley Foster is a mixed media artist teaching and creating in Houston, TX.
In the workshop, Marley discussed quilting techniques and history in the U.S. and covered basic quilt block patterning and embroidery skills. Community members created two quilt patches: one to contribute to the community quilt, the other to take home. Attendees will used simple embroidery techniques to stitch words or phrases of things that protect them onto repurposed fabric.
Delaney Smith, september 2021
Delaney Smith is a visual artist, designer and educator. She primarily works with handmade paper to create sculpture, and explores text and typography within her work. Her interactive books emerge from the inherent qualities of material and develop as the viewer alters the pages. As a result, each book is a unique story of marks based on unpredictable outcomes. In the same vein, she alters common materials in her sculptures, such as tracing paper and receipts, creating rich landscapes with incidental textures.
During her workshop, students learned the basics of using natural dyeing and used pre-dyed cotton fabric to coil a two-toned medium sized bowl.
Caryl gaubatz, september 2019
Caryl Gaubatz is a fabric artist from Garden Ridge, TX. Dyeing her own fabric and creating from it garments that are both narrative and symbolic.
In her workshop at Rockport Center for the Arts, she lead attendees in several dyeing techniques.
Chala Jan, April 2019
Chala Janpraphasakul (Jan) was introduced to photography in her teenage years. She used a Pentax camera, rolls of black and white film, and regularly visited a darkroom to pull prints using a chemical process. In her art, she employs traditional event and portrait photography; through experimentation and the flexibility of digital image processing, she creates images of alternative reality- in a surrealist style. Her need to transform her imagination, thoughts, feelings or dreams into a story in an image was satisfied by this application and style.
During her workshop at Rockport Center for the Arts, students learned to digitally manipulate images in photoshop to create surreal imagery.
Brett Harvey, May 2019
During his workshop at Rockport Center for the Arts, students created clay hands, learning to model the structure and anatomy of a difficult body feature.
Tabitha Whitley, Fall 2018
Tabitha Whitley is a Brooklyn based artist with a focus in oil painting and relief printmaking. Tabitha received her BFA in Painting from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2009, then went on to receive MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art in 2011. She is the current President of the Alumni Association of the New York Academy of Art and a serving member of the Board of Trustees. Tabitha has had her work shown in galleries throughout the United States, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.
In her workshop, students created and printed linocut.
Elizabeth Misitano, Spring 2018
Elizabeth Misitano is a Long Island based artist working primarily in oil paint and ballpoint pen. In her work, she explores the concept of sentimentality and nostalgia that people have for objects, places, and animals. She holds a Bachelors in Art, with a concentration in painting and a Minor in Art History from Adelphi University in 2007 and a Masters of Fine Arts with a concentration in painting and artistic anatomy from The New York Academy of Art.
In her workshop, students learned ballpoint pen drawing techniques to create a variety of textures, and the pros and cons of working from photo reference.
Diana Corvelle, Spring 2017
Diana Corvelle is a figurative artist born in New York. She received her MFA in Drawing from the New York Academy of Art and her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Diana works primarily in gouache on paper, layering small cross-hatching marks to build realistic color and form. She has shown in exhibitions across the country and internationally, including her residency at Eden Rock Gallery in St. Barths, French West Indies, that culminated in her solo show The Delicacy of Memory: Studies on Paper. Her public works include large scale and commemorative projects at South Nassau Community Hospital and the Rockville Centre Public Library. She curated the group exhibition of fine art in lockets - Love It, Locket, Leave It - for Island Weiss Gallery in New York, which was later exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts store in Washington, D.C. Her last solo exhibition of works on paper, Yes All Women, was shown at Dacia gallery in NY in April, 2019. Diana currently lives and works in the Bay Area.
In her workshop, students worked with gouache and papercutting.
Michael Meadors, Spring 2017
Michael Meadors is a realistic figurative artist living and working in NYC/New Jersey.
In his workshop, students worked with graphite.
Jessie Brugger, Fall 2016
Jessie Brugger is a painter, drawer, and sculptor who uses all mediums to create stop motion animation videos. Her work is about her personal story: Being a Woman, living in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and growing up in Auburn, Washington. She is interested in how women are projected both presently and historically. The Catholic Church was a big influence on her life and work; as it is the first place she understood hierarchy, power struggles and gender injustice, at the same time experiencing beauty, light, and spirituality.
In her workshop, Jesse led both adults and high school students in creating stop-motion animation videos that screened at the Rockport Film Festival.
Lauren Amalia Redding, Fall 2016
Lauren Amalia was born in Naples, Florida in 1987, and studied at Northwestern University (BFA) and New York Academy of Art (MFA). She lived and worked in Queens, New York for seven years following graduate school. In 2018, she and her husband co-founded H&R Studio in Naples, where they both produce artwork, lead programs, and teach privately.
Lauren works primarily in silverpoint, and her subjects include portraits of her family and heritage to self-portraits as an astronaut. In her workshops, students worked with both silverpoint and goldleaf.
Andrea Williams, Spring 2016
Andrea Williams was educated as a figurative artist in the tradition of working from life. Her work explores perception and persistence. What do we create and what fragments remain? What are the indelible physical effects of our actions? She creating bold prints to imagine and interpret the interior space of the body, its function and fragility.
In her workshop, students explored monoprints.
