Art Alumni

Do you have your degree in Graphic Design, Art Education or Fine Arts from St. Ambrose? 

Please tell us about your projects, exhibitions and other events. Information will be used on the SAU Art Web site and may be shared with other alumni, current students, and prospective students.

Information will not be shared with third parties or that which the artist does not want mentioned. Update your information here.

ART EDUCATION

Heidi Hernandez
BA, Art Education, 2005
An internship with Quad City Arts helped establish Heidi Hernandez as a mainstay within the QC arts community. She’s an elementary art teacher in Geneseo, Ill., and is a rising star in the Quad Cities’ and Midwestern art scene for her humorous and nostalgic paintings of pop culture icons. Since her graduation, Heidi has had solo shows both in the Quad Cities and in Milwaukee.

Brendan Gould
BA, Art Education, 2002
Brendan, whose work graced the cover of the 2006 university arts publication, Quercus, works as an art therapist in New Mexico. He has taught art classes, exhibited and won awards for his paintings and drawings. One of his pieces was selected for a traveling exhibition in Ireland, in an exchange program through the Peoria (IL) Art Guild.

Ann Schwickerath
BA, Art Education, 1998
Ann is the director of Project Renewal in Davenport, a program that serves at risk children with educational and recreational activities. They have acquired a much needed facility for after school programs, and have about 40 – 50 kids they are serving. Email: projectrenewal@revealed.net. 

Jill (Penning) Schadt
BA, Art Education, 1998
Jill taught three dimensional art classes at Bettendorf Middle School for 2 years after graduating from St. Ambrose. At the birth of her first child, Aiden, family devotion took priority and Jill discontinued teaching and welcomed child number two, Isabelle. She and her husband Dustin volunteer their time with church activities and counseling other couples on fertility issues.

Karen Blomme
BA, Art Education. 1981
Tim Soldbrig
BA, Art Education, 1987
lead the art program at Bettendorf High School. On a recent sabbatical, Blomme began work on her MFA at the University of New Orleans until Katrina hit. She continues at the University of Iowa in printmaking. Her award winning silkscreen prints have been shown extensively around the Midwest and New Orleans. Solbrig is the curriculum leader for art in the district and is finishing a Masters Degree in Education through Drake University.

Jane Hart
BA, Art Education, 1976
After graduating from St. Ambrose, she earned an MS in Education at Drake. Jane is an art teacher at West High School in Davenport and has shown her collages and photo constructions in Quercus magazine, in the Quad Cities and in Chicago.

Linda Kelty
BA, Art Education, 1975
Received an MA in Teaching and Leadership from St. Xavier University in 2000. She worked as a graphic artist and in museum settings before entering teaching and taught art at the elementary level in the Muscatine Community Schools for 17 years before moving to West Middle School. She received a Carver Trust Excellence in Education Award in 2004.

Larry DeVilbiss
BA, Art Education, 1974
Larry earned his Masters degree in Instructional Technology and Telecommunications from Western Illinos University in 2002. He currently teaches Art at Davenport West high school a signature member of the Iowa Watercolor Society and a founding member and remains director of the Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, DeVilbiss serves on the board of directors for MidCoast Fine Arts, a Quad Cities area non-profit visual arts organization.

Dyan McClimon-Miller
BA, Art Education, 1971
graduated in the first co-ed class at St. Ambrose College in 1971. She received her MFA in studio from the University of Iowa and is a professor of studio art at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.

FINE ARTS

The vast majority of recent SAU Fine Art graduates are attending graduate school in painting, drawing, art therapy and other art-related fields of endeavor.

Brendan Gould
BA, Fine Arts, 2002,
Brendan, whose work graced the cover of the 2006 university arts publication, Quercus, works as an art therapist in New Mexico. He has taught art classes, exhibited and sold his paintings, and has won awards for his work. One of his pieces was selected for a traveling exhibition in Ireland, in an exchange program through the Peoria (IL) Art Guild.

Kelcey Chandler Yates
BA, Fine Arts, 2002
As of Oct 2002 Kelcey is circumnavigating the globe with her husband Jim, and two boys in their catamaran the Ladystarlight. The Yates started in August of 2000 after abandoning their chiropractic practice in Redding, Ca., in pursuit of new territory and culture. "We adjust the locals all the time," says Kelcey.  "and in the cruising community we make a bit of cash along with earring sales and dive instruction." Read about the online journal, view photos and Kelcey's fused glass jewelry at http://www.underseaphotovideo.com.

Karin Kuzniar
BA, Fine Arts, 1998
In addition to working in graphic design and communication services at the Art Institute in Chicago, Karin Kuzniar has completed the mentorship program at the renowned Artemesia Gallery, also in Chicago. Her work is represented by Water Street Gallery in Saugatuck, Mich., and she’s also shown at Woman Made Gallery, Gallery 2 and Thirteenth Floor Gallery in Chicago. She’s now a freelance graphic designer in the city.

Kunhild Blacklock
BA, Fine Arts, 1998
As part of her work in art education, Kunhild Blacklock created three sculptural riverside settings, produced with
community input and backing from the Illinois Mississippi River Valley Project, as a way of rekindling the relationship between the Mississippi and the arts.

Suzanne Chouteau
BA, Fine Arts, 1983
MA, Printmaking, University of Iowa, 1985
MFA, Printmaking, University of Iowa, 1988
While pursuing her masters at the University of Iowa, Suzanne studied with print masters Mauricio Lansansky, Keith Achepohl and Robert Glasgow. To finance her education she worked as an illustrator/graphic designer at the University of Iowa Foundation and received awards on her work from the national design associations of UCDA and CASE, and included selection to the PRINT Magazine Design Annual’s “Best of the Midwest”. After receiving her masters degree she spent some time in Italy before joining the Xavier University Department of Art faculty in Cincinnati, Ohio as Associate Professor of printmaking, design and art history. Over the years her prints, drawings, paintings and mixed-media combinations have been shown in over 75 solo, invitational and juried exhibitions in the US. She and her husband Chris and son Elijah live on an Appalachia Preserve in Adams County, Ohio.

After receiving her MFA from the famed University of Iowa Printmaking program, Suzanne Chouteau, 1983, spent time in Italy before joining the Xavier University Department of Art faculty in Cincinnati, Ohio, as associate professor of printmaking, design and art history. Over the years her prints, drawings, paintings and mixed-media works have been shown in over 75 solo, invitational and juried exhibitions in the United States.

Donna Young
BA, Fine Arts, 1981
Is the lead sculptor and Director of Development for Isabel Bloom Ltd. In Davenport. She’s responsible for the original sculpture in clay before the world-famous pieces go into production.

Dyan McClimon-Miller
BA, Fine Arts, 1971
Dyan McClimon-Miller graduated in the first co-ed class at St. Ambrose College in 1971. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa and is a professor of studio art at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.

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