Faculty Bios — Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

Posts in current instructor

Canada Kerwin

Canada Kerwin

NEW INSTRUCTOR! Canada Kerwin has worked as a K–Grade 2 art volunteer since 2005, creating age-appropriate lessons that include introduction to art theory and artists’ biographies and tie-in to curricula as needed. Retired from the healthcare field, Canada also served in the US Navy. She applies her background experience to her ongoing art studies at Mira Costa College, focusing on the human form through life drawing and sculpture. She says, “Capturing the infinite expressions of the body through gesture and line is a very fascinating and gratifying practice.”

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 15, 2020Canada Kerwin

Gloria Kondrup

Gloria Kondrup

Gloria Kondrup spans both fields of art and design. As a design consultant to national and international firms she has helped evolve extensive branding, identity, and packaging systems. Companies benefiting from her expertise include Aon, Avon, and Goodwill Industries. As a full-time professor at ArtCenter College of Design, Gloria Kondrup has been a dedicated design educator for over two decades. As Director of Archetype Press, ArtCenter’s unique and vibrant letterpress studio, she redefines the value of typography and analog technology in the digital landscape. Her fine art printworks and books are in private and public collections including AIGA, The Getty, and the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. She was awarded the AIGA Greening of Design in 1997. Kondrup received her bachelor’s degree in fine art and her master’s degree in design. She was the founding executive director of the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 15, 2020Gloria Kondrup

Jean Krumbein

Jean Krumbein

Jean Krumbein embraces all aspects of drawing. An artist, teacher, and model; she is a guest artist/figure-drawing instructor for the Canyon Crest Academy EVA Conservatory program and Founder of the Encinitas Library Figure Drawing Group. A New York transplant, Jean studied at the Huntington Fine Arts League, Friends World College, and the Art Students League. She teaches for art retreats and workshops in Southern California, specializing in life drawing, portrait, and still-life drawing classes for adults and teens. Her work has been shown in many group and solo shows in San Diego and New York.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 15, 2020Jean Krumbein

Ron Lemen

Ron Lemen

Ron began his artistic journey in the high-adrenaline world of extreme sports, where creativity had to move as fast as the culture itself. Designing graphics for skateboards, snowboards, and surfboards, along with shoes, wheels, apparel, and gear, he forged a flexible, fearless imagination—one shaped by constant problem-solving and an instinct for visual rhythm.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 13, 2020Ron Lemen

Jennifer McHugh

Jennifer McHugh

NEW INSTRUCTOR! California native, Jennifer McHugh, is a full-time abstract artist and art instructor. Creativity and art classes were always a part of her life, but when she was a new mother, her need for a creative outlet led her to an abstract art class and she was hooked. In 2015, after 7 years of painting and selling art in her spare time, Jennifer left her 20-year career as English instructor to become a full-time artist. When she started teaching local art workshops and classes in 2019, it was a natural transition, as it blended her two passions. Jennifer has explored many styles to help her evolve as an artist, but her work is always process-driven. Guided by intuition and spontaneity, she translates her inspiration without any idea of what the final product will be.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 13, 2020Jennifer McHugh

Hannah Melde-Webster

Hannah Melde-Webster

NEW INSTRUCTOR! Hannah Melde-Webster has spent the last decade immersed in the floral and event industry. Her passion for using flowers, plants, and other living materials to craft captivating scenes that transport viewers to another time or place is evident throughout her work. She specializes in curating unforgettable experiences that reflect her design aesthetic which is deeply influenced by a longing for a more magical past that may or may not have ever existed. Whether she is designing tablescapes for intimate events or creating set designs, she strives to build moments that draw the viewer in to another world.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 13, 2020Hannah Melde-Webster

Lori Mitchell

Lori Mitchell

Lori Mitchell graduated with honors and a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She wrote and illustrated the award-winning children’s book Different Just Like Me, for which she appeared on Oprah. She has illustrated numerous other books, including Bal Yoga for Kids, which won the San Diego Book Award. Lori’s work has been exhibited at the Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad, the California Center for the Arts Museum in Escondido, Fresh Paint Gallery in La Jolla, the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA), and the Athenaeum. She is known for her creative, ever-changing lessons and positive, engaging approach.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 11, 2020Lori Mitchell

Graham Moore

Graham Moore

Graham Moore is a graphic designer/artist and educator, originally from the UK, based in Los Angeles. His creative career has spanned many diverse disciplines, including magazine design, music packaging & music event promotion and entertainment design. He has taught at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Otis College of Design, and Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles and currently teaches at Woodbury University in Burbank and Barnsdall Art Center in Los Angeles.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 10, 2020Graham Moore

Thia Nevius

Thia Nevius

Thia Nevius grew up in Studio City, California. She received a BA from California State University San Jose and an MFA from Colorado State University. She went on to paint sets for the Santa Fe Opera and teach studio art at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico. Since moving to San Diego, she has taught art for many years including at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, UCSD Extension, The Art Department, ARTS-A Reason to Survive, and the Athenaeum. Thia has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and South America. Her work has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions, where she has won awards of excellence and Best of Show.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 9, 2020Thia Nevius

Thomas O'Brien

Thomas O'Brien

NEW INSTRUCTOR! Thomas O’Brien is a landscape painter living in San Diego, California. He received formal art training during his undergraduate studies at the University of New Mexico. Upon graduation, Thomas joined the United States Marine Corps and is currently serving as an active-duty engineer officer. His work often leverages a full-spectrum value scale while incorporating as much color as possible. He emphasizes key elements of a subject through deliberate design choices and thoughtful composition. His aim is to create evocative compositions by combining the major tenets of representational painting.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 9, 2020Thomas O'Brien

Susan Osborn

Susan Osborn

Susan Osborn taught art at The Bishop’s School for 17 years. Keeping a studio at home, she works in assemblage, drawing, and painting. Her work reveals a love of energy through line, texture, and color. Susan’s work is in collections in the United States, Denmark, Japan, and Spain. She is listed in Who’s Who of American Women (25th edition). Among her many awards, she has received a Visual Artists Assistance Award from the State of California, awards at SDMA, the San Diego Art Institute, Bonita Museum, and Small Image Show.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 8, 2020Susan Osborn

Sfona Pelah

Sfona Pelah

Sfona Pelah is an award-winning San Diego–based printmaker with many years of experience in the medium. She has an MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, majoring in printmaking with a minor in photography. Sfona has been teaching fine art and printmaking at UCSD and San Diego Community Colleges for over 40 years. She has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 7, 2020Sfona Pelah

Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts

Robin Sanford Roberts is an artist and theatrical scenic designer working in models and mixed media. She has designed scenery for multiple theaters including The Old Globe, San Diego Repertory, Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, and Broadway. She holds a degree in architecture from LSU and an MFA in scenic design from UC San Diego. She also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau and at Sir John Cass School of Art, London Polytechnic. Robin currently teaches in the undergraduate theater department at the University of San Diego and at Art on 30th.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 6, 2020Robin Roberts

June Rubin

June Rubin

June Rubin has been teaching art for over 30 years. She is a graduate of both University of California Los Angeles and Art Center College of Design with degrees in Art & Cultural Anthropology. She has an art studio in Liberty Station, Point Loma. She loves teaching art to kids—sharing her enthusiasm for art and encouraging everyone's creativity.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 6, 2020June Rubin

Sibyl Rubottom

Sibyl Rubottom

Sibyl Rubottom holds an MFA from Yale University and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was awarded European Honors and studied in Rome for a year. For over 25 years Sibyl made fabric art for the interior design trade. She is former proprietor of Bay Park Press, which was a small fine arts press specializing in limited edition artists’ books and fine intaglio prints. Sibyl is currently manager of the Print Studio at the Athenaeum Art Center. Sibyl’s books are held in numerous collections, including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, John Hay Library at Brown University, Sterling Library at Yale University, Geisel Library (Mandeville Special Collections) at UCSD, the Malcolm A. Love Library at SDSU, the Athenaeum, and various public and private collections.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 6, 2020Sibyl Rubottom

Anne Saitzyk

Anne Saitzyk

NEW INSTRUCTOR! Anne Saitzyk has been teaching painting and drawing for nearly 30 years, mostly at Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design Extension, as well as Otis College of Art and Design and Barnsdall Art Center, with some workshops across the United States and internationally. She received her MFA in painting from Claremont Graduate University and a BFA in illustration from ArtCenter College of Design. In Anne’s teaching, exercises and references to art history as well as contemporary work are meant to educate students in the foundations of art and inspire us to move beyond our habitual approaches and take a creative leap. She co-founded Contemplative Creativity Lab, a monthly gathering of artists exploring the meditative mind through art practices that was active for 10 years. She’s been teaching her classes online for the past few years and perhaps surprisingly, it’s been very effective in deepening participants’ artistic skills and maintaining a community of artist-students.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 5, 2020Anne Saitzyk

Tamryn Hills

Tamryn Hills

Tammy Hills is a teacher at La Jolla United Methodist Nursery School. She graduated from UCSB with a B.A. in Psychology in 2011 and in 2021 completed her M.S. in Child and Family Development from SDSU. Over the years, she has worked in various spaces and learned to love every age group. She is passionate that play-based learning offers limitless learning opportunities and growth.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 2, 2020Tamryn Treadwell, Tamryn Hills

Susan Walters

Susan Walters

NEW INSTRUCTOR! Susan Walters has taught art (K–6th grade) at the Gillispie School for over 30 years. She studied fine art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and The Art Students League of New York.

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 1, 2020Susan Walters

Jeff Yeomans

Jeff Yeomans

Jeff Yeomans’ experience as an illustrator and graphic designer for the San Diego Reader in the 1970s eventually led to a career working in television as an award-winning San Diego broadcast designer and art director. In 2003, his wife encouraged him to consider painting full-time, and in 2014 he also began to teach. He enjoys painting many different subjects, and much of his work has explored the fragile beauty of California and the connected urban landscape, that ultimately impacts it. “As a regional painter, I feel a responsibility to document California as it is today. Someone told me, ‘paint what you know,’ so having grown up in Southern California, I paint to document where and how we live.”

current instructorAngela LynchSeptember 1, 2020Jeff Yeomans