Faculty Bios
last name begins with "S"

 

Barry Sager, a Maryland native, studied Music Therapy at Florida State University. As a musician and an educator Barry Sager stays outside the box. Over fifty years of music making and twenty-five years of teaching life skills and problem solving to special needs children has helped to develop his unique perspective on teaching and playing music. As an improvisational musician he believes that musical decisions are made in the moment utilizing the same internal skill sets we use in making decisions in our daily lives. "I attempt to get my students comfortable with the idea that they are the music and to just let it flow out."

 

 

Sakim (C. Randall Daniels) is Apalachicola-Creek from northern Florida. A hereditary tribal king, a “Maker of Medicine,” and keeper of tradition for Pine Arbor Tribal Town, he is a conveyor of history, story, and ceremony regarding ancient and modern Muskogee lifeways. He has written books and articles on Creeks and Seminoles of Florida, and southeastern Indians, and has completed Vol. 6 of Muskogee Words & Ways, a Southeastern Reader. As a traditional herbalist, he works with doctors and hospitals to treat the native community, and is also a caregiver for the elderly and dying. Sakim has both played and taught native flute since the 1940’s, holds a master’s degree in ethnomusicology and occasionally contributes to film soundtracks. In addition to operating a horse farm, sitting on many boards, teaching community classes and providing religious counseling at a federal correctional institute, Sakim provides full services for non-traditional burial and cremation and is trained in embalming and restorative arts. In his free times, he chefs, plays music, restores pipe organs, sweeps chimneys and attends Sacred Harp sings.

 

 

Gilbert Abel Sanchez is from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico.  Also known by his Tewa name,  Aí aa,  which means Little Bow, he is a 5th generation potter continuing the black on black pottery style made famous by his great, great grandmother, Maria Martinez. Gilbertís teachings and firing methods are very traditional yet his small sculpture and pottery is unique in design and shape. His whimsical expressive clay creations are sought after by many collectors

 

 

Kathy "Wan Povi" Sanchez is an educator, potter and Co-Director of Tewa Women United, an indigenous women's organization advocating for positive social change.  She was born and raised in San IIdefonso (Tewa) Pueblo located, 24 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Her artistic abilities were nurtured under the loving guidance of her mother, Anita, her grandparents, Adam and Santana Martinez, and her great-grandmother, Maria Martinez, all world-renowned potters of the traditional black ware style they made famous.  Kathy's pottery is an outlet for her visions, insights, and feelings that reflect upon our cultural and environmental situations.  Among the Tewa people, the pattern of natural art are highly symbolic and play a significant role in the spiritual awareness of self and surroundings.  "I love to work with clay because it gives me a way of sharing myself, and my eco-systemic sustenance messages with others. Sharing is an integral part in maintaining our interconnectedness to all life upon our Mother Earth."  Kathy is well known for her workshops, lectures, and demonstrations of pottery-making, Pueblo culture, women's issues and issues impacting indigenous peoples.  www.mariajulianpottery.com/ancestry.cfm?personalID=157

 

 

 

Sankofa Dance Theater was founded in 1989 as a Baltimore-based cultural arts organization. Sankofa means "reaching back to move forward," knowing your roots to build your community. Director Kibibi Ajankulaunched Sankofa with the firm belief that Afro-centric culture is a way to open the doors of love for all mankind and is a way to build esteem among African-American youth. Sankofa performs nationwide, as well as in Africa. Their dance and drumming classes, performances and concerts, many led by Kibibi's son, Jumoke Ajanku have received enormous acclaim from audiences nationwide. www.sankofadancetheater.net

 

 

Eileen Carson Schatz, Founding Director of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in 1979, has toured internationally, including as guest choreographer and performer in “Riverdance” in London and with the Smithsonian Institute in Japan. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, an Annie Award for Performing Arts from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, MD, and was selected Artist of the Year by Young Audiences of Maryland in 2006. Eileen is also the lead vocalist for Footworks and is an award winning song writer. She has performed and taught residencies for over thirty years in the Maryland schools and is a Certified Teaching Artist with the Maryland State Arts Council.

 

 

Joyce Schaum is a nationally known, award-winning basketmaker from Maryland.  She was a full-time basketmaker for 15 years, exhibiting in the top art shows in the country including the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Cherry Creek Art Festival, many American Craft Council shows across the country, and others.  Demonstrations and presentations have included the Museum Conservation Program at the Winterthur Museum and the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of Art.  Her work is based on traditional techniques, influenced by Native Americans, Shakers, and New England traditional baskets with a contemporary flair and form, incorporating color and patterning.  Awards she has won range from Best of Show, First Place Fiber, Best in Fiber, and First Place in the Miniature category among others.  www.geometricdesigns.com/joyceschaum.html

 

Riki Schneyer, a self-taught artist, has been making art since she was old enough to hold a crayon.  Born in Buffalo, NY to a family of musicians, visual artists, and social activists, her art reflects the cross-section of multicultural influences that have permeated her life.  At the age of eight she moved with her family to Washington, DC.  Her mother, folk-singer and activist Helen Schneyer, never got over moving below the Mason-Dixon Line, and had Riki on civil rights picket lines within a month of moving south.  Riki has spent her life involved with the work of making community and ending racism.  While her art work has ranged from jewelry making, to oil portraits, to more expressionist works in a variety of watermedia, to mixed media collage and assemblage, to mosaic, the enduring constants in her work remain: the use of vivid, saturated color to evoke emotion, a whimsical sense of design, and a boundless lust for life. Riki is also a teacher for, and the vice-president of,  ìArt for the People,î a non-profit organization which brings the life-enhancing pleasures of art-making to ìat-riskî populations such as the mentally ill, the homeless, prison populations, and the community-at-large.  She has studied ìArt for Processî with Stewart Cubley and the Painting Experience, and loves to help people make art, especially those who have never considered themselves to have artistic ability. She has toured and performed as a musician and singer for most of her life, and has recently retired from an almost-30-year career as a psychotherapist in private practice, where she specialized in self-psychologically-oriented psychotherapy with a culturally and racially varied population.  She is particularly interested in the intersection between the arts and psychotherapy, and firmly believes that making art enhances mental health, and community building.  She is happily married to a singing geologist, and has one extraordinary daughter, two extraordinary step-children (one daughter, one son), and an enthusiastic poodle named Arlo.  She loves making art and music to her very bones.http://www.rikischneyer.com http://riki@rikischneyer.com

 

 

Joyce J. Scott was born and raised in Baltimore. She is a descendant of African- Americans, Native Americans, and Scots. Three generations of storytellers, quilters, basket makers, and wood, metal, and clay workers inspire her artwork. Scott's earliest art lessons were received at home as she watched her mother, the renowned fiber artist, Elizabeth Talford Scott, create quilts using unconventional embroidery and appliquÈ techniques.  Educated in Baltimore public schools, Scott received her bachelor of fine arts degree in art education from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1970. Then she moved to Mexico to study at the Institute Allende, San Miguel Allende, where she earned a master of fine arts degree in crafts. Scott has also studied the art of Native Americans, West Africans, and Central American Cuna Indians. Her work is also influenced by an appreciation of Japanese theater, East European decorative arts, the beadwork of the peoples of Africa, and American popular culture. This wide range of influences plays a crucial role in her interpretation of contemporary issues such as racism and violence, sexism and stereotypes.  In addition to teaching and lecturing nationally and internationally, Scott has received wide acclaim as a performance artist. Scott got her start as a performer living in Mexico, singing at local nightclubs. She is most recognized for her work in the satirical Thunder Thigh Review with collaborator Kay Lawall, which had its beginnings at Baltimore's Theater Project and took the Edinburgh Festival by storm in the early 1980's.  Scott's work has appeared in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions at numerous museums across the country and internationally, including, the , New York; The Baltimore Museum of Art; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.; the Orlando Art Museum, Florida; the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

 

Carolyn Seabolt is known for her one of a kind silk painting and batik works of art. Her subject matter is usually feline and floral designs. Her silk work can be sewn into wearable art, framed as a fine art, or used as accent pieces for home decors.  She gets a lot of her inspiration from her two Siamese cats, and also the beautiful gardens that surround her studio called Cat Tracks Studio.Carolyn is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, and has an extensive background in teaching all levels of art to all age groups. She was recognized for five years as one of Carroll Countyís Outstanding Teachers, is listed in ìWhoís Who among American Teachers,î and has illustrated several childrenís books. Carolyn also enjoys working in watercolor, tinsel painting and papermaking. Cat Tracks Studio is part of the Carroll County Artisans Studio Tour held the first weekend in December each year cattracksstudio@aol.com

 

 

  

Jon Seligman teaches percussion at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, teaching lessons, pedagogy, ensemble and world music classes.  His performing and recording credits include Barrio Andalusi, Carey Creed, the Christopher James Band, the Drew Gress/Dave Ballou QuartetGlobal Percussion Trio, The Interpreters, Mahbood Len Seligman, Three Trees, and Tim Jenkins.  Mr. Seligman received a Maryland State Arts Council Grant in World Music Performance for 2011.  His latest original music CD, Quintet Music (2010), features Dave Ballou, Bruce Swaim, Harry Appelman and Jeff Reed.

 

 

 

Joe Selly has appeared with Phoebe Snow, Vassar Clements, Barbara Eden, Melissa Manchester and Tex Logan and toured nationally with the Lombardo Orchestra. He is featured on countless recordings and is in demand as both performer and instructor in bluegrass, jazz and swing. Joe is the guitarist with Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys from New York City. Joe is an adjunct Professor of guitar at Bergen Community College.

 

Andrea Shalal-Esa is a correspondent with Reuters who covers the defense industry, writes about Arab-American culture, and teaches classes on race and ethnicity at McDaniel College and the Carroll County Public School system's annual summer workshop. She was a contributor to Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading(2008) and Etching Our Own Image: Voices From Within the Arab American Art Movement(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007). She has done extensive work on diversity and civil rights issues in the corporate media, public schools and the community.

 

Ralph Lee Smith is a leading authority on the history of the mountain dulcimer and of traditional Appalachian music. His books include Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions,a standard history of the instrument, now in its Second Edition. He teaches the dulcimer as an instrument to accompany singing of traditional mountain songs, and is co-author with Madeline MacNeil of four dulcimer singing books, including Folk Songs of Old Kentuckyand Folk Songs of Old Virginia. His recordings include Songs and Tunes of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, and Across the Blue Ridge, a collaboration with Madeline MacNeil.He has taught Dulcimer Traditions courses in annual Dulcimer Week programs at Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University, Shenandoah University, and Davis and Elkins College.

 

 

Rick Smith has been a lover and worker of wood for most of his life.  Since 2003 he has taught woodworking workshops during Traditions Weeks, most recently woodturning for beginners.  At McDaniel College, where he has been a member of the Chemistry Department for over 40 years, he teaches the course, “Trees on the Hill: The Science of Wood.”  A key feature of that course is instruction in the scientific method of wood identification, end-grain analysis.  Rick’s wood identification kits for domestic hardwoods and for tropical woods have been popular sellers on the internet for years.

 

 

Tom Smith Born in Lanathshire, Scotland, Tom spent 16 years performing in Britain and Europe with Celtic bands, including Shegui. On vocals, mandolin and octave mandola, he helped form Ayrshire’s pre-eminent traditional band, Quadrille, appearing at major Scottish folk festivals and clubs and on BBC and Westsound Radio. Since 1989, Tom has worked in one of Ayrshire’s last remaining weaving mills, often touring the US with Walt Michael & Co. and Ireland’s Craobh Rua.

 

 

Maria Isabel Sosa is a disciplined, dynamic and passionate Mexican, with extraordinary sensibility to perform Mexican folkloric dance. She is the founder and artistic director of the Folkloric Group San JosÈ, of Hanover, Pennsylvania. She studied dance in Mexico City and Veracruz, two places rich in Mexican culture and art, and also studied with Bertha Delia GarcÌa, a successful alumna of the world-renowned Folkloric Ballet of Amalia Hernandez. Isabel has performed in major theaters in Mexico City including the Ciudadela and the Metropolitan Theater, and has performed throughout Pennsylvania, including the Harrisburg Capitol itself. "The true satisfaction of dance is to bring a little joy to the people, to entertain, to celebrate, to give thanks."

 

 

John Sosnowskyis a graduate of Towson State University and a native Marylander currently residing in Frederick County. He has been teaching, demonstrating and creating art for over 31 years full time with his wife Debby under the name Sozra Studio. He has been the on site juror of the Pittsburg Three River Arts Festival, Served on the Maryland Renaissance Arts and Craft Board and The Artist Market Chair of the Frederick Festival of the Arts. John is a contemporary artist; his work is sold through various interpretive juried shows, galleries and on the web at www.sozra.com

 

Bill Spence is a senior lecturer in the English Department of McDaniel College, where for more than two decades he has taught a variety of courses in linguistics, writing, and literature.  He has particular interests in the dialects of English and issues of language and power.  In 2011 he shared the college’s Zepp Teaching Enhancement Award with a colleague, allowing travel to Mexico to develop new models for international service learning. He currently also coordinates the Masters of Liberal Arts program for the graduate school at McDaniel.

 

Orin Starr is an award-winning guitar, banjo and mandolin player who has been described as "Doc Watson-meets-Arlo Guthrie."  He is highly regarded as a teacher in the folk and bluegrass worlds and regularly holds flat picking workshops around the country. Orrin is the author of the popular book, Hot Licks for Bluegrass Guitar, a columnist for Flatpicking Guitar magazine and has released two instruction DVDs. If that’s not enough, he was also the 1976 National Flatpicking Champion.

 

 

 

Kayleigh Stack  Over the past 8 years, Kayleigh Stack has been helping people attain peace of mind, stronger mental/physical bodies and spirit through yoga with an energetic and upbeat perspective. The classes she provides are a mix between Vinyasa and Hatha styles, exploring the depth of each position with the practice of breath exercises for the individual to feel the physical benefits from each position through both understanding proper alignment and holding the poses for slightly longer in effort to maintain fluidity of the breath even when the body is experiencing discomfort. Kayleigh's teaching style is very much influenced from the Iyengar practice, which is a product of her Yogaworks Training, where she was certified in the 500 hr YTT in 2008. In addition to YogaWorks, she was certified in the Vivekananda technique in Southern India, where she also studied with Ashtanga master Sri K. Pattabi Jois’s Granddaughter, Shamila Mahesh in Bangalore, Karnataka, which has integrated a bit of the vigorous ashtanga style to her teaching in more advanced classes.

Robert Strasser is a resident of Frederick, Maryland, where he has been working with clay for almost three decades. His influences include English, Japanese and Middle Eastern traditions, as well as his great love for Earth’s biodiversity.  He specializes in making ceramic hand drums, and has played and performed with various drumming and dancing groups in the Mid Atlantic region.  His other creative interests include watercolor painting, photography and sculpture. Robert's works and workshops have been featured in juried exhibitions in Japan, Florida, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland.

 

 

 

Christina Stewart  is a traditional singer and folklore practitioner who belongs to Inverness, the capitol of the Scottish Highlands, so she grew up in an environment where the Gaelic and Scots traditions of Scotland meet.  She has a long-standing involvement with the burgeoning fèis (traditional music tuition festival) movement in Scotland and currently teaches at festivals, for community projects, in school classrooms and playgrounds, as well as performing and touring.  She has developed a reputation as an exponent of song within the wider oral and folk tradition of Scotland, with infectious enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and a commitment to appreciating songs within their cultural contexts.  Her newest album, “Haunting”, is a celebration of songs alongside the stories associated with them, all relating to the eerie otherworld of Celtic supernatural with Second Sight, glammer, selkies, fairies, ghosts and the Devil.

 

Suzanne and Jim have been touring professional entertainers for more than fifteen years. The duo sings songs from an earlier time; the stories told by these old songs not only recall a bygone era but open a window into the origins of our modern culture. The duo's performances are researched from archived collections of historic music and they have three recordings. Jim Hale has enjoyed as varied a forty-year career in Americana Roots Music as anyone: co-founder of S.L. Mossman Guitars, producer of the first Canadian bluegrass festival - Bluegrass Canada, leader of the Chicken Spankers - one of the first "newtime" oldtime string bands; columnist for Sing Out!and Banjo Newsletter; a skilled restoration luthier, an innovator in the clawhammer banjo style and instrumental music teacher. His playing has been featured in Home on the Range and in Warner Brothers' TV mini-series, The Wild West. Suzanne Jaroszynski has earned national recognition as a song stylist. She has been a repeat first-place winner at the prestigious Mount Airy, North Carolina Fiddlers Convention in Folk Song category. From Michigan, she spent many years in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina immersed in oldtime music and clog dancing. She is an accomplished guitarist, percussionist, playing spoons, bones and tambourine and is a classically trained flute player. www.suzanneandjim.com

 

 

 

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